Brian Moore Guitars i9

Features pretty documented by others. Yellow vintage, quilt top.
Duncan Alnico II, Alnico single, JB.

This guitar sounds awesome! Played through fender tube amp. Occasional delay, chorus. Very versatile, full humbucker to single coil sounds. After 40 years of playing lots of different guitars I'm impressed. Not as beefy as a Les Paul but very good humbucker sound, strat sounds are perfect. Not noisy on single coils settings. Like the sperzel locking tuners.

Bought used in good condition. I always adjust neck, intonation, action etc for my preferences so doesn't matter how i get it.

This is a Brian Moore i9 electric guitar. i'm not sure when mine was manufactured, it was made in USA. It has 22 frets. it has volume and tone controls, along with coil-tapping on each knob. It is a HSH setup, seymour duncans at that. I have the "vintage yellow" finish. looks great. it's a strat body style. it has locking tuners. thin frets with low action. and a very nice gig bag.

as for my music style, not my favorite guitar in the world, but what i found really awesome with about this axe is the low action, i've never really gotten to tinker with a guitar that is meant for soloing so this guitar really gave me some experience. i usually play through tube amps, specifically a Peavey Ultra 410 (awesome amp by the way), with a Maxon OD808 and a EHX HOG. the guitar has a tone of bass through the neck pickup and too much treble through the bridge pickup. very versatile, but at the same time it is meant for playing lead. i love it, but i really prefer guitars with thicker strings and bigger frets.

set up well. very low action, once again, meant for leads. the pickups are good, i did a bit of messing around with them when i first got this guitar. everything was set up well, the neck is nice, the pickups are great, the bridge is fine, etc. etc. etc. i got it through a trade, so it was used, but needless to say there weren't any flaws. not even a scratch.

i wouldn't gig with this guitar, but i would bring it as a back-up. the neck is a bit thin and i'm not really a fan of how close the volume and tone knobs are to the pickups, they get in the way. hardware is good, the finish is the best part of the guitar, few guitars have a finish like this, in my opinion. i changed the strap buttons to locks, probably the only thing i would change (besides the pickups, to p-rails). very dependable, but definitely not meant for heavy use.

n/a\

great guitar. don't regret getting it, but at the same time, definitely wish it had some more action to it. i play pretty rough with my guitars and i feel like the strings are gonna break every time i start playing too hard.

The features pretty well covered in other reviews. Mahagony body, quilted maple top, HSH Seymour Duncan pups (JB and Alnico II), strat style trem, Sperzel locking tuners, 5 way selector, single volume and tone knobs. Very nice gold toned hardwear. Both humbucker pups are coil split via the push/pull volume and tone knobs. Guitar made in Korea and set up at Brian Moore guitars in New York. Really loaded with useful features. Very fast comfortable neck with rosewood finger board. Came with a very nice Brian Moore hardshell case (extra $$).

The i9 is a Swiss army knife guitar - it has a lot of features and it does a lot of thing very well. The Duncan pickups are of course top shelf in sound. I actually like the Alnico II's better than the JB - the JB sounds a touch anemic to my ears, but it has much more bite than the Alnicos. Due to the HSH with coil splits you can get a whole world of useful, musical tones out of this guitar. The volume pot is a bit noisy, so I will have that looked at (I like using the volume for swells..). The guitar is quiet quiet otherwise - even in single coil configuration. The JB is a bit thin in single coil mode, but a good setup may atone for that.

The guitar excells at a wide variety of musical genres. It's probably not the best blues guitar I've ever heard, but it does do blues very nicely. County twang is nice, the neck is made for shredding (not that I play that fast..), and it gets all kinds of great classic rock tones. Probably not a death metal machine - wrong pups for that, but other than that it covers all the bases I'll ever need.

I play through a Roland Cube 30 at home, and I have also played the guitar through Fender Cyber Deluxe and a Fender Super Reverb amps. Through the Roland it's a nice guitar. Through the better amps it really comes alive! It had just smoking tones through the cyber!

The guitar is a beautiful guitar! Everyone oohs and ahhs at it. Mine has the 'chocolate' finish - which is more of a wine red/brownish swirl that is eye popping in person. I've looked the guitar over very closely several times and I've yet to find a flaw in the finish. Cudos to the Korean factory that made this - it's a gem. I was wondering why a Korean guitar cost almost a grand - but not any more. It's a first class machine! The finish laquer is not at the level of a $2000.00 guitar - but it didn't cost that much...

