Agile AL-3000 CSB Slim Lefty

Made in Korea, Les Paul knock-off. 22-fret. Seems to be a 2-piece mahogany body with AA grade 1/16" flamed maple top. Mahogany, slim, set neck with an ebony board, abalone inlays and graphite nut which I probably will replace soon with a bone nut. Very nice, smooth Grover tuners. Toggle switch selector in mine had a damaged tip and it came with a hex nut instead of the round knurled rings - pretty ugly and cheap-looking. This guitar comes with AlNiCo V humbucker pickups and Alpha pots of the "cheaper" kind. The guitar weighs 11Lbs.

It's a Les Paul style guitar - sounds like a Paul, regardless of what amp it is plugged into and feels very much like a paul. I'm playing it through a 50W Marshall plexi, Fender 65 Twin Reverb or a Peavey 5150. The pickups on this thing have chrome covers but the chromed finish is very poor. They do sound ok when played through a clean channel, sort of similar to a 57 classic but with less definition. The neck pickup tends to get a bit muddy when overdriven. For some reason, this guitar came with audio taper pots for the tone controls and linear pots for the volumes right from the factory.

Out of the box, the action was set very low and there was buzzing in several spots on the neck. Raising the action a bit eliminated the buzz. Therefore, factory setup wasn't stellar, just average. A professional setup would be recommended. The finish is pretty spectacular on these guitars, the maple top is nicely matched and the fret work on this one was very precise. I received the guitar with a few dings here and there but I'm not sure if they were from the factory or the distributor. There was also some glue residue around the pickguard area that I'm still trying to remove, but nothing too serious. The strap buttons are not what you would expect to see on a les paul-style guitar. They look like they belong on a strat and are missing the little felt rings.

This guitar is definitely fit for the road or studio - provided you give it a good setup and take good care of it. Hardware in general seems better than average and it is an overall solid instrument. Strap buttons are garbage and should be replaced. A pickup replacement and perhaps some better pots would probably raise this instrument to the next level. As is, it should get you through your gig without any problems but there is definitely room for improvement. It does however, feel and play very nice.

Rondo Music is a good company to deal with. They are very responsive and try to be helpful at all times. I haven't needed their assistance besides ordering, etc., but it seems they would do their best to accommodate their customers. My only gripe is they should perhaps pay a bit more attention to quality control. It seems that when you order a guitar, they'll just grab the next one off the pile and put it in a box without inspecting it. I can see that coming from a big company, but rondo could do better in that department and perhaps it might help not only the customer but the company itself in decreasing the amounts of returns they get.

Been playing 25 years. I own an older agile guitar model AL-2500 and I had a good idea of what I was getting when I ordered the AL3000. These are great "bang for the buck" instruments. Better than epi's and probably better than lower end gibby's. They're excellent instruments after a good setup. I paid $400 for this guitar and I plan to dump another $200 worth of upgrades into it. Are they necessary? not exactly. But it always comes down to "you get what you pay for" and, in this case, "what are you looking to achieve"... It's good enough stock but can always be improved with better components. However, it is a great playing instrument.

Sticker on headstock states 'Made in Korea'. Purchased brand new from RONDOMUSIC August 2008. Neck Taper (thickness) at the first fret is 17mm and 21mm at the 12th fret. (vs: 21.5 mm at the 1st fret and 23.5mm at the 12th fret for the standard AL-3000 model).High quality Book-Matched Flame Canadian Maple Top (100% real wood top-not a photo top!)
Solid mahogany (not a multi-ply!) arch top body
Triple bound body, and headstock. Single binding on neck.
Improved Nickel plate hardware, including Nickel die-cast Grover tuners with 18-1 turning ratio for ultra fine tuning (Model 102-18N)
Two Type V Alnico humbucker pickups for warm, tradional sound
The AL-3000 now comes with improved wiring (single conductor braided 18 gauge American wire for pickups), improved pots (now higher voltage with brass shafts for reduced noise) and an improved pickup selector switch
Two volume and two tone controls, plus a three way pickup selector switch
One piece Mahogany set neck with 13.7" (350mm) radius neck for fast play and adjustable truss rod
Ebony fretboard with 22 Jumbo frets and real Abalone Trapezodial inlays
The AL-3000 features D'addario strings installed at the factory and a professionally installed Graph Tech nut
Individually hand filed frets for professional feel and playability
Width of the neck at the nut: 1 5/8"; at the 21st fret: 2 3/16"
Neck Taper (thickness) at the first fret: 17mm; at the 12th Fret: 21mm
Overall length: 40"; Scale length: 24.7"
Body thickness: 2" at edge; Width at the widest point: 13"
Actual Weight is only 10 lbs

Sounds like a Gibson Les Paul...if you do not belive me, copy & paste this link ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uDaxIQNkirk ) and check it out for yourself. Everything a Gibson has, except the price tag!!!! Close your eyes, check out the sound, and you cannot tell the difference.

The Book-Matched Flame Canadian Maple Top (100% real wood top-not a photo top!) is ABSOLUTLEY BEAUTIFUL! Just perfect, I'm in love!!

Took my new guitar for a professional set up, as anyone should do with any new guitar. The action from the factory was set very low, and the low E string was buzzing on the frets. After the tech did some minor truss rod adjustments, and a minor pickup height adjustment it was right on track. No other issues at all.
My tech even commented when he called me to inform me that it was ready for pick up that 'it seemed like a very well built guitar of very high quality, and he liked seeing that in a guitar'. He could not find any flaws whatsoever. A bit of a suprise to me, for a Korean imported guitar under $400.00....just unbeliveable!

Will absolutley withstand any live playing without a doubt, just as any Gibson Les Paul would. High quality tuners, bridge, beautiful finish, outstanding. I am very pleased, and would highly recommend RONDOMUSIC.com for your next guitar purchase, if you cannot afford a genuine GIBSON Les Paul. Would not see any reason to have a backup guitar with this one in your hands.

Kurt at RONDOMUSIC.com answered all of my questions very swiftly, and I have no complaints at all.

If stolen, I would do the same thing all over again. Such a nice guitar at an unbeliveable price...if you did not know, you would think it was just as pricy as a genuine Gibson Les Paul. I see not any real difference AT ALL in the quality (and its an import!) I guess that is why the economy is kind of in trouble right now. The quality of imports meets or exceeds some genuine American craftsmanship, at a fraction of the cost. Scary, but true. I dont like it either..., but if you want the best value for your hard earned money, I highly recommend Agile guitars. The top is so beautiful, I am so happy with my purchase. Not one issue/complaint!