Agile AL3500 Prestige HSB

I recently purchased a 2005 AL-3500 Prestige Tiger Eye, made in Korea (according to common belief). It's a typical LP clone with 2 Alnico humbucking pickups. Nice Gotoh bridge, Grover nickle plated tuners, 22 hand finished frets. This baby is an all mahogany body and set mahogany neck with an ebony fretboard. Real abalone inlays. The 3/4" solid maple cap is flamed (no veneer used).

Rondo Music is the only one (that I know of) that sells this brand.

If you like the classic LP rock guitar tone, this model provides it. However, you better make sure you use the right kind of amp with it. I have a 100 watt Marshall hybrid Valvestate combo, and this guitar sounds pretty bad through it using the amps on board EQ and effects. In comparison, my 1991 Ibanez 540-S Custom Shop with factory high output Dimarzio pups (F1, F2, F3) sounds modern and mean through it (ala Metallica). Of course, this amp is geared toward today's scooped, heavy metal tone. On the other hand, the AL-3500 sounds fantastic through my Rockman rack. Much better than the Ibanez. This is due to the classic LP tone that this guitar produces. It's warm and rich, with great harmonics. The pups are sensitive, yet not as hot as many newer generation pups. I think that these pups were designed to be more like a vintage LP's.

Well...now comes the reality check. The guitar came with a broken string, oxidized pickup covers and oxidized frets. In addition, the neck pickup tone pot was defective. A full twist to high resulted in a shorted out signal to the pickup. A 1/4 inch section of the triple binding on the body near the neck was slightly flawed (hardly noticeable). The flamed maple cap is not exactly the best grain quality. Technically, it's AA grade, but Agile doesn't seem to put much effort into matching the two pieces - the flame grain was not consistent. One half of the flame top has more tiger grain than the other half. Moreover, the picture of the AL-3500 guitar on Rondo music's web site does not look like mine. I'm sure that they picked a perfect example for their web site (and darkened the picture). However, the guitar IS beautifully stained and finished. I'm actually quite happy with the stain color on my AL-3500. It's actually lighter and more translucent than the one of Rondo's web site. It reveals more wood grain and I like it better.

I am more disappointed with Rondo Music, than I am with Agile. One would think that Rondo would actually check out their guitars before they ship them out. I specifically asked them to do it. If they had performed the basics, I probably wouldn't have any negative criticism about this Agile guitar. I understand the fact that instruments shipped from overseas go through an environmental nightmare (extreme temperature, humidity, salt, bumps, etc). Therefore, it's pretty important to prep them before shipping them to a customer (likewise with ANY instrument from ANY manufacturer).

However, despite these shortcomings, I decided not to return it because I'm quite capable of installing new strings, cleaning up the hardware and making any other adjustments. Moreover, this guitar really looks fantastic (once I cleaned it up) and plays like a $2500 Gibson LP. It really does, no kidding. I was going to buy a Gibson LP Standard, but I was very disappointed with the quality, fit, finish and sound when I checked out several at a local Guitar Center. I found more flaws and defects on these Gibson's, than I did on this Agile (as you can tell, I'm pretty discerning and picky). Moreover, many parts of the Gibson looked cheap or badly manufactured, especially the plastics. I actually saw some high end Epi LPs that looked better (I lined up a bunch of Epis and Gibsons at the store and did some detailed comparison).

The neck and fretboard on this Agile is great. The ebony fretboard is smooth and fast - no drag. The jumbo frets are nicely polished. A pure joy to play. The hardware is high grade.

I've been playing for 35 years and I am quite impressed with this beauty, despite the fact that Rondo shipped a totally unprep-ed guitar.

I have no doubt that this guitar will hold up as well as any decent grade guitar. It's got a good, solid finish and then triple bindings are well seated and integrated into the body and finish. I'm mostly a home recording player. I'm sure that this guitar will hold up in my basement.

I just received this guitar one day ago (10/27/2005). I'm going to e-mail them regarding my small issues and see how they handle them.

