Agile AD2500

Les Paul Double Cut copy;
three pieces of solid mahogany, real book matched flame maple top, dark yellow finish; glued palette and end of neck;
500kOhm pots and real grover tuners; two p90, but the wirings make me thing they are humbucker wired as single coils..;
fixed bridge gibson 24.7" scale, nice fat old style neck with gentle radius fretboard; Jumbo frets;
some inaccuracy in the glue of the neck but a very nice polish; i give an hish score considering the price;

i tried the guitar first unplugged and i must admit that aside from the heavy weight all this solid wood really makes a difference: it has a very good sustain both on high and low frequency tones!

up to now i was not able to try it but on a simple transistor amplifier, but i appreciated the silence of the p90 (i tried in the same day a new gibson faded LP double cut and it was much more noisy!!) and the great dynamic response.

I'm used to strat playing and i have to get used to the parallel volume wiring, but it's really nice to hear a good tone pot working fine.. i tried several King Crimson Ballad, Jazz songs, Zeppelin riffs.. i was astonished by the versatility of this guitar!

I have always worked on my instruments to find a desired sound, but in this case i was really satisfied from the beginning; of course the price changes drastically your expectations, but please believe me when i say that it sounds much more better than any italian Epi i've ever tried!!

I'm definetly not a fan of Jumbo frets, but i must admit (again) that this fretboard is faster than my strat (that i personally set up after working as a liuther for a while) and the sustain is endless. you can really feel on your hands and body (if you play sitting) the vibrations of the body. The intonation is good;
the tuners are a bit too soft but i have to change the strings to be sure of my opinion on that. Anyway, it's perfectly in tune and as far as i can play (i'm not gilmour playing two and a half tones bending!!) it stays tuned!

I opened the electric wiring box on the back and i appreciated good steel screws, a complete metallic internal box that host the pots (so this is why this guitar is so quiet, i guess..) and well done soldering and wiring.
I think that the only thing that can damage or corrupt this guitar is me.. so...

I wrote to Rondo Music because there is no italian official dealer.. they answered in a short while.. i guess they are efficient!

For 160 euros it's an amazing guitar, and i speak as a "solid-wood" estimator and as a musician.

I'd probably buy another one in a short while..

Just what I was looking for. Basically, mine has P90-like PUs Gibson-like scale lenght. Fixed bridge, I like that - I play a lot of country licks and hate when You bend a string and the others go out of tune; more, vibration from strings to body goes way better. Set neck helps too. Yellow coloured top.

The guitar is pretty unbalanced towards the headstock, so U need to use a strap that makes yuor axe stand still or You'll need to lift the neck with Your left hand while playing.

I'd prefer a better nut, because I like to bend the strings behind the nut (a-la country) and the D-string doesn't stay in tune - maybe time will improve this stuff.

Beside that, the instrument seems ok - stays in tune pretty well. Not too heavy, quite comfortable shape. I'd like the switch was placed where cant' be hit by my right arm, especially during tapping licks - typical Gibson problem.

P90s have the sound I like. The axe is good with every clean/distorted setting - save some hum with hi-gain, no humbucking here. Personally, I get the best with a modern rock-blues sound - think of Scott Henderson's, just to have an allusion.

With both PU You have a quiet country-ish timber. To me, the guitar reminds me of a short-scale Tele, in comparison to which You get more mids and less harsh highs. Good for my taste - more balanced between front and rear PUs than American Series Teles.

Off topic, it is a little easier to play than a Tele because of the short scale and the tune o'matic style bridge - strings not passing thru body. It takes a 9 because it's what I was looking for.

Luckly I ain't that fussy for finish, because it's all messed up in its various spots, towards the neck-body joint. Nut is raw built too. Not a problem for me but maybe could improve the little tune prolem I stated before. Had to bring to a tech to smooth some frets - bendings on the high E string beyond 14th position died.

Dunno, just a couple of months since I own it but seems pretty tough. BTW, no fancy floyd rose or something that could easily mess up. Let's hope for tuning machines.

Never had to deal with Them but the companion is a ghost, especially here in Italy!

I started playing in 1989. Had something like 20 electrical axes in my life but I aint' a big spender. More, I plan to sell my customized Gibson Melody Maker, since now I own this Agile for the P90 sound.