Now to the only issues with the guitar. The setup was really iffy. The bridge pickup (JB) was not setup correctly. The action was set low, but the high 'B' and 'E' string are not set quite right - too close to the frets above about fret 16. Then there is the above mentioned noisy volume pot. I'll have to spray it with contact cleaner to see if that clears it up. I'm also going to get a good setup on the guitar with my gauge of strings (it comes setup with lights .009 - I usually use .010). That should clear up the setup problems.

The guitar gets a for the fit and finish - but a 6 for the setup.

The guitar seems quite well built. It's not a tank like a Les Paul, but everything seems to be quite sound. The finish is not as sturdy as I would like it to be, but that is my only gripe - and that is a small one. I play my guitar - they don't stay in mint condition long anyway. I would never do a major gig without a backup - but this guitar seems built to last.

I had to email Brian Moore with a question/issue and they got back to me in a reasonable amount of time with a good answer.

I've been a guitar player on and off for 25 years. I've been getting back into elctric playing in the past year or so after only playing acoustic for about 7 years. I've owned several nice electrics, and the i9 is reight up there with the best. It plays very well and has pro quality parts and workmanship at a price that won't break you. I looked at most of the guitar in this price range and the i9 really stood out. It has the looks, feel and sound of a $2000.00 guitar at less than half the cost.

Would I buy another one?? Probably - yes. It's bang for the buck is very good.

Features are documented in other reviews. Semour Duncan pickups are great. Good locking tuners and whammy bar.

This guitar is fabulous sounding. Very high fidelity. Quiet - even on the single coil. I would say that overall it is on the bright side. Very good for funky finger picking. I use it with a crybaby wah, compressor and either a Boss Blues Driver or a Tube Screamer. Peavey Transtube amp. EH Holy Grail Reverb. A very soulful setup.

I'm going to knock a few points off because I had to replace the saddles with Graphtech to keep the high E from breaking.

I've been playing since the seventies. I really like this guitar, but sometimes I think it's almost too hi-fi. I would also like the amber model instead of the chocalate that I have. The guitar is very versatile and covers the R & B, blues and reggae very well.

i'm the buffoon who gave customer support a 5. it's easy to admit you're wrong when you're as wrong as I was, I'm not being a big man by saying I made a mistake here at all. I'm just fixing my stupidity. Harmony-Central should find a way for authors to edit or delete their stupid, previous posts. Anyway, I called Brian Moore and Devon from their Tech dept was really nice and patient. he said he doesn't expect anymore trouble from the bridge after i changed angles on it. and, he said the company would pay for the adjustment for the buzzing from a place that I trusted. How amazing is that? I AM A CUSTOMER FOR LIFE, NOW.

i don't really know & trust Manny's, but i thought it would be easier to do it there, because that's where i bought it & it's one of the few Brian Moore dealers. well, it's been a week, & they haven't even looked at it yet. i had to go there & get the guitar (buzz & all) back because i needed it & evidently, they have one guitar repair guy there, & he does a lot more than just repairs & he was too busy to look at it. i guess also, that means they don't get too many repair orders. maybe i'm just going to have to go somewhere else to get the adjustments. i don't like buying things from sam ash, but the repair guy there is very good...

anyway, i'm an idiot - brian moore customer service is fantastic. i mean, this isn't one of their high end guitars, it's one of their import models & they're still taking care of me like this.

I9-F. 2001, 24 frets, mediocre flamed maple top (but it is real flamed maple). licensed floyd rose, similar to the ones on ibanez's (gave me a major headache, more on it later.) 5 way selector for H/S/H pickup configuration, all genuine seymours. volume pulls out to split the neck HB, tone pulls out for bridge HB (GENIUS DESIGN having one pullout knob for each HB - there may be some people who want one knob for all pu's but not me). usual brian moore curved body & input jack towards the bass strings. unique 2+4 headstock design, supposedly gives the D string more smack & the higher strings more smoothness.

i use the i9-f at church with the legendary rocktron pirhana tube preamp and some boss & ibanez fx, or the zoom gfx-8 (actually, the zoom is not a bad unit at all). the guitar as a whole has a real pleasant chimey vibe that comes from the wood. the chiming is eveident when played unplugged and translates through the pickups. it's really noisy, but i play w/ a whole heap of gain & just the slightest amount of noise reduction. the alnico neck pickup is absolutely amazing. it's really smooth, like a zamboni on an ice rink. if you want creamy, fat leads w/ butter, than Brian Moore picked the right pu. the neck pu has thick, yet snappy cleans when split. unfortunately, the bridge neck pu doesn't do the neck pu justice. the seymore duncan jb has a lot of fans, but there are a lot of people who don't care for it at all, and i'm one of them. there is no sizzle here. i crank the gain & i'm still not getting the drive i need from the jb. people say the jb is great for classic rock, but why did Brian Moore put a classic rock pu into a "super-strat" design like this? bad call here. not a lot of complexity or oomph from the bridge position. i find myself using the neck pu even when i have a bridge pu sound in mind because the alnico sounds so much better than the jb. but i must say, when split, the cleans from the jb are fantastic. sparkly, and even approaches fender territory. the jb's cleans are almost good enough to offset its disappointing distortion sounds. almost. the jb is not a good pairing for the alnico. my last bridge pu was a seymour hotrails, which is one of the hottest pu's out there, so maybe my standards are skewed. the middle pu, which i use almost only for clean, has a lot of complexity & character.

