Post by advb on Jul 8, 2022 17:27:09 GMT
After the positive experience blindwilly3fingers had with the Fazley DC Junior clone, I thought I'd give the Flying V clone a go, especially as the price had dropped to below £110, almost 50% of the alleged RRP. As a teenager in the 1970's I was heavily influenced by UFO/Michael Schenker and the hankering for a silly show-off guitar has never gone away.....
I got it yesterday and sadly its not promising. Finish is generally OK and there are no sharp fret ends. The gold finish of the metalwork is a bit naff but the main problem is the very limited QC/setup and poor fretwork. Out of the box its unplayable - no neck relief, action is too low (1mm across all the strings), and several high frets causing buzz and choke-out all the way up the neck, especially on the thicker strings. One of the high frets looks like it may have been put in manually - there are glue remnants by the fret and less well finished fret ends.
Unfortunately, family matters have stopped me from being able to do any setup on it yet or to bash the offending high frets with a fret hammer, so I can't tell if its within my abilities to put right.
About all I can say so far is that sitting with it (with the lower arm of the V between my thighs) is surprisingly comfortable and keeps the neck very solidly in playing position, albeit a different one to normal. I like my guitars to feel different so I don't get in a rut or get in to bad habits with my wrist or fingers. And its certainly different.
My gut feeling is that it won't be a keeper, which is a pity as Bax only now have one more of this model in stock so a replacement probably won't be available for the same price. (I suspect the recent price drop was to clear the stock.) At least Bax have a 30 day free returns policy so I don't have to rush a decision.
If anyone is interested, I'll let you know how it goes.
I got it yesterday and sadly its not promising. Finish is generally OK and there are no sharp fret ends. The gold finish of the metalwork is a bit naff but the main problem is the very limited QC/setup and poor fretwork. Out of the box its unplayable - no neck relief, action is too low (1mm across all the strings), and several high frets causing buzz and choke-out all the way up the neck, especially on the thicker strings. One of the high frets looks like it may have been put in manually - there are glue remnants by the fret and less well finished fret ends.
Unfortunately, family matters have stopped me from being able to do any setup on it yet or to bash the offending high frets with a fret hammer, so I can't tell if its within my abilities to put right.
About all I can say so far is that sitting with it (with the lower arm of the V between my thighs) is surprisingly comfortable and keeps the neck very solidly in playing position, albeit a different one to normal. I like my guitars to feel different so I don't get in a rut or get in to bad habits with my wrist or fingers. And its certainly different.
My gut feeling is that it won't be a keeper, which is a pity as Bax only now have one more of this model in stock so a replacement probably won't be available for the same price. (I suspect the recent price drop was to clear the stock.) At least Bax have a 30 day free returns policy so I don't have to rush a decision.
If anyone is interested, I'll let you know how it goes.