Yet another budget guitar option

[Ian B]

edit: just noticed the ebay sellers only a few miles up the road from me..! wonder if they've got a shop...

I think you're out of luck Gary, I'm almost sure they're online only.

If you don't try you sure won't get a demo. Maybe it's not a shop but having a close look (and play a little) would be a possibility.

I'd be knocking on their door, that's for sure

[GaryG]

um, was watching one of these on ebay... the winning bidders id looks kinda familiar...

nice work.

[Ian B]

um, was watching one of these on ebay... the winning bidders id looks kinda familiar...

nice work.

Hi Gary,
Err, I couldn't resist bidding

I don't need yet another guitar, and thought I couldn't afford it anyway, but the latest vet bill for one of my cats was only a few quid, so magically, I had the cash spare I'd set my maximum bid at £75 and left it. I had no intention of going above that, but when I checked back near the end of the auction and found I'd been outbid, ebay fever struck It only took one more small bid as well

I'll let you know what it's like when it arrives early next week.

[Kromeclutch]

Looks like quality stuffs, I'd get it.

[Ian B]

Looks like quality stuffs, I'd get it.

I'll be back next Tuesday with my report when it's delivered

I've said this before, but it bears repeating. Each Time I've bought a so called 'budget guitar' I've thought, if it's crap, at least I've got something I can practice slide guitar on. After 5 budget guitars, I'm still woefully out of practice on slide, and hopefully I'll still be out of practice when this one arrives.

[Ian B]

The RMS thru' neck duly arrived today, it's not bad, not bad at all

My first impression when I took it out of the box was f#ck this is one gorgeous looking guitar for the money. I'm not sure about them calling the colour strawberry blonde tho'. Both neck and body have wax/oil(?) finishes, something I love myself, tho' I know others aren't so keen. You can easily feel the wood grain in both body and neck. Weight wise, it's pretty substantial and well balanced.

If I was being really fussy, I'd complain the nayto inserts in the maple neck and ash body aren't finished quite as flush as they could have been, but that's only a minor grumble. The rosewood fretboard had a couple of light patches on, almost like chalk (?) but they were soon fixed with a quick dab of a dark wood stain I had handy. The neck is very slim, long fingered/tubby fingered guitarist will struggle to play it. The fretboard is as near flat as I've seen since the one on a Lincoln SG I owned many moons ago. Not everybody will be comfortable with this, but I love it 'cos I've only got baby sized hands and fingers The tuners seem a decent quality, I've not had to retune it again once I got everything set up, and since I'm using new strings, this rarely happens with me.

Now onto the actual negatives.

While the action was superb out of the box, when I looked closer, the bridge was fully wound down on the treble side, a sure sign in my experience that the truss rod hadn't been tensioned, and I was right. More importantly, they'd somehow managed to fit the tunomatic style bridge back to front, the screws to adjust intonation were facing the neck instead of the back end of the guitar. Neither was a big problem as I replaced the strings with a set of 11's so I had the chance to correct the bridge and a quick quarter turn on the truss rod with the supplied key gave me the extra room to lower the bridge.

The pickups aren't bad, they're certainly hot enough, but there's a surprisingly marked difference between the volume of the 2 single coils and the humbucker. The humbucker alone is 'weak' in comparison to the 2 single coils. The 5 way selector is also a bit iffy, there are a few crackles when using it, nothing major but it's something that will likely only get worse over time. As usual, the single coils tend to be a bit noisy when used with distortion, but the very effective noise gate on my Toneworks AX1500G covers this nicely.

For all these minor quibbles, even at the full asking price, this guitar is a steal. I would have expected to pay £250+ in a shop for one as it is.

As usual with my budget guitars, I may at some point replace the pickups and electrics. Even adding the cost of new pickups, etc, to cost of this guitar (£77.17) there's no way I could have bought a 'named' guitar of this overall quality for anywhere near the price.

Highly recommended if mine is typical

'EDIT'
After another hour or so playing now this guitar has been set up how I like it, I've gotta say, it's staggeringly good. I can see this soon becoming my fav guitar, if not the best guitar, I've ever owned It just feels so comfotable to play, like I've had it for years whereas I've only had it for a few hours

[GaryG]

The neck is very slim, long fingered/tubby fingered guitarist will struggle to play it.

That could be a problem for me...

they'd somehow managed to fit the tunomatic style bridge back to front

Thanks for the review Ian, sounds like a good deal if you've some basic setup skills. Though I'm a believer that the truss rod should at least be adjusted ok by the supplier, other things can be tweaked to taste but adjusting the truss rod... not beginners stuff imho.

