Agile AS820

335 semi-hollow body copy made in Korea. Flame spruce top with flame maple back and sides in natural finish. Maple neck with rosewood fret board and MOP block inlays, I'd say medium thickness. Dual humbuckers, "real" Grover tuners (no kidding), tune-o-matic style bridge, and tortouse shell pickguard. All hardware is gold plated. Ordered it with a hardshell case. I give this a 9 just because the hardware is cheaper type than what you would find on higher end American and Japanese made guitars, the humbuckers are modest, and it only has a plastic nut. Upgrade the nut/pickups and you have a high dollar guitar for mere peanuts.

Great tones. It has some of the best clean tones I've ever heard, probably due to the spruce top. Resonates beautifully. Most 335 style guitars have maple tops. Has a rich, deep acoustic sound even for a thin body, and can be dialed in for nice bright tones also. Can crunch like hell when you add some gain, and I've yet to make it feedback unless I wanted to. I still use my LP for heavy leads just because of the thick and chunky tones it yields, but this is perfect for blues/classic rock type leads where you don't need a ton of high gain. Great jazz tones as well, and I use it exclusivley for rhythm. Don't get me wrong here though, it can still take high gain and perform well. With a pickup upgrade she should sing like a bird.

Finish is flawless, with beautiful bookmatching. How they could give so much detail for so little money is beyond me but I'm glad it works out that way. No visible glue joints, binding matches perfectly with no color blemishes/variation, poly finish is well done with no overspray. Tuners, bridge, and tailpiece line up exactly the way they are supposed to. The only reason I give this part an 8, is because the factory set-up was just OK and after about seven months of having this, I am seeing a little oxidation of the hardware. It does polish out, but my LP's gold hardware does not oxidize, even though the plating is a little worn in a few spots. I had to do some truss rod adjusting, re-set the action on the bridge (it was way high), and re-intonate. I also will have the frets properly dressed to cure a tiny bit of buzz in one spot. The pickup heights were adjusted well from the factory.

The Korean factories have made huge strides in recent years in producing quality instruments. I believe soon they will be on par with the Japanse productions. This is a well crafted guitar that feels solid, even for a hollow body. Strap buttons feel very solid and should hold, although she will receive strap locks. I have only had this guitar for about 7 months, but I really feel like it will hold up well throughout the years. The hardware will probably need to be replaced at some point (gold finishes always wear down eventually).

First class. Kurt answered my e-mails the same day within an hour or two. Even sent me an upgraded case for the same price as the lower priced one that was out of stock. They get my vote for the bset customer service. Their return policy is more than fair.

I've been playing for about 25 years and can say overall, this is the best deal I've ever gotten on any gear ($199 for a piece of furniture that plays wonderfully). If it were lost or stolen I would be heartbroken because they have changed the body style slightly on the newer version so as not to piss-off Gibson. I have always wanted a ES-335, but after getting this, I would never pay the money Gibson is asking when I can get an incredible axe for this kind of money. To me it's about sound and feel, not a name. Even if I changed the hardware and electronics out and put in boutique pickups, I would have a $1500+ guitar for about $600.

My particular AS820 is a 24.75 scale semi-hollow w/maple neck, a rosewood fretboard, gold grover tuners, gold hardware, tune-o-matic type bridge, natural spruce top, flame maple sides & back, plastic nut, 2 P-90's, 4 knobs (Gibson style setup), and a 3 way switch. This is the newer AS820 that looks less like a 335 and more like a Fender Coronado. It is a very nice looking guitar - FAR better looking in front of you than in photos. While the plastic nut (which I plan on replacing with a bone nut) holds it back from me giving it a higher rating, the 820 still gets a 9 in my book because these features are just about unheard of on a guitar this low priced.

