Your next guitar?

[hibidy]

Sounds like a steal!

[Hink]

So I got my SZ furrian two days ago. (tele style, maple neck swamp ash body)

I was/am impressed. It exceeded in some areas.

The bad,

The neck joint has a very minute uneven gap. It's just visibly noticable but doesn't affect the stability of the neck. the sustain or other factors.

The stirng trees bind. There is nothing like that creaking sound when tuning up.

The fair.
The tuners are much better then what I expected for the price but they'll be replayed along with the string trees and the nut. The nut isn't bad but it's a smidgen high. The frets are notJumbo as stated by the manufacturer, and shown on the selling image (remember I bought this direct from the manufuacter/distributer) They are only slightly thicker mediums.

I'm playing it with 10's now which are a little stiff for my fingers. I've played with 09's fof the better part of the last ten years. It's a little bit of work because I pick up a guitar once a week but I'm managing. I'm tempted to take it down to 09's but I'd rather just build up my fingers first.

I've been toying with neck adjustment and saddle hieght. Every time I get it down to what is a decent level my 9th fret starts to buzz, and it's intermittant. Sometimes it's fine and sometimes it's not. I may be that the fret is a little high (my eyes aint what they used to be) I'm afraid to pull out the mallet and tap it down as I have a rubber mallet handy but I don't have a wooden dowel rod.

The Good/Great
The Body....
The advertised model was swamp as oil finish) I liked the concept of letting the body breath and I somewhat buy into the whole relic'd notion. The body is three piece swam ash but trying to find the seems is near impossible. They did a great job of gluing the wood. It's a thick clear glossy finish of unknown origin. Which while not being what I expected or paid for nonetheless looks great. The belly cut and forearm contour were also nice features for a tele at this price point.


Back to the neck.

The neck is two piece maple with an off white not quite cream binding. The binding is only slightly off putting visually. It's fine as far as binding goes but it makes the neck (as well as the neck finish) look plasticy.
While there is a stripe that goes along the back I doubt if it's rosewook It may just be a laminant finish. The binding is just to cover where the two pieces of maple join. I've always loved maple fretboards but have been disapponted with them in the past. They've always warped on me. Time can only tell with this one however I'm more hopeful as it is a two piece rather then a single piece maple neck. The back and fretboard are finished with the same glossy thick finish of unknown origin. There is very little grain lined that stand out on the back or the fretboard. I'm not complaining.
The neck is the Nut: 1 5/8's at the nut and it has a "C" shape. It's not a modern C that's for sure. I expected and wanted a slightly thicker neck then my current stable and that's what I got. Although I quibble about the thickness for the most part it survives many of my ted greene chords from hell.
The scale length is 25.5 and is okay. After numerous minor adjustments to the saddle action and the nut.... It's was perfectly intonated. I was surpised after seeing that guys review and his decision to install an earvana nut. The harmonics ring out loud and clear. There doesn't appear to be a dead spot on the neck.

Another thing to point out. The frets were dressed and polished. I've bought a few direct from the manufactuer guitars before and they were crap out of the box even in the $800 range. This thing was $129 20 dollars for shipping and honestly it's a heck of a lot better then MIM tele's/strats. Or Bennet/Samick's. And I'm a big fan of Samicks' currently own one and have owned five at one time.

The Tone.
I tested the guitar with a Roland Cube 30, A Pignose 30 Hog, My pandora mini and the direct guitar in for my Yamaha AW G using various gutitar settings.
Unfortunately I do have nieghbors and you really don't get the full cosm sound unless you go past 6 on the master gain. When it goes past four the cops are showing up at my door.

For a three piece ash body this is put together well. I can't see the seems where the wood is joined. The ash body really resonates. I've got an alder strat, various mahogany guitars (freeway, parker P44) and maple bodies but this thing really sings. The string through design and chrome bridge plate may have something to do with that. The clarity of the tone is extremely impressive. Even for cheap single coils. Honestly I could detect no noise from these generic single coils. It could simply be in part to the fact that they aren't high output overwound pups. They are simple stock generic variety.
The pups picked up nothing from my monitors/computers or energy saver lights. Granted I wasn't facing them at the time and I was a good 8 feet from anything electrical other then my amp. They are fairly punchy pickups. Play hard and you'll hear a beefy tele tone coming thru. Play soft and you don't lose the sustain/decay. The bridge pup is a little further away from the bridge then a standard tele/strat. It doesn't have super twang but it does have some twang when you need it.