Anyway, still tempted though I'd have to think about the neck; broke my left wrist as a kid and get nasty aches if I have to flex/bend it too much (well, that's my stock excuse for being such a crap player after all these years... )

Cheers,
Gary.

[Integratron]

Do it!

[Ian B]

Hi Gary,

I mailed Mark@Mr Sax Music about the bridge and a few other small niggles, he replied saying that J&D always fit their tunomatic-esue bridges this way I can't think of a reason, even a bad one, for doing this, it just doesn't make any sense imo.
He also told me they do a basic checkup on each guitar before dispatch, which includes a check on the truss rod. They must have overlooked mine as it was factory fresh loose. I know what you mean about being extra careful when adjusting a truss rod, but common sense should tell people that it should be done very gradually. That said, I remember f#cking up a perfectly good guitar when I was a kid by turning the truss rod too far, too fast

BTW, the problem with the low output on the humbucker has been solved. I took the pickup off/apart, and soon noticed it should have been held to the top of the cover with a dab of glue. Somehow, mine had become loose, so no matter how much I tried raising or lowering the pickup, it remained at the bottom of the cavity, only the cover moved. If they'd used a humbucker with the 'wings' at each end that the height adjusting screw goes thro', this wouldn't have happened, but I guess it's just another way of keeping the cost down. All 3 pickups are now beautifully balanced, and have a fantastically bright sound I usually replace the stock pickups on my budget guitars, but these sound so good I'll probably keep them

If I'd seen this guitar in a shop, without the small faults I found, I would have expected it be to around the £300 mark, and still thought it a bargain at that. To get one for under £80, even taking into account having to fix the small faults, is a steal. I can easily see me thinking this is the best guitar I've ever owned/played in no time at all.

I'm chuffed to bits with it

[GaryG]

more budget madness:

http://www.zacharyguitars.com/120300pics.htm



ok, the guitars $1500 but it started off as a $15 Ikea table...

actually i'm not so sure it's that wise revealing the source of the wood if you want peeps to stump up $1500 for the guitar...?

.g

[Ian B]

more budget madness:

http://www.zacharyguitars.com/120300pics.htm



ok, the guitars $1500 but it started off as a $15 Ikea table...

actually i'm not so sure it's that wise revealing the source of the wood if you want peeps to stump up $1500 for the guitar...?

.g

That's one nice guitar there Gary

I almost went for DiMarzio Virtual P90's for my Wesley Freeport, but couldn't quite afford them, so settled for a couple of Dimarzio DX series soap bar humbuckers.

Anyhow, back to my RMS JD S890.
After a bit more 'tweaking' this guitar is now so good, I'm seriously considering selling my Wesley Freeport and Harley Benton HBT2000, the RMS is that good

Sound wise, the Wesley and Harley Benton do nothing individually that I can't get on the RMS alone. The Harley Benton was my pride and joy, especially with the Fender Vintage Noiseless fitted, it's a fabulous guitar, but the RMS has got the edge overall. It sounds fantastic to my ears, and the action it's just so playable (pity I'm not very good tho' )

If I do try and sell them both, I'm gonna lose out as I'll never get close to getting my money back but I get the feeling they're not going to get much use from now on.

[Hanglow]

Good purchase there, I'll be looking out for one after that review!

I think it might have been you who recommended Wesley to me when I was after a cheap guitar - I got one and was impressed with the value (£72 or there abouts delivered ) of it but after playing it for a while I came to the conclusion (possibly by reading some crap on harmony central) that the neck was twisted or something similar, as the low E sounded completely dead.

Anyway, me living up to the tight scotsman stereotype, I hadn't changed the strings thinking they would do, of course after changing the strings for the first time to a set or ernie's that I found lieing around, the guitar has a whole new lease of life! the string must have been dead somehow.

It still needs new pups, so I'll get some new ones (probably GFS ones as the exchange rate needs to be taken advantage of), although I might be needing a new neck for my beloved fenix first as I had a slight mishap with it while slightly drunk a week or so ago.

[cuppa]

for europeans, Jack and danny guitars can also be purchased from www.musicstore.de,
just for your info...

[Hanglow]

also I got this link from the diystompbox forum. £65 only

http://www.thomann.de/gb/harley_benton_ga5.htm

rip off of the epi vj?

I need a practice amp. might mod it as well....

[GaryG]

oh don't get me browsing musicstore... credit card stretched to breaking point already...

so, you selling your guitars ian? The RMS must certainly have made an impression for you to consider disposing of them...

.g