Generally speaking, if you like the semi-hollow sound, but aren't interested in spending $1400+ on one, you will probably love this guitar - it sounds great...GREAT. Before tonal descriptions, it should be mentioned that it comes with the option of P90's or ceramic humbuckers. I HIGHLY recommend the P90 version. I had an Agile 2500 Les Paul copy with the ceramic hums and they were ok (I probably would have swapped them out though, had I kept the guitar) but these particular P90's are really impressive sounding pickups by any measure - I was quite surprised by this. When I first played them at home, it wasn't immediately apparent on a practice amp at low volume, but it sure became damn clear when playing at higher volume with my band - WOW!
The overall sound of this guitar with the P90's is BIG, fat, clear, woody, and dynamic. There is NO mud in the sound. Sounds great clean, sounds great overdriven. The highs are there, the lows are there - it well balanced, yet has a slightly scooped mid quality & smooth attack. There is the usual P90 noise to deal with at times (hey, they ARE big single coils), but it's well worth it. I'd say that this guitar is brighter than your usual 335 or Epiphone DOT type of guitar...I think this is because of a combination of 2 things: 1. the P90's. 2. The maple neck - personally, I think maple necks should be used on more semi-hollow body guitars, and prefer it to mahogany.

Personally, I can see nothing to complain about concerning the sound of this guitar - it's complex, versatile, and interesting.

Not perfect, but surprisingly good. While I couldn't find any major issues, here is what I did notice: mine had what looked like a small fingernail-like nick in the rosewood fretboard that just barely nicked the binding near it too, and some small scuff/scratch in the binding on the back (under the poly finish). No globbed glue anywhere. While the fretwork wasn't perfect, the action was lowish out of the box, and the frets didn't buzz at all till I lowered the T.O.M. bridge almost all the way down, at which point about 6 spots above the 12th fret developed some buzz, with 3 fretting out. A fret level fixed this quite easily. Related to this, Agile offers the 2800 Les Paul as one step up from their 2500 model - it has nicer hand filed frets and a higher quality professionally cut nut. I think it would be a possibly good idea if Agile offered the same option for the AS820, for those who don't want to do this themselves or take it to a shop (I don't mind, but I can see others who would gladly pay extra for this).

So again, a 9 (maybe an 8.70 if it were available)...but to be honest, I've seen guitars that cost 3 times as much with more issues.

Not sure, as I've only had it a few months. Great so far though. Seems solid to me. While I haven't examined it

Kurt at Rondo is tops - he's great at answering questions, and it's hard to find a nicer guy to do business with. BTW, he has a good & fair return policy too.

Been playing 21 years, and this is clearly the best deal I have ever found on a new guitar. I have a very nice vintage 50's spec Tele that will probably always be my #1, but this guitar is great in a different way. I also have a strat-like guitar that I cost more money for than this when I bought it new back in the early 80's, but it is hardly worth even mentioning compared to these two guitars. If you like the semi-hollow sound, I don't think you can go wrong with one of these AS820's. I hesitate to give any guitar a 10, but this thing takes the frikking cake for $260!

This is an off-the-rack blond, natural spruce, double cutaway 335 copy. There are a bunch of other reviews which describe the features better than I. I invite you to read them.

It's about the sound... isn't it? It's why we play, and it's the sound, not the features which make the guitar. Face it, back in the day, ol' Chet could have wandered in and made whatever was handy sound something that cost more than any of us will ever have. This guitar makes all the right noises at just the right time. From clarion-ringing highs to drooling, snarling, growling lows, the Agile's voice is that of a much more expensive instrument.
I've used it thru a couple Crates, a series of Fenders and a Roland Jazz Chorus. It can sound sweet, cruncky, nasty and Heavenly.

When I got the guitar, I replaced the strings immediately. The intonation was perfect, and the action medium-low. I don't really care what the finish or bookmatched top is like. This is a guitarist's guitar. It plays and sounds like one. Who cares what it looks like.
But, other than a tiny smear on the back ofthe body, thuis thing could pass for high-quality furniture.

I've played it a bunch at home and taken it out for performances 4 times. It performs better than it looks and sounds as good as it performs.
I normally use 3-4 guitars on stage during the course of a show, but this puppy just may break me of that habit.

Everything you hear about Kurt is true. He gave me excellent advise, even to the point of suggesting that another manufacturer's guitar might fit my needs better. Anyone that honest gets my business.

