Agile AS820

2009, Korean-made, 12-string, 22 medium jumbo frets, maple top, center block and body, mahogany neck, two volume and two tone controls with a pair of ceramic, vintage-output humbuckers, gold hardware, stop tailpiece, TOM-style bridge, 12 Grover mid-sized sealed tuners with 18:1 gear ratio for fine tuning, hardshell case. ES-335/330 - Gretsch 5162 Electromatic body style with "short" upper horns on 16" lower bout width. Small block pearl inlays a la ES-335 Crossroads and '59 Reissue.

Was looking for a "poor man's Ric," and found it here "with a twist." This guitar naturally still has that mellow, woody tone capability when you roll off the treble/tone controls. Intonation was perfect out of the box/case, but highs lacked much of any definition, mostly due to ceramic humbuckers and .047uF, 100V "chicklet" tone capacitors. These were replaced with a pair of gold finished GFS Retrotron Memphis Alnico II pickups and .022uF, 400V Sprague 225 series Orange Drop tone caps. This guitar will hang in there with any Ric, although not quite as bright being a semi-hollow, and is perfect for covering Petty, Byrds, Searchers, Beatles, etc. I play it through a Vox AC30CCH and an Avatar 2X12 cab with one Celestion Vintage 30 and one Lead 80. I run it through an EH Soul Preacher compressor/sustainer, and occasionally add a germainium fuzz or MXR Distortion III for smooth overdrive. Out of the box, I'd give this guitar an 8, but with the appropriate changes, it's a solid 9. I know this instrument would also sound great with P90-style humbucker formats, like the GFS Dream or Mean 90's. I am running Ernie Ball's Custom Light 9's - 46 nickel wound strings, and they are excellent. Full-size pots and decent jack, 3-way switch, and assembly of harness was a nice change, and produced a very quiet guitar.

Perfect intonation and low, playable action without undue buzz. Factory pups were adjusted properly, but lacked much top end definition. The neck pickup sounded much better. .047uF polyester film caps are NOT the right choice for this style guitar. With the sole exception of a half inch area around the headstock where the creme binding was not perfectly straight, the overall workmanship on the instrument was exempliary. Six-ply body binding, with single ply neck and headstock binding, produces a beautiful guitar. There is also a large, mother of pearl fleur-de-lis in the headstock. The model 200 case was built for Rondo Music on eBay, but it about 2" too long through the lower bout, which causes the guitar to see-saw back and forth across the neck brace. Granted, I only paid $45 or so for the case with the guitar purchase, but.....!

A rock solid instrument; I would not hesitate to use it live and/or gig without a backup. Strap buttons are vintage Fender-style in gold, so off these will come in favor of some Ibanez wide-flange pegs to use with a Planet Waves lock strap. Quality of gold plating on the hardware looks very good, as it is with the Grover mid-sized tuners, however, time will tell. Antique white finish with polyester clear seems able to stand up to any reasonable wear.

Asked Kurt about the issue with the guitar not fitting the case too well, and it took him a couple of days to respond. When he did, he really only told me what I already knew, and I'm not gonna' be shovin' some makeshift pillow or spacer into a case to the guitar won't slide back and forth in transit. Given that this is a 12-string model, you need to use a case designed for the length of Epiphone models like the Dot, Sheraton, Rivera, etc. I doubt this would fit a standard Gator or SKB case.

Been playing since the mid-60's; wouldn't dream of listing my collection highlights here or on anything similar. Love the stability of the tuners and the pick attack and rebound I get from the GFS Memphis pups with the TOM bridge. Visually, a very elegant and striking guitar in the antique white, which happens to perfectly match my LP Custom Tuxedo! I have absolutely no use for ceramic humbuckers or single coils, period! If you're a high gain seeker, no question, but for vintage correct tone, this stuff won't even get close and is strictly there for lower cost. I'd replace it instantly if it were lost; the cherry red finish looks like it has a naturally flame maple top and is equally gorgeous!

