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Anyone familiar with Malden Guitars???

Smithshred

By Smithshred
in Electric Guitars

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jedisb Newbie

jedisb

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Just bought one - arrived on Wednesday. (No NGD thread yet.) I got one of the last Vintage Burst Karma's they had. I'm very impressed with the guitar. A few nit-picky things (finish bleed on the binding in a couple spots, etc.) but nothing I'd return it for. The thing is much lighter than I thought it'd be and the neck is definitely on the slim side, which I like. The pickups are "generic" by their own admission (I emailed and asked about this before ordering) but they are suitable for my needs.

 

Setup was pretty nice out of the box. It was almost perfectly in tune despite traveling across the country in the cold. Only needed to clean the fretboard and adjust the pickup height a bit.

 

I'd say the $500-600 they were originally selling them for would be a fair price and they are a steal for $220. Just be aware that as they are blowing these out that the availability is shrinking quickly. He had 4 VB Karmas left when I ordered mine and within a week of me ordering, they were sold out. I think their goal is to have the US production going by mid-year 2011. They are currently based out of LA but are moving to New Mexico.

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Ratbatblues Newbie

Ratbatblues

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Just bought one - arrived on Wednesday. (No NGD thread yet.) I got one of the last Vintage Burst Karma's they had. I'm very impressed with the guitar. A few nit-picky things (finish bleed on the binding in a couple spots, etc.) but nothing I'd return it for. The thing is much lighter than I thought it'd be and the neck is definitely on the slim side, which I like. The pickups are "generic" by their own admission (I emailed and asked about this before ordering) but they are suitable for my needs.


Setup was pretty nice out of the box. It was almost perfectly in tune despite traveling across the country in the cold. Only needed to clean the fretboard and adjust the pickup height a bit.


I'd say the $500-600 they were originally selling them for would be a fair price and they are a steal for $220. Just be aware that as they are blowing these out that the availability is shrinking quickly. He had 4 VB Karmas left when I ordered mine and within a week of me ordering, they were sold out. I think their goal is to have the US production going by mid-year 2011. They are currently based out of LA but are moving to New Mexico.

 

 

Hi, do you mind me asking how much shipping was?

 

Thanks!

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jedisb Newbie

jedisb

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Shipping was $29. Payment is via Google Checkout. If you like the Walnut color over the natural, he (Victor at Malden Guitars) indicated that even though they show as sold out on the website that they found a few extra in that color in mislabeled boxes. That was last week. So you might send them an email to see how you'd go about ordering one of those if you like that finish better.

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JasonA Newbie

JasonA

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Just got mine this week, and I'd agree with jedisb. Except I didn't notice even any minor finish issues with mine at all, but maybe I haven't been thorough enough yet. Setup was great as it came, and I really like the neck. "Generic" is probably the word for the pickups. Fine, nothing wrong with them, but I'll probably swap them out. Kind of the same way I felt about PRS SE humbuckers. Overall a really nice guitar and a great deal.

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i386 Newbie

i386

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A few nit-picky things (finish bleed on the binding in a couple spots, etc.) but nothing I'd return it for.

 

 

From what I've read, stain is applied to the wood and binding, then scraped off of the binding with a razor blade. Might be worth asking a luthier about yours. May be an easy fix...

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JRicoC Newbie

JRicoC

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My Natural Karma arrived. I haven't played it yet, as I am allowing it to acclimate to indoor conditions. The finish is great; there is an extremely small gap between the binding and the top, but it's hardly objectionable. The flame top is a beautiful, honey wheat color. I'll try to post some pics, but the crappiness of my camera is exceeded only by the crappiness of my photography skills ...

 

Karma_01.jpg

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kit_strong Newbie

kit_strong

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Sorry i wasn't around to cover this. I spent all day traversing the country yesterday. Looks like others covered for me nicely though.

The ottom line is they may not be perfect guitars but they definitely represent a good value IMO and at the current pricing they are definitely a steal.

I'm off to explore more of san Francisco.

 

-kit

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JRicoC Newbie

JRicoC

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After having this around for a couple of days, I'd say I'm extremely pleased. The humbuckers are not PAF-like, but they provide a more traditional humbucker sound than I had in my two other 'bucker-equipped solid bodies. I e-mailed the folks at Malden about the strings and they replied that they were a generic .009/.041-gauge set, so I'll likely replace them with a set of Super Slinkys; which are my usual and preferred choice.

 

As delivered, the thing was tuned down slighly, but the action and intonation had already been set. It was double-boxed, with styrofoam bumpers on the switch and bridge. The headstock was braced with cardboard and wrapped in plastic. As such, there was no shipping-related damage. The pickups and control plates shipped with plastic protective film in place, so the are all pristine, and scratch-free.

 

The frets are all smooth and burr-free, though they could be made to pop with a little polishing. The cap, back, neck and headstock are all but perfectly finished. The rosewood fretboard is similarly flawless and the nut seems sound, though I'm not terribly obsessive about nut materials. I'd imagine most folks who'd change anything on this guitar would replace the nut; not that it's bad, but it's the least-upscale element of the guitar.

 

The switch is solid, tight and noise-free in its movement. I generally prefer one volume, one tone configurations, but the four controls knobs are all smooth, feel solid and tapered well during use. The jack is solidly-attached and not noisy, though if you look at the photo posted below, you can see that real estate is pretty tight where it's mounted. It also points up one of the nicer features (to me, at least) of this model. The contour makes for a nice, lightweight, playable instrument whether standing or sitting. The overall lack of body mass probably robs it of some sustain, but likely only in extreme cases.

 

In all I'd say this is a very good guitar and certainly compares favorably to models in the $599 to $799 street range. Its unique twist on the traditional LP body style gives it a nice, quirky boutique feel, if you like stuff that's a bit off the beaten path, as I do. I can see myself hanging onto this for a long time...

Karma_02.jpgKarma_03.jpg

Karma_04.jpgKarma_05.jpg

Karma_06.jpg

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brandass Newbie

brandass

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This is not dissipating my GAS...

 

Only upside I see here is the thin neck; my hand just doesn't get along with thin necks.

 

BUT I'd want to swap for a neck with maple fretboard anyway, so... GAS anew.

 

The Utopias look great too; must resist, must resist...

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JRicoC Newbie

JRicoC

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Neck shape? Is it thin/wide? What is the nut size? Thx

 

 

Neck Widths:

Nut - 1 5/8"

12th Fret 2"

22nd Fret 2 3/8"

 

Others have commented on the neck profile, most notably kit_strong in the $200 - $300 guitar thread and his YouTube intro video. The profile is relatively flat and feels very playable, but I'm not a neck zealot. I also own and enjoy a Rickenbacker 12 string model, but many folks have problems with their necks. I don't own, nor have I extensively played any other Gibson-scaled guitars (well, not since '85), so I can't truly compare it to anything else.

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EdMan57 Newbie

EdMan57

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This thread started my Malden GAS a week or so back.After failing to score a natural flame top Karma,I found a mint '02 Malden Keyser on line for around the same price and I absolutely love it.The Keyser is a superb clone of a PRS CE24 with a lightning fast neck/fretboard and superb build quality,though I'm still going to install a Duncan Custom 5/'59 set sometime soon.Some might remember the Holly Keyser,which is a semi-hollow version of the Keyser.The Holly Keyser received some excellent reviews before both were discontinued a few years back.

 

 

 

Ed

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