Agile AL3000 Prestige

I make this review after three months of owning these Agile guitars, I own three, 2 Al 3000 Prestige and a Strat copy. Their fetures can be found on Rondo website or right here, so I don't bother repeat again what you already knew. I'll try to be as fair as posible. All in all, the AL3000 Prestige is well built except something... and I play it everyday and do some modifications so I could see everything from inside out.

The AL3000 Prestige with stock pups gives some pleasurable sounds through tube amp, I use Mesa 100w / 2x12 Celestion closed-cab and new D'Addario strings 10-46. Clean is thick and scripsy, not Fender-ish but typical humbucker clean sound. Distortion is as good and dark as you can expect from Les Paul style body, but a bit brighter than real Gi***n Les Paul though. Straigh from stock pups with no mods in the electronics, the AL3000s will fit most of hard rock or 80's rock IMHO, but for modern metal you may need to change to hotter pups like EMGs and use stompboxs to scoop some mid out. No noise from stock electronics and pickups, they did a clean job under the cavity cover, I checked carefully. But after-all, I made an upgrade on everything to see if the AL3000 could be better with original Gibson parts. I put 490R-498T in, Gotoh bridge and stoptail, all original electronics Gibson volume/tone 500K pots and wires, Switchcraft 3-way pups selector and output, Sperzel locking tuners etc... everything best I could find, and the AL3000 now sounds and responds to my playing much better, and gives a better look( all gold hardwares ). The upgrade costs me much more than the guitar itself. But it's a different story, and my score review only based on ALL STOCK pups/hardware/electronics etc... And yes, the AL 3000 sounds good with every stock parts !

Here is the most important part to me that I have to think again and again before typing down any of my own opinions, based on what I've seen, touched and experienced myself. I own two of these guitars and modified everything inside-out so here is what I have to say. First off, the finish is not reliable as you though. I re-drilled some tiny holes to fit the new metal pups rings with my Dremel, and didn't matter how carefully I was, the top finish around the new holes came off very quickly and easily, the finish's thin and "dry" , cripsy as a potato chip. Now the inside, taking off both pups and I could see sloppy pups cavities, the wood is not as smooth as on Japanese or American-made guitars obviously. The same thing was on control, switch cavities. They did a good job outside, but the inside didn't.

The electronics. Volume/tone pots are Alpha 500k but there are some Alpha companies which make guitar vol/tone pots, one from US, one from Taiwan and one from Korea. These pots might be from Alpha Korea as all Agiles are made in Korea. The Grover tuner also, Koreans now make Grover tuners, I can say so because of the differences between the US-made Grovers and the one on my Agiles, not big deal anyway.

The bridge/stoptail work fine, with " B2 " letter under the bridge, nothing else, don't know who made these. My advice, don't even think upgrading, changing any of Agile Al3000 parts including plastic cavities covers, pickguard, pups rings etc... with original Gibson parts, they will not fit unless you will have to modify it heavily. I tried every original brand-new Gibson parts and none of them fit except the 490R-498T pups.

The Neck/frettboard. It's ebony, but both of my Al-3000 ebony fretboards are now fading out in color, some white spots appear on the ebony fretboards make they look ugly, Anyone else here got the same problem ? Four out of six of my guitars have ebony fretboards, and on the high-end ones, my JEM 7VWH and Gibson LP Custom do not have this problem at all, they keep the ebony black color over the past years...

And here is the fact, I purchased 3 Agile guitars, 2 Al3000 and a strat copy, 2 of them have many flaws out of the boxes, the last one has some acceptable flaws. What flaws you ask ? binding, top finishing, back cavities, neck inlays etc... all have some flaws here and there. Were other Agiles Reviewers here luckily got the good one, or was I so bad-luck getting some lemons ? But I know one thing, Rondo has never opened and checked these guitars before shipping out to you, as 2 of my Agiles have lot of serious/minor flaws which could see easily if you stay close enough. Why didn't you return them for the new ones you ask ? I already modified these guitars so they will not qualify for returning, but my question is why Rondo did not open and check these guitar carefully before shipping out ? to avoid hassles for buyers like me after days of waiting for delivery and spending unnecessary shipping cost to ship them back and forth. And some non-US buyers have to pay Custom,duty fees etc... Rondo's policy will not cover these after 30 days.