This guitar was bought in the fall of 2008. It has a rosewood fretboard, spruce top, two ceramic humbuckers. The finish is sunburst.

I have modified the electronics and bridge of the guitar.

Stock:

This guitar is very playable out of the box. I wish this guitar was around when I was younger and would have appreciated a quality guitar at this cost. The strings it comes with are garbage, change these first. The guitar was well intonated but the bridge is not well made and buzzes when played acoustically. The screws that go into the saddles do not fit tightly so this caused some buzzing.

The neck pickup sounded pretty interesting, the bridge pickup didn't do it for me but I think it just needed to be raised (turn two screws, takes 5 seconds to adjust).

Modded:

I replaced the strings with d'Addario 11-48 Jazz-Blues Rock pure nickel strings. These strings are great but harder to play. I've been playing for 13 years now and usually use 10-46 strings but I did use 11's for awhile. The 11's really make this guitar sing, I'd say the volume and sustain doubled or tripled with just the string switch.

I bought a roller saddle bridge (now I just need the Bigsby) from Guitar Fetish. It does not buzz and I did not lose any sustain but I had to lower the bridge posts all the way down and it still seems like the action is a hair higher than it was before. Strangely enough the guitar plays way better with the slightly higher action.

I bought a set of the GFS Dream 180 pickups from Guitar Fetish. These pickups sound pretty cool, way better than the stock pickups in my opinion. I had read about a lot of people matching these pickups with this guitar so I thought I'd try it out. They were only $32 each and with the wiring mods I made this guitar sounds like it's worth at least 2 or 3 times what I paid for it. The pickups are 5 wire so I did a full coil tapping so I can get either the humbucker or north, or south pole of each pickup. I also added a phase reversal switch. There are good wiring diagrams at guitarelectronics.com, their prices seem pretty inflated though. I bought my mini-switches and knobs locally. Here's a picture of the modded guitar: http://i291.photobucket.com/albums/ll312/Nathan_AS/AGILE_AS_820_MODDED033.jpg

The stock import pots are the small size but they seem to be pretty good quality. For some reason they used audio tapers on the tone pots and linear tapers on the volume pots. All pots were 500kohms with 0.047uF capacitors, I switched the capacitors to 0.022uF.

The Agile pickups were both around 7 or 8kohms. The GFS pickups were both around 12kohms.

As for a number rating, the number below is for the GUITAR, not the ELECTRONICS, ie. the guitar unplugged. It sounds pretty good.

Electronics sound rating:

Stock: 5
Modded: 9

How they can sell such a beautiful guitar for such a low price is beyond me.

But...to nit-pick...

There was a small hair-line crack in the finish on the back. I haven't even noticed it since but I gave the guitar a real thorough run down when I opened it (it is mail order...). The strap lock at the butt end is not centered or even screwed in straight so it's impossible to screw it flush to the body without denting the body. I'll have to fill that hole and re-install it after I get the Bigsby. The binding isn't perfectly matched/connected at the top fret/near the neck pickup.

I have a feeling I will have this guitar for the rest of my life. I own a 1997 Gibson Les Paul and I'm amazed how much I prefer the Agile. Maybe I'm more of a hollow-body guy?

I will not rate this category because I have only had it for a month or so. I see no issues at all though.

Fast shipping from Rondo, quick email response.

We were out of town when the guitar arrived and it was left on the front porch. Luckily someone in my family found it before it was stolen. I contacted Rondo telling them that this was ridiculous and he told me this is standard practice for Fedex. This is completely unacceptable for a musical instrument (total price around $550 Canadian). Either warn your customers that this will happen or provide a more secure courrier service.

I really love this guitar. Now for the classic cliche scenario: if it was stolen I would buy another one, buy the same pickups, do the same mods, etc...

Great tone, great sustain, gorgeous finish, very playable. I would buy from Rondo again. If you're looking for a new guitar I see no reason to overlook the Agiles.

