Brian Moore Guitars i1F

24 Frets, Neck Through, Floyd Rose, Duncan Pickups, H-S-H config.
Basically like an Ibanez Prestige Model with a Single Coil Pickup in the Middle position. Both Humbuckers have Push-Pull Coil Taps.

I Like the Contoured Body shape alot. And the Innovative Input Jack location, is Much Really convenient.

This thing Shocked the Hell out of Me. It sounds Incredible. Especially since I wasn't expecting much from a Korean Guitar. I prefered the Tone of this over some other Ibanez Prestige's I compared it to. The Ibanez 3020 was the Runner Up.
It has a very musical full-bodied tone. And it resonates Very Well.
I played the i9f also. Which is the Bolt-On version. It is cheaper. But the i1f had a sturdier feel. It felt better and it sounded better. It was worth the extra bucks.

The Top is a Veneer. But it Does look great. So no complaints there. Not as important as how it sounds anyway.

The Action was quite low. It plays like butter. I had a few tuning issues when I would use the trem alot. But after I changed the strings and set her up myslef,...there were no more issues.

Everything was great from the factory. Aside from the tuning going out every so often, before I changed the strings and set it up myself.

Other than that, It is At Least of the same quality of an Ibanez Prestige, in My Opinion.

I have not had any issues with any of the hardware. Aside from the Pickup selector cover falling off. Went right back on, and hasn't fallen off since.

I see no reason to doubt this guitar lasting. Everything is still in top shape, and just like when I bought it new.

It did not come with a case. It came with a gig bag. That was a tad disapointing. But manageable.

I had planned on replacing the trem with an Original Floyd rose. So I contacted customer support at Brian Moore guitars for some info on the Nut Size and such. I can't immagine wanting him to be more helpful than he was. Took the time to answer all my questions in detail, and even offered to help me through the procedure.

I decided not to change the Trem, after spending some time with it. After I changed the strings and gave it a good set up,...It stayed in tune Very well. It seams to be of high quality.

I have owned a good number of guitars. A few Gibson LP Standards, a couple Gibson LP Customs, a Heritage H150, a Carvin DC, an Ibanez 550, an Ibanez 3120, Schecter C1+, and a few others.

I was mostly a LP guy, but I wanted another 24 fret shred guitar for some fun, because I had sold my others some time earlier. I ended up comparing this Guitar to an Ibanez 3020.

The Ibanez Prestige models are great guitars also. And I do actually prefer the feel of the Ibanez Edge tremelos a bit. But the i1f had a better feel to me. I prefered it's sound and the way it played. But this was just a matter of personal preference. Both guitars are about the same quality. The i1f is At Least as High Quality. Great Guitar. Made in Korea, which turned me off at first. Untill I played it. I hear they are actually Hand-Made in Korea. I don't own any other Korean Guitars, unless you count my Agile 3000 that sits in the corner.

If I were to knit-pick, I would say that the trem isn't as smooth and doesn't quite feel as good as an Ibanez Edge/Pro/LoPro. But the other features made up for it. And it's not a Drastic difference. Personal preference, but still worth mentioning.

Great Quality, Great Tone, Great Playability. Easily a competitor with other Japnese or American guitars in this range. Anyone looking for a 24 fret shredder with a Floating Trem should try these out if you can.

First off - I wanted to explain my review process. I am coming from a traditionalist approach being that I do studio work and hear how, "I need a Les Paul" and "I need a Strat" and "Paul Reed Smith" blah, blah, blah. I have recently (in the past year) started dumping tradition and moving with the times. Case in point - the Brian Moore i1f. "i" stands for the i series, 1...well I don't know what the hell it stands for and the "f" stands for Floyd Rose. Mmmkay...

Now - I bought one of these after playing one in a music store and totally LOVING the way it played. We'll get to that later. We are talking features - the Brian Moore Website will give you the details but I'll summarize: 25 1/2" scale, neck-thru mahogany body, 24 fret bound fingerboard, Seymore Duncan Pickups H-S-H config., Gold hardware, Floyd Trem, figured top (it's veneer folks!), Push-pull tone control, master volume, 5-way PU Selector...

