Agile AL-3100

2009 Korean made. Solid mahogany arch top body. Birseye Maple Top. Triple bound body, and headstock. Single binding on neck. Nickel plate hardware, including Nickel die-cast Grover tuners with 18-1 turning ratio. Two Type V Alnico humbucker pickups. Improved wiring, improved pots 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 with adjustable truss rod. Ebony fretboard with 22 Jumbo frets and real Mother-Of-Pearl Trapezodial inlays. GHS strings and a Graph Tech Nut. Individually hand filed frets. Overall length: 40"; Scale length: 24.7". Actual Weight is only 10 lbs

Very traditional Les Paul sound; warmer and richer than a Srtat. Signal is clean (no humming). The installed pots offer a great tonal sweep. The Alinco V pick ups and chambered body produce a full range of sound. The factory installed pickups do not produce the same high output as their wax potted ceramic cousins, but the signal is cleaner.

I play through a Carvin SX-200 and I can get a great range of sounds from the guitar. It provides incredible sustain when I overdrive it without too much of a crunch distortion.

The factory settings were pretty much dead on perfect. There was no need to adjust intonation or the truss rod. I did play with the bridge a bit but ended up putting it back almost to where I started. I did lower things a tad, but not enough to get excited about. Overall the action is low, consistent with no buzzing frets.

I've looked over the instrument several times and I have not been able to find any flaws in the manufacturing. I have read that other have found slight gaps in the in-lays... I have looked hard and there are none on mine.

I really love the head-stock and the triple binding. The body is excellent. My guitar has a birdseye maple top which is very nice looking.

Rock solid -yes indeed. There is an excellent "Youtube" video where they do a complete break down of the guitar, the hardware & construction. Agile uses only top shelf hardware & wiring in the 3100. There is no reason why this guitar this guitar would not hold up to years of playing.

Tough call here. Let's see...

I went on-line and clicked "buy" and entered in my credit card number. A few days later the guitar showed up in perfect condition.

How would you rate that???

I'll give them a "9" because I have no complaints. Why not a "10"?? I would have liked a call or email from them making sure I was happy.

39 years behind a guitar and I have lost count of how many I have played & owned. I made my first guitar from scratch by myself in daddy's basement when I was 12. It was a plywood abortion but it did play!

I bought an Agile for my son last Christmas and I knew then that I needed one for myself.

Of all the guitars I have owned, this may be the best. Maybe that is because it is the newest, but that point aside, this has impressed me as much as any guitar I have ever owned or played. All this and for less than $400 is incredible. I love it; maybe I'll play for a few more years before I decide if it is the right thing for me!

I have been a pro guitar tech for over 32 years. worked in all the stores. I've played/fixed everything. I NEVER buy new guitars, except this one, which I give 12 STARS!

It's basically a Les Paul Custom copy (a very, very good copy). It has a solid mahogany body with a 1/16" maple cap, good gold hardware, Grovers, 2 alnico V pickups, a 1 pc. mahogany neck with a double action truss rod, Graphtec Tusq nut, jumbo frets, ebony fingerboard, beautiful wiring with quality pots and wires, nice, clean factory soldering job, shielded everywhere, 10 lb. guitar, one of the best LP copys I've ever seen or heard about, and I've seen em all!

The guitar sounds fantastic to me ... Gi-normous, round, and clean. But of course, that's just my opinion.

Here's the important stuff; Pickups have enough power to break up signal for distortion on virtually any half-decent amp. I see no need to change pickup unless you're used to another type. These do just fine. Pickups are well-potted with paraffin so feedback is quite controllable. I see/hear no evidence of them being micro phonic. I did, however, need to balance out the pole pieces on both pickups

I have worked on several of my customer's Agiles, just doing set-ups and pickup changes, no repairs. Every time I open one up, I'm pleasantly surprised at how nice a job they do over there in Korea. I liked the Agile LPs so much, I bought myself one for a birthday present to me. Before I ordered it, I asked Kurt at Rondomusic.com to please send me the best one he had. He didn't! Mine had a few VERY minor issues (I straightened all issues out, the guitar is fine now).

HERE'S WHAT I FOUND; Three of the real pearl inlays had hairline cracks, one pearl inlay has small pits, the 5th fret was high, there was a small repaired finish crack by the lower bridge stud, and the neck has a slight un-adjustable hump that made for some funky string buzz. Like I said above, I easily fixed anything that mattered.

It's structurally very similar to a Gibson LP with the exception of a volute at the headstock. It has a poly finish, not a lacquer finish like a Gibson, so if banged or dropped, it my chip like thick plastic. Gold seems good, but gold wear is usually different from player to player depending on ph and if you wipe it down. Frets are nickle, which is hard as hell and just like every other modern guitar on Earth. This axe should last a lifetime!

I was pissed that Kurt didn't bother to check this axe over before shipping it to me, so I emailed him to tell him so. He sent me some free guitar parts for my trouble. Nice enough guy!

I have since done many mods to this guitar, and it plays so well, I can't get it away from my customers.

I've been playing since 74. I give this guitar the highest marks. It is simply the best value in a LP style guitar I've ever seen. It was only $400. shipped. Can't beat that.

WOW! For something manufactured in Korea, this Agile is one heck of a guitar! Graphite Nut, Grover tuners, two Alnico V pickups, Mother of Pearl inlays, what more could you ask for? This guitar has better tuners and the same pickups as the Gibson LP Standard 50s Neck, which sells for over $2,000. I got mine in Cherry Sunburst; it's probably the most beautiful guitar I have ever seen! The CSB on the Agiles is unlike the Epiphone or Gibson because my Agile's CSB scheme is slightly transparent, so it shows the beauty of the CSB scheme while showing some of the wood for a classical look. My only problem is some of the knobs on the guitar are slightly raised or bent, but they can always be switched out, so no problemo!