Owning 3 months's till not enough time to rate about these Agile's reliability, but based-on the hardwares/finish/checking inside-out the wood and crasftmanship, I will not say these Agiles are as durable as Japanese or American-made guitars. These Agiles will be best for Pros's guitars back-up only or may be main guitar for your first/additional guitar. I don't blame Agiles quality for the fact that they are sold with reasonable prices, and simply put, you get what you pay for, absolutely not a " phenomenon " on the guitar market these days.

Customer suport from Rondo is not bad, and your emails get responded quickly from Kurt or someone from Rondo's staffs, the return policy is fair. But again, Rondo will not open and check the guitars before shipping to your doors, so you will have a chance to get some lemons like me, and if you live outside US, are you willing to wait and re-pack the box, plus paying additiopnal shipping costs and custom/duty fees if you just find out you get a lemon after 30 days ? This could happen to anyone due to poor quality control from the factory who makes Agiles and from Rondo itself. None is perfect you will say ? Even Gibson,Fender or any brand-name nowadays still have some sort of quality problems, I understand, but the bad/good products ratio from Agiles are more than you though, I got 3, and 2 of them have many visible/serious flaws, and the last one has some minors, so ...

Been playing guitar in the 80's era, on and off till now, but never quit, music is my life. I do not own a lot of gears as some other lucky guys here, right now only 6 guitars, among them there are some nice guitars like Ibanez JEM 7WVH, Gibson LP custom and an American strat, all bought brand-new longtime ago, Mesa head/cab tube amp, a bunch of stomp boxes. My review is only based-on what I feel, compare to guitars I own, not on what I have tried an hour or two at music stores. I have tried alot but they will not count, I don't think you can know well an instrument in couple hours, even a week. That's why I could only write a review for these AL-3000 Prestige after owning, playing them everyday and checking them from inside-out for 3 months. Some Reviewers give away their commends after a day or a week owning or without modifying the guitars may not the same like me. And this review is very personal from me, please keep this in mind.

I will not buy these Agiles again unless I lived next to Rondo store and could check the guitars myself before purchasing any, but this is almost impossible. Buying new brand guitars online might be a risk if you only read reviews but have no chance to touch it yourself. I ended up with purchasing some guitars directly from Japan ( go on eBay ), the Edwards/Orville/ Greco/Burny ... and with the price around $650.00 with everything perfect with Seymour Duncan pups, Gotoh bridge, tuners, Japanese high quality electronics, I would like to recommend those made-in-Japan guitars to guys who cannot afford high-end Gibby or Fender customshop etc... To know more about these Japan-made guitars, just looking for their reviews right here on HC, and you will find a thing or two.

Probably made in 2005. Korean, standard les paul features with the exception of an ebony fretboard instead of a rosewood fretboard, a 1/16" maple top instead of a 3/4" maple cap, and triple-ply binding around the body instead of single-ply.

NOTE: the first thing I did was replace the pickups in this guitar with an SD JB in the bridge and an SD Jazz in the neck. I had to play a show asap and those were the pickups I was used to so I didn't get a chance to try out the stock pickups. Having said that, I'll rate this review based on comparing the sound of this guitar with an Epi LP that I had with the same pickups. Playing through a bunch of Boss pedals straight into a '76 Marshall non-master vloume 50watt JMP. First thing I noticed was that the tone compared with the Epi was much thicker and darker. I would contribute this to the fact that this guitar weighs a TON. It is very heavy, a lot heavier than the Epi. It weighs as much as a Gibson LP. With more weight there's a lot more sustain as well. Very nice job by the Koreans. Other than that, there's not much else I can say about the sound. It is deeper, thicker, and heavier...all aspects that I like. The only thing I wish it has is the full 3/4" maple cap so that it can have a little bit more bite on the top end.

Straight neck, no fretbuzz. Action was okay...I really can't recall, but I didn't think it was too bad out of the box. Overall, it played very well, even more so after I switched the pickups and set up the action the way I like it. Feels really solid...nothing like the Epi that I had. The Epi felt very cheap to me. I don't know how else to explain it. This guitar just feels really good. One thing I should mention though is that the neck is bigger. There's more to grab onto, so if you have small hands you might mot like it. I have good-sized hands and even I get tired when playing it for about half an hour or so. Now there's also something about the finish of the guitar that I should mention. It appears that this guitar is a factory second. More on that later, but from what I can see, the binding is not as well done as the epi that I had. It's a triple binding, but there is a thin layer of the finish that got through all the way around the guitar. Not very pleasing. You can't actually see it unless you're looking at it from a foot away, but still...I expected much better. There are also a couple of spots on the binding where the guitar makers didn't clean very well before applying the finish because there are dust particles in the binding. Not pleasing at all. The finish is also flawed. There are at least two areas that I have seen so far where the finish was applied too thick forming an uneven coat and producing droplets of the finish. Not by the slightest bit pleasing at all. It gets a lower rating than what I would have liked to give it because of all the aesthetic flaws. It plays beautifully though.