I will be rating this guitar the way it came from the factory THEN what I did to it to make it more....me. The bottom line is NOBODY makes an off-the-shelf guitar I like so I have to customize it. Being that I can't understand why Brian Moore doesn't offer this in their custom shop is beyond me. I own a C-90P custom shop that is incredible. This guitar is Korean built so you can't get features customized. I have added the following to this guitar: A different JB bridge pickup, A Little '59 in the neck along with a Sustainiac Stealth Plus driver and a REAL Floyd Rose. Is it too much of a stretch to ask for a real one??? I also had the middle pickup taken out when I got the guitar refinished because I hate them.

As a side-note: The controls have ALL been reworked. There is only a master volume with the Sustainiac intensity knob, the pickup selector, and the two switches for the Sustainiac (octave and enabling)

Original Feature Rating: 4

Modified Feature Rating: 10

Average....about an 8

My music style is Hard Rock, Metal and instrumental Fusion Rock. Stock the guitar works well, after I had it re-done it REALLY crushes! I never had an issue with the original tone of the guitar. I play thru a POD Pro to a BBE 482 to a Mesa Boogie 2:90 into (2) 2 X 12 ADA cabinets. It sounded good from the factory and sounds even better now thru that setup. Very rich sound. Regarding one of the rating questions: What kind of sounds can the guitar make? How much variety? Well... It came stock with a 5-way selector with the H-S-H setup. (Damn...I hate middle pickups...) And now it has 3 pickups with the Sustainer so it makes a bit more now. I re-used the stock 5-way switch but just had it re-wired to do what I wanted:

Position 1 is just the bridge pick-up
Position 2 is the bridge pickup front-coil only
Position 3 is the bridge pickup front-coil and the Little '59
Position 4 is the Little '59
Position 5 is the neck pickup INSIDE the Sustainiac Driver.

That Sustainiac makes a world of difference too. A great addition to any Rock/Metal guitar. The "Original" Floyd trem helped the sound to believe it or not...

Stock Sound: 8

Modified Sound : 10

But I have to give an overall 10 just because it is a good-sounding instrument right out of the box.

The factory set up was decent. I play obcenely (sp?) low action because I play a lot of shred stuff. It's just a personal preference anyway... After the makeover the action was a little better. The stock pickups, like I said, sounded okay but the makeover improved everything overall. The finish? Sucked, sucked, SUCKED!!! What the hell? Can we PLEASE get a variety? This guitar, is only available in Red, Purple (which is closer to magenta) and Tobacco Sunburst. *Gag*.
Horrible selection from the factory, unlike the custom shop where anything goes. That is just the top - it is a veneer top that is quilted and it DOES look nice but the color disgusted me. When I had the work done on this, my luthier had filled in the middle pickup slot and repositioned the controls to my liking. Then, he put the mother of all AAAAA quilted veneer tops on it and gave it a much more pleasing look. If you have ever seen the rich royal blue on the new PRS guitars or what's called Peacock Blue on the McNaught's, THAT is what he did. Holy Crap was I ever floored!!! A beautiful blue finish was the result. Brian Moore should have offered this special color!

Original Rating: 2

Modified Rating: 10+

Averages out to about 6 if you don't have to plans to change the finish because I believe that Brian Moore should offer more colors - AT LEAST here, which this is considered the top-of-the-line of their "i" series guitars.

I play this live along with my McNaught Phoenix. This is the guitar that I use my wireless with since there is no piezo pickup to "ground" me to a cable so I love running around with this guitar. I put a REAL Floyd on here so I know that it's going to last me, the new look and finish is top-notch and compliments the guitar. I play this in accordance with the McNaught so there is co-dependancy with the two even though they are worlds apart in stature. I would have a backup anyway because I am way too paranoid about not having one. Stock - I would have to give this some kudos for being solid.

Original Rating: 9

Modified Rating :10

Give it a 10!

For the i Series guitars, I have never spoken to anyone but Brian Moore guitars in NY (I THINK) handles the calls for anything that has their name on it. When I ordered my C-90P, Robin Palmer was only TOO KIND in helping me make my purchase. Since this i1f guitar was going to be my Jackson Soloist replacement, I knew I would be doing more to it than was available. Robin actually gave me recommendations on how to do what I wanted to do to this "production" guitar. Hats off to a fine company on all accounts. As far as warranty? Ha - yeah. Well let's see - eBay. Means "you're screwed", and even if I bought it new, I voided everything about it. It's sort of like buying a new car, putting some godawful 24 speaker stereo in there hacking up parts to boot, then saying, "Hey - my electrical system is messed up." No...Really?

