Solar Guitars A2.7TBR G2

Sound:

- The technicals (mostly for the bridge pickup): Ofc, it chugs. It also sounds very clear and responsive (I'm thinking because of the Alnico V pups), the sustain is good but not amazing. I wouldn't say it's bright or warm, more like in the middle, which is great since you can EQ it however you want

- Personal opinion: I like it quite a lot. My favourite tone is the Fisman Fluence one and this is good enough that doesn't justify a replacement for me now. Ofc, I'm not saying is as good as the Fishman Fluence tone. I especially love how clear the sound is. I come from an active pickups "background" and I was blown away by the clarity. It literally allows me to play some harmonics that I was unable to before.

Playability:

- Word of advice on the 7-string 26.5" neck:

I have pretty large hands so I though the extended scale and the extra string won't be a problem at all. Boy I was so wrong about that...

I see now why a lot of people say 7 strings aren't for everyone. It takes a bit to get used to it. When I grab my 6-string standard scale now it feels like a 'toy'. So keep this in mind when buying one. It will take some time to get used to and, depending on your play style, you might not like it in the end.

- How it plays: The neck is nice. No fret edges sticking out for me, no dead zone, not buzz (at 0.35mm action), good fret access in the 24th fret area. The back of the neck is perfect and I'm not overselling this. It's pitch perfect, my hands slides easily on it, has no bumps or any texture issues, and I feel in control since it doesn't slide too much to the point where you overshoot.

I like the thickness of it too. I can't stand Ibanez Wizard necks because of their thinness. This is spot on, my size. I would say is similar to my 6-string Jackson, kinda in between LTD and Ibanez.

Build Quality:

This left an awesome impression. I was actually prepared mentally to return it in case of major issues or accept some minor issues (especially with the paint job), but I was blown away right as I pulled it out of the box. No paint issues, no buzzing, no dead zones, no rough fret edges, stays in tune great and looks better in person than in pictures. It's color is darker than it seems, really living up to the Trans Blood name. It is also pretty light due to the Swamp Ash body.

What would make it perfect:
- Strap locks. It seems silly, but I kind of expected some at this price, since those are not expensive at all. You can easily install them yourself though.
- Locking tuners. No issues with the Grover tuners so far, but I still plan on installing some locking tuners in the future.
- Hipshot bridge. No issues with their bridge so far though.
- Stainless steel frets.

As you can see, the perfect Solar guitar for me would be the A1.7 version of this without the Evertune, since I change tunnings quite frequently. I said nothing about the pickups because they are great, so great in fact that I wouldn't mind them on a more expensive guitar.

Conclusion and TL;DR: Great buy. Amazing quality control.

I'm quite astonished that a guitar like this only costs 799€ and I plan on rocking it for years to come

The guitar seems well balanced, and the neck is comfortable to play. However it does feel that a few corners have been cut to reduce the price, so I'm finding myself needing to return it as I'm just not in love with it.

Pros

- Solidly built
- Fair amount of features for the price
- Pickups sound good
- Looks very nice
- Smooth thin neck

Cons

- The 18:1 tuners are ok, I prefer locking tuners, but this can be swapped easily
- The top on mine is a little lacklustre, with grain patterns not matching
- Had a few sharp fret ends, possibly fret sprout
- Frets weren't very smooth, would benefit from better polishing
- There was peeling lacquer on the edge of the fingerboard facing the neck pickup
- One small paint defect on the upper horn, underneath the top coat
- Action was super high out of the box, was in sore need of a setup
- Sent a support question to Solar, and never got a reply

Overall, if you get one with QC defects you are happy to live with, I think this would be a great starting point to enter the 7-string world. For me, I think I will keep looking.

Pros
- Decent features
- Good sound
- I've been lucky and received one with good looking wood grain
- Smooth thin neck
- Feels and plays nice

Neither Pros, nor Cons
- Tuners are pretty close together, but it's easy to get used to them
- It came in desperate need of a setup, but that didn't bother me because I was going to change the string gauge anyway

Cons
- Some minor finish flaws which should have made the guitar a B-stock in my opinion
- The pickups were mounted with some bad quality screws which were extremely tight. 2/4 screws got scraped and didn't move a bit. I will have to extract and replace them
- After some days of playing I've noticed that the paint on the side of the fretboard was peeling. I didn't realize at first what it was so I gently touched it with my fingernail only to have it extend. This drove me insane and made me scrape the paint off the whole side of the fretboard with only a guitar pick. I didn't hit the guitar or did anything else to cause the lacquer to start peeling

Although I've encountered some flaws which definitely shouldn't have been there at this price point, I like the guitar.

Pros:
The guitar sounds absolutely amazing, the clean sound, the chugging, all of it is really good.
It is a really beautiful guitar, the wood patterns and the color makes it one of the most nice to look at guitars i've ever owned.
It comes almost ready to play out of the box, the strings on it were still good, the setup for the basic tuning done, almost pitch perfect.

Cons:
At this price range you would expect atleast a locking nut or maybe some strap locks.
There were atleast 5-6 cracks down the side of the neck at the bars.
The top and bottom of the fretboard were not in top condition you would expect from a brand new guitar.

Overall a really nice guitar except the quality, seems like Solar has had problems with QC since the pandemic started, so hopefully it will improve.