I've been playing over 50 years. I have a Fender Tele, a Takamine AE and Classical AE, a custom designed thin-body classical AE, and an Ovation classical. There are a few others around here too.
I am in no way associated with Rondo Music, and offer my review as an honest, informed opinion of the AS820. I've played the $3000 335s, and this isn't one of them.
What it is, quite simply stated, is by far, the most versitle, playable, affordable guitar I've ever owned. I regret not getting it long ago, but feel really secure in telling you that you won't be disappointed when you open the box and plug it in.
This thing is worth a lot more than the money you'll pay.
One of the cool things about guitars, is that you can buy something at a garage sale, and declare with great authority that all Fenders, Gibsons, Martins, and Taylors are junk. We all reserve that right. I won't go that far with this guitar. I'll simply say it's the best deal you'll ever get.
Maybe the ultimate testimony comes from my wife. Although there are currently 11 guitars in our house, after seeing and hearing this one, she asked me if I wanted to get something else from Rondo Music.
Think about that.... a guitar so sweet that your wife thinks you might need to order more........ is this a great country, or
what?
Thanks, Kurt. An excellent guitar from an honest dealer.

I purchased this guitar last week from Rondo Music via Ebay. It's the second guitar I've bought from them. If you want to know whether or not to buy one of these, the answer is yes, you should. Immediately, because if you currently have the opportunity you won't for long. They are becoming increasingly difficult to find due to a lawsuit from Gibson. The three that Kurt had available on Ebay lasted about an hour, and these were all lefties. I've had a lot of guitars, including a very expensive Heritage 335 copy, and suffice it to say that if you are in the market for a 335 copy, or for that matter a real 335, you should buy one of these.

The only thing to note feature-wise is that the guitar was advertised as having chrome hardware, a black pickguard, and a spruce top. I arrived with gold hardware, a tortoise pickguard, and a flame maple top. Now, ordinarily this isn't anything to complain about - those would all be considered upgrades. But in this case I actually was interested to see what the spruce top would sound like, given that expensive archtops all have spruce tops and 335's are typically all maple. Whatever, this thing cost $200 and is a ridiculous value. On of the reviewers below described it as "free" and he's basically right. If you have $200 in the bank and don't own one of these, your life is empty.

Enough of that. I am going to use this opportunity to talk about the Harmony Central Review Database. I've been using it for years, and I think it's one of the best things on the web. But I've noticed in my time as a Harmony Central reader and growing musician that much of this database is completely absurd. In fact, much of the gear market is completely absurd. If you're interested in hearing my opinion, read on. If you just want to know whether to buy this guitar, I already said buy it, so hurry up and email Kurt.

When it comes to rock and roll, there is no such thing as a good guitar. There is also no such thing as a bad guitar. There are only guitars that stay in tune and those that don't.

When you come across a review of some Pensa Suhr or Jaros or Benedetto or whatever, keep this in mind. No one - I repeat - no one who you listen to or care about plays a $3000, or even a $2000 guitar. They are the guitar equivalent of a Rolls Royce. Tacky luxury items for fat people. They do no better at their stated task -making noise - than the cheapest pawn-shop beater. And the people who have sold the most records and had the most influence in the last 20 years all played the kind of gear that could be smashed to bits at the end of the show. The only guys who are writing reviews of PRS Dragons and crap like that are stock brokers, bar mitzvah bandmembers, Paul Allen and the kind of sexually frustrated Boomers who think cars and guitars will make up for their growing paunch and disappearing hair. The notion that there is some kind of guitar heirarchy in which $2,000 Tom Andersons are at the top and $200 korean guitars like this are at the bottom is only useful to people who feed their families by convincing musicians that expensive gear has anything whatsoever to do with good music.

It doesn't. Neither do abalone, flame, quilt, translucent paint, gold hardware, laminated or solid, brazillian, bone, brass, tap-tuned Englemann Spruce, five-ply binding or any of the other things that people use to gild the lily. You can't hear any of that from more than three feet away, and barely through an amplifier, and not at all through a PA, and no way on earth through Pro Tools. All you need is a guitar that stays in whichever tuning you prefer. There is no good sound or bad sound. There is only the sound you want to make.

An expensive guitar matters a lot to Pepe Romero, who has to be heard, unamplified, over an orchestra in a 1,500 seat hall. Everyone else should buy their gear from Kurt at Rondomusic.net, or their local pawn shop, for as little as possible, and focus on actually learning how to play, and more importantly, write good music.

One of the inlays is a bit cockeyed. Whatever. The thing came with low action and no buzzing. It was a full step out of tune across the board, which suggests that it had already been tuned and checked out before being detuned and sent. Beat that.

