Pierre
Stratologist
This is going to be a tough review. Not because the guitar is bad; and in fact let me get this out of the way right now, this thing KICKS ASS.
But, it IS a pre-production, prototype model, and I paid accordingly. Whatever follows, simply keep this in mind.
Having lived in Scotland a while (taking full advantage of the Auld Alliance), I had heard of AC guitars, which is Alan Gringean's bass (bear with me ) company. He recently decided to branch out on guitars and offers 4 new models under a different brand name, Reiver guitars. See http://reiverguitars.co.uk/ for more info.
The Kompact caught my eyes. I like 'alternative' and forward-looking designs, and a good headless design does a lot for one's ability to play whenever, wherever. It's a great motivator.
Up until Sunday I had a Strandberg Boden 6 (Washburn-made) which was built perfectly (not counting the terrible nut...) but never really lived up to my expectations... not to mention it's a very 'gimmicky' axe (a half-inch fan? Pourquoi?). But it sounded great, and was playable anywhere in my apartment. So while my headless Waghorn is on the waiting list, I figured I'd try one of Alan's guitars to replace this recent loss.
Alan's built a few recently as pre-production models, which were put for sale on his website. I unfortunately missed out on the GORGEOUS purple one (http://reiverguitars.co.uk/project/007ka/), and I was hestitating between another, less fancy 6 string, or that sweet 7 string (http://reiverguitars.co.uk/project/001ka-kompakt-7/).
In the end, I knew I'd play a 7 much less, so I requested http://reiverguitars.co.uk/project/005ka-kompakt-6/.
First, the sound and playability, which are truly the highlights here.
4
This thing sounds... incredible.
I don't know what magic there is in those pickups. But it's thick, crunchy on the bridge, and fluid, but still round, on the neck. All 5 positions sound stunning (I am loving the middle position for leads).
When I got it, the strings were old and dead. The bridge radius was flat. And it STILL sounded fantastic.
Sustain is infinite. I've never had an axe with a sustainer, but I imagine it'd feel much this way. Absolutely amazing. Astounding. And I am now running out of adjectives.
Acoustically it's slightly more on the bright side. Not as loud, balanced, or thick sounding as my Strandberg was (the Strandberg was chambered, but otherwise tonewoods were very similar aside from the top). It's a pleasant sounding guitar acoustically, with a nice ring to the nodes no matter where you play them on the neck.
As briefly mentioned above, she wasn't in a great condition, setup-wise, when I first unpacked her. Old strings. Flat bridge radius. Too much relief. It feels she had been played quite a bit.
So my first impressions were limited to 'WOWZA!' and 'mhmm... needs some work'.
Today I put in the work. Re-did the nut for a set of 11-52s, matched the fingerboard radius at the bridge, intonated her (actually eyeballed it, and turned out more or less perfect... The saddles were all aligned previously).
And then I played for a lot longer and still I thought 'wowza'. Again, and again. That tone. That sustain.
Anyway, still didn't play amazingly well... I tightened the truss rod a couple of times, got the relief down to reasonable level. I lowered the strings quite a bit... twice! I got them quite low with barely any buzz anywhere. Sweet.
The neck is assymetrical. It's thicker on the bass side and tapers down a little to the treble. I forgot it was there. I'm picky about necks; I favor soft, nondescript C profiles. This is very different, and it works. I like it, it feels effortless.
The nut's spacing is a little off, but otherwise it's functional. I had to widen some of the slots and I didn't take a great look before I did so, so aside from the spacing I can't say much here.
The frets are pretty small compared to what I'm used to. They're not stainless steel. In fact when I got it, they definitely showed signs of use. A good polish and they're fine. Well dressed and crowned. No issues there. My personal preference would be for slightly larger ones but again, this was not a custom order.
The body shape is really cool. It sits nicely in the classical or rock positions. Balances well standing up.
It's heavy, for a headless guitar. Heavier than my Strandberg was (and it was a heavy one due to the EMGs). This is, here, because the construction and hardware is quite substantial: the Hipshot headless bridge system, the 9v battery that powers the tone-lifter circuit, the large piece of Swamp-Ash and burl top...
All the contours are in the right place. The neck is bolted through inserts. The heel is no issue for me, but I'm no shredder.
A few cool things... The guitar comes with a neutrik locking output jack! She was also fitted with Dunlop straplocks (my favorites) and Alan included all the relevant allen keys (though the one for adjusting saddles was of the wrong size, and the one to remove the nut also did not fit correctly). And, cherry on the cake, she came into a really cool soft-case/gigbag hybrid by Fusion bags.
So tone is dialled-in, playability is dialled-in. Moving on to build quality.
Overall, it's solid. There's nothing broken, misaligned, or out of place here.
But, it IS a pre-production model., and priced accordingly.
The swamp-ash has some markings to it... It's hard to describe. You can't feel it through the finish so I doubt they're tool marks, but they're certainly showing. It looks like lightly lighter streaks in the wood. Some darker marks as well.
Either way, 100% cosmetic. And like I said, the guitar itself is solid and sounds HUGE both unplugged and, especially, plugged in.