2005 Black finish. Grovertuners, maple body. Nothing special.

I play folk and rock in my current band. Im running it through a vox ac30cc1 and a epiphone valve jr head. i usally run thrugh a dyna comp and a tube screamer. The cleans are reall warm and chunky. beautiful semi-hollow sound. overdriven the guitar sounds awesome. its bright and fat. suits my style beautifly.

ive been playing it for about a year and a half. i have several guitars, mostly hollow-body and i find my self using this one the most at home and with the band. its as solid as it could be.

never had to deal with them but i have always heard wnderful things about rondo.

Ive been playing about ten years. I own a ibanez artcore af75t, a dean sarasota, peavey reactor, squier m-80, and some others. I looked at a bunch of 335 copies before i bought this one. i played washburns, ibanez, peavey, and epiphones. I think this guitar blows the others away, ones i played anyway. I did like the Sheriton but i hate gold hardware. This guitar feel better made and has better tone that any others i played. nothing in its prices range came close. if you want a gibson, go buy one. If you want an affordable and very nice 335 style guitar get it.

Semi Hollow Body, White Finish, Two Humbuckers, Tune-o-matic bridge, thick-ish neck, rosewood fretboard, 3 way pickup selector, Tone and Volume controls for each pickup.

As many features as I, or most other guitarists, will need to play what they want to.

If you want a shred guitar with a monster tremolo system, you probably aren't looking at this review anyway.

I'm giving it a 10 because it has all of the features I need.

I run straight into a clean fender amp. The low notes have good definition, and the highs are warm and fat. This guitar seems well balanced between all registers. It is bright enough to have good definition, and to be versatile, but the hollow body really warms the sound and gives it a lot of depth.

I play jazz, and 60's rock (like the ventures, or beatles). This guitar suits these styles very well, and I would imagine that it can handle blues, garage, and many other styles well.

I rate the sound 8 out of 10 because it is not an exceptional sounding guitar. Perhaps it would be with a pickup swap, but stock, it is just a good sounding guitar.

The guitar felt kind of cheap out of the box, but I took the 9 gauge strings off and replaced them with 10's, and I adjusted the truss and action. This made it feel a lot better. I recently went into guitar center and played some expensive gretsch and gibson guitars and this guitar plays just as well as those. I think that putting 11's on it will improve its playability even more (but that is probably just for me).

The binding, paint job, and everything about the construction of this guitar is literally flawless. I have the white guitar with black pickguard and gold hardware; it is really quite stunning.

The only small problem that I have with the looks of the guitar is that the gold hardware looks kind of cheap and orange-ish. Also, the rosewood fretboard is kind of lightly stained, which also looks kind of cheap. Just nitpicking though.

I have not had this guitar for long enough (1 1/2 month) to really speak to its reliability, but it does seem well built and durable.

I asked some questions before ordering, and rondo music replied quickly and courteously. After ordering, they kept me informed about the status of my shipment through email. I have not had any problems with the guitar, so I don't really know how they would be in a situation like that.

A few years ago, I aquired an old Gibson ES-175 when my uncle lost the ability to play. The Agile guitar plays and sounds better than the Gibson (which has recently been professionally set up). This is really a testament to the quality of the Agile.

I have been playing 7 years, and I have owned alot of gear and guitars. Recently, I have just been really working on refining my skills, so I just need a guitar that sounds good, plays well, and is satisfying to look at. This guitar fulfills all of those categories, and for very little money.

I would imagine that an investment in better pickups and maybe some upgraded hardware would be great. The playability and construction of the guitar are so good that these changes would make the guitar a real gem.

I love this guitar and I would recommend it to anyone looking at hollowbodies and semi-hollow bodies.