Here's another reason why buying expensive guitars is for losers. Action, fit and finish are completely subjective. Someone like me is thrilled when a guitar comes out of the box with superlow action. A slide player hates that. People are obsessed with joints and routing but then go and spend $6,000 on a 50's strat with a huge gap in its bolt-on neck. And all these dorks go on and on about quilted maple when Rivers Cuomo and Billie Joe Armstrong put stickers and magic marker all over their guitars before playing in front of 15,000 people. Send an email to anyone on this site who gushes over their 5AAAA spruce top and ask him how many people were at his last gig. He won't write back.

If you're particular about how your guitar feels, find a good tech. A good tech can make any guitar feel like any other guitar. Again, the idea that action and playability are a function of whether the axe was made in Paul Reed Smith's kitchen is absurd.

This guitar is subject to the same physics as the $2,100 version that Gibson sells. But here's one difference - if this guitar cracks, I can buy nine more before I've spent that much. Gigging musicians know that their gear is going to get messed up. That's why they don't spend $2100 on it.

I just saw Trail of Dead in Hollywood and they were all playing 335-style guitars. The show was completely sold out. They're on Interscope. Jimmy Iovine signed them. These guys are hot sh*t. Gibsons, right? Wrong. Epiphones. To those of you who insist that $2100 guitars are worth purchasing, I ask: Do you share a label with U2 and Eminem? Is the most powerful man in the music business your mentor? No? Then why are you spending 2 grand on a guitar when the guys who are living the dream don't bother? Everyone plays Korean guitars. There is nothing a Gibson can do better except bankrupt you.

Kurt at Rondomusic is just as cool as everyone says he is. Go give him money.

Here's who isn't cool:

Ed Roman: Look at a picture of him. That's who plays his guitars. You wanna look like that? I didn't think so.
The Greedy Jerk who runs Southpaw Guitars: He's half the reason lefties are so expensive and hard to find. He snatches them all up and then overcharges in order to control the market. Don't ever, ever buy from him, it only makes matters worse.
Guitar Center: Killing independent music stores the world over.
Sam Ash: Ditto.
Everyone who publishes coffee table books with photos of expensive guitars: Absolutely no difference from these people and the ones who collect Hummel figurines. Not the worst thing you can do, but man, it's so not rock n' roll.

To sum up: Stop buying expensive gear, spend less time reading/writing crap like this and more time listening to records, rehearsing and writing songs, tell everyone who will listen to make more lefty guitars, don't buy gear from jerks or monopolists, don't buy guitars that look like they were designed by Bob Mackey and then try to play rock n' roll, stop thinking your guitar is going to revive your sex life, or replace it, stop reading the reports from NAMM and for God's sake cancel your guitar magazine subscriptions. And feel free to email me at the address below if you want to argue.

This is a 2004 model and it was made in Korea. 22 frets that are finished perfectly. It has a laminated top and back but done beautifully and bookmatched to perfection. Really stunning. It has the standard controls of a 335 style guitar. 1 selector switch, 2 volume and 2 tone controls. The pickups are of Agile manufacture they are ceramic in construction and are just fine if your playing thru about any amp. If your are doing serious recording work then you may want to consider the Agile 3500 series pickups available where this guitar can be purchased. It has a maple neck and all maple construction. It's glossy finish is second to none. The fit and finsh are just plain outstanding. Really, no percievable flaws. The 820 has a stop tail piece and a tune-o-matic style bridge. All the hardware is finely gold plated and the tuners are Grover 18 to 1 ratio and are excellent. It has a graphite nut that was cut perfect. The neck is a perfect radius, maybe a 13. In all honesty, this is one outstanding instrument for the money paid or twice the price

It suits my style and that would be the blues and jazz. I play it exclusivley thru an original 59 Fender Bassman. The only effect I ever use is a Digitech Digiverb pedal. It is very rich, fat and full in the neck position and the bridge position is bright and defined. The middle position is just slightly brighter and cleaner than the neck alone. About as it should be. This 820 can cover just about anything you want it to except metal or music of that genre. If I had any dislikes I would say so but I really found none

Here's where it gets crazy. Every guitar I have ever bought and I have bought so many ( including many Agiles) that I can't remember them all, have needed a set up of some nature. In this case, mine came out of the box so right that I was amazed. No buzzes, intonation problems, relief issues or action problems. I had to adjust a tiny bit of pickup height but that is ALL I had to do, period. The bookmatch was as I said previous, excellent. No flaws that I can find and I know a little something about guitars since I have been a player for more than 45 years. I'll give it a 9 here just because I had to adjust the pickups a smidge.