Oh my God! What can I say? The Alnico V pickups and the actual guitar accomplish what an Epiphone or even a Gibson cannot do. The Agile offers superior sound quality without any pedals. I am playing through a simple Crate amp and it sounds incredible through my tiny amp! I have a Dunlop Crybaby wah wah pedal and use the built-in overdrive on my amp and it sounds great! I am a die-hard Pearl Jam fan, so when I played songs like Alive, Even Flow, and Black on my Agile, I almost cried. It was like recreating a piece of time with the sound! It sounded so authentic like when PJ recorded it on Ten, VS, Vitalogy, etc. Long story short, the sound is breathtaking.

I've had my Agile for about a month now, and no scratches, paint chips, or anything else is on the guitar. This thing I know is going to hold up well. My friend has an Agile AL-2000 he bought in 2000 and it still looks like it did the day he bought it. This thing can definitely be used at any gig for any style of playing and could be taken to a gig with no backup. This is unlike any Epiphone, there can be all sorts of problems with Epiphones when you use them in gigs.

Kurt really ought to teach big companies (inside or outside the guitar business) a thing or two about REAL customer service. Kurt responds to your emails within 12 hours of receiving it and actually writes to you, unlike automated email machines. He is very kind and answers all of your questions. Just for that I think I would buy another Agile from him.

I don't see why everyone thinks it would be better going for an Epiphone LP or even a mid-end Gibson LP. These Agiles sound better and feel better than any Epiphone or low-mid Gibson. In case any of you people didn't know, Epiphones are manufactured in Asia too, so all you die-hard Epiphone fans can't say "don't get a guitar from Korea" because guess what? Agiles sound better than your Epiphones and are manufactured in the same country, so HAHA! You just got ripped off by Epiphone (and Gibson)!!!!

Overall, the Agile is one of the best electric guitars I have ever played. For $379, it makes it that much better. I would definitely replace my Agile if it was stolen. That or beat the thief silly with a crowbar. Either one will do. It is great for my style of playing. Thank you Kurt and Rondo Music for making such a wonderful guitar; I hope I have my Agile for a long time.

This is an attractive and unusually configured special edition Les Paul Style guitar with a licensed wilkinson tremolo, a mini-humbucker in the bridge and a single coil P-90 pickup in the neck position. It has a solid mahogany arch top body with binding.Gold plated hardware, including Gold die-cast Gold Grover tuners with 18-1 turning ratio for ultra fine tuning (Model 102-18N). While the tremolo is an official Wilkinson, it's not the $100 Gotoh model, but the cheaper "Wilkinson Wave" model WVPSBCR commonly found on ebay for around $40. One Gold Type V Alnico mini humbucker pickups and one P90 Pickup. Two volume and two tone controls, plus a three way pickup selector switch. One piece Mahogany set neck and ebony fretboard with 22 frets and Mother-Of-Pearl Block inlays. It also comes with an extra nut in addition to the fitted bone nut. I'd give it a 10 if it had locking tuners, but it's well speced out.

Sounds great. The P-90 neck pickup is great for crunchy rhythm stuff. The bridge pickup sounds similar to the Seymour Duncans in my ESP Paramount, but it's not high enough output for the high-gain lead sounds I like. Sustain is okay, but not what you might expect from a Les Paul. Even with the solid steel sustain block in the Wilkinson, it doesn't seem like a big improvement in sustain over the Bigsby in my ESP Paramount.

The guitar is very attractive with no visible flaws in finish. It was much better than I expected for the price. The setup needed some work. If anything the action was too low for me (and I like it low) but there was no buzzing anywhere up and down the fretboard. The problem was with the Wilkinson. There was a "click" when I raised the trem bar up and away from the guitar that would throw the guitar out of tune. The trem bar was also completely loose. The set screw to tighten the trem bar up is very small and mounted in the steel sustain block. To tighten it I had to remove the strings and the sustain block from the guitar. Since I fitted a heavier gauge of strings, I had to adjust the two screws that hold the springs in the back of the guitar. Tuning was much like tuning a floyd rose and took several passes before it was right. I put some graphite lube on the nut as well. When I reassembled the guitar it played great with no "click" in the wilkinson. I couldn't be happier.

The pickup switch didn't always reliably engage the neck pickup the first few times I used the switch, but it seems fine now. I wouldn't be surpised if it needs some attention in the future. Otherwise, everything seems solid and well made.

Rondo music's customer support is basically "if you don't like it send it back." The misspelling of Wilkinson as "Wilkenson" on the website creates some apprehension that they are selling cheap knock-offs. They could do better, but it's hard to fault them too much when the guitars sell for so little.

Overall, I'd give this guitar a big thumbs up. If you tried to build this guitar yourself, you'd spend at least twice the price rondo charges. No one else sells a Les Paul with a Wilkinson, so it's unique. And it looks great--just gorgeous. Setup with a wilkinson is complicated, it's a lot fussier than my ESP Paramount with the Bigsby. (I still prefer it to a Floyd Rose however.) The Agile is better finished that the ESP and half the price. I'd recommend Agile to anyone, and I'll probably buy at least one more--maybe the Les Paul with the Bigsby if Rondo starts to sell it again. Don't count on this guitar being available for long. Rondo's stock changes constantly. If you see something you like--but it!