Agile LP Jr. DC
I bought this guitar in 2003 from Rondo Music over the Internet. I was somewhat worried about buying a guitar, particularly a cheap guitar, sight unseen but recommendations by some people I trusted convinced me to spend $199 on this guitar. I'll have to say that I've been very pleased by the quality of this inexpensive guitar and Rondo's service. This is an earlier version of the Rondo Agiles that have a more 'correct' body and headstock shape.
As you might guess from my other guitars, I am a fan of P90's and cheap guitars in general. I've wanted a guitar that looked like this for many years, probably since the late 70's when some groups I liked played Gibsons like this. However, the Gibson Historic series replica version was nearly 2 grand when I first priced them and have edged up slightly. Other Gibson's that were available at the time, such as the LP Jr. Standard and Melody Maker, were priced less, around $700 as I recall, but weren't available in TV Yellow. Other replicas, such as the Epiphone I bought in '98, had a bolt-on neck and were plagued by poor construction quality.
I can't say enough about the excellent build quality on this guitar. It blows away everything else similar to it I've tried in this price range. The fret work was very good and didn't require any tweaks to make it playable (unlike the Epiphone LP Jr. which required considerable fret work to make it playable). The nut, while plastic, was cut and placed well. The Grover tuners keep the guitar in tune quite well. The set maple neck and mahogany body provides nice sustain. The TV yellow finish really shines. Well, it's more of a Taxi Cab Yellow but it still looks nice. The bridge is a standard single wrap-around style which limits intonation options but this isn't any different from the Gibson reissue.
The single P90 is potted and has a decent enough tone to it without sounding overly trashy or microphonic. Unfortunately, it can come across as brittle or shrill if it's not toned down. I tried a pickup swap for this reason but it didn't help. However, the Agile P90 sounded much better in a different guitar. Therefore, I had to conclude that the problem was elsewhere.
The real downside to this guitar is that it is on the heavy side, particularly for a Jr. It weighs in right at 9 lbs. If it was about a pound or two lighter and if it were more resonate it would be a much better guitar.
Modifications
In an attempt to improve the sound of this guitar, I replaced the pickup with a GFS P90. However, this change did not help the guitar. At the same time, I also replaced the bridge with a black Badass style bridge and matching black tuners also from GuitarFetish. The stock Grover tuners were fine, I just wanted to match the hardware colors. The bridge change helped intonation somewhat.
Sounds
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There are 3 separate clips spliced together on the track and all three were done with my V-Amp 2. The first is a power chord sequence in drop D tuning with the 2x12 Crunch patch with the mids turned down to zero. The second is my lame attempt at a Em shred using the Paganini patch. The last one is a pop-surf rhythm pattern done with the factory Bluesy Tremolo patch.