I don't see how a guitar like this can be unreliable.

Now for some more lower ratings. If you're gonna take one section of this review seriously than let it be this section because I've got a lot to say. In a nutshell, customer support SUCKS!!!!! I knew that something like this would happen when you buy an instrument online, but this guitar seemed too good to be true and the only place that sells them in the US is Rondo Music in New Jersey. I bought it off of eBay for a price that seemed too good to be true. It took 3 (three) tries before I got a guitar that was decent enough to keep. Before I get into that, first off right after i bought the guitar on eBay, I saw them put another one up there in a different color that I liked more. So I emailed the guy, Kurt, and politely asked if you could change my order to the one in root beer color. He blatantly denied me citing that the order had already been processed. Now I had done my research on these guitar before I bought it, but emailing Kurt was always a pain because I emailed him many times asking about certain aspects on the guitar which I find are pretty important things to know before purchasing something online, but it seemed like he only replied with one-word answers...like he was too busy to deal with customers that don't come into the store. The only thing I could think about when I read his reply was how hard is it to walk to the front counter of the store and make a change in a customer's order? I mean the guitar wasn't even shipped yet! Fine, no big deal. At this point I thought well I'm still getting a killer guitar so let's not get a buzzkill from this incident. So then a week and a half later the guitar comes in and I loved it. It played solid and I immediately thought that it was worth the risk...then I saw some hairline fracture in the finish near the toggle switch. I took it to a local music shop and asked the luthier there to look at it he straight up told me to send it back because the fractures were caused by the improper installation of the toggle switch. What happened was that when the manufacturers put in the toggle switch it caught on some of the finish and lifted it up. This guitar was obviously a factory second. So I thought, no big deal I'll just send it back a get a new one in a couple of weeks. Well a couple weeks go by and they send me another one and guess what...this time there were two very big and noticeable dings on the lower bout of the guitar. What the ^%$#! This was the second guitar by the way and I had waited nearly a month already since the day I made the purchase. I was so pissed that I sent it back the day I got it and immediately email Kurt and asked for a refund. I also asked him straight-forwardly if his music store was sending out factory seconds or not. He replied by saying that they only send out brand new instruments...well that didn't even really answer the question. Factory seconds can be brand new...they are only called factory seconds becuase of some type of manufacturing flaw, NOT user flaws. Kurt conveniently blamed the damage on Fed Ex, stating that he thought Fed Ex was "a little rough around my area." What a load of crap. He offered to give it one more try before refunding all my money back (minus shipping though) if it doesn't work out. Looks like he didn't want to lose my business. In any case I contemplated whether or not I wanted to try this one more time and decided that should they send me a good one, it'll be worth the time and money that I've spent. Well third time's a charm...sort of. Again, I would like to remind you about the finish flaws on the guitar that I mentioned earlier. You know, the luthier at the the local music shop had been wondering how I was able to get a guitar like this at the price I got it for eversince the first guitar that I brought into the store. He told me that he suspected that these guitars are so cheap because they were sending out factory seconds. Well, based on what I have experience and what I have seen I totally agree with him. All three guitars, not one, not two but all three that have been sent to me have had some sort of manufaturing flaw on them, making them factory seconds. If you choose to buy one of these, beware! I would suggest trying one out in the store if you can...otherwise you'll just have to take your chances like I did. Kurt, you really suck. Pretty simple, you suck. You were not helpful in assisting me at all and you sounded way too arrogant in those emails to have the job that you have. It's kinda funny that you only got a professional attitude as soon as I told you that I wanted a refund. There is nothing more valuable in this consumer world than honesty, and you did not have it.

I've been playing for nearly a decade now and I also teach guitar. I can say with confidence that I know what makes a guitar good or bad. PLayability-wise, this guitar is very solid, it played very nicely, and is very consistent as far as playability goes (every one of the guitars that were sent out to me played VERY WELL). The only thing that sucks is that I only got factory seconds. If you live in the New Jersey area and can stop by Rondo Music to hand-select your guitar, then this is a value you do not want to miss. This guitar plays better than every Gibson Lp that I've touched (Gibson needs to learn how to make a better neck on their guitars...they always warp). The only drawback is that this guitar is not hand-made like a Gibson and there are aesthetic flaws all over the place (you'd have to look very closely for those though). Customer support is dismal...I've never dealt with such disappointing people in my life when it comes to customer support. But all in all, it is an amazing guitar for the money...even with those finish flaws. I'm not quite sure I'd buy it again due to the customer support, but it is a very solid guitar playability-wise.