2006 AS-820 Semi-hollowbody in Wine Red.
This is the two pickup Humbucker version (ceramic magnets).
Unlike the older version with the "Mickey Mouse" horns protruding out the top of the body, this new version has shorter horns remenicent of a Gretsch.
The top is flamed spruce and the sides and neck are maple.
Has rosewood fretboard, 22 jumbo (wide)but short well rounded frets.
18 turn gold Grover style tuners.
Gold tune-o-matic style bride and stopbar.
3 way pickup selector switch, 2 tone, and 2 volume controls.

Sound is decent. Like it better than the Gretsch I had.
Good Cleans and sustain.
The pups are similar to Gibson 490T/498T.
Alnico II pups would be an improvement but these are decent.

The action is very low. Fit and Finish was flawless and gordeous.
All seems and inlays done very nicely.
I have to give it a 9 instead of 10 because there was some overspray on the inside back of the guitar in the top F hole area. Not a big deal really.
The neck is to die for easy. Best I have used. Better than my Gretsch even.

Haven't had it long enough but after reading all reviews I expect no problems what-so-ever.

Had to return the case ordered for it as it was not a good fit. The guitar slid around inside.
Kurt answered almost all my questions and provided a prompt method for return of the case.

Overall rating would be a 9. The Guitar was close on intonation but not what I require using a strobe tuner.
All hardware, tuners, bridge, pots and switch worked quietly, smoothly, and quite well. Top notch in fact. Surprising for a guitar this inexpensive.
It is easily the best I have owned and is a pleasure to play. I have owned an Epi Broadway, Gibson ES-137 Classic, and a Gretsch Tennessee Rose 6119. Of these, only the Gibson was a little better, however I did not like the feel of the tall, wide, flattop frets.
I love this guitar. Best bang for the buck-hands down!

2006 Korean Made, 22 frets, Semi-hollow body, Natural Finish, slight flame, full body binding, plus neck and headstock. 3 way selector, P-90 Pickups, tune-o-matic, Gibson ES-335 knock off etc... See the Rondo Website for more details, www.rondomusic.net

Got this axe for the semi-hollow body sound and the P-90 pickups. I had neither in my collection so I figured I'd kill the proverbial two birds. I use a GT-5 effects processor with a Fender Hot Rod 2x12 combo. I mainly use the modeled amp sounds and then send the output into the tube power amp stage of the Hot Rod. This bypasses the pre-amp so the sound is a little less colored IMHO. The guitar has an interesting sound, the P-90's have less initial bite than regular single coils but they tend to break up with heavier playing. This tends to enhance the soft compression of the modeled tube sounds and the tube power stage. The Semi-hollow body gives the guitar a nice acoustic type sustain but still allows moderate to heavy gains to be used with out muddying up the sound too much. To sum it up it sounds like a nice "woody" guitar with darker overtones and an acoustic like sustain clean or distorted. It's neither Strat like or Paul like but kind of in its own realm. The P-90's used by themselves will hum like crazy anywhere near a transformer, TV set, Dimmer switch etc. But use them both and the pickups are very quiet. Just like any single coils there will be a sweet spot to stand in to minimize hum. (that's why they make humbuckers). The tone and volume controls are very responsive and give you plenty of options for Jazz, Rock, Blues etc. Pretty much anything but Heavy distorted Death Metal (again that's why they make humbuckers!) It's not really a guitar for shredding blistering leads on but more for playing Jazz/Rock etc. Although in Dropped D tuning the guitar makes a nice Heavy Rock sound suitable for an alternate rhythm track or something.

The Factory setting was atrocious! Other than the thing staying in tune and having realtively decent intonation the guitar wasn't set-up at all! The thing had fret buzz like crazy!! If you buy an Agile, you'll most likely have to have it set up, and I was prepared for that. The pick-up pole pieces on the neck pickup are slightly off expecially on the high E, but the volume drop off is not really all that noticable. The neck was backbowed and the nut needed to be modified as well as the bridge radius etc. Basically a proper set-up was all that was needed.

Cosmetically the thing looks like a million bucks, the flame is very subtle and there are small areas near the neck joint where you can see glue/filler. Also the there are small little imperfections in the binding. But this is just nitpicking considering the $289 price.

