AXL AG-710

I believe this is a Chinese acoustic with 2/3 solid spruce, and 1/3
laminate top. I purchased mine from ebay new at $129 with a chinsy barely padded gig bag. Dreadnaught body with all the right materials
to supposedly make a great instrument for the price. Rosewood back and sides (solid or laminate?) are the saving grace and project a crisp tone if set up done properly. Beware of the advertised "bone nut and saddle" claim. A drop-in compensated saddle hurriedly installed with various shims to get it out the factory door. Finish
appears intended very nice for the price.

If not for the potential tone of this guitar, I would have promptly returned it immediately due to very poor workmanship. The 1st and 2nd (b@a) string buzzed excessively on the upper registers even after replacing the aged, rotted strings with Elixir 12's. Even after adjusting the neck almost totally loose, the action still too low
on these strings. The problem due to poor workmanship and quality of the "bone" saddle, (which is definately plastic). Shims and spacers
used to get this out the factory door are a testimate to a good plan
being sabotaged by a few substandard parts and poor quality control.
I'm getting a luthier to install a real bone saddle for 30$. That will ensure that the total fretboard emits that crisp, resonant tone
that made me decide to keep it. Just plan on a real bone saddle and installation if you are going to buy this.

Heres the whole problem with this guitar. Fake "bone" saddle and nut, and bad assembly techniques. The saddle is THE most crucial component in determining quality of sound. If it is installed with shims and spacers to adjust for play, the sound is lost as well as the action being only temporarily adjusted. Let alone the fact that the saddle is plastic and not bone, even a properly fitted plastic saddle would have been acceptable in my case.
Then there is the extremely sharp protruding frets all along the fretboard. I actually cut my L. hand 1st finger while playing. I will file these, but did not expect the quantity of bad frets to exhist.
One other problem that exhisted is the what appears to be water marks at various places on the back and sides.
This guitar was probably built by someone on their first and/or last day of work (and probably also on Monday, too). The saving grace is the sound when this is properly set up. For the total $, I feel that you can't beat a rosewood combination guitar. Just check around for competing models factoring in the above luthier work(real bone saddle, filing frets, labor,shipping). Maybe even considering that,
this might be an OK deal.

WouLD definately have a back up, first aid kit, and a dog to kick nearby before mods done. After luthier work, the only issue is appearance imperfections. That i can live with.

I contacted Axl, (whom i believe no longer make acoustic guitars-hmmmmm!, wonder why?), It is also a subsiderary of Johnson guitars.
They told me to go find a dealer for parts. What parts? Another fake bone nut? A loaner file?, a can of lacquer? I also own a newly purchased Johnson DG-85D-N splid top reasonably well put together, but also with a "fake nut and saddle. It was just put together better.
I don't feel too reassured that this corporation (axl-Johnson) will back up their warranty w/out pulling teeth. How hard would it have been for the manufacturer sales rep who returned my email to just send me another saddle as requested? Instead, he instructed me to find a dealer who could get parts. I kind of doubt that a dealer who did not sell it to me would bother replacing the saddle, (even if he could get one). I've got to go find another review site before dark.
Thanks for listening.

I have been playing mostly electric for 15 years and gig every wknd..
Have always had acoustics to practice on. I own the two strats, a 60 watt tube amp, the newly purchased AXL and Johnson (related corporations) acoustics. If it were lost or stolen before the mods, I would just follow the blood trail from the sharp frets and find it
just on principle. I love the potential tone once mods are done.
A word of advise, don't let a goofy auction and price alone hook you.
Keep in mind construction materials, factor in price, and leave room for finishing work $ if the price too low.

It's a 1999 model. It is now discontinued from AXL. It has a semi-solid stika spruce top with solid east Indian rosewood sides and back. No electronics. A real nice gloss finish for an instrument of this price point. It is of the standard dreadnaught body with no cutaway. A rosewood fingerboard with good binding and pearloid dots. Semi-jumbo frets and nicely finished frets at that.

Once again for this price point ( 99.00 US) the sound is very nice. It has a deep and resonat low end and a clear and not harsh high end. Very good balance all the way down the strings. Not something you'd expect from a guitar for this much money. The action is pretty good out of the box but after I changed the factory strings to a set of Thomastik_Infeld Spectrum 11.5-52 guage ones and removed the factory shim from under the bridge saddle the action improved tremendously. The intonation is pretty close all the way down the neck. Now I'm sure since it is a production line guitar that some of them may not be as nice as this one but this one is truely wonderful. It's harmonics are very nice and it has a rich and full dreadnaught sound.
The tuners are a bit weak and it has a plastic nut and saddle instead of bone or Ivory but once again what can you expect at this price point? If you spend 35.00 one a good set of 14:1 or 18:1 tuners and have a bone nut and saddle made this would make this guitar as good as any 500.00 to 1000.00 guitar out there. I heard that some AXL guitars necks go bad after a period of time but this is my 4th AXL guitar and I've had no neck issues as of yet.

I think I already coverd this section. Overall fit and finish for this priced guitar is very good.

I would think with reasonable care this guitar would last anyone for a long time. I always have back-up instruments and this is one of them.

Here is where you get the real deal. The company I bought this from is wonderful to deal with. The owner, Tim is a player as well as a businessman. He understands great value for the money. He offers a solid warranty and stands behind his products. His products can be found on his E-Bay store.

I've been a player for more than 45 years. If it were lost or stolen I would surely buy another if I could find one since it is discontinued. I love the finish, the action, the tone and the inlay work. I'm not fond of the tuners but I already ordered a set of gold and brown pearl button tuners for it and once they are installed this guitar will be one of my favorites for sure.