211 posts
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Post by riemersma on Apr 11, 2015 19:10:46 GMT
Promised it some time a go, so here it is...
First glance: Looked nice, wrapped in about 10 metres of plastic air cushions and 8 m2 of foam. The guitar itself was covered in dust, really weird.
Sound: The guitar sounds great, that is... for the price. I'm sure a €500 Fender Fat Strat would sound even better, but this is good enough for me. Set-up was decent enough. I use it for Nirvana, 3 Doors Down, Led Zeppelin, Alice in Chains, etc. But also Johnny Cash, Motörhead, Iron Maiden... Basically everything the RX-10 has too much output for.
Looks: It looks absolutely stunning, especially the sunburst. Which is probably a veneer or photo flame, since basswood has very little grain. I ordered it in brown sunburst, and I must say the finish is really great. The shape of the headstock resembles the Fender quite closely. I can't find any blemishes: neither the finish, nor the hardware, nor the knobs have imperfections. Pretty great.
Overall: A well-made, cheap replica of a classic shape with a heavier twist.
For 80 euros, I give it a 9/10.
Compared to Fender, 5.5/10.
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Post by JAC on Apr 11, 2015 21:33:39 GMT
Thanks for the review riemersma.
(could you add a photo?)
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211 posts
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Post by riemersma on Apr 12, 2015 14:45:20 GMT
Thanks for the review riemersma. (could you add a photo?) Yes, I am working on that too.
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Post by doofus on Apr 13, 2015 9:46:00 GMT
Congrats riemersma, And yeah what JAC said
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Post by Deleted on Apr 13, 2015 19:53:34 GMT
I didnt like my ST-20 sunburst. The fret buzz was so bad clean playing was impossible. Hence me only riffing distortion. Cool but one wants to play clean leads and have a good sustain which is impossible with un-leveled frets. And the pickups are too harsh for my taste. Running it through the Digitech RP70 I could get decent sound but far from satisfying. Thomann did tell me to send it back after the fret buzz complain but I didn't feel like it. I wanted to do it myself and see how Im at it. Will know once I relic the guitar. Im glad to see you being happy with yours. Just a tip; take the pickguard gently off and vacuum the pickup cavity because there will be lots of dust there which will screw up the pots (mine had lots of saw dust inside)
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Post by daveb on Apr 13, 2015 21:39:47 GMT
I was rather impressed with the ST-20 HSS I bought for my daughter to learn on. The quality of the body & neck is up there with more expensive HBs, and the 'economy' grade hardware does the job OK. But it did need a full fret dress & setup (which I was fortunately able to do myself). The pickups sound fine to my ears, when coupled to a decent amp or amp sim.
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60 posts
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Post by annoyingtwit on Apr 14, 2015 6:38:46 GMT
Great to hear that you are happy. Happy new guitar day.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 14, 2015 10:45:12 GMT
I was rather impressed with the ST-20 HSS I bought for my daughter to learn on. The quality of the body & neck is up there with more expensive HBs, and the 'economy' grade hardware does the job OK. But it did need a full fret dress & setup (which I was fortunately able to do myself). The pickups sound fine to my ears, when coupled to a decent amp or amp sim. I have written a long critic to Thomann about the fret issue saying that its wrong to sell "beginner" HB guitars with non-leveled frets. Most beginners will not know how to level them and this will add to the price because in Denmark it costs 50 Euros to level the frets and adjust intonation (suddenly the guitar costs more than 80 euros). How many beginners out there stopped playing such a guitar after only a few month. I was one of them when I bought my first electric Peavey which had horrendous fret work. I sold it cheap and went back to acoustic guitar playing. One should encourage beginners rather than disappoint them! You don't sell a car with poorly assembled wheels, do you now when you buy a new thing it should be playable FULL STOP. This is not a second hand guitar. The guitar may be build with cheap components that is another thing but it MUST be playable. Another FULL STOP Thomann did say they are sorry and will try their best to check all guitars before shipping them off. They also told me to write in the comment box for them to absolutely check and fix the frets before shipping. Which they did do for my L-450Plus but in this case the shipment will be delayed a few days. That is fine with me and I received a lovely guitar without any faults Next time I ordered an acoustic without writing anything in the comment box and I've received a guitar with broken truss rod. So from now on I will most definitely write what I want in the comment box to avoid future disappointments. I suggest you do the same. They don't charge extra for it. I do agree that the over all guitar is decent for the price. Changing pickups is my own decission of course and has nothing to do with HB quality for this price range. But frets just MUST be leveled and over all assembly must be as it should. I simply dont understand this fashion to make non-leveled frets on cheap guitars. It seems like people look at this as "normal" and dont complain. Without complaining they will never address this issue.
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Post by daveb on Apr 14, 2015 13:40:34 GMT
I have written a long critic to Thomann about the fret issue saying that its wrong to sell "beginner" HB guitars with non-leveled frets. To be fair to Thomann, they are trying to fix this. I have bought 3 electric guitars from them so far, and all have been roughly fret levelled by the factory. But in all 3 cases, it has been a pretty rough job, and further work was required to finish the levelling properly. As you point out, this is bad for beginners (who generally don't have access to specialist fret levelling tools!). This is why I would not recommend a cheap HB to a beginner, unless they know someone with guitar maintenance skills, or are prepared to spend the money on a professional setup (with fret levelling). Fret levelling is a skilled, time consuming manual task. Unless you have a PLEK machine sitting about! So, there's absolutely no way Thomann can include fret levelling for free on their cheaper guitars. I'm quite sure that when you ask them to "check and fix the guitar before shipping", they simply open a few boxes until they find a nice one, and ship that.
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Post by daveb on Apr 14, 2015 13:56:06 GMT
A further thought. These Chinese guitars travel a complex route via train/boat/truck/warehouse to reach us in Europe. All the humidity & temperature changes along the way can play havoc with sensitive wooden instruments. It's arguable that fret levelling is a largely pointless exercise until the guitar reaches its final home.
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211 posts
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Post by riemersma on Apr 14, 2015 17:22:12 GMT
Checked the frets with a homemade fret thingy (put it on three frets, see if it "clicks") and the only imperfections I could find were the 4th and the 13th frets, and it was off by a hair. Luckily, I aspire to be a luthier one day, so I checked it. Only things needed were a leveling file from an amateur builder I happen to know, and some time.
Pics are oscar mike, figured out Imgur earlier today : P
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Post by daveb on Apr 14, 2015 17:44:54 GMT
Checked the frets with a homemade fret thingy (put it on three frets, see if it "clicks") and the only imperfections I could find were the 4th and the 13th frets, and it was off by a hair Did you check the neck was dead straight first? If there's any relief in the neck, your fret rocker will give false readings.
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211 posts
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Post by riemersma on Apr 14, 2015 19:13:44 GMT
Checked the frets with a homemade fret thingy (put it on three frets, see if it "clicks") and the only imperfections I could find were the 4th and the 13th frets, and it was off by a hair Did you check the neck was dead straight first? If there's any relief in the neck, your fret rocker will give false readings. Yes, I did. The allen key that came with it was utilised within 40 minutes of its arrival : P
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211 posts
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Post by riemersma on Apr 14, 2015 20:07:34 GMT
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Post by daveb on Apr 15, 2015 10:53:16 GMT
So, it would seem to be random whether you receive a guitar with level frets, or one that needs work. In which case, che's approach above is the way forwards - ask Thomann to inspect the guitar before shipping.
Speaking for myself, I enjoy dabbling with my guitars, and (perhaps perversely) welcome the chance to work on a substandard neck with my fret levelling tools. But I acknowledge that I am probably not normal, and possibly downright weird.
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