Like I said, I've been playing for 35 years. I've played enough guitars throughout the last 3 decades to know the difference between a good guitar and a cheap copy. If I were to actually buy an Agile in a store, I'm sure that I would find a perfect example (just like any other brand).However, I am very satisfied with the one that I have. For $520, you simply cannot beat the quality and the sound.

* 2005, made in Korea, bought new for $530 from Rondo Music, NJ
* 22 frets, jumbo
* Honey Sunburst 3/4" solid flame maple top (not veneer)
* Two volume control, two tone control, one PU selector switch
* H/H, Passive AL-3500 Agile humbucker pickups
* Maple neck with Ebony fretboard, Abalone fret markers, solid mahogany with solid flame maple archtop body.
* Honey Sunburst Flame finish
* Les Paul body style
* Gotoh Tune-O-Matic bridge/tailpiece
* 18:1 ratio Grover tuners
* Fat neck, 24 3/4" scale
* Allen wrench (truss adjuster)

I have a V-Ampire LX112 combo with BG412V stack. I can dial quite a number of different amp/cab combinations (combo or stack sound).

The sound is brighter than what I'm accustomed to. I also bought a PS-1000 (black flame, PRS Style body) and they sound pretty much alike. I was somehat puzzled and annoyed with the similarity. It took me a while to figure it out.

Both have Ebony fretboards, same 24 3/4" scale. Both the AL-3500 and the PS-1000 use the same set of AL-3500 pickups (contrary to the website's PS-1000 description about the AL-1/AL-2800 pickups). The AL-3500 employs a solid 3/4" flame maple top. As for the PS-1000, I was assuming that the maple top is just a flame veneer, probably 1/16" thick. So, I was expecting a warmer mahogany sound.

Then, I noticed that the top was really a 1/2" thick maple! I don't know yet if the top is solid flame maple or just plain maple with a 1/16" flame maple cap. That makes the PS-1000 a real bargain ($350) compared to say, a PRS SE Custom (flat plain maple top with flame maple cap, $550).

Anyway, that's why they sound very much alike. I've also read comments elsewhere about the AL-3000M being somewhat bright. Well, it's because they all have the same common sonic features.

The stock pickups, I admit, are pretty good but I want a somewhat different sound... I might changed the pickups to Virtual PAFs at a later time (or maybe not).

Setup was pretty good, I just have to lower the action a little bit. The 2 piece mahogany body was bookmatched and so was the solid flame maple top. There were some very mimor finish flaws (you have to be looking real close to see them). The nut was a little bit rough cosmetically but properly cut. Bindings almost perfect throughout.

The controls are smooth, not noisy. The entire control cavity was painted with conductive paint for shielding. The output jack was a bit loose, have to be retightened. Noticed that the pickups German nickel plated covers easily get discolored with sweat. The usual chrome plated covers, I guess would be better.

I noticed that the magnetic orientation of the pickups are the same way as Epiphone's. I don't know why the Koreans set up the poles' polarity differently for the neck and bridge pickup.

With the original Gibson's pickups (BOTH neck and bridge), the slug's polarity is north, the adjustable screws, south. With the Epiphone's (and the Agile's) NECK pickup, the adjustable screw's polarity is north, the bridge pickup same as Gibson.

Curiously, with the Chinese made SX Les Pauls, pickup orientation is "correct" (follows that of Gibson's). According to the experts, Gibson's way of orienting the pickups is the correct way to avoid affecting the strings vibrations.

The guitar is solid enough to withstand live playing. Finish is quite thick, it should last. Strap buttons big and solid. Should be dependable.

Customer support (Kurt) is quite good. He'll go the extra mile to satisfy a customer.

I compared it to Epiphones and Schecters. The Schecter C-1 Plus was a pretty close choice. I'll probably change the pickups eventually because of the cover and magnetic polarity issues. Except for the pickup issues, I can hardly find any fault with this guitar and with some minor upgrades, it's as close as you can probably get to a Gibson Les Paul. Quite a bargain! If it were stolen or lost, I'd buy it again.