The neck is fairly bland; it's a 5-piece maple/wenge.
It took me ages to spot the seam in the Ash body. Which is weird because it's exactly where you expect to see it! But... it's very, very well matched.
Everything is very well fitted. Electronics cavity plate, 9v battery compartment, straplocks, locking output, neck pocket... All of it.
Structurally very solid. And it feels like it when picking it up.
Now... the finish...
It's a thin-looking satin that feels as if it's not there. It's surprisingly shiny. Not even a tiny bit of stickiness to it. The Ash is darker than expected, and in fact gets a little darker on the sides of the guitar vs. the back. It actually works very well with the borderline pink/red burl top!
Speaking of the top... If Van Gogh had done Starry Night in shades of pink and red, this would be it. I've never had a guitar with exotic tops before... and this is definitely impressive. It wouldn't have been my first choice (I do regret not going for that purple one earlier
) but it's impressive in its own right.
A few other interesting things about her:
* Alan's a quick communicator and shipped this within a day, and with fast shipping to boot! Cheers
* The truss-rod isn't an open hole at the end of the neck, which can let in dust. Rather it's the spokewheel system favored by the likes of MusicMan. It's also very well done, with no gaps inside the neck where the wheel exits
* Can't believe I've not mentioned it yet... the fingerboard is rocklite! That's a first for me, not sure what that is (well, beyond what's on their website of course http://www.rocklite.co.uk/). But it looks like dark ebony
* The hardware... well it's ok. The bridge can be a pain BUT the headpiece can be removed and work done on the guitar without needing to take the strings off. Win-win I guess?
I am REALLY enjoying this guitar. Yes, this is definitely the honeymoon period. I'll be first to admit it. But, it's a damn cool instrument. I'll be curious to see what the definitive production models look like (Alan said they wouldn't be much different but eh, who knows). I may have a new nut made for it but that's the only 'mod' I'm considering.
Again. Those pickups are astounding.
There are pics of course on the guitar's page, on the Reiver website:
http://reiverguitars.co.uk/project/005ka-kompakt-6/
I find it great to see newcomers bring something new to the market. And I'm glad I gave the Kompact a go.
EDIT! Forgot to mention two things:
* The inlays are luminlays and Alan provided me with the UV charging light. Cheers!
* The 24th fret side-dots aren't perfectly aligned. As far as misaligned dots go, these are pretty minor, but it's there anyway. This happens to be one of my pet peeves so I noticed it immediately. I can't speak for whether others would notice it, or be bothered by it. Again mostly a cosmetic thing, but I would expect this to be corrected for the production instruments
But, it IS a pre-production, prototype model, and I paid accordingly. Whatever follows, simply keep this in mind.
Having lived in Scotland a while (taking full advantage of the Auld Alliance), I had heard of AC guitars, which is Alan Gringean's bass (bear with me ) company. He recently decided to branch out on guitars and offers 4 new models under a different brand name, Reiver guitars. See http://reiverguitars.co.uk/ for more info.
The Kompact caught my eyes. I like 'alternative' and forward-looking designs, and a good headless design does a lot for one's ability to play whenever, wherever. It's a great motivator.
Up until Sunday I had a Strandberg Boden 6 (Washburn-made) which was built perfectly (not counting the terrible nut...) but never really lived up to my expectations... not to mention it's a very 'gimmicky' axe (a half-inch fan? Pourquoi?). But it sounded great, and was playable anywhere in my apartment. So while my headless Waghorn is on the waiting list, I figured I'd try one of Alan's guitars to replace this recent loss.
Alan's built a few recently as pre-production models, which were put for sale on his website. I unfortunately missed out on the GORGEOUS purple one (http://reiverguitars.co.uk/project/007ka/), and I was hestitating between another, less fancy 6 string, or that sweet 7 string (http://reiverguitars.co.uk/project/001ka-kompakt-7/).
In the end, I knew I'd play a 7 much less, so I requested http://reiverguitars.co.uk/project/005ka-kompakt-6/.
First, the sound and playability, which are truly the highlights here.
4
This thing sounds... incredible.
I don't know what magic there is in those pickups. But it's thick, crunchy on the bridge, and fluid, but still round, on the neck. All 5 positions sound stunning (I am loving the middle position for leads).
When I got it, the strings were old and dead. The bridge radius was flat. And it STILL sounded fantastic.
Sustain is infinite. I've never had an axe with a sustainer, but I imagine it'd feel much this way. Absolutely amazing. Astounding. And I am now running out of adjectives.
Acoustically it's slightly more on the bright side. Not as loud, balanced, or thick sounding as my Strandberg was (the Strandberg was chambered, but otherwise tonewoods were very similar aside from the top). It's a pleasant sounding guitar acoustically, with a nice ring to the nodes no matter where you play them on the neck.
As briefly mentioned above, she wasn't in a great condition, setup-wise, when I first unpacked her. Old strings. Flat bridge radius. Too much relief. It feels she had been played quite a bit.
So my first impressions were limited to 'WOWZA!' and 'mhmm... needs some work'.
