Product: Bach Les Paul Design
Price Paid: SEK 3990
Submitted
10/07/2008
at
01:57am
by
Stefan
Features
:
8
Made in Czechoslovakia. Solid mahogany, black with gold hardware, cream binding, no pickguard. Inlays are a bit cheezy looking, fake mother of pearl I think.
Other than that the guitar looks beautiful.
Sound
:
8
I tried out an Epiphone Les Paul Standard and this guitar sounds better with the stock pickups. Rich and powerful on the bridge and creamy and smooth on the neck (slightly higher output than on the Epi)
Action, Fit, & Finish
:
8
It feels good, heavy like many LP Customs are.
Bought it from Helges H??la and the set-up was great.
Haven't found any flaws yet on this guitar.
Reliability/Durability
:
8
It seems to be a quality guitar so I would gladly use it on live gigs.
If I can take the weight for more than 20 minutes...
Customer Support
:
No Opinion
Haven't dealt with them.
Overall Rating
:
8
Been goofing around with guitars (mostly LP's) for 25 years.
If i lost this I would get another one in a heart-beat, it's a good value-for-the-money guitar.
I like the weight and the feel of it. Had a LP-style guitar before that was lighter and thinner and I missed that "real" LP vibe.
It felt better overall than the Epiphone which is more expensive.
Learned to play on a Les Paul Custom-copy, guess it made a big impression on me.
Product: Bach Les Paul Design
Price Paid: euros 260
Submitted
08/02/2008
at
12:28am
by
burny
Features
:
8
Just a SG copy, all features like an original SG with one major difference: the body is 53 mm thick, as thick as a Les Paul.
Set neck, rosewood fretboard, cherry red see through finish, 4 controls, small pickguard like 61 SG (re-isue).
Although the body is rather thick, the weight is low.
Producer claimes woods would be mahogany, but body grain looks different from the mahogany i know.
All in all 8 points, just a straight SG copy; headstock is like the "real" open book.
Sound
:
8
My musical style is blues to oldies to rock to metal.
I play it with tube amps (Engl Straight, Johnson Loredo, H&K Metal Master) via Eminence speakers (V12 or Governor, great speakers by the way, especially the V12).
It is as noisy as expectable from a dual humbucker guitar.
The sound is full, a little fuller than a SG with thinner body, but still sounding like a SG. What means, a little nastier than a Les Paul, with more bite. Typical AC/DC-sounds are easy to get.
The bridge PU sounds really good, the neck PU sounds a little too warm for my taste. Output of PUs is between midle and vintage humbucking output. So quite usable, if you do not need high output distortion PUs.
Clean it sounds o.k., but there could be a little more of typical SG twang & bite. With crunch or higher gain distortion the guitar definitely wins and gets closer to the typical SG bark 'n' bite.
Quite nice, quite good, at least, if you regard the price.
So all in all i rate it 8. A usable SG copy with SG sounds that are usable (clean) to good (distorted).
Action, Fit, & Finish
:
7
The lacquer finish has some minor flaws. Especially the fret board inlays are made badly (but do not disturb playing, they look just like made by absolute beginners), the rest is ok.
The action was set quite perfect when i got it, rather good.
I just had to adjust the octave settings, then i could start to play.
Playability is good. Neck is thinner that the necks i usually prefer, but the good neck shape is very nice for my hands. 9 ponts for the neck shape! Although it has a thickler-than-usual body, it is more on the lightweight side, what means, it is a little head-heavy, but with a good leather strap it is very good playable.
9 For the neck and the playability, 7 for the lacquer with smaller flaws, 4 for the badly made fretboard inlay, all in all i rate it 7.
The controls do their job, but not more. Better pots could be a plus if you use controls a lot. If you do not use them much, they are o.k.
Rolling off volume steals trebles, the tone controls could work more evenly.
Reliability/Durability
:
8
I see no point why it should be not relaible, so i rate it 8
Customer Support
:
No Opinion
No idea
Overall Rating
:
8
Allin all a good SG copy. The fatter body gives it a little more bottom aend than many SGs do have, but it steels also a little SG bite, but not too much. Still sounds like a SG. With a better neck pickup it will win a little i guess, but all in all sounds and playability are better than i expected from a cheapo SG copy with set neck.
So i rate it 8.
If the fretboard inlays were made better it woukd be more a 9 (regarding the price), but as is a 8 is suiting and a fair rating, i guess.
The guitar is fun to play, the sounds are nice (not great but really nice), and i guess it could win a little with better PUs and electric.
