Agile 8 string

Rook

Rook

Power User
I just bought an Agile 8 string from Rondo music, and I just have to commend them on their customer service. For whatever reason they choose to do all their business through the website and email (no telephone), but my emails were replied to within about 10 or 20 minutes. There was a small hiccup with payment (hard to have shipping address and billing address the same if your billing address is a P.O. box), but Kurt responded quickly with some good, effective suggestions, and the guitar got out that day. 2 days later, I had it... in Hawaii.

Not going to review the guitar right now. It needs a bit of a setup, but hey, it had just been flown from New Hampshire to Hawaii. I don't have my Axe here, so I can't speak for the sound (which I'm sure is great with the Blackouts), but all in all I am pretty impressed. That sucker is huge though. I feel like a little kid playing it.

I am not affiliated in any way with Kurt/Rondo/Agile, but it sometimes bugs me that people are quick to do reviews when they get bad service, but forgt to mention the good service they get. So... thanks Kurt.

/R
 
Im going to assume this is your first 8. You will get used to the size of the neck. Not sure about those bass sized bodies (Intrepid's). :lol -JK
I gotten so used to 8 strings that when I play a 6 or a 7, they feel like toys to me now. What model and scale length did you go with?
Look forward to hearing/reading your review on the guitar and possibly hearing some clips.
Congrats on the NGD and Im thankful for companies that treat the customer like its 1950.
Thanks Cliff, thanks Kurt.
 
Funeral said:
What model and scale length did you go with?
Click to expand...

I got the Interceptor with the blackouts. The scale is 28.625" so yeah... it is a bit big. I was impressed by the definition on that low string though. Long scale is definitely the way to go on an 8 IMHO. and I'm pretty happy to have a guitar with a Kahler again. I miss my old Charvel Jackson...

You are right, this is my first 8 I figure if I got used to a 7 I can adapt to an 8; but yeah, my 6 strings are going to feel like toys.

/R
 
That looks like a good guitar, I posted a thread recently asking for views on 7 strings, the last few days I wondered perhaps an 8 string. But they also have 7 string versions. I have not heard of Agile before so would be interested to hear what you think when you have had a chance to play it etc...
 
Congrats on the 8!! Agile is a great company and Kurt is a class A guy. I've bought a couple guitars from him and when one came with a broken high E string... Kurt sent a replacement string out like next day :)

And yeah... once you get used to that 8 string, your 6 stringers will feel like broomsticks!
 
I've never heard anything bad about Kurt. I had heard about Agiles for years over at Harmony Central and never bought into the hype. I saw one over at the local GC in the used section and figured I'd give it a try. It was a filthy beast and I thought that I was going to catch something from it. But the neck was absolutely great and the thing sounded good unplugged. It was also a very heavy guitar and seeing as my 'real' Les Paul was chambered I'd figure that this would be a good platform to swap parts on. I gave them like $120 and was on my way.

Long story short I get it home and start to rip it apart to clean it and see how crappy the stock pickups were. I was wondering the tailpiece was going to be close enough in size to find a good aftermarket set. Pickups were an SD Jazz in the neck and a 59 in the bridge. The tailpiece was Gotoh (aluminum which is why it was so dirty looking). Fretboard was ebony. The flamed top was actually a 3/4" flame maple top; not veneer. Nut was bone and cut perfectly. Grover tuners.....something wasn't adding up here.

As I said I had heard of them but knew nothing about their line of products. Turns out this was one of their high end models that went for about $700 new. After cleaning it up and putting some new strings on it I was amazed at how good it sounds and plays. It won't ever replace my Gibson because that's a great guitar in it's own right, but this thing gets played a hell of a lot more and it's just a fantastic instrument regardless of what country it was made or how much it cost. Its got enough of it's own character to carve out it's own spot apart from my LP, but if I had to pick and keep only one of them it would be a really tough choice.

I can't say whether the whole 8 string thing will do what you are wanting, but I have no doubt about the quality of it. The lower tier stuff he sells needs some work most of the time and the parts are questionable IMHO, but the stuff that he charges real money for is really good stuff.
 
Kurt's customer service has always been awesome. Unfortunately Agile's QC is hit and miss, but that's not his fault.
 
I was originally gonna go with a custom 8 string from Rondo Music but they closed out rather quickly. So I got my 8 string Hellraiser Special. 8 string guitars are very interesting beasts once you get used to them. Have fun!
 
Sooooo... a couple of months down the road, I feel like I can say a few words about the guitar. I took it back to Australia and held off from doing a setup for a few weeks (lots of travel and different climates - lets give it a while to settle in). Now that it didn't have a monsterously high action, it felt FAR more comfortable and... well I was going to say easy to play, but no. It wasn't. It felt downright weird. Long scale length, high tension, wiiiiiide neck. I thought I would need to invest some time into it and get used to it. Half an hour a day, every day.

That did it. Now that I have gotten a bit more used to playing an 8 (and a long scale at that), I love this guitar. I would gladly have a second one. Probably with different pickups though. The blackouts are great for High gain stuff and "metal" clean sounds, which is honestly all I thought I would be doing on this beast. Strangely enough, this axe also seems to lend itself to something a little more... Jazz Fusion, I guess. Not that I am an expert in the style, but I find myself trying to emulate Mclaughlin and Holdsworth as much as I am dabbling with Djent. Well, I guess thats two great tastes that taste great together :) But yeah, If I got a second, I'd go for passives, and probably the fan fret version.

Final verdict:
*Strange to play at first. Give it a couple of months to get used to.
*Purty!
*Move versatile than you would expect.
*Kurt from Rondo Music is good people.
*Blackouts are great, but not for everything.
*Would happily play it live (might need a super wide padded strap though, sucker is HEAVY).
*Would love a second one, but will be keeping my sixes and sevens (Mmmmm, Suhr modern 7... drool).
*Stunning guitar for a VERY reasonable price.
*Don't judge it unless it is set up properly and you have invested a bit of time into it.

As an aside has anyone ever tried tuning a 6 string bass to match (ie F#-B-E-A-D-G)? Or is that just too low to tune a bass.
 
Glad you dig your 8!! When I was in the market, I had a RG2228. That thing was a beast. I loved it,wish I never sold it but hey.....
I don't know about the lower end guitars there at Rondo. I have two Interceptor Pros and my bud has one. And each of them are awesome guitars. It is strange how Kurt conducts business (no phone) but yep he does answer emails with a quickness. I must of emailed him 60 times asking about the 9 stringers and he politely answered EVERYONE some as fast as I wrote them. It's freaking tension when you spend over $1,000.00 for a guitar no one you know has really played it. And you can't unless you buy it. The finishes on ours are beautiful and once you set them up for your style... it's custom city baby!!!
YES they are heavy. REAL HEAVY. Crazy heavy to me. I have 3 1/2" padded leather straps on mine. I imagine the 8's are just as heavy.

I think the hardest thing to learn once you get an 8 or 9 is.. trying not to sound like Meshuggah hahahaha....
 
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