I play rock, pop and country. Check here to get an idea: http://xoomer.alice.it/giocc/Mp3s.html

Hope nobody steals this one, 'cause I can't find these instruments in Italy - bought from a bassist who received as a gift from a friend who came back from USA. Now the guy want to start again playing bass, so sold it! Lucky for me!

Already stated

The sound of this guitar is great. The Humbuckers give me a great range of sounds and tones. The bridge position gives me great rhythm and lead. The neck is great for lead and rhythm clean. When you start distorting the rhythm starts getting muddy but the lead rocks.

I am using this either straight through a Peavey Classis 30 (sending the efx send to the board), Fender Blue Junior (mic'ing the amp to the board), RP7 direct or with phones, or the RP7 before either of the amps. The RP7 is not the best unit or easiest to get a good sound from (can be had after many hours tweeking and fine tuning all the settings). I play at Church 3 days a week and with my current set up, I can pretty much get the sounds I need (any sound problems are usually from the RP7). So after all that let me summarize and say I LIKE IT A LOT.

Typical set up requirements of a new guitar, overall the set up was pretty good.

I made adjustments to meet my needs.

Finish looks great all around. Its actually amazing how perfect this baby was for how little it cost. Rondo / Agile is where it is at. I look to add more models to my arsenal.

The only problem I had with this guitar was the bridge pickup developed a scratch sound. This was at least 6 months after purchase. I sent an email to Rondo and they sent a new set of pu's out fast. I wire them in and smooth sailing since then. I am only giving it an 8 because of this, otherwise it would be a 10, this thing is rock solid. I have had it for almost a year and have had 0 problems.

Top Notch. Fast reponse always, and have always done the right thing. Shipping was great also. I had the guitar in 2 days, when It came and I first glimpsed it, I knew it would need a good case. Ordered it that day and It came 2 days later.

You just can't get better than Rondo. The product quality it excellent. The prices can't be beat, period. The service is second to none.

I know it doesn't add up by the scores, but I feel like this is a 10. I am completely satisfied in every way, and couldn't hope for a better experince in buying a mail order guitar at this price point. I have an incredible guitar and paid very little for it.

Made in Korea. Mahogany body with maple veneer flame top. Features have already been listed. Same basic layout as a Les Paul. Mine is cherry sunburst with two P-90 pickups.

I happened upon the Agile series of guitars at Rondo Music one day and was astounded at the way they looked, played and sounded. I have owned dozens of guitars over the years and still have a great '57 Les Paul Junior, but when I saw the AD-2500 for $229, I had to buy one. I went back a few days later and picked out a nice cherry sunburst with P-90s and a flame top. I can say it sounds almost as good as any Gibson LP I have owned with P-90s and it fits my style, which is blues and roots rock. The pickups sound clean, but scream when you add some dirt and volume. I may throw some new pickups in eventually, but for now, they're fine.

The top is close, but not bookmatched. It looks cool. Fit and finish is generally good all around. I can't see any outright flaws, but it does feel like an inexpensive guitar compared to a higher priced Gibson. That's not a bad thing. The pickups are adjusted well. I took the guitar to my tech and he gave it back to me a few days later and said he didn't have to do anything to it. Intonation was right on.

I think the guitar will hold up to live playing. I took it on one gig and got a lot of compliments on it. Other guitarists were amazed when I told them the price. The finish will last, but I will change the strap buttons to something more sizeable.. I would never go to a gig without a backup guitar no matter what I was playing. I don't take my 57 Junior out anymore. It stays home and safe.

Kurt Ratzenmaier is a great guy to deal with. I have been shopping at Rondo off and on for years. They're a very reputable store.