My experience with Agile guitars and I have bought more than 12 of them so far, has been that you can trust this guitar night after night and never have an issues with it letting you down. ( Properly taken care of ). As before the hardware is gold plated excellent and the pots and switch and bridge and tail piece are just perfect. I will depend on it, for sure. I never gig without a backup but that is common sense not an indication of the quality of this instrument.

Now here is where the best part of this deal comes from. Rondo Music is an outstanding company to buy from. Kurt and his crew are wonderful to deal with and there customer satisfaction is without equal. PERIOD! Kurt sells the Agile line and that is the only place you can obtain one of these babys. There or on E-bay where he sells them. You can never have a problem with an issue when it comes to Rondo. ( within reason of course) I have bought I believe 14 of these now all different models of course, and all of them have been worth a lot more than I paid for them. Now I don't want to sound like some salesman from Rondo but honestly folks they are great to deal with and they have a great line of guitars.

As I said I've been playing for more than 45 years. I own too many guitars to list here but all the big named ones as well as my beloved Agiles and SX guitars. If it were stolen, I'd hunt the SOB down, pull his you know whats thru his nose and take it back. It has all that any Gibson 335 can offer so nothing is the answer to that question. I use

bought new for 200.00. mine is the lefty flametop with gold hardware and tortoise shell pickguard. this is a very good copy of a gibson 335 that i had years back. 22 frets. nice size neck. not fat, not thin. just right. 2 humbuckers. probably ceramic magnets. grover tuners. very smooth action when tuning. a definate plus. plastic nut. frets are medium jumbos.

the pickups were darker then i'm use to. but i'm use to single coils in a strat or tele. they were playable and you could find some sweet zones where they sounded quite good, but my playing style needs a brighter sound. ceramic humbucker pickups can be harsh when they are distorted. i replaced the pickups with some p-90 retrofits. these fit my style better. a little more bite without harshness. still think if i was use to humbuckers, these original pups would sound fine.

out of the box, the action was low. the low E and A string buzzed slightly. the rest were ok. i played for about 1/2 an hour and decided i prefer the action higher overall. i replaced strings with 10-52 daddarios. the nut was cut ok. i tweaked it a bit on the depth of all the strings. made a big difference when playing the open chords (C,G,E,A,D) all sounded good after the nut tweaking. the frets were suprisingly well dressed. no dead frets. no buzzing anywhere. the neck feels very close to my vintage 335 i had for 30 years. the bridge saddles have a little play in them and need to be turned quite a few turns before it makes any difference. still all these little things i mention are usually tweaked on every guitar you buy. this guitar was only 200.00. and for it to be playable at all is a plus.

i took it out on a gig. now where i play, it will put any guitar through its roadtests. i play one gig in a nice cool club. the next gig will be outside in a 95 degree, 100% humidity, raining out under a patio awning gig. the guitar tends to shift tune with the changing climates, but every guitar will do that. overall this guitar can be a #1 ax if you want to use it for every song, every gig. no problem. everything seems solid enough for gigging. and i play the harshest of climates.

kurt is rock solid and great for anything that you would want to know about these guitars. i have no worries if something would happen.

i've been playing for 40+ yrs. i had a gibson 335 for 30 of those years. after playing this guitar, i cant see anybody ever buying a 2000.00+ dollar gibson 335 when they can have this guitar for only a couple hundred. it is by far better then the epiphones and with about 150.00 worth of upgrades, it would rival a real 335. replace the nut, bridge, pups, and you will have a top quality 335 guitar. but none of these are a necessity to replace. i have not replaced bridge or nut. pickups would've been ok, except i wanted more p-90 bite. if you have an itch for a 335, dont hesitate. it'll be a great 200.00 investment.