I had the guitar set-up with .011 -.049 jazz rock strings and properly intonated etc. and now the guitar plays great, easily worth twice the price paid.

I have to give it a low score for the set-up but the cosmetics and electronics seem to be top notch.

Looks durable to me but it is very light, so it feels somewhat insubstantial compared to a regular solid body. Just something I'll have to get used to

Finish looks top notch.

Strap buttons are solid, but straplocks are the safe bet.

I would use it at a gig without a back up, but I like to live life on the edge!!!

Kurt at Rondo was very friendly, answered all my technical e-mails promptly and with honest answers. Better than dealing with Guitar Center or Musicians Friend or Sam Ash anyday. If Rondo would offer MESA/Boogie and Marshall knockoffs at 1/8 the price, they would own 80% of the musical industry market in 10 years time.

Been playing 17 years, own Fender, Gibson, Carvin, Takamine. Perform professionaly on a weekly basis.

At 1/8 the price of a Gibson ES-335 it's a complete steal. You could buy about 6-7 Agiles in various forms for the price of a new Gibson Les Paul.

Guitar snobs may turn their noses up at cheap Korean made instruments, but the concert audience could care less. Under the lights on the stage most people can only tell that you are playing some sort of guitar, they can't tell if it's a Gibson or a Fender or an Agile. More importantly they could care less what it is. They just want to see you make sounds with it and be entertained and forget about their troubles for awhile. After all that's what music is about. It's not about body binding, or abalone inlays or bookmatched flamed maple tops. Those things are fine but they don't help you make better music. Only practice, experimentation, hard work, and keeping an open mind will make you a better musician.

For more good music go to www.theattraction.net

I got mine in 2005. The features have been covered so im not going to do it again.

I play a lot of rock and folk. i keep my tone clean or with a little overdrive, nothing heavy. I use a peavey bandit amp with behringer modeler as my preamp. (im about to upgrade to some tubes, but im a broke college student, hence the agile). this guitar is not noisy at all. my only complaint is that the bridge pickup is a little thin when clean, as a previous reviewer described, but sounds fine with a little overdrive. . Using the neck pup, or blending both, it sound awesome clean or overdriven. i love the tone of this guitar. It has a very thick sound, as it should. I really cant believe the sound of this guitar considering the price, or any price really. very nicee.

the set up when i got it sucked. The strings were way high and the intonation off bad. but this is normal for a new instrument. i have had to get every guitar i ever bought set up, except my martin. i took it to a local shop and wheen i got it back, it played wonderfully. absolutly no complaints. the finish was also great. i did find some minor cosmetic flaws on the binding in maybe 2 spots, but i had to look hard for them. i have the black finish with creame binding (even the head stock), and it is beautiful. The horns are a little less pronounced than the epiphones or ibanez, but i think it looks better. it really is a beautiful guitar. (koreans got the cosmetic end of manufacturing guitars down) All of the hardware seems to be good quality. tuners are exelent.

I believe this guitar will last forever, with propper care. the build quality is exelent. i play it several hours a day and have had zero problems (cant say that for some other guitars i have)

the service at rondo is great. emails are answered promptly and they are very helpful.