I'd never thought that I'd post a review about a Korean made guitar but here it is. It's an Les Paul copy and it's also an archtop. Solid mahogany 2-piece center-joined body and 1-piece neck with ebony fretboard and jumbo frets. Since's mine's black it did not come with a maple top. 2 alnico type 5s humbucks, abalone fret markers, triple bindings on body and head and single on neck. 2 volume knobs, 2 tone knobs, and a 3-way switch. Grover tuners, tune-o-matic bridge, and a stop tailpiece all in nickel. It's a gorgeous guitar!

It sounds great! I played them throught my kustom quad100dfx and there's no noise. The pups are quiet when quiet and loud when loud. Later I replaced the bridge pup with GFS hot nashville pup and replaced the tone caps with .033s so I can have a little more treble. Now that I got a zoom 606 multi-fx pedal I'm getting tons of tones out of that guitar. I played clean, hard rock, and heavy metal on it and it does what I want. There are better pups out there that I've yet to get but this sounded good as it is now.

For a Korean made guitar there was a lot of attention paid to details. It sure looks well made and it did. Since the action's a little high for me I decided to cut the nut on the bottom and I found a flaw where the slot was cut poorly. I got my dremel and squared the slot. After trimming the nut I got a perfect fit. Now the action's great and it played so much better that I feel like I'm holding a gibson. I haven't found anything else wrong with it. By the way, the paint job's unreal.

This guitar's so solid I think I can depend on it but I'm not a gigger. The hardware's better than cheap and when I put the tone caps in I saw brass-shafted high voltage pots, clothed wires, quality switch, and good solder jobs. It's got oversized strap buttons that it's better to unscrew them and put the strap on the other way and then screw it 'em back in.

I think I got a year warranty for this guitar. I've emailed Kurt a few times when I got questions about this guitar (I wanted to know about the pups and the bridge) and he responded very promptly. In or out of warranty, I don't think he'll ignore you. He even helped me with the shipping problem as I overpaid and he offered a refund but I prefered a credit toward future purchases.

I've played since the 60s and it was mostly strats of all kinds. I wanted to try a les paul guitar and I did a lot of researches and found a lot of good reviews for agile guitars. Then I researched rondo music and bought the best features of the guitars for the best price without paying more. I ended up with this guitar and I'm not sorry one bit. In fact I'm planning to buy an Agile sg and an Agile strat and I'll have a collection to be proud of.

This guitar has two piece solid mahogany body,one piece mahogany neck with ebony board,real abalone inlays. Mine is a Black with triple bound body and head stock, and it is left handed.

Sounds just as you would expect from a Les Paul.Compared it to several of my friend's Gibson les pauls.Neck pick up is meaty,slighty dark yet very resonant. Smooth lead tones from the bridge pickup.Most of my playing buddies were very impressed with the tone. This guitar is very responsive to your playing,can be very expressive.

Had to file second fret down a little to eliminate buzz. Other than that, action could be brought right down to a super low action.The detail work on the neck is high quality.The real abalone fret markers contrasts well with dark ebony finger board. The black finish has a mirror like shine to it.It is a beautiful guitar.

from the looks of it,it should last as good as any quality guitars. Strap buttons on this guitar is huge! It took me a while to put my strap in this guitar. It really is a good thing,since this guitar is very heavy.

Rondo will be fair with you as long as you follow their rules. They are pretty easy to deal with and returns and refunds are easily accomplished(again, you need to stick with thier program!) I did originally purchase the AL 2000,which was returned, refunded.

As I was going over the specs on this guitar, I realized that this instrument very much like the Gibson 1957 les paul custom reissue,which goes for around $3500,and that is a right handed version.I am not even sure you can get it lefty, and even if you could,it would most certainly be more expensive. This guitar with virtually same features,could be had for about 1/10th of the cost!!
I have been playing for well over three decades now,and owned just as many guitars but this guitar just might be ONE OF THE BEST left handed guitars that I have played. If anybody who knows anything about guitars and after playing it says, " It is a cheap knock-off guitar". then most likely, the only problem they have is were it is made.