From Rondo Music, a Korean Gibson 335 clone, not sure of the manufacture date but most likely late '03 or early '04. Two tone, two volume, three way selector switch. Two ceramic humbuckers, unknown make. Spruce top in a natural finish that is almost a golden honey. Maple sides. Grover tuners. Tune-o-matic bridge. Lefty model.

Pefectly suits the kind of music I like to play, which is 60's British invasion rock. Perfect sound for early Stones and Kinks, fits the Beatles like a glove (nice jangle.) Run it through a Fender Blues Jr. and gives an incredibly clean sound. Although it is a semi-hollow and not a hollow body like the Epiphone Casino, to my ears it sounds pretty close in tone. (Perhaps adding P-90's would make it complete.) Not a shred/metal guitar, but you could probably play just about any other style with it. For someone who likes to use a lot of distortion this isn't the guitar, but that is not an issue with me. I find this guitar very hard to put down.

Guitar set up was only fair. As noted in other posts, strings are pretty awful and will need replacing ASAP. A lot of buzzing on the low E. Action was nice out of the box, however, and I am sure giving the neck a little relief will fix the buzz. Neck straight as an arrow. All electronics solid. A small glitch in the binding near the neck (a speck of dust under the finish?) but you need a magnifying glass to find it. Otherwise, a real eye catching guitar -the pictures on the Rondo web site did not do it justice.

I do not gig at the moment, but I would see no reason not to use it in a performance setting...being a semi-hollow I wouldn't throw it around the stage with abandon, but the guitar feels very solid.

Kurt at Rondo is always quick to return e-mails and answer any questions. Usually within the hour during his business day. Excellent communication, and although I have not had any problems with my guitars (this is my second Agile, the other is a Gold Top), I don't think Kurt would hesitate to help if any problems surface.

I've been playing a little over a year. I would be hearbroken if this guitar were stolen or lost...especially since it sounds as if Rondo won't be offering the 820 anymore...I know that I would have to pay a lot more to get the kind of sound the Agile supplies. A lot of players say that Agile gives you a great guitar for the money, and they are absolutely right. This is a great guitar.

Purchased new in 2004 so recently made in Korea. 335 knock off with solid spuce top, maple back and sides. 2 volume and 2 tone knobs for the 2 humbucker pick-ups. Maple neck with rosewood fretboard. Beautifull quilt top-cream or natural color, fully bould body and neck. Tuners are Grover, tune-o-matic bridge, stop tail. Jumbo frets-22 I believe. This guitar is a real looker and light-6.50 lbs.

I had heard that previous owners swap out the pick-ups on this guitar as that is how the price is kept so low. I may eventually put in pickups of my choosing but the stock humbuckers are fine for now. Great jazz or blues sound. Very bright and clean at times but can flick the triple position selector and get rich blues or rock sounds. I've even found some rockabilly abd Gretch sounds from this baby.

Set up very well out of the box. Slight buzz on low E and A strings and some intonation problems above the 13th fret on the same strings. A little tweek of the truss rod and minor adjustment at the bridge and the action is low and perfect. Neck plays like butter. No flaws or blemishes, no glue seen, electronics do not rattle and everything seems very tight and well made. Put new DR 11 guage strings on and the sound really blossomed.

To soon to tell but feels very solid and well made. A lot of attentiion to detail here. Always have a back-up but this brings raves from fellow guitarists. I simply do not understand how anyone can make a guitar of this quailty so inexpensive. AMAZING!!!!!

Fine so far. Rondo Music has a fine rep. That's why I bought form them. Plus, it's the only place to get this guitar!

Been playing since the Beatles appeared on Ed Sullivan and have played or owned numerous guitars. I was very curious about this guitar. I wanted a 335 and looked at them all, Washburn HB35, Dillion 535, Tokai, J Turser,Epi, ect..Hard to believe but this is the least expensive and arguably close to the best of the bunch. All of the above run between 300 and 1000$. I don't want to pay 30% for a name. This Agile is a great value and a terrific guitar. Very happy! I would certainly get another if anything happened.

Laminated spruce with lightly flamed Maple top, back and sides. Gold hardware with gold Grover tuning machines. Standard ES-335 configuration.Stop tail, tune-o-mati, etc.Pots adust volume and more importantly tone, quite nicely. Ceraminc pickups are surprisingly good with a nice array of tomes. Very easy to blend the the pups as the tone pots have a nice treble roll off.

