You'll excuse me if at first I was really skeptical about this guitar. Even after reading a number of "high praise" reviews, I was still not quite sure if I should pull the plug and order one. I watched a number of Youtube videos [and there are quite a few], and all of them raved about the quality of the product, compared to the price. Anyway, I bit the bullet and ordered one. It arrived this morning by UPS, on time, and in great condition. I have to say that $138 Canadian dollars shipping with UPS was a little on the expensive side, but with the pandemic and Thomann's regular shipper closing shipments to North America, UPS was my only choice. This should in no way reflect on Thomann, as they were an absolute pleasure to work with, and because the product was back ordered by a couple of weeks they kept me well informed on how the sale was progressing.
Although many said that their guitar was playable right out of the box, mine needed some minor adjustments so that I didn't have to fight the action. I'll get into those in a moment.
I checked the guitar over quite closely after unwrapping it. I took a neck gauge and found the neck did not need any adjustments to the truss rod. The finish I would describe as something you would only find on much more expensive guitars. I'm not much of a paisley graphics lover [never have been, even when it was in vogue years ago] but I think it will grow on me. I was going to order the Rosewood model and then after reading a couple of reviews that were a bit negative on the finish, I opted for the paisley. I'm glad I did because it is excellent. Not a single blemish. Neck joint attachment to the body is flawless, and most of the electronic components seem to work really well other than a few small adjustments. The neck pickup was slanted towards the neck at a slight angle that looked, well, a little weird. Easy fix. The tuners have sharp inside edges, but they seem to work amazingly well and at this time I don't think I'll change them. Although the intonation was just about perfect, the string height had to be adjusted on the 1st to 4th strings on the bridge. That was about a 5 minute job and now the guitar is really, really playable. I'm kinda shocked. You're not fighting the fretboard and even though the strings were a little high, all the adjustments made a world of difference. I didn't notice any rough frets, and this guitar didn't need them polished like I've read on many reviews. I will change the strings to the ones I've been using for years, just because I'm used to them and like their sound.
I plugged it into my practice amp for the first time and I have to say I'm really impressed. The Roswell pickups are just fine. I'll stay with them for awhile as I can always make a change latter if I get bored with them. The volume and tone controls were smooth and worked well, as did the selector switch.
If I had anything to complain about it would be the plastic they used as protective covering over the neck pickup. I don't know what they glued it with, but it was a pain in the a** to get off. Again, just an annoyance and nothing that I would call a quality issue. I have been playing for many years and have never come across such a great product at such a reasonable price. If your on the edge about buying one I would highly recommend it.
