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My Agile purchases ( They can be Great guitars)


jhall

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Thinking on my Agile purchases, Most of them have turned out less than happy. Out of 5 agiles (An AL2500, An AL3000M Prestige, An ST-1000,

An AL 2000 Goldtop P-90s, and an DC 2800 w/uniform profile neck).

The 2500 was decent. The AL 3000M prestige needed a major fret level and the bone nut was useless. The St 1000 (their flagship strat copy at the time) though with GREAT hardware and pickups needed to have the neck shimmed right away as the strings hit the saddles at the wrong angle making the guitar sound dead and lifeless untill the neck was repositioned. The AL 2800 DC had the neck literally fall off after 6 months and I found that it was only glued with a speck of glue.

Suprizingly enough that is the only agile I've kept as I reset the neck, Put in a set of 490r 498t gibson pickups and I really like that one (shouldn't need to reset a neck though!!).

The Goldtop was perfect right out of the box and needed nothing save a bit of intonation adjustment And sounded EXCELLENT ($159.00 guitar!!!).

Not a good track record I'd say.

Unfortunately they do use excellent materials and have a good sound stock. All these issues I've described are really Q/C issues and that's unfortunate.

Even after all this rant I'd say Rondo is a very good dealer and has the best customer support in the buisness.

Mabye I've been the unluckiest Agile buyer in the world?

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:cop:
http://acapella.harmony-central.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1922466



Yup That's why I reposted it. It's important don't ya think?
I'm not some troll trying to dis Agiles.
I'm posting my experiences with them prominently. I think it's relevent and important, don't you?
I may have a lot of money to throw away on guitars but what about those who will only be able to purchase one guitar for years of use.
This may be useful to them ... No?

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So, Would you still consider buyin another Agile??? Seems at first, Everyone loved 'em and recommended 'em. Now it seems like the "fad" has worn off:idk:


(ps, I'd have given ANYTHING to see the look on your face when that neck popped off, I'd have {censored} if it happened to me)

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The AL 3000M prestige needed a
major fret level
and the
bone nut was useless.


The St 1000 (their flagship strat copy at the time) though with GREAT hardware and pickups needed to have the neck shimmed right away as the strings hit the saddles at the wrong angle
making the guitar sound dead and lifeless
untill the neck was repositioned.


The AL 2800 DC had the
neck literally fall off
after 6 months and I found that it was only glued with a speck of glue.




I'm sorry, but how can you possibly praise a brand that produces guitars like you are describing? Talk about some {censored}ed up double speak.. :blah::freak: I bet if Gibson made guitars like that, every person on this board would be all over them for it. But since it's Agile, the HCEG house brand that's adored beyond all reason, it's ok.. It's like the more work you guys have to put into making your guitars remotely playable, the more you like them.

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For the price, I would expect to have to do a little tinkering, but when I'm finished adjusting a few things, it plays really good and makes me glad I didn't waste thousands of dollars on a Gibson.

I have only had to adjust the intonation and action on my 3 however. Nothing major.

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I have to agree that you are unlucky jhall. I have only bought 4 Agiles, but NONE had issues such as yours! In fact out of 8 SX guitars and 7 SX basses, only one came anywhere close to that level of issues! BTW it is now one of my favorite guitars!

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And I'm not really a stickler for Q/C either. I bought 5 of them because I purchase mabye 250 guitars a year. (music store partner). And I'm very intrigued by all the "low cost" imports. And Agile ARE Great values. I think they could do a little better on Q/C.
I'm thinking it's a problem of small run builders as opposed to the big names that make tens of thousands of them per run. And I'm an idiot too What's it to ya?! :mad:
Besides the one where the neck came off is now better than it was when I got it as the neck agle is now perfect and the guitar itself is just to die for.
Just wish I didn't have to set the damn neck. Is that too much to ask.
Also I can't imagine I'm just unlucky with Agiles. I mean what are the odds that I'm the only one to have problems with nearly all of them.
I'm just trying to let the people who may only have one shot at a guitar to steer clear of thier higher end stuff because I find it to be no better than their lower cost offerings as far as Q/c. And all this nonsense about "hand filed frets" Is a myth because they must have a drunk with a hardware store coarse grit stone that has been used for 5 years with no flattening because those "hand filed " frets on their 2800 and up offerings is a joke.
I really think it is an unnessarry waste of effort. I have a feeling what it really is is someone rougeing the frets a little after they are machined.