No need to justify averages here. First class company. Period.

I have been playing for 22 years now. I have been recording on semi-pro and professional levels for some time now. I bought the McNaught over the PRS that I was going to buy, I bought the C-90P to replace my Yngwie Strat (heavily modified), I bought the i2P.13 Brian Moore to replace the Les Paul that I WAS playing for two years (it wasn't mine originally but I like the Brian Moore i2 better). I couldn't have asked for much considering I knew what I was getting into at the time of this purchase. I had set out to modify this instrument. If it were stolen or lost?...hmm...I was walking down the street with my i1f and...Dammit! Where did it go? Stolen? Well now I would find the person that did it and tear their arms off and beat them with them. But I would get another because I really love the way that this project turned out. I hated the original finish but I like the fact that it is a neck-thru design for under a grand (even new you can get them for about $900) considering that the MC/1 is discontinued and WAY overpriced for a neck-thru composite guitar in the Brian Moore arsenal. I really wish it would have come this way (the way that I modified it) from the factory. AT LEAST give us a real Floyd Rose and a better color selection.

For the most part, I think that many guitarists will find this instrument versitile, even in stock form because the overall sound and playability is great even if the colors suck.

This guitar is a 2001 model i1.F made in Korea. Superstrat body style with contoured body styling and rear-mounted output jack location. It is of neck-thru construction. The neck is thin (but not as thin as Ibanez) flat, and very fast. The 25 1/2" scale neck has jumbo frets, rosewood fretboard and abalone position markers. Finish is transparent purple with gold hardware. Flamed maple top (rare - most of them are quilted). Kalantas mahogany back. Full binding around body and neck of guitar.

In the hardware department, this guitar comes with a licensed Floyd Rose double locking tremolo and non-locking tuners. All hardware is finished in gold. Normally gold hardware looks a bit gaudy in my opinion, but it looks good on this guitar and adds to the overall visual appeal.

In the electronics department, this guitar has a HSH passive pickup configuration with 5-way switching. Specifically, it has a coil-tapped Seymore Duncan JB in the bridge position, a Seymore Duncan APS-2 in the middle, and a coil-tapped Seymore Duncan APH-1 in the neck position. The coil taps are activated by push/pull pots in the volume (neck pickup coil tap) and tone (bridge pickup coil tap) controls.

This guitar does not come with case or gig bag (or anything else for that matter). So, count on buying a case or providing your own.

Keeping in mind that this is not a USA-made guitar, I'm going to give it a perfect 10. It has everything you need, and nothing you don't. Kind of like my neihborhood quick-e-mart. They have milk, eggs, bread and beer, but no caviar, champagne or truffles.

The first thing I noticed about this guitar was the increased sustain due to the neck thru construction. Much better than guitars in its class. Much better than my telecaster and that pisses me off. I imagine it could be better if it had a fixed bridge, but then you couldn't do those dive bombs from hell, eh?

The pickups in this guitar are really the creme de la creme. To my ears, the SD JB bridge pickup is not as hot as my SD pearly gates in the Fat Strat, but its more even sounding and smooth. Coil taps are a really nice feature, but don't expect this to sound EXACTLY like a strat. For that tone, buy a friggin' strat. Trust me, a guy who owns two of 'em.

As mentioned in a previous review, this guitar is very light and resonant. Not as light as a Parker Fly, but much lighter than a Gibson Les Paul or Fender USA Stratocaster.

This guitar is very versatile. It would seem suitable for just about every major musical genre with the possible exception of metal and/or thrash. To my ears, the bridge pickup isn't really hot enough for the heaviest of the heavy sounds. But for everything else in between, this guitar could work nicely with a little tweaking of EQ and/or EFX.

This guitar is brighter than my strats, but not as snappy or twangy. The brightness is probably due to the light body and the maple top. The floyd rose tends to rob some of the lower frequencies.

Anther point to ponder: If you play with a 'death grip', you'll find that the intonation is very sensitive to the pressure you apply on the neck. I've been playing Fenders awhile, so this is something I have to constantly remind myself of. I can choke the hell out of my Fender necks, and it makes little difference.

Overall, the pickups and the neck thru construction give this guitar a rating of 9. A hardtail version of this guitar would have even more low end chunck and sustain and would have earned it a perfect 10.