The AL- 3000 Prestige is available in a Cherry Sunburst flame or Gold Top.I decided on the Gold Top because I had been playing a Gibson LP Sunburst since 1974 when I purchased it new. Thought it was time for a change. Here are some specs for the Gold Top I plagiarized from Rondo Music's website: Solid mahogany (not a multi-ply!) arch top body. Gold Top Finsih is solid Mahogany; it does not have the Maple top. 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 cream covered soap bar style Type V Alnico P90 pickups
P-90 pickups offer superior output and outstanding treble response
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 GHS strings installed at the factory and a professionally cut bone nut.
A pre-cut graphite nut is also included in the bag with the trus rod adjuster for those who prefer graphite
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 1st fret: 21.5 mm; at the 12th fret: 23.5mm.

Although I've played around with Jazz, Acoustic, Country and Classical at one time or another, I'm a Blues and Rock guy mainly. The 3000 Prestige is perfectly suited for Blues and Rock. The alnico pickups are very quiet and apparently well shielded compared to my LP Deluxe. The neck pickup sings, ie.,Brian May style straight through my 1975 Marshall Combo (w/master volume). In the bridge position, power chords sound full and well balanced, with each string being heard. Cleaned up, I can get some really sweet Jazz sounds through my Fender Chorus,Blues Jr., Oliver, and Sunn amps. The bridge pickup produces clear, sustaining notes for lead work which can bring tears to ones eyes. Additionally, and in my opinion, probably the best feature of these versitile pickups is the sound doesn't get lost in the mix. Leads always cut through, even if you have an overzealous drummer. No more wishing the guitar's volume controls went up to 12. When you back down on the volume controls,the pickups clean up nicely for ear pleasing rhythm tones.

Right out of the box, the first thing I noticed was the beauty and depth of the flawless Gold Top finish. The metal flakes in the finish were gorgeous and appeared larger that those of my Agile AL-2500 Gold Top. Under sunlight I carefully inspected the entire guitar for imperfections. The triple binding on the body exhibited no imperfections and really interacted with the finish to make it an expensive looking work of art. The hardware appeared excellent, and the tuners were properly mounted, tight and straight. The hand filed frets contained no burrs or file marks. The real abalone fret markers appeared to fit perfectly in the ebony neck, as did the nut, with no spaces or hack marks whatsoever.The neck joint was cut to perfection, and was every bit as tight and clean looking as my L.P. Deluxe's. The see through finish on the back revealed a beautiful, straight Mahogany grain, with one minor imperfection in the grain about 1/8" in length. No big deal. I didn't mess with the pickup height, as it sounded so good out of the box. The only thing needing immediate attention was the input jack, which hadn't been tightened properly. The action was good as received, and string heights appeared consistant down the length of the neck. I lowered the bridge slightly downward and managed to improve the action. I decided to play it for awhile before making any other adjustments to allow it to adapt to climate differences. Intonation was off slightly on the low E string.

I believe this guitar will hold up very well over time. Components and workmanship appear to be of very high quality. Longevity of a guitar's life is somewhat dependent on how well you care for it. Since acids in perspiration are a major enemy of guitar finishes and hardware, cleaning and polishing are important.
I wouldn't ever play out without a back up guitar, or amp for that matter. Anything can happen. The stock strap buttons are oversize and beefy, but I prefer strap locks. My strap slipped off several years ago, and I watched in shock as my mint'61 LP Jr.fell to the floor. Twenty years later and I still have nightmres about it. Even to this day I keep one hand on the guitar at all times.

As far as I know, Agile guitars are sold exclusively at Rondo Music in N.J. A little more than a year ago I bought an Agile AL-2500. One day I noticed a crack in the back of the neck at the 1st fret.I E-mailed Kurt at Rondo who responded within minutes. He told me to send it back, as the year warranty was still in effect. Apparently the scarf joint had let go. Since my model was no longer available, Kurt offered me a new guitar of equal value. We wrote back and forth, and I ended up sending a check, upgrading to the AL-3500 Prestige. No regrets. Kurt was fast, professional and fair. Never have I experienced such quality customer service. I plan on buying a Tele copy from him soon. Unfortunately the catagory ranking only goes to 10. Kurt deserves better.....

