Better Guitar

player opinions

Name: Galen Thurber
Band: -----
Model Year: 2003
Price Paid: $250 Can.
Performance
First off I’m not a fan of the SG looks, I think it’s one the ugliest guitars ever made. I fixed this one up for a friend. The frets are big and slow. The weight balance is off a bit.
Performance Rating: 4
Sound Quality
Bad, but not terrible Epiphone humbuckers. Unusable for styles other than limited rock. Poor clarity of notes. Sustain is less than average for this type of guitar. Seems to go out of tune for no reason. Stock strings were like metal files.
Sound Quality Rating: 4
Construction
Less than average. Machine heads were loose and the screws were loose or broken or broke when gently tightened. Truss rod never was tightened, causing neck warp. Brought it back to 4 of 5 accuracy. Selector switch is of low grade and it crackles and prone to dirt and dust. With all the better low end guitars available online, simply avoid this devil.
Construction Rating: 4

Name: Romolino
Band: -----
Model Year: 2002
Price Paid: $180
Performance
A very nice looking guitar with a great sound. When I wasn’t experiencing problems with it, it was kind of fun to play. I had a lot of trouble 1) getting it in tune (especially the low E string for some bizarre reason) and 2) keeping it in tune (mostly with the high strings). I can’t recommend this guitar for those reasons unless this is your first guitar and you can’t afford anything better. I had it for about 5 days and returned it. The tuning problem was way too irritating. It’s too bad. I liked it a lot if not for the tuning because it was a good value/price/sound.
Performance Rating: 6
Sound Quality
A nice range of sounds between the two pickups. Good tone separation between them. The high strings got muddied together when using distortion. The toggle switch and the pots work well with no noise.
Sound Quality Rating: 8
Construction
I had a black one and it had a very nice looking finish and smooth neck action. It was easy to play all the up to the top of the neck. Speaking of the neck, it was too loose and way to easy to bend which didn’t help with the tuning problem. I didn’t notice any fret buzz any where. Keeping it in tune was an effort. If I played for half an hour, it would have to be tuned up 2-3 times. Thanks but no thanks.
Construction Rating: 7

Name: Luke Stanley
Band: Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem (we stole it from the Muppet movie)
Model Year: -----
Price Paid: $400 Australian (second hand, good condition though)
Performance
Very nice instrument to play. Good maneuverability with the double cutaway body. Fairly lightweight, but still has good sustain. good with low action but a small amount of fret buzz around the second and third frets. Very quick fretboard allows for some nice lead playing but also switches to nice rhythm playability.
Performance Rating: 10
Sound Quality
Beautiful pickups and tone, this is where it comes into it’s own zone. Three high quality pickups give it a very wide variety in terms of tone, and have the possibility of any sort of sound that you may want to use it for. Sustain is good, but could be better. For studio work I’d recommend something a bit more solid with better sustain, like a Les Paul studio or something, but the SG is wonderful for live playing.
Sound Quality Rating: 8
Construction
Very solid construction, slight fret buzz around second and third fret but other than that the finish is flawless, the neck has a steel bar running through the middle of it so it’s sturdy. It also has the trademark SG double cutaway so it’s easy to get up to the higher frets. Very lightweight body, but still so well made as to be extremely sturdy.
Construction Rating: 8