I have been playing for about 10 years. i own a mexican strat, dean chafin sarasota (semi hollow), A semi-hollow cort triggs series, a squier masters series m-80, peavey reactor (usa, very nice guitar), sx les paul style(sucks), seagul S6, Martin DX-1, Washburn d-1 (piece of shit) and a jay turser semi-hollow bass. my pedals (that i use) include mxr dyna comp, Boss-sd1, Digitec bad monkey, Digitech digidelay, old school big muff, mxr 10 band eq, and some other shit. i love this guitar. i love the hollow body tone, if you cant tell, and this suits my needs wonderfully. If something happen to it i would immediatly replace it. I wanted a 335 style for a while and tried sveral makes and models before buying this one. I tried several epiphones (didnt try a sheriton though), ibanez's, and some other models. This played just as good or better than all of the ones i tried. I think its better made than the cheaper epiphones, dot, casino, etc, nd the ibanez didnt compare in my opinion. i have never had the money to buy gibsons or guilds or any of the more expencive guitars, but i have been lucky in getting some quality instruments fofr half the price of those others. i read the reviews for the agiles and sx's when i became aware of the company. i bought an sx and it is a total piece of shit. I was worried when i bought the agile, but i am very proud of it. planon buing some more agiles soon, maybe the ricky style with the p90's. I love the guitar but keep in mind this is my opinion and you never know what your going to get for sure, but the guys at rondo are very cool and will exchange or replace anyting your unhappy with.

* Current production, 2005, Korea (probably).
* 22 jumbo or med-jumbo frets.
* Top is natural laminated flamed spruce, back flamed maple, sides probably flamed maple, neck is maple w/rosewood fingerboard.
* Controls are standard.
* Pickups are P-90, believed to have ceramic magnets.
* ES-335 copy with modified body shape (horns are less pronounced), not bad looking.
* Finish is gloss, probably polyurethane, looks tough and heavy. All hardware gold, pickup covers are parchment w/black pickguard.
* Bridge is tune-o-matic w/stop tailpiece.
* Tuners are Grover 18-1 ratio, seem OK (feel a little bit looser than the tuners that were installed on my 73 Martin, har, har).
* Neck is on the fat side but not boatneck.

Very credible P-90 tone on this guitar. These pickups get primal on a Tweed Deluxe, cranked, with to-die-for nasty OD & feedback and clean up very well for jazz, blues or rock at lower volume pot settings. Bridge pickup is slightly low in output in comparison with neck. These are great blues pickups and can cover the waterfront from Otis Rush to T-Bone Walker to B B King rolled back on the bridge pickup. Normal P-90 noise/hum is evident when close to Tweed type amps. Possible microphonics when excessive gain & Wah-Wah in use but this is pushing the envelope. The plywood top, massive center block w/post style bridge minimize resonant feedback in loud performance situations. This guitar sounds great at all volume levels and feedback is only slightly more difficult to control than a typical solidbody. I will say that all this nonsense about the superior tone of the spruce top is garbage. This is plywood, people. It could have spray paint on top and sound the same.

* Set-up was good, action very good, no buzzing. I had to raise the bridge on the bass side a little.
* Pickups align acceptably with strings.
* This is an inexpensive guitar. On my guitar there are at least 8 locations where wood filler was used to bridge imperfections where parts or binding did not mate properly. If you examine finish carefully you note numerous minor finishing flaws. The nut seems to be very well cut. The top routing is a little sloppy where the pickups insert. All hardware is installed soundly with no apparent issues.
* Fretwork is good, fingerboard good, MOP inlays appear to be plastic.
* Structurally this guitar is very solid and and well made.

* Seems to be very solid.
* Hardware appears to be high quality Asian issue, circa 2005.
* Finish is heavy, should hold up to repeated buffing.
* Strap buttons are solid. I replaced with strap-locks.
* Stays in tune well, very solid, as rugged as any semi-acoustic guitar I have owned.
* Pots & switches may not be top quality but could be replaced. I think original parts are dependable.
* Never leave home without a backup amp and guitar.

Been playing 35 years. I own a bunch of other electric & acoustic guitars and currently several clone Tweed amps with good speakers. For the money these Agiles are hard to beat. With P-90s this is more fun to play than my DeArmond Starfire (also great however).

This is one of the first one's with the original headstock. I've had it for about a year now, and bought it on fiscal year-end closout in April 2004. Made in Korea.
Price paid: $199.00

Features: ES-335 style body; flamed spruce top with flamed maple back and sides (natural finish) with triple binding on front, single binding on back and f-holes; single bound maple neck with rosewood fretboard, block MOP inlays, Grover tuners, and white plastic nut; 2 ceramic humbuckers, TOM bridge and stop tailpiece; 3-ply tortoiseshell pickguard with white/black edges; black speed knobs for control pots; black tip on PU selector switch with no trim ring; all hardware in gold finish.

