PricePaid: 109 GBP (New)
Purchased From: http://stores.ebay.co.uk/The-Music-King
Model Year: 2006Features: [9]
Chinese made, it has a strat shaped basswood body with flame maple top, finished in translucent blue laquer. 2 unknown make passive open coil humbuckers and 3 way selector, with 1 each of volume and tone pot. String through body with tunomatic style bridge. 22 fret bolt on maple neck and fretboard with dot markers, unknown make closed die cast tuners. It came supplied with truss rod key, and average quality lead. Sounds: [8]
A typically bright 12 string sound, and even though the pickups aren't the best, there's enough tonal variety to suit me. Maybe the tone pot is a bit 'all or nothing' in use, but as I usually have it fully open, it's no real problem. Played through my Rolond Microcube and Toneworks AX1500G, I am satisfied with the sounds I can get. Action, Fit & Finish: [9]
The factory setup could have been better, the pickups needed balancing, and while the action was good out of the box, a bit of effort on my part has resulted in a superbly low, buzz free action. The only physical flaw is a slight blemish on the fretboard, but it's something to have to actually look for to notice. Reliability & Durability: [9]
This is a surprisingly lightweight guitar, and for that reason, I doubt it would withstand the rigours of live use. As a backup, or as in my case, home use, it's ideal. All the hardware appears solid, and once I had it set up and tuned, I've not had to adjust anything since. It's held it's tuning better than most guitars I own/have owned. Overall Rating: [10]
I've wanted a 12 string electric ever since I played a 12 string Shergold Masquerader some 30 years ago, but could never justify paying a lot of money for a guitar I'd probably seldom play. I stumbled across this guitar while googling for 12 string electrics, and thought at the price, it's worth taking a chance on. I know buying without trying is risky, but if I'd seen and tried it in a shop, I would have expected the price to be perhaps double or more than I actually paid. I have four other guitars, which literally haven't been touched since this arrived. Although not strictly needed, I may at some point replace the pickups and pots, the overall build quality means any extra expense would be worthwhile. I'd buy another in a heartbeat if this was lost or stolen, the catch being, it seems they are in short supply. I am literally staggered at the bang for buck this guitar represents, sure, it's no Rickenbacker killer, but it's still amazing value for money. If mine is typical, it comes highly recommended.
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AE-312 12 String Super Strat
