Swiss Army Knife of Guitars

After four months of playing this high quality instrument, finally ready to tell you its weakness: Nothing.

Throw everything -- and I mean everything -- from jazz to R&B to funk to blues to Queen to Maiden to Megadeth -- at it and this guitar will not let you down. Obviously it is more suited to the broad middle of those areas, not the extremes, but you are not going to embarrass yourself with anything remotely blues/rock. Thank the S-1 switching system for that -- you can (and should) read up on the tech specs, but the bottomline is it just works. Together with the trusty 5-way switch you get access to all the subtle colors of tone anyone paying $1500 for a guitar SHOULD be able to hear. Yet these "complex" electronics have performed flawlessly with heavy use. The same for the tuning, nut, and bridge hardware -- rock solid, especially after swapping out the somewhat brittle sounding stock Fender Bullets for Ernie Ball 10s. Oh, and looks -- pics do not do the creamy pearled finish credit, and the simple, clean maple neck just sets it off while providing that hard bite.

The ONE thing that docks it a half-star is the RELATIVE weakness of the Atomic Humbucker. For 90% of rock work its balanced crank does the job and its compatibility with the N3s is great. But. A higher output pup that would be cut BACK to Atomic levels during normal use and would go to full on "11" with the dump button -- another nifty S-1 feature on the HSS model -- would bring even more options within reach, especially on solos. Might have to make that mod some day.

In other words, maybe a 4" blade instead of 3.5" one.