I play guitar in a band as well as keyboard so I keep on top of both markets. A couple of workmates have been buying cheap Korean guitars from a New Jersey distributor at http://rondomusic.com and I keep being blown away by the quality of some of these guitars for the price. So even though I have never before bought a guitar without playing it first ( I'm not a very trusting guy ) I decided to take a bit of a gamble and bought a Les Paul copy unseen from the Internet. I spent a little more than my friends had, and chose an Agile DLX-2800 Les Paul for $289 with a solid Canadian maple quilt top on a mahogany body with Alnico magnet humbuckers.

What can I say .... now I have received the guitar .... I'm totally blown out by the quality !!!!! It looks like a $3000 Gibson Les Paul and sounds like it too. What more can I say. Even though the first one I received was damaged Rondomusic.com simply UPS-ed it back to New Jersey and sent a perfect replacement. And I do know electric guitars as I have been playing for 36 years now and my gigging guitars include a US Fender Strat with active EMG electronics, a Schecter Strat with Seymour Duncan pickups and a Gibson Les Paul Special which I am planning on refitting with Seymour Duncan pickups. But this cheap Agile LP copy is just great as it is and I have no intention of changing anything about it. I just thought I'd mention this in case any of you are in the market for an affordable guitar. I have played numerous more expensive Epiphone copies at my local Guitar Center and have found them to be very mediocre. I suspect the US companies such as Gibson/Epiphone and Fender/Squier make sure their copies of their more expensive guitars never come too close less it kills the market for expensive guitars. But with these Korean companies there is no incentive to lower the quality of their products.

I highly recommend you check out http://www.rondomusic.com if you are looking for a good but cheap guitar. The products they are selling are great value and Kurt who runs the company has a very good reputation.




[This message has been edited by Nigel (edited 07-18-2003).]

Nigel ... Being that I lived in Staten Island NY (literally a stone's throw from New Jersey), I can attest to the fact that Rondo Music has been a very reliable and trustworthy source for many decades....
t.

Are you guys talking about the Rondo Music Store on Rte 22 in Union NJ? I've been in there a few times. They are a good store. Prices are competitive and products ae fine. I bought a hardshell case for my acoustic there and was very pleased with the price. and the case is perfectly fine.

Many musicians I knew of in the past were big patrons of Rondo Music.

<><
Bob

. that's the one I'm talking about.....
t.

I am sure that this is the same store I bought my guitar from. They just happen to have a web site now so the rest of us can also buy from them. They sell brands that aren't available in stores here in California. I highly recommend them to anyone.


[This message has been edited by Nigel (edited 06-13-2003).]

A few years ago I blew my entire student loan on a honeyburst Les Paul Classic (I didn't want to waste my money on food, clothing and shelter :P ). Anyway, this thing looked great and was literally the most expensive guitar in the shop. But I can honestly say that once the novelty had wore off and I REALLY checked the thing out- it wasn't any better than my friend's £80 Aria Pro II.

Infact, we even did a sound for sound test and I can tell you that the Aria absolutely blew away the Les Paul hands down (more sustain, a warmer sound, etc).

Anyway, since those days I've became a full time supporter of cheap musical gear. I'll be sure to check these guys out.

In fact it was an Aria Pro copy of a Gibson ES335 that the lead guitarist in my band uses, that convinced me that copies had got so much better over the years. And I actually own a 1964 Gibson ES335 ( that I bought back in 1976 - before it was considered vintage ) so I was well able to compare it with the Aria Pro and it compares admirably.

In fact I now use the Agile DLX-2800 as my main guitar and use my Fender Strat and Gibson Les Paul Special as backups in case I break a string during a set. I never would have thought that was possible but it certainly is the case now. So I can believe your findings comparing the Gibson with the Aria Pro.

A good friend of mine Gabe got me into realizing how well some import labels can be. The instrument I use is a ESP LTD M-251. After replacing the trem springs on its duggout Floyd Rose with some real High Quality ones and adding on a GK-2a, the thing tracks better than any other guitar/controller I have picked up anywhere. Probably the only gripe I have about it is inherent with all suspended trems. Whenever it is restrung, boy is it ever a pain in the butt to tune along with common new string stretching. tune,lock stretch, unlock, tune, lock stretch,unlock, tune, lock, stertch,ugh over and over until finally the strtching is done. Nigel, someone told me that you can boil the strings with just a touch of oil and it pre stretches them. is that true or just add Ragu?

Hmmmmmmmm.

The story I'd heard was that you could boil a set of old guitar strings and make them sound new.

I used to do it all the time but eventually I grew to like the sound of old guitar strings. Now changing strings is pretty much an annual event for me.

I had never heard that before. Though it would seem to me that oil would coat the strings and make them attract dust etc. and get old quicker than normal. So I would leave that alone I think. In fact since getting the Agile LP that I talked about at the start of this thread, I have also bought a $199 Agile which is sort of a PRS copy with 24 frets and a Floyd Rose tremelo system. I have always thought I'd like a Floyd Rose but never wanted the inconvenience on my main guitar but for $199, a guitar with FR and Grover tuners seemed like good value so I decided to grab it. While I like using it, I can understand your frustration. I am going to put a new set of strings on this weekend and will let you know how I go with the stretching in. I don't usually have much trouble with new strings as I am careful about the wrap on the tuner and give the strings a good tug when I put them on. But the Floyd Rose may be a different thing and I hope I don't have to lock/unlock as much as you talked about.




[This message has been edited by Nigel (edited 07-18-2003).]