I have been playing for over thirty years. I own too many guitars to list, as well as drums and other instruments. If it was stolen, I would buy another right away. I love the way it plays effortlessly, the sound, and most of all, the classic cherry sunburst look and vibe. It looks like an old mid-50's Les Paul. I wish It came with a Bigsby. I have been telling so many people about Agile guitars that my brother-in-law bought three, another friend bought two and another friend bought one. I have bought three myself. I guess Rondo owes me one! If I were Rondo, I'd offer a guitar like this that has been "aged" with some checking, scratches and dings, as well as oxidized chrome parts. Give it that broken in look.

korean, 24 frets, 2 volume 2 tone controls, 3 way pickup selector, H/H
les paul, floyd rose, grover tuners.

i also bought a hard case with it, not top notch but well worth waht i paid

sounds awesome, I thought i would have to replace the pickups, but they sound great, i usually play metal and these pickups have enough drive to satisfy me yet they can play perfectly clean with excellent tone

it was well setup, well adjusted, just a few very minor flaws, but for this price i will not complain at all.

i havent had any problems with it, but i have only had it for a week, the Knob that adjusts between the bridge and neck pickup positons is slightly loose and moves just a bit but could probably be tightened easily enough

good support, Quick response to my questions

I am amazed at the quality of this guitar at this price level. It beats any Epiphone any day. It is definitely a guitar to buy Especially if your on a budget

Features have already been listed. Very nice for the price. Mine is black with chrome hardware.

I'm using this axe with a Roland Cube 60, although I have played it through a few other amps.

The only music I play requires tons of gain or not gain at all, so I cant comment on how this guitar would fair for rock. It does have that certain thickness you get from a Les Paul, but the pickups are, in my opinion of course, bad. I've put them in every imaginable position but they just dont sound good I'm afraid.

The neck pickup is simply unusable. Even after being raised, and with maximum treble on the EQ and a treble boost in my amp, the clean tone was mediocre at best. It also sucks for leads, very weak and fake sounding tone. Now the bridge pup is a bit more usable. When EQ'd right it can get an alright metal rythem tone, though very undefined and a bit muddy. It performes decently for cleans. Although for the price I shouldnt be complaining, they still beat the hell out of the crap you would get from Epiphone at this price range.

When I got the guitar the action was pretty good although I did adjust it. My friend bought a higher model AL-3000 though and he had tons of fret buzz. I honestly dont remember how the pickup adjustment was. Now the finish did contain flaws. It's quite common for the AL series to have what looks like sharpie tracings around the inlays, mine was no exception. There are also some faults in the binding.

The tuners are great though, the volume and tone knobs also work fine but feel a bit cheap. About a week ago the first bridge came loose but it was very easy to fix. The input jack however came loose fairly quick and had to be fixed. The pickup selector I do not like, it is crooked and feels like it could snap off easily.

Other than that its a buetiful guitar. Nice finish, nice fret work although the rosewood neck looked worn right out of the box. Personally I hate the yellow binding on the guitar to the point where I'm about to sell it, but thats just me.

I've had this guitar for 6 months now. Will it withstand live playing? I would imagine so. The hardware is good although the strap locks are VERY unreliable, do not gig with this guitar until you have changed them. The finish definitly looks like it will last, it is a dependable axe I use it with my band and it gives me no problems.

But no, I would definitly not use it to gig without a backup, it may be good for the price but the fact is, its a cheap Korean guitar. If anything, IT would be the backup.

Kurt from Rondo is a great guy and very helpful. He responds to questions quickly and has never failed to help a customer from what I've seen. I honestly have no idea if this guitar is under warranty, probably not.

I've been playing about 2 years. I own an Ibanez acoustic, and previously owned an Ibanez RG. If it were stolen, I would buy another Agile fairly soon if they would onyl get rid of that ugly yellow binding. And its too bad the horn had to be shortened.

Compared to my buds AL-3000, this guitar falls short. IMO its the high end Agiles that are worthy of all the hype, the lower models like mine and the AL-2000 are nothing to rave about. It's about as good as something you would get from Ibanez for the price, I honestly prefered my RG170r.

Despite all my bitching though, its a nice axe for the price. Good feel, good looks, the only Les Paul I would buy in the price range.

As far as I know, These guitars are built in Korea. I bought (off Ebay) the left handed version of this guitar, which was delivered pretty quickly. Right out of the box, the guitar comes with chrome hardware, 22 jumbo sized frets, tune-o-matic bridge, mother of pearl inlays, grover tuners, and transparent black flame body.

The Stock features sound fine to me. If I wasn't able to modify this guitar, it wouldn't bother me that much. I do have some issues with the volume and tone controls though. It really needs 500k pots to have perfect sound. I have changed the stock pickups, not because I don't like them (they're great), but I'm putting in PRS Santana IIs.

Factory settings on this guitar feel great to me.

