Agile AS901

This was a newly Korean manufactured AS-901 archtop, with a solid spruce top, flame maple sides and back. It's comes wwith a single Humbucker in the neck position, through a volume and tone control. The neck is one-peice maple with a rosewood finger board. The bridge is a tune-o-matic style on a rosewood base. The neck is somewhat thin and average thickness. Tuners are Grover 18:1 ratio.

I'm almost exclusively a "fat body" style player so I really like the 17" wide AS-901 body. I play it through a vintage Danelectro and the sound is rich. It feels like sound you can "walk through". Just beautiful. I wouldn't say it can cover all types of sounds, because it just can't. It's a jazz guitar, with some application for blues or R&B. It's not a rock guitar.

The guitar was poorly set up as received. The factory strings are just to keep tension on the neck. They're useless and should be changed immediately, but that's actually a good thing. Everyone has their preference for strings. The neck and bridge required set up, but dialed in beautifully. The action plays fast and consistent. It's really incredible for a guitar in this price range. The volume pot was troublesome, and had to be replaced. Nothiing extravagant, but an annoyance. There were nunerous blemishes, and someone smudged the 12th fret dots on the side of the neck during finishing. Not a terrible thing, but just somewhat poor quality in appearance. The hi-gloss finish is deep and smooth.

The guitar seems rugged and will likely hold up well. It holds tune and withstands hard playing very well. I'd trust it on a gig, no problem. It's easily as good as an expensive guitar in this aspect.

Rondo Music is top notch. I brought up all the issues I mentioned, and a few others. Rondo did everything and more to make me happy and I'm completely satisfied. I'd buy from them again, any time. You can trust these guys.

I've been playing for over 40 years and I just like the way this guitar feels. Its an amazing deal at the price. The music coming out of this guitar does not tell you it's a $300 instrument. Close your eyes and it could be a $1500 guitar, easily. Some of the quality issues aside, I'd like to see the name inlayed, although there are some very well done inlays. Overall, its a great instrument. I decided to keep this one with its minor blems because it plays so well, and how it plays is the bottom line, for me.

This is a full hollow bodied guitar with a single ceramic humbucker, and controls for bass and treble. It has a natural Spruce top and Standard features include Die-cast Grover tuners with 18-1 turn ratio for ultra fine tuning, and a full body, neck and headstock binding.
It also features an arch top body, 22 jumbo 2.7mm fret maple set neck with Rosewood fret-board and 25 1/4? scale length, large pearoid block inlays, and a beautifully bound neck, headstock and body.

Width of the neck at the nut: 1 5/8", at the 22nd fret 2 3/16". Total length, including strap button: 42". Width of guitar at it's widest point (lower bout) 17". Scale length 25 1/4". Body thickness 3 3/8" at edge.

There is only one strap button on the back and I would have preffered if there was a second one installed. I guess I'll have to drill a hole in the heel for a second one.

The voicing on this guitar is quite versitile. Even though it is touted to be a jazz box, there is plenty of headroom for a variety of genres. I play everything from old standards, to rock and blues, and this guitar can work with all of them.

I play through a Fender Blues Jr. with an Electro Harmonix analog delay/chorus pedal, which makes this guitar sound a little brighter than when I play through my PA System.
I absolutely love the way this guitar sounds! Rich full tones, surprising bright for a hollow body. It sounds great from high to low, and all the way down the neck. It sounds pretty good unplugged as well, with more than sufficient volume for those early morning un-plugged practice sessions.

The guitar came from the factory nicely set up. The action was set low the way I like it, with no buzzing or fretting out. The pickup sounds clear and volume is constant across all the strings.

The factory strings were the absolute worse things I ever saw. The low "E" had teeth on it like on a chain saw! So, the first thing I did was get rid of those strings, and I fitted it with a set of D'Addario 11-49 with wound "G". This immediately brought the sound, which was already good, to a new level.

The finish is well done except for one small flaw. There's a small round spot near the corner of the top where it appears they used some filler to patch a knot hole. It's only about a quarter inch in diameter and is hardly noticable. The rest of the wood is all pretty plain.

The guitar feels as solid as any archtop I've ever felt, but I must admit that archtops always felt a bit more fragile than solid bodies to me, and they probably are
The only problem I saw was the nut around the input jack was loose, so I added a couple of drops of "locktite" and then tightened the nut.

No dealings

I've been playing for about 10 years, and I own some pretty nice guitars. The Agile AS-901 is no exception. I am more than happy with this guitar and definitely would replace it.