I have been playing for 39 Years. I own 25 to 30 guitars. My oldest is a '61 LP Jr. I bought from my college roomie for $80.00. I also have Strats, Cortleys, a couple Gibsons, Ibanez, Yamaha, other old Japanese guitars from the 60's and 70's and several acoustics. I have all but 2 of the amps I have collected over the years.
When I look at the quality of my AL-3000, I can't believe the Korean's can produce a guitar of that quality for that price. Hats off to them! I also have a couple other Korean made guitars, but the Agile is superior in quality. It hangs well, looks great, plays beautifully, sounds fantastic, and is cheap. I would most definitely replace it if stolen. This is my number 1 player. The neck shape feels very much like my Les Paul. For some, the guitar may get a little heavy after 3 or 4 hours, but to me it's worth it.

2005 model korean manufacture, off ebay from Rondo Music, just like everyone's. I won't expound here, everyone has covered this well in other reviews. You know the drill. LP style, 22 frets, Alnico pups, Tune-O-Matic, Real Grovers. Mine is a Honey Sunburst, beautifully flamed, with what appear to be real mother of pearl fretmarkers. Went with the regular humbuckers after considering P-90's, more on this later. Rating based on hardware quality, body appearance.

I play mostly bluesy stuff and classic rock with several other geezers. Main amp is a Fender Super 60 piggyback, and sometimes swithch off to a non-tube Marshall MGD-80. I practice at home on a Marshall 15 watt ministack and a Vox 15 watt ministack. Love the Fender but damn it's heavy. The standard humbuckers are quiet and seem a bit bright, even switched from the guitar. When really pushed on leads, they cut right through any heavy bottom from others on stage. Pots are much more responsive than on some other inexpensive guitar I own. Rating based on functionality.

Man was I excited when I opened the CNB case I purchased with this guitar. What a beauty! It fit the case like a glove, I really believe this case was designed around it. Flame top is matched, and the hardware is properly placed, and the wood working around the parts invisible. Triple binding really sets off the flamy top, and the back appears solid as a rock. I have owned many guitars and the attention to detail is incredible on a sub $400 instrument. Cripes I have seen much crappy work on $1500 guitars. (Gibson anyone?) I have as of yet found no fit or finish flaws. I hesitate to give anything a 10 out of !0 grade but here goes.

I have only just received this so I can't comment on it's real world durability. The finish is a very thick lacquer as on most oriental imports, but I think it will be able to take normal use without problems. Huge buttons, but will probably switch out for straplocks. I NEVER gig without a backup.

I can only judge from other comments, but checkout was easy. The only complaint I had was shipping which was NOT a fault of the dealer's. My order was shipped the day after I placed it, but UPS took 6 DAYS! from NJ to TEX.

So far I could not be more pleased with this purchase. Re: the pickups I mentioned earlier, I am so satisfied, I intend to order another Agile 3000, this one a Goldtop with a pair of P-90's. I love it this much and the price? GEEZ! You can get a half dozen or more of these for what that American behemoth charges for one! I couldn't order another one (or two) if something happened to this one. My guitars include:

Fender Stratocaster (Blonde MIJ)
Fender Stratocaster (USA/Floyd Rose)
Fender Jaguar Ltd Edition (Blonde MIJ-1984)
Epiphone Korina Explorer
Jay Turser Strat
Jay Turser LP
DeArmond SG
Route 101 Solimar
Martin D-35 (1974)
Zager Dreadnought
Blueridge BR-180 (D-45 Copy, great value, beautiful sound/looks)
Ovation 12 String (Blonde, top leafed soundholes)

2004 Korean made, 22 jumbo frets, slim-taper neck, mahogany body, flamed maple top, grover tuners, ebony fretboard, real abalone inlays, type V alnico humbucker pickups. You can read the rest on their web site.

The sound is very Les Paul-ish, but I plan to swap the pickups for a JB/Alnico II pro combo. The stock bridge pickup is nice and crunchy. The neck pickup is smooth and contrasts well with the bridge. Both pickups are almost dead silent, but feedback nicely with the volume cranked on my Marshall. You can get everything from blues to hard rock with these pickups and if you throw in a distortion pedal, you could get some good metal tones too.

Action was great out of the box, pickups were adjusted properly, the top was bookmatched properly, frets are smooth as butta...

Negatives: One of the frets separated slightly from the neck binding, so I have to be careful bending the high e string or else it may get stuck under the fret.
There is one dark spot under the finish that looks like a small speck of sawdust.
There is also a spot where the finish dips unnaturally, but the radius of the dip is only a few millimeters.
The red paint blead onto the body binding in one area and there are other imperfections in the binding near the headstock.

I've owned my Agile a little over a year now and up till last week I had no problems. However, my neck pickup has started to die on me. I'm sure it's just a soldering problem, but like I said previously, I want to replace the pups, so this gives me a good excuse! One other problem is that my pots have always cracked and popped. I'll probably give them the ol' heave-ho as well when I replace the pickups. Other than the formentioned problems, this is a rock solid guitar.