As I mentioned, nice versitilty and tones. Excellent blending. Pups pretty hot and yet mellow out with roll off. NOT muddy like the Epi Dots were/are.Not much to dislike here.

Mine came in flawless, save for the fact it was out of tune! Action, intonation were perfect and no fret buzz. Finish, binding, inlays, f-holes, flawless construction all the way around.The gold hardware had NO thin spots or scratches of any kind. Looks to be nicely applied.

Feels like a tank, built like a tank and I think it would gig till the cows come home.

It's Kurt @ Rondo.

I've been playing 35 years. At 200.00, this guitar is FREE. At 400.00, it's a steal. At 600.00, it's a nice deal. AND, if someone didn't know, and they thought it was a boutique guitar, you could get 800-1000.00, without hesitation, showing in a plush case. (I'm not suggesting this, just making my point.This guitar belies it's price by 800 miles. I had sold my Epi Dot a few months ago, because I wasn't enthralled with it. I only got this one because I noticed the price and figured if it's like the other Agiles, it should be fine. I did not expect it to be this good. I understand mine was one of the last 2 or three. You better HOPE They make more of them, as they are just absolutely incredible. It is not enough to say they're a "nice guitar for the money." They're so much better than that.

If you are in thte market for an ES 335 Clone today, because you cannot afford the $1200-2000 pricetag for a Gibson version you may find yourself out of luck. There aren't too many left being made. What I mean by that is that while some companies claim to be doing so, in effect, they are not. The Epiphone Dot is a case in point. Did you ever study the body profile of that guitar? That is not the shape of a 335. The Dot's upper bouts are way to big and the waist is not pinched enough. Washburn makes the HB series but these are like the Ibanez's: a variation of a theme. The Squire series is more a copy of the old Guild Starfires (but these were better when they were under the DeArmond logo). Yamaha has made a similar model, but again a riff on a theme. In fact, there is no one makind a close to profile clone...or is there? At least there was one being made and it was the Agile AS820. But it seems that Rondo, the sole distributor of this model and line, is out of them. I am told I purchased one of the very last ones from this run and there is doubt that they will be had again from Korea. With the exception of the headstock profile, which by the way is Gibsonoid to say the least, all other lines and angles are very much identical to the 335.
What is different, but I like this difference is the laminated SPRUCE TOP in lieu of the laminated maple top of a 335. This gives the guitar more ring acoustically, which I prefer. The back and sides are made from laminated flamed maple. The fretboard is nicely grained rosewood with rich color pealoid bloack inlays. The body, neck and headstock are muti-ply bound in black and white, The heads are actual GROVERS in chrome. The hardware is solid and very Gison like and easy to adjust. The neck profile is very 70's ES335 and I like it. In fact, I much prefer the 70s block inlay model to the so-called prized (overly done by now)dot neck. This model has been so replicated the block inlays are now the prized alternative. But this goes to prove we just want what we cannot have and guitar companies play on this bullshit. The pickups are ceramic humbuckers and they are fine sounding in a generic way. The nice thing about this guitar is that it feels more vintage than any Epiphone. It has a shiny urethane finish and it is decent. The scale is a true Gibson scale, 24.75 and is very playable...the neck is substantial but easily fretted even with my smallish hands. It is very comfy to my taste. There were some needs for tweaking out of the box. There was a deep bow but it adjusted out nicely. The Hi-E string 1st fret gave off a sitar bell tone but I hammered it out....and the low E is not really playable for note distinguishing above the 17th fret but who the hell plays the low E that high anyway??? There is an overly long pu adjustment screw in the neck pu that has to be played with or replaced. But other than that...it seems fine.

It sounds like a 70's issue 335....good in a generic kind of way...but you can tailor this with pu's of your own choice...but I think these are 'sweet' soudning enough for me. I play electric folk pop and this is a good all purpose guitar.

see above.

seems very solidly built and should last. it is very gig worthy.

Rondo is a good for this. They will work with you up to a reasonable time. This guitar lists for $400 but used to sell for $249 but there was a sale and I got it for $199........can't go wrong....and it is way better than the Epi Dot which sells for $400.