As I said they really do use top notch stuff on their guitars and the CNC work is excellent. This leaves only the "human" element to my thinking.

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I have two Al300's, one was perfect, the other had minor buzz on one fret which I solved with a little sandpaper, it also had very minor blemishes near the headstock, but Kurt compensated me for that, now that I have it set up it is fantastic. The main upgrade I recommend is new pickups. The 3000's are pehnomenal guitars for the money, even when they need some tinkering. As with all new guitars they usually benefit greatly from a good set up.

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I usually end up modding my guitars with new pickups and wiring whether they are expensive or not so Agiles are great for me. A nice platform for a guy who thinks 90% of the sound is in the pickups anyway.

 

 

I've found that the hardware is quite good on them. It really boils down to a little bit more care at assembly to me.

For instance with my 2800DC that the neck pulled off of, 2 seconds to put the glue in the joint is all it would have taken and there would never have been a problem with an otherwise Very good guitar.

 

On the ST-1000 just a little check of the neck angle and there would have been no reason to have to shim the neck.

As For the AL 3000M Prestige. The frets were so uneven that I had no choice but to level them (so I don't know what to make of that)

And the nut was terrible. After I leveled the frets (this required a good dose of scraping with a flat diamond stone and a generous amount of elbow grease with a crowning file and a good polishing with some 0000 steel wool (seems like a lot of needed work for a guitar advertizes with "individualy hand filed frets").

After that it was a Very good guitar. I unloaded it in a pakage trade in which I ended up with a Cyber Twin so all in all I'm happy.

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Have you ever contacted Kurt or returned any of these Agiles?

 

 

Nope. This IS my fault.

 

But I do value my time and can't be bothered to waste any of it at the UPS store. Nor do I have time to wait at home for a pickup.

I've no problem with Kurt, He did offer to take back without so much as a whimper a guitar WHEN I e-mailed him about an issue. He is a first rate person in my book. The issue lies with 1 ounce of effort at the factory not with Kurt.

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My experience is about 50/50 with Rondo, both Agile and SX.
Out of 5 Rondo guitars I've sent back two.
An Agile ps900 with poor fretwork and a twisted neck.
An SX strat that was only good for firewood.

I bought an SX tele that had many issues but I made it a nice player.
I gave that one away.
An Agile al2000 was also very good.
All it really needed was a fret leveling which was done by forum member Atrox.
According to he and Joecool it's now an excellent player.
Surprisingly the best guitar of them all is an SX acoustic.
Nicest looking wood and construction.
A truss rod and saddle adjustment was all it needed.
Agiles and other budget brands are a value at their price.
The issues they sometimes have is a reflection of that price.

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I paid for an AL2500 and got an AL2800 about 3 years ago. Some minor upgrades like a bone nut, Fralin P90 p/u's, set up and I can't believe how amazing this guitar sounds for such little money. I'm not a fan of the SX models, but would consider another Agile in the future.

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I paid for an AL2500 and got an AL2800 about 3 years ago. Some minor upgrades like a bone nut, Fralin P90 p/u's, set up and I can't believe how amazing this guitar sounds for such little money. I'm not a fan of the SX models, but would consider another Agile in the future.

 

 

Sweet.

My real beef is that Agiles are 90% of the way to being the best deal in the electric buisness (The MIM Strat edges them out IMHO) With a very small effort in Factory worker training.

The issues I've described here and be corrected with less than one man minute per unit and Agile (or the factory contracted to make them)would have to be considered one of the worlds premere guitar builders.

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