Agile PS-4000

Agile is a Korean guitar maker who in recent years has become very popular in America. From what I know they only have one vendor which is RondoMusic. These guitars are very high quality and come at very low prices. The Agile PS series of guitar are guitars based on PRS shaped guitars. The PS-4000 is the top of the line model of this line. The PS-4000 features a 2 piece mahogany body with a huge maple cap. It has a 24 fret maple neck with an ebony fretboard with Jumbo frets. The fretboard has classy offset square inlays so you can really see the nice ebony on the fretboard. It has a PRS style one piece stopbar tailpeice that is notched for good intonation. From the factory it comes with Seymour Duncan pickups. It has a Jazz in the neck and a 59 in the bridge which is a classic all around combination. The body is heavily beveled so you can reach the upper frets. The body has natural binding from the thick maple cap on the mahogany body. It has a master volume and master tone control.

UTILIZATION

This guitar plays great. The neck is not to thick not to thin and has a pretty flat radius on the fretboard. The ebony fretboard is great and feels smooth under your fingers. There is a reason why orchestral instruments have used ebony fretboards for hundreds of years. The archtop body feels comfortable against you and does not dig into your chest or arm anywhere. The stopbar tail piece may take some getting use to. I am not really old on their design. PRS has used them sucessfully but I would rather have a tune-o-matic or something that allows full adjustability of the intonation.

SOUNDS

This guitar has a super tone with this wood and these pickups. The mahogany body gives sound nice bass and body in the low end and low mids. The thick maple top gives you a crisp top end and keeps the sound from being too muddy. The Jazz does a perfect job in the neck position. It gives you nice smooth leads and chimey cleans. It is not too high an output so it cleans up well and does not push your amp over the edge if you do not want it to. The 59 gives a great paf type sound. Which is good all around for blues to classic rock. If you want to play heavier music I would suggest a pickup swap. You can easily make a couple hundred bucks selling the stock pickups and buy yourself a set of EMG's if you want a more metal tone.

OVERALL OPINION

This guitar really is a RPS killer. PRS does not make many guitars with ebony fretboards. PRS does not make many guitars with 24 frets either. This guitar comes with both of those things and Seymour Duncan pickups from the factory. If you are looking for a guitar that will smoke any PRS double its price or just a backup guitar for your PRS that has a similar feel this guitar is a good choice.