I've heard that their customer support is excellent, but I have yet to deal with them.

I've been playing for five years or so and i've owned a yahama Strat copy, an ESP flying V, and an epiphone SG. This guitar is by far the best of the bunch. I play anything from classic rock n roll to hard rock through my Marshall JCM 600. If it was lost or stolen I would buy one or two of these bad boys.
As many imperfections as this guitar has, they weren't major enough to make me sent it back to Rondo. I wanted to nit-pick to show that this guitar is nowhere near perfect, but i've yet to come across a "perfect" guitar. All I know is that I got a hell of a lot better guitar than an epiphone Les Paul standard and for about $200 less. That $200 I saved can go into upgrading the pups, and it'll still be cheaper than the epiphone!

My Prestige, Korean made in 2004, is cut in the quintiscential mold of the Gibson Les Paul. Construction of maple over mahogany yields a very similar weight, switch/pot layout and function are again Paulish, with a finish that is flawlessly executed. The maple top shows a very near perfect bookmatch. This axe came with a case built like a damn tank. It would take several years of gigging before this case needed any duct tape. A 10 would be Nirvana and though this ain't it, it comes damn close. Perhaps a ToneLoc setup and factory installed strap locks would edge it closer, hmmm?

My style of music runs the range from heavy rock to country, my influences being from Pink Floyd to Prairie Oyster, LeRoux, Kansas and others. Currently I use a Tube Works 100 watt box run into a Peavey slope front 2/12 box loaded with Scorpions. I run my guitars through a Boss GX-7 and also a Pod XT so just about any sound I want is available. For recording, I use the Pod XT straight into the DAW.

The guitar has a full, meaty sound and is equally at home in both distorted and clean modes. Buttery smooth when run through the various Marshall presets I have. It "sings" literally. Every "keeper" guitar I've ever played has exhibited a personality and this one is no exception.

The tonal range is awesome, able to lend color to whatever mood you want to express. Stinging highs, bluesy lows and guts galore. The electronics are so quiet, you will wonder if your amp is on. All pots are silent - zero scratches - ditto the selector switch.

I can't vouch for the factory setup, as a local ace had already set the axe up by the time I first saw it. I understand he did lower the action but that's about it. I did remove the covers on the back and was very pleased; routings are complete and the cavitys are painted and the covers are foiled. No buzzes, fades or dead frets at all. It plays as good as it looks.

Gigging teaches you that problems with a guitar are not a question of "if" but a question of "when". You have to have a backup guitar. That being said, I would not hesitate to gig with this guitar and would probably trust it without a backup if I had to. I have replaced the strap buttons for StrapLoks. I do NOT want to drop this guitar. I can't say enough about the finish. It's evident that quality control is a major fetish with these guys.

Rondo shipped this guitar to my little brother by mistake (he ordered the thick top model). Kurt said no problem and shipped the right one to him immediately and refunded the shipping on the first one. My brother came by and showed me the guitar and I never gave it back to him. Once I played it, I had to have it. I don't know what kind of warranty comes with it, but it doesn't matter really, I don't think I'll need it.

I've been playing for almost 40 years and have played just about every kind of guitar made. I own a G&L Asat that I've gigged with severely, have owned Strats and others, but never a Les Paul. I always thought the cost too much money. Turns out I was right. Don't get me wrong, Gibson makes a fine guitar, they're just a little too proud of them. The Agile was a no brainer, and I will be buying more Agiles. Why buy a "name" when for the same money I can have four or five Agiles. Better get them now, these guys are gonna wise up and the prices WILL go up! Give this one a 10 because it is a "fantastic value". I'm already working on obtaining a "Kool

Decent features, made in Korea. it has a really nice lookin solid maple top. i think its a little less than 1/4 of an inch but that doesnt detract fromt he visual quality at all. Tuners are nice, they're 18:1 ratio Goto tuners that hold tune very well. the bone not that comes with it was pretty high out of the factory, so i sanded it down a bit to compensate for the high action (which is another thing).

the bridge and saddle seem a little cheap. it almost feels like plstic when you're adjusting it. its not that big of a deal but for a real quality feel, i'd get rid of em.

The neck is pretty fat. for smaller hands i could see this being a problem but if you're used to a fat neck, it plays really smooth.

its an electric guitar! what other features does it need!