Keeping in mind that this is a korean made guitar, I didn't expect the construction to be on par with guitars made in the USA. To say the least, I was very impressed with the quality of this piece.

Small things like leftover sawdust in the routed cavities (which could have been easily removed by one of those 3 year old korean girls with small hands), a bit of overspray where the neck meets the body. and a couple of improperly dressed frets are the biggest flaws I could find. Believe me, I'm anal. Call me captain brown eye. But I still couldn't find much more than that. I've seen worse on American guitars costing twice as much.

As far as the action is concerned, I like mine pretty low, so I expect to set it up myself to my personal preferences. From the factory, it came setup ok, but not great. Overall, I'm impressed with quality of this guitar and I'll put some time and effort into it to make it as good as it could possibly be. But as is, I would have to give it an 8.

Here you have to decide. Is a perfect 10 worth $1500? That's how much more you'd have to pay to get that kind of quality from a USA Brian Moore Custom guitar. I don't know about shop rates in your area, but a full fret job, setup and highest quality hardware (i.e. floyd rose original) would cost no more than $300. Then you'd have a sweet guitar that still is less than some of the crap that's out on the market today.

To be honest, I'm a bit skeptical about the gold finish. In my past experience, the gold finish wears off faster than others because its thinner. But of course, now I keep a towel handy to wipe off the grime and sweat. You should too.

It came with sturdy strap buttons, but as in all of my electric guitars, I will replace it with straplocks. You should too.

It seems durable enough to last through many gigs with no problems. However, being a floyd rose tremolo, I always have a backup in case of a broken string. You should too.

I could depend on this guitar. No, I don't mean that it could support me if I lost my job. I mean I could depend on it as a guitar. You should too.

Since it is a neck thru guitar, it will not be as solid "built-like-a-friggin'-tank" as my tele or strats. I don't regularly jump off speaker cabinets or swing my guitar arond like a club, so the durability of this isn't really a factor for me.

If I could talk to the licensed floyd rose bridge on this guitar, i would say "you .. are... the. .. weakest... link."

As such, I can only give this an 8 since I already want to replace the floyd with a real one. Everything else is top notch.

This guitar comes with a lifetime warranty. The brian moore website allows you to register your guitar online or to contact customer service and tech support. I asked a few questions about the guitar before i bought it and i received an answer the very same day. I can't say that about Gibson, ESP or even my beloved Fender company.

Customer service is really great with the brian moore guitar company.

This guitar is perfect for me. I own a vintage '52 Fender telecaster, a Fender American standard stratocaster, and a Fender American Fat Strat. No offense, I love my other guitars too, but this guitar does things that those others can't do. Besides, I've always wanted a superstrat kind of guitar to noodle away on and to play those truly satisfying 80's hair band solos.

See my previous post.This is an updated repost/followup.
All features still work properly.

Still sounds great.

The nasty low E buzz was rectified with a new setup and no buzz now.
As I mentioned,this guitar is VERY resonant and any flaw in setup will
sound awful due to the amplification of the wood.I would probably recommend if mail-ordering,count on getting the guitar setup again.
If it doesn't need a setup-great;if it does-you will be prepared for it. The finish seems to be holding up well and I have noticed no further problems with gold plating deterioration on tuners. I do not gig this guitar so your mileage may vary.

All OK

Still AAA+

I have received a few emails because of my prior post and deciced to update my review due to the interest shown in these reviews.
I am putting no new ratings in this update because I believe the prior ratings are accurate and I dont wish to "tip the scales" unfairly with repeated posts.
FYI--I also sold the Gibson Les Paul and have no regrets.The Fender Hot Rod was given to my wife and I purchased a Ampeg VL1002-What a distortion monger that brute is.If you play blues to thrash,you may want to check out my review on that bruiser in the amp review section.

24 fret 3 piece neck thru.Licensed Floyd Rose and Sperzel tuners.Pretty much exact replica of the USA guitars-feels,looks,and plays very similar but hand built in Korea.Real-deal Seymour Duncan pickups.NOTE-does not come with case.

