[1 year update - including corrections to my previous review]
There isn't a lot of information about this guitar online so I am posting additional specs here.
Note that the specs on Thomann are wrong, check the manufacturer and distributor websites for the correct ones.
* Dual action truss rod.
* 3 piece neck (scarf joint + neck + heel) and 3 piece back (center block + 2 hollow wings).
* Neck profile is round and thick with low frets (not the easiest to play, feels like a mini nylon guitar).
* Rolled edges fingerboard.
* Acrylic inlays.
* Long neck tenon.
* Pickup cavities are painted black but are not shielded (it is not conductive paint and is not connected to ground).
* 3-way switch and potentiometers cavities are not shielded and not painted.
* The pickups are 2 wired (hot and shield) so no coil splitting, phase inverting, etc.
* Volume pots are 500 kΩ linear, tone pots are 500 kΩ log (50s wiring).
* Neck pickup is 7.8 kΩ, bridge pickup is 8.5 kΩ.
* Pickup covers have brushed metal finish.
* Bridge and tailpiece are nickel plated.
* The bridge is f-spaced, spring locked and uses Nashville posts.
Positive impressions:
+ Actual Kluson Supreme tuners (not Kluson style). They are great!
+ The nut was cut ok. First frets in tune, bar chords are comfortable, there is not much extra material above the strings but the strings could be lower.
+ No fret sprout, no tooling marks and frets properly seated.
+ The neck/ body joint (Nik Huber style) despite looking weird in photos is surprisingly comfortable and functional (better than a Les Paul Modern).
+ Maple top (not a veneer) and mahogany neck also has some flaming to it.
+ Body shape is very similar to the Gibson Les Paul and the headstock/logo also looks good.
+ The guitar weighs 2.5 kg (due to the semi hollow construction).
+ The hard shell case, although not the most sturdy, is good; the neck is well supported, the headstock does not touch the case and the guitar doesn't wiggle around.
Negative impressions:
- The factory fret leveling was baaaaad!!! At the end it required a full leveling and crowning (we suspect it was done with the back of the headstock supporting the guitar).
- Some brownish "glue" was used to fill the neck pocket gap, it is small but noticeable¹².
- Pickups are misaligned with the strings (they sound good though). This is most evident in the neck pickup which was wrongly chosen to be f-spaced³.
- The bridge pickup ring angle is way too sharp, the bridge pickup is not parallel to the strings (still sound good).
- Pickup springs are too short as a consequence the pickups wobble around (I replaced them with longer ones, easy fix).
- At the place where my hand touches the bridge, the nickel plating wore off after 2 months (note: I sweat a lot on my hands).
- Substantial neck dive.
- No case candies whatsoever except for the allen key used in the truss rod. The case seems to have a lock mechanism but no key was included.
- The 15th and 21th inlays had some minor wood chipping in the fretboard around them (barely noticeable).
- There is a blemish in the back of the guitar beneath the clear coat (barely noticeable).
- The bushings for the bridge posts were not completely inserted into the body (easy fix with a rubber hammer).
- The holes for the tailpiece bushings are crooked, so I couldn't get them to mount flush with the body.
- Despite the good soldering work both tone potentiometers became scratchy after a few months (had to replace them).
- All knobs were installed somewhat crooked and the bridge volume knob was smashed against the body and was very hard to turn (scratched the finish).
- The truss rod tip was slightly rusted upon arrival but the truss rod is functional⁴.
¹The neck is firmly secured into the body so it doesn't look like it affects the structural integrity; however I've never seen a guitar like this before.
²Originally I thought this was a QC issue but since then I have seen other examples with the same issue, so I guess it is proposital.
³Bridge humbucker is correctly f-spaced and matches the bridge.
⁴The truss rod affects frets #4 and #5 the most and is slightly crooked towards the treble side (b string) which is not ideal but I still can get good action (1 mm) on all strings.
My thoughts:
It is a good looking guitar but don't let the Nick Huber neck/body joint fool you, this is not a modern guitar.
It is a low fret, chunky neck, vintage style guitar. You feel your fingers against the fretboard, especially during bends.
(Originally I had this listed under negative impressions but after a few months I got used to it and actually enjoy it now).
Despite the pickup misalignment, the pickups sound good.
You get the classic rock sound, think about late 60s, early 70s (Clapton, Sabbath, ACDC, etc).
Each pickup has its own character and sounds quite different from the other.
Regarding the construction quality I would say this guitar is one step (or two) below a high-end Epiphone despite having better pickups and better woods.
In my initial review in 2022 I said that for 815 euro I was expecting to not do any fret leveling and that there were better "bang for the buck" guitars out there.
Now in 2023 with the price at 950 euro I would say it is hard to justify buying this guitar (especially considering potential costs with fixes and fret leveling).
My recommendation is to either spend more money and go for a higher quality instrument or just save some bucks and go with a more established value brand.