Playability/tone: I put it through the paces first without plugging in. Acoustically, it rings out and has a very nice presence and resonant quality. That might be attributed to the spruce top. Plugged in it sounds great, although I'm not completely satisfied with the ceramic pickups. A good quality PU is all this guitar needs to make it a damn fine guitar. I run a rack set-up (Digitech GNX3 > 2 Presonus tube preamps > Yamaha power amp > custom 4 x 12 cab). It makes a great acoustic/electric and sounds really good when you turn up a medium gain for some crunch. High gains are not as good. The sustain is pretty darn good but not like my LP. Still, I really like the resonant qualities of this guitar and it has a lot to offer for the right applications. My style of writing/sound is traditional blues/rock (think Black Crowes, Zep, Train). This guitar fits right in for this style. The neck feels a little thicker than my LP and Strat style guitars, making it a tad uncomfortable to peel off lead licks (short fingers). It is the same width as my LP however. For rhythm and acoustic/electric applications it is wonderful. The grover tuners are by far the best tuners of any of my guitars. I bend strings constantly in my style of playing and this thing will not go out of tune, even with some severe string bends. Overall, I think it is best suited for me as a rhythm player. When I do get a set of quality PU's in it my views might change. I still use my LP and Strat for leads though.

Fit and finish: After careful inspection, I concluded that there were no serious flaws in workmanship. The wood grains look perfect with exception to a small area on the bottom end where it meets the binding. The bookmatching is very well done on the front and back. The flame pattern on the sides runs perpendicular to the body throughout. I have found out that the front is actually a thin maple veneer over a spruce top.
There is no evidence of excess glue on any joints. The binding is well placed and there are no chips, fillers, or discolorations evident. The poly finish is well done with no drips or oversprays. It was polished out nicely. Inlays are placed well and have minimal if any fillers.

Set-up: It did need a very good set-up out of the box. The action was high, the intonation was off, and it needed a truss adjustment. After changing strings and working with it for about 30 minutes, all things were great except for one fret that needed to be leveled. Now it is a "real player" with no string buzz.

The construction is top quality but I'll give this a rating of 7 only because of the terrible set-up and that these two itmes are lumped into one category.

After a year in use, I see no evidence that it won't hold up for the long haul. Even the gold plating still looks good. I do pamper all of my guitars though, so it gets wiped down constantly like all of my axes. Everything still feels very solid about this guitar (even though it's a semi-hollow). I would never gig without a backup just because of the different types of guitars for different needs (tones, tunings). I do feel like it will continue to hold up well and has so far.

It's Rondo. This one's a "no-brainer". They are numero uno in that department.

Overall: An incredible bargain for what I paid. I'd say it's as worthy to pay $600-$700 for it, but nice to know that I got it for $199.00 plus shipping and case making the total of a $280.00 investment. I had always wanted a ES-335 or 345. I could not be happier with this and it has satisfied my 335 craving extremely well. No need to spend the "big bucks" now. I say that if you are in the market for a 335 style guitar, this will fit the bill very well.

Features as listed below - with the following exceptions: my AS-820 has a gloss black finish with chrome hardware. Also, this is the newer styled model with horns that don't resemble the Gibson model. Reminds me of a Fender Starfire a bit, and that uniqueness is what I like.

H/H, TOM, grovers, 22 frets, block inlays, etc etc. I drove up to Rondo Music (Union, NJ - about 3 1/2 hrs from Baltimore) to buy a couple guitars after viewing their auctions on ebay wondering what the guitars sounded/felt like. Guitar came with no accessories. I didn't even buy a gigbag for it, just walked out of the store carrying it. :o)

As for features - it's got all the features you'd need to play blues, rock or jazz on!

