The single cutaway design shortens the exposed area of the neck, making it more secure and therefore more rigid. Combining this with a set neck greatly improves string performance.
Featured review by:
sg4ever, on february 26, 2007 1 of 1 people found this review helpful
Price paid: $ 399.99
Purchased from: Hickory Wind Music
Features: First of all. I had recently written a review on a guitar that I presumed to be an AV3. Wrong, I hadn't asked the saleman what model it was and I recently found out it was indeed the AV6 model. So stupid of me. So here is the review on the correct guitar. The extra hundred dollars this guitar costs will bring you an over-seas made mahogany guitar with what I presume to be a rosewood neck. The neck has decorative, rectangular inlays and is round yet thin. It's quite comfortable to play really. It features a Les Paul like body and control layout with a slight curve in the upper bout being the only difference. I'm not sure what kind of finish it has, but it has an attractive cherry sunburst color. The bridge is Tune-O-Matic and the tuning pegs are decent if not Standard and keep the guitar reasonably intune unless you do a lot of heavy bends, hammer-ons, tapping, etc. Finally the pickups are passive and Duncan designed. Pretty nice features for a guitar of this price. // 10
Sound: Well the sound of the guitar through my Kustom Quad DFX suits nearly all of what I play which is mostly christian rock, modern worship for my youth group, hardrock, alternative, metal, funk, and some punk/pop. The sound is very full and rich sounding. The pickups provide a warm, smooth sound on clean settings and can distort well for blues and rock. The neck pickup can do a nice "Dani California" solo tone with medium distortion and the bridge pickup is nice for some Led Zeppelin and AC/DC riffing. As I'm using no effects and the pickups are passive the amount of distortion for heavier stuff is lacking, though they cut it for some Switchfoot, Underoath, Kutless stuff. The guitar sound is predominately for that old style crunch from the seventies on up to some 80s metal like Guns N'Roses. It does handle most lead and soloing very well, and it can cut it for some grunge and hardcore stuff, plus I'll be getting a pedal for distortion so this is pretty great for what I do. // 10
Action, Fit & Finish: Well this guitar was about as well set-up as an overseas made guitar can get. The bridge pickup needed to be raised for more output, but I did that myself. Of course the main issue was the action. This guitar buzzes on the frets pretty badly. Of course I'm just picky about that and it won't be that bad to others. Thankfully, it's not so apparent when you're playing through your amp. Just watch out when your playing drop C or D because it buzzes on the lower frets. // 8
Reliability & Durability: This guitar is pretty well made and handles practice at well at home and Live use well. The hardware looks like it'll last finely enough for me though I will swap the pickups for better crunch someday. That's besides the point though. I've used it Live without backup and it's great. I don't abuse my guitar at all so I don't see why it would quit on my without warning. The finish does get scratched though, but I got the guitar to make nice sounds when I play music. I didn't get it to hang on the wall. Just look at Eric Clapton's Strat! So little scratches aren't really not an issue with me. // 10
Impression: This is a great guitar for blues, rock, medium heavy distortion, and mellow clean stuff like funk and the sort. I really don't regret buying this guitar as it has a nice tone to it. I would certainly buy this guitar or something like it(nice tone with more crunch) in this price range if it were lost or stolen. // 10
Reviewed by:
leonkennedy74, on july 03, 2007 1 of 1 people found this review helpful
Price paid: $ 550
Purchased from: Music Castle
Features: American made, 2006 model. Has 22 frets and a laminate top finish. Not sure what woods. I think it might be ebony on the fret board. It's a satin black finish with gold tune-o-matic bridge, obviously a Les Paul style guitar, single cut away. Two Duncan humbucking pickups and a 3-way selector switch at the top of the guitar (same location as on the Les Paul). Has 6 Grover non-locking tuners. Will crush any Epiphone and can hold it's own against the priciest Gibson you can buy. // 8
Sound: I play music all over the board, but primarily in blues, alternative and rock and the guitar plays perfectly no matter how badly you abuse the neck with tapping, trills, or anything else. The frets past the 12 though are just a little bit to close together for my taste, in comparison to the Fender Highway One Strat. Frets have stood up to a year of ridiculously constant playing. // 10
Action, Fit & Finish: The action on this guitar is like pushing your finger through butter. The finish is great like frosted flakes great. I've had it for a year now and the paint still sparkles in the light no wear other than some minor dings on the tops of the head stock and opposite the pick gaurd but other than that it's still a rather new looking guitar. The pickups were slightly low but adjustments are easily made with a small philips head screw driver. The pickup selector is kinda loud but no noise through the pickups unless you crank the volume up all the way to the top but still very subtle. The G string tuner is a little bit loose but it's not noticible through an amp. // 8