This is where the flaws of the guitar really get whisked away. it sounds gorgeous. it has a nice throaty roar, perfect for rock and roll. the sound is really rich and round and sounds really good clean. with a lot of distortoion this thing really shines. yes, the reviews are true! it sounds as good as an Epihone LP, if not a little better.

i dont know if it sounds better than a Gibson LP, ive never had the chance to play one, which makes me sad inside, but for the price, it sounds magnificent.

this is where ive had a few problems:

the electronics suck. yeah, the humbuckers sound like complete mud. you cannot get any definition with them. the tone pots dont do much either, they have a very narrow tone adjustment and its muddy at that. i added a cheap 5$ HB i had laying around into the neck position, wow,i cannot believe the difference it made! sounded so much better. i can only imagine what it would be like with some Tony Iommi's or some PRS #7's.

the action is way too high. i cannot get to lower either! its stuck at almost 5/32 of an inch off the fretboard. i dont like to dig in to get my notes to play. and even then, the guitar frets out at the upper registers. if you play past 14, its dead. it sucks, and for thel ife of me i cannot get it to play smoothly even with the action as high as it is.

the neck plays really well though. it can play fast pretty easily but when you get past 12th fret or so, the playability drops quite a bit. my Ep LP was quite a bit easier to play on the upper registers.

the frets are kind of molded in a funny fashion: they are flat on top and not very well rounded. i like a smooth fret edge so i can add a lot of vibrato.

i dont know if a good pro setup will help this bad boy or not; ive tried and i have a basic knowledge on how to get a guitar setup properly. so points definently go down for the Agile here.

the abalone inlays are pretty ugly, id ont like them at all. and they had some bubbles in them too, so on closer inspection, they pretty much looked like ass.

its a prety well build guitar. seems very solid. kinda heavy but i would definently play w/o a back up. it sounds gorgeous (with new HB's of course)!

the guy at the online store seemed really nice. when i asked him about gettin the slim profile, he said return it and he'd get me one... think i probably should have followed up on that one...

Besides some pretty major flaws, which are easy to fix, this guitar plays really well. if you can get past the flaws, and fix it up a little bit, i would imagine it could play like a 1200$ guitar.

if anyone knows how to get a really nice action outta this guy, lemme know.

Not to long ago my good friend discovered Agile guitars. He was
so impressed that he bought 12 of them. Then he did one of the nicest things anyone has ever done for me, he bought me a AL-3000 Prestige. Being a guitar player for some forty years he knew that I would love this guitar. He was, as he often is, right.
I've played everything over the years, as I do to all of my guitars, I set up my 3000 the way that I like it. I removed the bone nut, (Agile also included a graphite nut with a trus rod adjuster), it was glued to the head stock and ebony fretboard but it knocked
free with one tap, I sanded 1/16" off the bottom of the nut, as well as softened all the new sharp edges, and lowered the bridge, it now plays, sounds and feels as good as any guitar that I have ever played. The access covers on the back, (which is solid mahogany w/ a mahogany set net), are lined w/ foil, the 3 way switch, tone & volume cavities are routed out cleanly and painted. The wiring looks well shielded. The pots, knobs, 3 way
switch, locking tun-o-matic tailpiece & bridge, and Grover tuners all feel great. The ebony fretboard looks like it was buffed with a
cotton wheel, it feels better than the fretboard on my D-28. A few of The Abalone trapezodial inlays are not all perfectly centered between the fret wires, this is a small complaint, and not noticable without very close inspection. The Alnico Wilkinson pickups have a good clear sound, and if you run your guitar thru a modeling pre-amp, as I do, you are able to get almost any sound out of them. I love my 3000, it is amazingly close to a $2,000. to $3,000. instrument. The fit & finish, and materials are
of very high quality. The Honetburst flame maple top's rich amber color is beautiful. If you are worried about Agile being a Korean import, don't, for this price $369., it does'nt matter were it's made when it's made this good. S.G.W.

I run my 3000 thru a VAMP PRO pre-amp, into a Fender Princeston chorus amp. their's every sound in the world in there.
The 3000 is a fairly quiet guitar. and very flexable.

Set up was OK, but I lowered my action.
The pick-ups were adjusted fine from the factory.
Bookmatching looks great, all routing looks great.

This guitar looks like it will hold up all well as my 5 years on the road Gibson SG did. Strap buttons are solid, I can depend on it.
I would use it on a gig without a backup.

30 day warranty as far as I know.

I've been playing for forty-five years.
if I lost this guitar, I would by another right away.
I think I like their original headstock design better than their current one.