This guitar provides a decent sound right out of the box. All it needs to be perfect are tone and volume pots and MAYBE pickups. I'll give it a 7.5 unmodded 10 modded

Agile AD-2500 DC P-90 LP Copy. Bought online from http://www.rondaomusic.net. Standard LP Features. Double Cutaway with P-90's. Amber Flame Maple top.

Sounds pretty good. This one is very mellow and lacked the sparkly high-end that I get from my other LP's. Not impressed with the stock P-90's on this one. My AL-2500 sounded much better out of the box. As it is, I will give it a 5 for being middle-of-the-road. I have a feeling some better pickups would make all the difference here.

WHAT A BEAUTIFUL GUITAR!! If you are into good looking guitars then you will love this! This guitar was setup perfectly and was finished flawlessly out of the box. The fit and finish is as good or better than guitars costing 10 times as much and that is no exaggeration. Unfortunately, it had a stress crack in the heel of the neck and I hed to return it. It's just as well, I don't think it would have worked for me sound wise anyway.

Not sure how reliable this would have been. It didn't survive the trip from NJ (or maybe Korea) to my house in Florida so it's hard to tell. I thought the neck joint looked stable enough, it looked like it cracked right along the grain on the heel. It was stil playable and all, just...well...cracked ;) Everything else tells me that it would be fine out on the road and for $229 just buy two :)

Kurt is the man and is helpfule and responsive, even answering my emails over the weekend on Saturday and Sunday. He goes out of his way to make sure you are happy and I will buy more stuff from him just because of that.

Been playing for amlmost 30 years. Owned all of the biggies, do my own work, I know enough to know what is good and what is not. This is a good guitar that should cost at least twice what it does. Even at $500 this would still be a great guitar. I have been on a Korean guitar kick checking out as many as I can. So far I like my Ibanez SZ520QM the best but I play my Agile AL-2500 LP copy more. These are great and I doubt they will be this price fpr much longer. If you are thinking of buying one - just go and do it!

2005 Agile AD2500 left-handed black flame made in Korea.
For those of you unfamiliar with Korea...its... um.... where the
Koreans live. 22 frets, 24.7" scale rosewood fretboard on a set-in
maple neck, Les Paul double-cut style mahogany body with what
appears to be an 1/8" thick two piece flame maple cap. Two Agile chrome covered humbucking pick-ups with a tone and volume knob for each one, tune-o-matic bridge with stop-bar
tailpiece, body neck and headstock cream binding, Grover 18:1
tuners, graphite nut. It has some impressive features for a $230.00 lefty electric,

The stock pick-ups sound pretty good... but those who know there are better sounds to be had would change them. I put in two white DiMarzio
Freds, a pick-up I had not heard before, but based on the info
on DiMarzios website I decided to try them. Fantastic pick-ups...
and, remarkably, they perform just as DiMarzio describes them.
I decided against Duncans for strictly asthetic reasons... I didn't
want to be looking at Seymours name all the time... and I had just sold a guitar that had a Duncans in it. The stock pots were mediocre at best... the tone pots operated more like on/off switches... no sweep at all. Four new 500k pots from Stewmac solved that problem. I also put on four new white speed knobs,
and the combination of the black flame body with cream colored
pick-up brackets with the white pick-ups and knobs now make this guitar visually impressive. With the up-grades this guitar sounds just like a Les Paul DC. It gets a 10 post upgrade, 5 pre-upgrade.

This guitar, as with all the guitars I've purchased from Rondo,
was set-up very well when I took it out of the box. However, set-ups on new guitars don't mean a thing to me... I play lefty guitars strung right-handed. So everytime I buy an electric guitar
I can't really try it out until it gets a new nut and is re-strung. The guy at Rondo was kind enough to give me a righty graphite nut which saved me both time and money. Rondo is a fantastic company... but this belongs elsewhere. The maple top is kind of weird... the flame on one side disappears and reappears at different angles. I really haven't decided if I like the effect or not. Fortunately when I play it , it looks uniform. Everything else was great...even finish, nice binding, I even like the new headstock design. I had an Amber AD2500 that had the "lawsuit" headstock
design, but this is better to my eye.