Reliability & Durability: Well as I said earlier, the body has withstood all that I can throw at it and I'm a seasoned guitarist. The neck has needed some simple adjust ment and the pickups have needed to be cleaned but other than that the guitar has stayed in tune very well and the neck is yet to have any severe or worrying problems, though a hard case does help with that. The strap button closest to the bridge has been stripped but my strap hasent fallen yet (the bain of the guitar prior to this one 'fell from six inches and the fret boared snapped). The finish is gonna last a hell of a lot longer and even after the paint wears it will still retain it's fantastic looks. // 9
Impression: I play a lot of Jimi Hendrix and Stevie Ray Vaughen, I also own a Crybaby Wah pedal that fits nicely with the pickups. My Orange Crush 30R amp works great and has keept up with every single note through every "Eruption" to "The Sky Is Crying" and will not let you down. if it was stolen I would definitely buy another, a great guitar for the price and definettely a keeper. In comparison to the Epiphone Black Beauty, it crushed the opposition and will hold it's own very well against a Gibson SG-3. I wouldn't recomend this guitar for someone Who likes to play country though as the clean selection can still be a little rough on the E chords but for me it fits just right. I wish it had a bigsby tremolo bridge but that's not to hard to come by anyway. // 9
Reviewed by:
Sunburst459, on april 07, 2008 0 of 0 people found this review helpful
Purchased from: First Note Music
Features: It was made in Korea, but I do not know the year. She's gota 22 jumbo fret, fretboard. It's a bit hard to play on the highest frets, due to my fat fingers. I think that it's Gibson scale, but I haven't checked. It's a solid body made of mahogany, with a spalted maple laminate top, and cream binding and pickup rings. The mahogany (the body and neck) has a transparent red finish, the laminate top, has no stain, but only the clear coat of what is probally a laquer, maybe nitrocellulose. It's a Les Paul type guitar with only a major visual differences, besides finish. Those differenses are the headstock shape, size (I think it's bigger than a regular LP, but I haven't brought a ruler with me to the local GC) and a curve where the top half of the body meets the 18th fret. It has a Tune-O-Matic bridge and a stop tailpiece, which I'm thinking of replacing with a Les-Trem, because I do not want to marr the beautiful top with a Bigsby's mounting screws (B5) or take up too much real estate (B7.) Passive electronics, two tone and two tone bell knobs, and two Duncan-Designed humbuckers with chrome covers. It came equiped with non-locking Grover tuners that hold tune remarkably well. // 9
Sound: It suits my style pretty well, I play classic rock. I use a piece of fifteen watt Crate flexwave which has awful overdrive, it screams, literally. I also use a Marshall Mini Amp (the Mini half stack thet you can clip onto your belt) which has a nice tone for classic rock, except when the batteries need to be changed. The guitar isn't noisy, except when I flip the pickup selector, or un plug it, but I use low quality cable, due to someone dropping a guitar (not mine) and bending the plug. I may not be a good judge or tone, but I would say that it has a bright sound, If that's how you'd describe a SG, but this guitar is a bit darker in the tone department. It has a okay range of sound, I can play metal (Metallica and Judas Priest), hard rock (AC/DC and Deep Purple) and new rock (Three Days Grace) with no problem. // 8
Action, Fit & Finish: It was set up well, by the factory or the shop I do not know. It had a relatively low action, but no buzz. The top was also well bookmatched, almost mirror image, but it's spalted, so there is some difference though. Not many flaws, just a sharp point on one corner of the nut and a minor finish blemish on the headstock (it's really minor, it took me five months to notice). // 9
Reliability & Durability: I believe that this guitar will withstand a heck of a lot of Live playing, I've hit this guitar on another guitars or stands, and there are no marks. Well, except for scratches on the back caused by my belt buckle (yet I wear a dress belt, not a belt with some hubcap sized buckle.) The strap buttons are solid, too. And I could depend on this guitar for sure, I've put it through a lot of abuse and It hasn't failed me yet. I would go gigging without another guitar with this one, even though I't the "better safe than sorry" person. This guitar I think would withstand many years to come looking like new, the finish is very durable, my abuse of the guitar has proven that. // 9
Impression: T play classic rock, new rock, and classic metal This guitar is a great match tonally, and visually... Well, except for the classical metal. I have been playing for almost a year now, I own a Takimine G-Series acoustic-electric, a Crate flexwave fifteen watt, and a Marshall mini amp. If It was stolen (I would not loose it) I would save up money for another one and swear every time I try to play a rock song on the acoustic. Or I would try my hand at building my own Les Paul style to my own standards and needs, rather than spending a lot of money to do it. I love the shape and the sound of it, I hate the smallness of the higher fret spaces (my fat fingers) and my favorite feature, is the individual tone controls. I compared It to some Epiphone Les Pauls and SGs, this blew those pathetic pieces of basswood or alder, or whatever they are out of the water, when it came to sound, and size, this guitar was bigger than the LP-100 I tried and the G-400. There are only a few things that I wish that it had, a Les Trem or Bigsby B5, a Slip-Stone nut, and a coil tapping feature. // 8
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