Gear4music 3/4 LA Electric Guitar
Quick shipment and very well packed. Guitar looks great, a bit darker than on the site though. Sound is good too. Comes with a usable gig bag which is not too flimsy. No noticable imperfections.
Guitar was playable out of the box, no rattle, intonation was ok. Action is quite high though and the string gauge is too thin. Tuning pegs are too loose and tremolo springs resonate too much. Neck is unfinished and for this type of guitar this is not very practical as it will get dirty quickly and this can't be cleaned.
All this could be fixed though with a little extra time and money (about €25). Finished the neck with 3 layers of Birchwood Casey Tru-Oil. The neck is made out of maple and this turned out beautifully. Changed the nut with a Graphtech PQ-5000 Tusq nut which is more or less a drop-in replacement so I could string the guitar with a proper gauge (D'Addario EXL115 011) without problems. Tightened the tuning pegs and removed the tremolo springs. Put a small wooden block behind the bridge to fix the bridge and reconnected the ground wire to the bridge. While working on the guitar I spotted some minor imperfections, a small piece of plywood is used in the neck pocket, apparently to work around an issue of fitting the neck in the pocket or to properly shim the neck, and an extra washer is used for one of the neck screws because the hole is a bit too deep.
These improvements were really worth it, guitar plays and sounds a lot better now. All in all this is a nice beginner guitar, great value for your money and with some extra time and money it can be turned into a great little guitar.