I play a lot of blues and classic rock. I am mostly a tele or strat player, with the exceptional solidbody H/H guitar thrown in for something different. I have never owned a semi hollowbody guitar before b/c I couldn't afford an expensive nice one, and all the cheaper ones I've played sounded very thin/cheap to me.

I didn't go into Rondo's looking for a semi hollowbody, but I was happy to leave with one. This guitar has a full sound amplified (if somewhat softer in volume than other H/H guitars), and a nice sound acoustically. The neck pickup really sounds smooth, full and alive. Bridge pickup sounds a little thin, but blended it sounds right.

Pickup/pots aren't noisy. Not sure about how much variety the guitar has - but you can easily get 3 or 4 different good tones from it. I play this guitar through my Vox SMR Pathfinder amp, as well as my Flextone, and Seymour Duncan 84-50 combo.

Action is right about where I like it - not right on the fretboard, but not overly high either. I can still play fast along the fretboard.

Pickups came adjusted to the right spots as well. I may tweak them a little, maybe raise them both up a bit, but otherwise, nothing terrible.

Everything on the guitar seemed to line up properly. Binding on the body and neck seemed fine, with the exception of a small spot where the two met. Tiny imperfection, but really, especially at this price point, nothing to complain about. Hardware was not loose, controls all functioned smoothly and properly. Quality of the parts appears to be very good.

The most noticeable thing when playing this guitar is that it's not yet broken in. It just has that new feeling, but not the "old friend" feeling - yet. Some time playing this guitar will help with that.

Hardware seems very good quality. Pots/swicthes work fine, tuners are very smooth. Strap buttons are solid, and a decent size/design. I don't currently gig, but if I did, I'd probably use a backup, just in case of anything, but I wouldn't suspect any problems with this guitar.

I emailed Kurt over at Rondo and asked a couple questions before deciding to head up the road and check these guitars out for myself. His quick response was highly appreciated. Other companies may take a week+ to respond to an email.

Guitar is under warranty for a year. From talking with a couple of the guys there, it didn't seem like there would be a hassle if I brought it back if something went wrong.

What I can say about Rondo Music is that if you have the chance, visit them in person. Their sales staff is very knowledgable and helpful. Requests for items not on the sales floor were met with prompt responses, and quick trips to the back room to find the item. (some other large chain store might leave you standing there for 20 minutes before getting back to you!)

Their sales approach was a non-hassle style. Available to answer any questions, not standing over your shoulder waiting for you to decide if you want it or not (like ahem, other stores might).

I ended up playing about 10-12 different guitars in the store. Helped myself to whatever one I wanted to try. I spent about an hour trying different guitars side by side. This was an easy way to pick out a good one for me. I'd recommend going during non peak hours, so that you have the store pretty much to yourself.

I've been playing guitar for about 17 years. I've owned many different style and brands of guitars, in various price ranges ($100 up to $1,000). Currently I own a few American strats and teles, along with some other MIJ guitars. I've owned a vintage '71 Gibson Les Paul Custom, along with various 70's Ibanez guitars. I worked at a local music store for 2 years. Let's just say, I've played plenty of different guitars to know a good one from a bad one.

When I heard about Agile guitars, I thought they looked nice in the online pictures, but that they couldn't be so great to play. I didn't trust ordering one online, but curiosity got the better of me, and I decided it was worth the drive up to NJ to check them out. Very glad I did. While some Agile guitars I picked up were in need of a good setup, others played amazing right off the wall.

In this LOW price range for guitar shopping, finding a brand that offers such quality at such a low price is unheard of. These guitars are on par or better than the Korean guitars from Epiphone, or others. What I've noticed however, is that the Agile guitars are about 1/2 the price of the "big name" guitars made in the same country. I guess Rondo figured a way to cut out the middleman, and pass the savings on to the customer.

I was so impressed by the quality of the guitars, I bought an AL-3000 to go with my AS-820!