Consistent, solid build, looks nice, feels decent across the board. Honestly, the only point of contention I'd upgrade from the factory is the pickup switch - compared to the aircraft-grade switch in my '16 Les Paul High Performance, it just feels cheap. It's average quality, don't get me wrong, I'm just spoiled. That said, the little stuff is right - the top binding looks good, the pickguard doesn't look nor feel cheap in person, etc. Guitar is light but not featherweight - you know you've picked it up and when it's being played, but isn't a boat anchor by any means. Balance is surprisingly good given the locking tuners - there's no neck dive to speak of at all. Tuners are very, very functional - it holds tune well, and string changes were a breeze (I use stainless 10s on everything, so the stock ones had to go!) Pickups are not super-hot aggressive metal ones - they sound good both clean and with gain. Bridge and neck sound substantially different in character, which is quite nice, and the coil-tap sounds are also very usable especially clean. Action out of the box was perfectly playable; I'm a perfectionist and wanted it set up to my usual "not quite shredder, but lower than medium" and it took only a few minutes to tweak. Fretwork is consistently good across the board - nothing sharp or out of balance, intonates without issue. Compound radius fretboard and binding make for effortless playing, which is quite nice.

Sound… read more
Soundwise, the guitar is somewhere between my '14 Gibson 339 (bridge bucker only) and my '16 Les Paul High Performance - it's not brash or shrill, and doesn't quite do traditional jazz tones on demand, but fits pretty much anything else. I didn't have to do much EQ tweaking on my amps versus my other bucker-equipped guitars. Even when coil-tapped, electronics are quiet - no extraneous noise or problems. Sustain is very, very good, which I attribute to the through-body string arrangement and overall choice of wood and the resonance of the particular pieces of lumber this was put together with.

Features
Features, it's pretty basic, but most V-type guitars are. Locking tuners were a solid choice, they're Schecter-branded but do the job and have a solid feel and good tuning ratio. Compensated nut and overall fretwork are excellent. There was no need to break out the luthier tools to fix anything at all. Coil tap is something you won't likely use daily, but it's there as an option and doesn't detract from anything.

Ease of Use
I sounded good pretty much right away with it; it wasn't out of place with my other guitars at all and I have both budget and relatively expensive ones. It played and felt different from any of the others, which is a good thing - because that takes me to different places when sitting down to write and perform, and it's definitely a good shade of paint to have in my available palette of sound.

Quality
Quality is spot on for something in its price range. Nothing is out of place or screams "this is cheap" - fit and finish are decent, the purple top is quite stunning. The only negative mark I can give is that it didn't come with *any* printed manual or documentation, just truss and bridge adjustment allen wrenches. No promotional materials, no obligatory case sticker, etc.

Value
An excellent value for what it is - it's worlds above the baseline V-type guitars that sell for a couple hundred dollars less. You can tell where that price difference went in the electronics, in the fit and finish, in the fretwork.

Manufacturer Support
Haven't dealt with the company at all other than the web-based warranty registration, and doubt I'll need to.

The Wow Factor
I've wanted a V for a couple years now, I'd never owned one in twenty-some years of playing and it just seemed like a fun option to have. I also have been looking for a purple guitar that wasn't equipped with a Floyd Rose or a Strat for a while now...and...this checked off both boxes. I may not play *better* with it than my other stuff, but I sound good, and it looks damn nice.

Musical Background:
Professional recording and performing for twenty-some years now.

Musical Style:
Experimental, improvisational electronic music (guitar, guitar synth, synthesizer) somewhere between Krautrock and free jazz read less