Last Blogger

So I’ve been hunting for a guitar for some time now. All the while I’ve been scrounging the net high and low for the best bang for my buck. Agile guitars were exremely high on the list of best bang for my buck, but after conversing with Mike over at Dot On Shaft guitars, I ended up finding what I think is the greatest value in a low priced guitar that’s out there. Best of all, Dot On Shaft guitars is a Canadian company.

So I was asking Mike a lot of questions about the specifics of his Mellow Yellow (Tele style) and Sonny Burstin (Les Paul style) guitars. I had planned on buying the Mellow Yellow as a project guitar, but the Sonny Burstin was very appealing to me as well. Mike sensed that I was torn between the two, and as any good sales person would do, he cut me a deal if I bought both. The deal was too god for me to pass up and so I placed the order. Just over a week later (this past Friday) both guitars showed up.

I was expecting some flaws with the guitars and I’m not going to give one of those ridiculous reviews saying that they are as good as $3000 guitars. There are small flaws with the guitars, but still, my overall impression is WOW! I’ve been playing the Sonny Burstin for a few days now and I have to say that it feels great. It’s nice and heavy, the finish looks good and plays well.

I’m still working on the set up so the action is a bit higher than I’d like it to be at the moment. It also uses mini pots which means that there’s not a whole lot of shaft to put the knobs on. As a result, the knobs have dug into the finish a bit. They still turn, but it’s less than ideal. I was planning on replacing the pots anyways so that’s not that big a deal.

I’ll be changing the strings shortly as well. For a few dollars, it’ll make a fair difference as well. The finish is worn on two corners where the neck meets the body on the backside. They’re only about a half inch long and only worn a sliver wide. Nothing worth worrying about much. Once thing I should mention though is that it was dirty. There was some wierd black grime on a few spots on the finish. I gave them a quick rub and they didn’t budge so I thought the spots were burried in the finish. Then I scraped the black stuff with my pick just in case and it came off. That was a HUGE relief.

Looking at the front of the guitar from four feet away, the fit and finish look like a 10/10. Only a very close examination show the finish problems. Since the knobs dig into the finish a little, I’ll give it an 8/10 for fit and finish.

I’ve still got to get my hands on a decent amp to check out the sound, though it’s got a great amount of sustain ringing through the body just sitting on the couch. I’ve put it through my amp and everything’s functional but it’s hard to gauge it’s real tone due to the poor speaker I use. So far so good though.

Although there’s criticism on this guitar I’m just pointing out all the details. While there are items that aren’t perfect, I didn’t buy this guitar to be perfect. I bought it because iI figured it would be the best bang for my buck. In terms of value, this thing is a 11/10.

It’s getting late and this is getting long, so I’ll get around to the review of the Mellow Yellow some other time. Essentially the same dela though, some minor problems, but an 11/10 on value. In order to get a better guitar than what Mike’s offering you’ll have to pay a whole lot more.

(1 votes, average: 2 out of 5)

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