Today I put in the work. Re-did the nut for a set of 11-52s, matched the fingerboard radius at the bridge, intonated her (actually eyeballed it, and turned out more or less perfect... The saddles were all aligned previously).
And then I played for a lot longer and still I thought 'wowza'. Again, and again. That tone. That sustain.
Anyway, still didn't play amazingly well... I tightened the truss rod a couple of times, got the relief down to reasonable level. I lowered the strings quite a bit... twice! I got them quite low with barely any buzz anywhere. Sweet.
The neck is assymetrical. It's thicker on the bass side and tapers down a little to the treble. I forgot it was there. I'm picky about necks; I favor soft, nondescript C profiles. This is very different, and it works. I like it, it feels effortless.
The nut's spacing is a little off, but otherwise it's functional. I had to widen some of the slots and I didn't take a great look before I did so, so aside from the spacing I can't say much here.
The frets are pretty small compared to what I'm used to. They're not stainless steel. In fact when I got it, they definitely showed signs of use. A good polish and they're fine. Well dressed and crowned. No issues there. My personal preference would be for slightly larger ones but again, this was not a custom order.
The body shape is really cool. It sits nicely in the classical or rock positions. Balances well standing up.
It's heavy, for a headless guitar. Heavier than my Strandberg was (and it was a heavy one due to the EMGs). This is, here, because the construction and hardware is quite substantial: the Hipshot headless bridge system, the 9v battery that powers the tone-lifter circuit, the large piece of Swamp-Ash and burl top...
All the contours are in the right place. The neck is bolted through inserts. The heel is no issue for me, but I'm no shredder.
A few cool things... The guitar comes with a neutrik locking output jack! She was also fitted with Dunlop straplocks (my favorites) and Alan included all the relevant allen keys (though the one for adjusting saddles was of the wrong size, and the one to remove the nut also did not fit correctly). And, cherry on the cake, she came into a really cool soft-case/gigbag hybrid by Fusion bags.
So tone is dialled-in, playability is dialled-in. Moving on to build quality.
Overall, it's solid. There's nothing broken, misaligned, or out of place here.
But, it IS a pre-production model., and priced accordingly.
The swamp-ash has some markings to it... It's hard to describe. You can't feel it through the finish so I doubt they're tool marks, but they're certainly showing. It looks like lightly lighter streaks in the wood. Some darker marks as well.
Either way, 100% cosmetic. And like I said, the guitar itself is solid and sounds HUGE both unplugged and, especially, plugged in.
The neck is fairly bland; it's a 5-piece maple/wenge.
It took me ages to spot the seam in the Ash body. Which is weird because it's exactly where you expect to see it! But... it's very, very well matched.
Everything is very well fitted. Electronics cavity plate, 9v battery compartment, straplocks, locking output, neck pocket... All of it.
Structurally very solid. And it feels like it when picking it up.
Now... the finish...
It's a thin-looking satin that feels as if it's not there. It's surprisingly shiny. Not even a tiny bit of stickiness to it. The Ash is darker than expected, and in fact gets a little darker on the sides of the guitar vs. the back. It actually works very well with the borderline pink/red burl top!
Speaking of the top... If Van Gogh had done Starry Night in shades of pink and red, this would be it. I've never had a guitar with exotic tops before... and this is definitely impressive. It wouldn't have been my first choice (I do regret not going for that purple one earlier
) but it's impressive in its own right.
A few other interesting things about her:
* Alan's a quick communicator and shipped this within a day, and with fast shipping to boot! Cheers
* The truss-rod isn't an open hole at the end of the neck, which can let in dust. Rather it's the spokewheel system favored by the likes of MusicMan. It's also very well done, with no gaps inside the neck where the wheel exits
* Can't believe I've not mentioned it yet... the fingerboard is rocklite! That's a first for me, not sure what that is (well, beyond what's on their website of course http://www.rocklite.co.uk/). But it looks like dark ebony
* The hardware... well it's ok. The bridge can be a pain BUT the headpiece can be removed and work done on the guitar without needing to take the strings off. Win-win I guess?
I am REALLY enjoying this guitar. Yes, this is definitely the honeymoon period. I'll be first to admit it. But, it's a damn cool instrument. I'll be curious to see what the definitive production models look like (Alan said they wouldn't be much different but eh, who knows). I may have a new nut made for it but that's the only 'mod' I'm considering.
Again. Those pickups are astounding.
There are pics of course on the guitar's page, on the Reiver website:
http://reiverguitars.co.uk/project/005ka-kompakt-6/
I find it great to see newcomers bring something new to the market. And I'm glad I gave the Kompact a go.
EDIT! Forgot to mention two things:
* The inlays are luminlays and Alan provided me with the UV charging light. Cheers!
* The 24th fret side-dots aren't perfectly aligned. As far as misaligned dots go, these are pretty minor, but it's there anyway. This happens to be one of my pet peeves so I noticed it immediately. I can't speak for whether others would notice it, or be bothered by it. Again mostly a cosmetic thing, but I would expect this to be corrected for the production instruments
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