Agile Electric solidbody baritone or 7/8 string guitars

This review is for the single pickup version Intrepid guitar. Made in Korea Ash Body 3 piece maple bolt on neck with 15” radius. Width 2 ¼” at the nut No inlays on the neck. Position markers on the side of the neck only Scale Length: 28.625” 24 Jumbo Frets Cepheus "Alpha" passive pickup with master volume. Cavity has been routed large enough to accommodate additional electronics Cepheus "Bridge 8" Bridge String through body Die-cast Grover sealed tuners model GH305-18 with 18-1 ratio for fine tuning Graphite Nut Polyurethane Finish Neck profile (thickness): 7/8" at the nut and 15/16" at the 12th fret String gauges: .009, .012, .015, .022, .030, .040, .054, .072 UTILIZATION As large as the fretboard is, it is surprisingly easy to play, and it actually sounds pretty good. The hardware is not top-notch, but it is quality designed, and with good materials. The upper fret access is good, and the string spacing is such that I can get my hands all the way to the bottom string with ease. One thing that might throw some people off is the 28.625 inch scale length - it helps a ton with clarity on the low end, but the added length might cause difficulty with people with short fingers or smaller arms. SOUNDS This thing can absolutely djent with the best of them! It has a great, thick rumble, but with the scale length, all chords and notes have a good separation and are well defined. The fact that the body is ash with strung through body, and the neck is maple bolt on, certainly helps the clarity overall. That's actually my favorite wood combination, so I was stoked to get this guitar! The pickup is actually something I would take off and use in something else - as a budget pickup, that surprised the heck out of me. OVERALL OPINION This guitar performs solidly. It can do the Meshuggah, After The Burial, Animals As Leaders-inspired djent metal tones with ease. It may be a bit too different-looking to pass for jazz, and the fact that it doesn't include a neck pickup doesn't help that fact. But, all in all, this is an absolute steal for anyone that wants to be more experimental with their music. I highly recommend this guitar for metal/experimental guitarists.

It is crazy the amount of ideas Rondomusic will satisfy with their Agile line. Im sure less than 5 people wanted a fretless 8 string but they made it anyway. It is part of their 8 string line up which has many options. You have a choice between a 28 and 30 inch scale, with tremolo or hardtail hipshot bridge. You have a choice between one or two pickups which can be passive or EMG 808. This guitar has the hipshot bridge with dual passive pickups. It has a bolt on maple neck with a maple fretboard with no frets on it. It has a volume control and a tone control. UTILIZATION Playing a fretless guitar is very different than playing a normal guitar. It is even different than playing a fretless bass. Since the guitar has a shorter scale and more strings all the notes are closer together and it is easier to sound out of tune. You have to press a lot harder on the string and you have to press exactly where the fret would be. On a normal guitar you would press behind the fret or in the middle space of the fret and it would make the sound. If you press in those places on guitar guitar you would sound out of tune and really bad. SOUNDS There is nothing worse than a fretless being played badly. Unless you have perfect bitch or have been playing fretless for years you will probably sound bad on this. Its not that the guitar it self sounds bad it is that you are not good enough to play the guitar. Hardly anyone is. Also on an 8 string I would recommend active pickups. It is hard to find a passive that can provide the clarity in all the frequencies an 8 string can do. This might be an instance where you dont want to hear all your notes. OVERALL OPINION There is a reason only the most accomplished players play fretless guitar. It is very difficult to sound good doing it. And none of these guys play fretless guitar primarily. Its nice that you can get one so cheap now but I do not see the point. Its just going to make a lot of beginners sound really bad. I would recommend staying with normal guitars but if you are looking to replicate some Charles Ives stuff or something on guitar this could be for you.