darkshadow54321
New member
Had a free 15 minutes so I went into a local guitar shop. I decided to try out a soloist, mainly because I wanted to see what the compound radius was like. Didn't have time to plug it in unfortunately, but here are my thoughts after playing it unplugged:
I was very impressed with the quality overall. The fit and finish were superb. The binding and frets were perfect, superior to the vast majority of guitars out there. Even though the set up wasn't perfect, it was clear that it was a real quality instrument. I loved the jumbo frets... bends were effortless and my vibrato improved too. Anyone know the exact fret size?
I was really surprised at the thickness of the neck. I expected a thin shredder type neck but it's actually a decent size (not huge though). Unfortunately, the shape didn't really suit my hand... it felt a little too square (D-shaped, I suppose). I prefer a rounder shape.
The compound radius is very, very subtle. If I hadn't been looking for it I probably wouldn't have noticed. I believe it's 12-16 radius. Personally, I feel 16 is a bit too flat... 10-14 might be ideal and probably more obvious too.
Something I noticed was that it was a bit neck heavy. It probably wouldn't be a big deal with a strap, but sitting down there was a slight dive. Don't know if this is the case with all of them, or if mine just happened to have a very light body.
I don't really know much about Floyds (TOMs are the way forward!), but it was an OFR and was very smooth to use. Can't really comment though.
Anyway, although the neck carve isn't to my liking, I was very impressed and now understand why people love them.
I was very impressed with the quality overall. The fit and finish were superb. The binding and frets were perfect, superior to the vast majority of guitars out there. Even though the set up wasn't perfect, it was clear that it was a real quality instrument. I loved the jumbo frets... bends were effortless and my vibrato improved too. Anyone know the exact fret size?
I was really surprised at the thickness of the neck. I expected a thin shredder type neck but it's actually a decent size (not huge though). Unfortunately, the shape didn't really suit my hand... it felt a little too square (D-shaped, I suppose). I prefer a rounder shape.
The compound radius is very, very subtle. If I hadn't been looking for it I probably wouldn't have noticed. I believe it's 12-16 radius. Personally, I feel 16 is a bit too flat... 10-14 might be ideal and probably more obvious too.
Something I noticed was that it was a bit neck heavy. It probably wouldn't be a big deal with a strap, but sitting down there was a slight dive. Don't know if this is the case with all of them, or if mine just happened to have a very light body.
I don't really know much about Floyds (TOMs are the way forward!), but it was an OFR and was very smooth to use. Can't really comment though.
Anyway, although the neck carve isn't to my liking, I was very impressed and now understand why people love them.