Overall I'm impressed.

Hi Mike, I did some looking because I never heard of these and they are very low priced, I was quite shocked (I dont want to use the word cheap). It seems a lot of people have good things to say about them and they are pretty well received in general. But I gotta tell you, that gap in the neck pocket would be a matter of concern for me, slight or otherwise. Tell me, do you think the problem is with the heel of the neck or the pocket of the body? What edge is the gap on? (upper, lower or end)

[PatchAdamz]

I picked up a Michael Kelly Patriot a while back.

Now that I have lived with it and recorded I must say, excellent sounding instrument.

It is on par with a Strat or Les Paul for quality.

The price was MUCH cheaper.

Oddly, it looks like the electric guitars are disappearing...

[Hink]

Oddly, it looks like the electric guitars are disappearing...

um...what

[nix808]

I think he means that Michael Kelly are winding back their line of electrics.

[PatchAdamz]

I think he means that Michael Kelly are winding back their line of electrics.

Yes, many stores only carry the acoustic Michael Kelly guitars now.

The electrics just vanished. (lets freak him out again)

[Hink]

I think he means that Michael Kelly are winding back their line of electrics.

Yes, many stores only carry the acoustic Michael Kelly guitars now.

The electrics just vanished. (lets freak him out again)

oh....I thought you were speaking in general I was about to sell all my stock in Gibson

[hibidy]

I'm sorry, you guys with new guitars don't understand something........

[Dean Aka Nekro]

Sorry I don't have one yet mate, I have been playing my Ibanez a lot recently, We are trying to sell up so a lot of my guitars have been stored away so it looks presentable when having folk view the house. I had the Ibanez in its case for unknown reasons so whilst tidying up I pulled it out and haven't touched many of the others in awhile now. When we do move I will have more space which is the one thing I've wanted/needed more than anything for years. Still its been pretty rubbish of late despite that sounding like life is going my way/in my favour for once

[trimph1]

I took one photo of my 8 string bass and all I got was a flash photo...sigh

@Dean...you moving? OY VEY!! Loads of fun...

[Hink]

@Dean...you moving? OY VEY!! Loads of fun...

I hate moving, but I love a new place...Dean is such a nice guy people are probably fighting over who gets to help him move...I know if I were there I would volunteer in a heartbeat, I mean someone has to keep an eye on the food and beer

[trimph1]

I know what you mean...

[Dean Aka Nekro]

Cheers John and Barry, You'd both be more than welcome
Nothing is concrete at all yet with trying being the operative word at the moment, Its torture just trying to keep the part my gear in tidy all the time for when there are viewers, Indeed we are trying to yes

Cheers

[ghettosynth]

So I got my SZ furrian two days ago. (tele style, maple neck swamp ash body)

This thing was $129 20 dollars for shipping and honestly it's a heck of a lot better then MIM tele's/strats. Or Bennet/Samick's. And I'm a big fan of Samicks' currently own one and have owned five at one time.

So, what exactly, in your opinion, makes them better? I'm not questioning you, I'm simply trying to wrap my head around what really makes a guitar better. I was playing telecasters today, unplugged, trying to see if I could really tell a difference in sustain and playability up the neck, and frankly, from $200 to $2000 there did not seem to be any clear correlation between sustain and price. What did appear to matter a lot was how new the strings were.

I'm thinking about grabbing one of these furrians and stuffing tex/mex pickups in it. Electronics do not matter to me very much, I often replace them no matter how much I spend on the guitar.

[Mister Natural]

^ at the other end of the scale - I played one of these yesterday & gotta say what an astonishing fretboard and beautiful plugged-in clean tone :

http://www2.gibson.com/Products/Electri ... r-L-5.aspx

oh, baby . . .