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!

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.

I received this beautiful instrument on 10/10/2003. The guitar was manufactured in Korea. I don't know if has a solid or laminated top. The guitar has volume controls(2), tone controls(2) and a 3-way noiseless selector switch. The pickup configuration is H/H. The make and model of the pickups is not listed. The electronics are passive. The body and neck woods are maple with a satin transparent beautiful flawless finish. The body style is similar to the Epi Dot. The hard tailed bridge style is Tune-O-Matic. The tuners are Grover 18-1 non-locking. The smooth low profile neck features square pearloid inlays and jumbo frets. There is minimal (if any) fingerboard crown i.e. radius (similar to Gibson/Epi). An allen wrench was included with the guitar.

I play chord melody soft jazz and this instrument is perfect for my playing style. I am using a US Amplifier (50 watts -10 inch speaker) with just a touch of reverb which is fine for small venue gigs I play solo or with a trio (electric bass/drums). The humbuckers perform as expected and I have not experienced any p/u induced noise problems, even at max volume. The sound palette ranges from mellow woody to bright treble. As I play mostly soft jazz I generally only use the neck pickup and have had no feedback problems at any volume level.

Thanks to the comfortable neck radius (sorry, don't know the exact measurement)plus correct string action the instrument was set up perfectly for me right out of the box. Players who want low action may need to lower the strings (personal preference)a bit using the Tune-O-Matic bridge. The fret work was perfect (no buzzing at any fret on any string). The beautiful maple top is perfectly book matched and the bridge set was right on - no intonation problems due to misalignment of the bridge. I honestly can not find any manufacturing flaws in this instrument. The hardware also apprears to be first rate. Wish I knew who manufactures the pickups - they sound great. All hardware was tight - knobs etc. and the pickup selector worked perfectly with no switching noise.

My previous guitar an Essex EG270 (LP clone) which I also purchased from Rondo Music was stolen so this is a replacement for that guitar. The EG270 was a real "trouper" and I had no problem with it playing numerous dates over a 2 1/2 year period. I would expect this outstanding instrument to be at least as durable. The workmanship/materials on this guitar are first rate - certainly as good as the Epi Dot/Sheraton series and a perfect instrument for my use. I would not hesitate to use this Agile AS820 on a gig/playing date with no backup!

Kurt and crew at www.rondomusic.com provide legendary customer support. Many other reviewers on this board will attest to the same fact. Kurt at Rondo Music and his crew do everything possible to satisfy their customers making each sale a win-win situation. This is the third instrument I have purchased from them and each one gets better, both quality and soundwise. I personally feel that Rondo Music offers the best guitar VALUE you will find anywhere on or off the internet. It is interesting to me that the few negative comments I have seen at this website on Rondo Music in reviews are usually signed "Anonymous" which defines more than anything else about the "integrity" of their reviewer not the value of Rondo Music instruments. Are you getting a Gibson or Fender guitar for $100+ - of course not! Are you getting great value for your money - you bet!

I have been playing guitar off and on for about fifty years. If this guitar was lost or stolen I would definitely replace it with the same make and model (if I was fortunate enough to find it still available).I love the aesthetics of the instrument, the playability and the outstanding workmanship/materials used. I have only enjoyed this guitar for a short time, but I don't anticipate there will be any features I will not like in the future. I do enjoy the guitar sound, absence of feedback and feel of the neck (especially for jazz chords (many 7ths, altered chords and inversions) which can occasionally involve some gymnastic finguring patterns. I did compare this instrument to the Epi Dot/Sheraton and preferred the Agile for approximately $150 less in cost. Rondo Music has consistently provided me with great value instruments and exceptional customer service - a winning combination in my book.