I play predominately rock music,from Pink Floyd to heavy metal.Also play the blues from time to time.This guitar has the coil tapping capabilities of its USA brothers and you can obtain many different sounds out of this guitar.AS stated in the previous review,
the pickups do have a tendency to break up slightly at higher volumes.
I also own a Jackson w/ Duncan pickups(not original)and a Gibson Les Paul.I am amazed at how light this Brian Moore feels(compared to a 10 pound Les Paul)and this guitar is super resonant.And no offense to Les Paul owners but this guitar smokes my particular Les Paul.I dont see myself keeping the Paul at this point.

Here is where we find differences between the USA models and the
I2000 models.When I received the guitar(mail order)the gold finish on the tuners was already partly deteriorated/faded.The setup was off causing a nasty buzz on the low E string.There is a little overspray on the neck where it meets the body.And lets not forget the veneer
top and headstock.Dont misunderstand these complaints-These are characteristic scenarios on most import guitars and thus the reason for the less expensive price.This is still a very nice guitar and even due to these problems,I am still very satisfied with this guitar.
The guitar still looks and sounds great.

It's still a little to early to tell how guitar will hold up long term.Much like Gibson Les Pauls,I believe that the gold finish will deteriorate after use.I have put the Jackson and LP to bed at this point and am only using this guitar at present so I will have to wait and repost after a month or two.

I have found Phil at Brian Moore to be extremely helpful.I was initially looking at used MC1's and emailed multiple times for spec info(pickups,year model,etc.).Unfortunately,because of a career change on my part,I was unable to justify the expense of a MC1 and therfore went with the I2000.I emailed BMGuitars about this buzz problem and received an email within 24 hrs.Phil suggested that I have the guitar setup done again.He stated that if I could not find
anyone I was comfortable with to do the setup that we would make arrangements to get the guitar back to the factory to address this
issue.Very Helpful service-good luck getting service like that from Gibson.

I've only been playing for a couple years now and have tried to obtain decent but not super expensive gear.I was about to sell my Fender Hot Rod Deluxe amp(40watt tube)because it sounded like shit with my Gibson.Now that I have obtained this guitar,I'm keeping the Fender amp and making the Gibson go away.In case you are wondering how or why I would use a Fender amp to play rock,I also own a Digitech RP20 effects board that gives me the distortion I like
and still allows me the Blues/clean channels with no effects.

New i2000 model the less expensive Korean made Brian Moore series.
24 fret, rosewood board with pearl dots, 3 piece mahogany neck through, strat style mahogany body and quilted maple top. HSH pickup config with real Duncans, 5 way switch, coil tap for both humbuckers (pull volume & tone knobs up), licens3ed floyd double locking trm, gold hardware. Bound body and neck, 2+4 headstock config. 25-1/2" scale. Got the red quilt, very nice. All the features you could ask for on this type of guitar except series parallel switch.

I play heavy blues / rock / metal with the occasional clean stuff.
The Duncans on this guitar kick ass. They sound much better than the Dimarzios on my Jackson PC1 and that pisses me off.
Full harmonic capability at the bridge and very smooth somewhat compressed bridge tone at high gain.
The coil taps let you get the 'strat' style single coil sounds in all 5 positions. The guitar never loses definition no matter how hard you attack the strings.
On the clean channels, the humbuckers will break up around 70% of the volume knod but still sound pretty rich when you roll down. The single coil tapped settings stay pretty clean all the way up (depends on your amp). I would hazard to guess that I can get a much wider variety of tones from this then I can from my PRS.

I needed to raise the pickups slightly, action was good, everything seems top notch.
Whoever Brian Moore Guitars contracted in Seoul Korea to make these was the right choice.
I'm gonna spend the next few days trying to break it and if I do, I'll post the problems but it seems real solid. I spent the last hour manhandling it with some really heavy RH action and it responds well to attack sensitivity. The neck feels a little strange after so many Jacksons, it doesn't have hardly any kickback at the headstock and it throws you just a bit when you are sliding around fast.

Seems solid, just got it and was so impressed I figured I'd write the review now so people considering one would know what they are getting into.

I've been playing for 20+ and had 20+ guitars and this may be a keeper.
It has a differnt shaped back, "comfort contoured" they call it, which tends to throw the fretboard face away from you so you need to get used to it before gigging with it the first time.
It is close to the price of a USA Jackson but it has all the coil tap features and highly professional look to it with real pickups and good hardware. Give one a spin, they feel just like the BMG custom shop models IMHO. I might try to get this type with the MIDI feature in the future.