This is now a players guitar... the total cost including upgrades
was $370.00. My main guitar. The stock hardware which is still on the guitar (bridge and stop-bar) may be of lesser quality, but they function perfectly and I see no reason at this point to change them. The strap buttons that Rondo puts on these Agiles are
large... much better than most guitars I've had. I don't forsee any problems with this guitar from a reliabilty/durability standpoint.

This section is a no-brainer when it comes to Rondo. Some of the best customer service I've ever experienced. Besides, they sell reasonably priced high-quality LEFT-HANDED guitars. For those of you that are new to dealing with left-handed guitars, this
is a phenomenon previously unseen for the thirty years I've been
playing leftys. This is a great time to be alive.

This is the guitar I've wanted for years. I had an Amber flame
AD2500 lefty, but I just couldn't stand the color... it looked nicotine yellow to me. Thankfully Kurt at Rondo decided to have some made in black flame. Because of the set neck design of
these guitars, I now have access to areas of the fretboard I never had before...mainly past the 17th fret. This guitar looks great, plays great and sounds great. I may buy another black flame as a spare... I think I'd freak out if something happened to this one and they weren't available anymore. Right-handed people have no idea how lucky they are. Leftys have it better now than they ever have before.

I think this is a late 2003 model; I bought it during Rondo Music's end-of-fiscal-year sale. Made in Korea. It has a 22 fret neck, rose fingerboard with mother-of-toilet-seat block inlays, like a Black Beauty. The carved top is what looks like 2 pieces of flamed maple; not perfectly bookmatched, but very pretty. Controls and pickup configuration are typical passive Les Paul; the humbuckers are nothing much to speak of, but definitely better than a lot of Chinese crap guitars. The neck is maple w/rosewood, as I've said, and the body (according to the website) is solid mahogony. Mine looks like a two piece, I've heard that some are three piece. Guitar is finished in a cherry burst. The neck and body are bound, again not a perfect job, but better than I could do. It has Grover tuners that hold it in tune quite well, and a tune-o-matic type bridge that seems sturdy.
All in all a very sweet axe for the $230 that Rondo asks for. Just as good as a nice Epi Paul, and half the cost.

I actually am selling this guitar because I'm more of a Strat guy, but I can say that it sounds quite delicious through a good amp. I have a little crap amp right now, but this guitar kicks out the jams through my bass guitar amp. I just turn down the bass frequency some, and flip on the rhythm pickup, and presto! a very jazzy tone, which is of course what the Paul was meant to be anyway. Distorted or overdriven (I used a friend's Fender Stage 160 for the overdrive), this guitar has a good crunch, and fairly sings on lead parts. The lead pickup sounded a bit muddy; I think it was actually the amp having trouble, but like I said, the pickups aren't stellar. In order to make this axe REALLY rock, it needs the pickups replaced with PRS dragons, or something, depending on your style.

The action was fairly good; there was some buzz on the G string that went away after I raised the action a little and switched to 011 strings. the strings that came with the guitar were pure crapola. the pickups could also have done with a little factory adjustment, but I just did that myself in three minutes. There were a few minor finish flaws around the edges and hiding near the strap buttons. The saddle and nut were VERY well adjusted, although the nut could have been cut a little wider for the high e string; it pinched slightly, and had to be sanded a little to keep my e string from breaking.

I think that this guitar will definitely stand up to a lot of trashing, although why anybody would want to trash a guitar is beyond me. The hardware is solid, not cheaply made. I haven't had this guitar long enough to know if the finish is quality; it sure LOOKS nice, and the neck feels good. The strap buttons are nice and big, but not huge, so getting a strap on them is easy, but getting it off can't happen by accident. I would not use it without backup, because frankly I wouldn't trust ANY guitar, not even PRS, without a backup.

Kurt is a great guy, very responsive and quick. I don't know if there's a warranty, i don't think there is; I've never had it repaired. Rondo is a very honest, businesslike and respectable company.

I've been playing acoustic for 4 years, and cello for 7.5 (I'm in college majoring in cello). this was my first electric, although I've played everything from vintage LP's to brand new PRS Customs. (I have alot of rich friends etc.) My hobby is instruments, and this guitar is an example of what every working guitarist needs. My roome=mate like it much better then his American Fender Tele. I would replac eit in a heartbeat if it were stolen, but probably with an Agile Strat, cause i like strats. I only wish the pickup were a little better, but a good amp straightens that out pretty well.