the neck buzzes like cameramen on british royalty. but the action is very low, and you can always expect buzzing when the strings are kissing the frets like this. but u can't hear the buzzing through the pu's which is all that matters. i don't know if the buzzing affects sustain because my guitar doesn't exactly sing, but that's cuz i'm playing at church so the volume isn't high enough to tell. this guitar is exceptionally playable. legato runs on this thing is like water flowing and bends are smooth. this neck was made for soloing. the neck is fact, comfortable & slick. i have the charcoal grey finish. it's very subtle & u have to be up close to see that it's flamed maple. my friends ask about the black guitar & i have to say w/ a sigh that it's charcoal grey. i don't like the weird position of the input jack, it does not prevent the jack from coming out like advertised, and it leaves the cable in an awkward position when the guitars on the stand if you're not careful.

the tone knob came off once, i laughed, shrugged, popped it back in & it hasn't come off since. the real problem, is the bridge springs. one day i changed the strings (didn't change the gauge, stuck w/ 9's) and the bridge kept rising when i tried to tune. i kept raising the pitch, the bridge kept rising, forcing me to keep raising the pitch & the bridge kept rising. i finally opened the sucker & realigned the angle of the springs, the way you're supposed to do it when u move up to 10's. well, the bridge is behaved now, but i have no idea what caused that little bridge tantrum. i'd call brian moore but they'll probably tell me that it's my fault & that i shouldn't have touched the thing. more on that in the customer support segment.

i wanted to how to lower & raise the string height because i've never really dealt w/ locking nut models before. the lady on the line told me that it's company policy not to provide manuals because they want their customers to take their guitars to experienced technicians. how do u sell a product & intentionally not provide a manual or information when called? i got the answer in a book, but i shouldn't have had to have done that. brian moore should've told me on the spot. but i do give them credit for answering the phone promptly & not forcing me to leave voice mail.

plus - clean tones, neck pu distortion tones, split coils, NECK WAS MADE FOR SOLOING!

blah - bridge distorion tones, grey flamed maple top isn't eye-catching like some of their other colors

minus - customer service, wacko bridge

Chocolate brown mahogany body with maple quilt top, bolt on maple neck with 22 frets and Sperzel locking tuners, 1 vol - 1 tone - both push pull for coil split - 5 way pu select, h/s/h all genuine Seymour Duncan - JB bridge - Alnico II middle - Alnico II neck, floating bridge, all gold hardware.

Incredible sound! Especially good for clean playing. Fingerpicked, this guitar blows away any electric I have ever played - The clarity, balance, and sustain is just incredible. In fact that is the main reason I bought this instrument. This guitar rings like a f*ckin' piano! With the coils split and the vol and tone full up it has miles of treble, kickin' the asses of any Strat or Tele I ever heard. Even in humbucker mode it chimes magnificently - absolutely no mud in the big strings! And the great thing is that turning down the vol or tone does not result in mush like so many other guitars. The sustain and clarity remain. The only thing that changes is that the sound gets chunky. And the change is gradual as you roll down. It really lets you dial in the tone you want. Volume swells are ripe for the pickin'! You can sound like a fiddle with this ax!

Distortion wise, you will have to work a little to find the best sound for your rig. You can't neccesarily just turn the vol and tone to 10 and expect to get a great sound. This is a bright sounding guitar, and if you're a knuckle-head you'll miss the boat. But because of the sensitivity of the controls and the basic excellent resonance of this instrument you can find your righteous tone.

In short, this guitar is very versatile. It gives you a great and usable pallete of sounds, you just have to experiment to find them.

There are two things that sucked about this guitar's fit and finish and they are: (1) There is a small area of finish on the rim of one the bolt holes on the body that is about to flake off, and (2) The neck and neck pocket are not making full contact on the bottom.

The flake is not that big a deal, it can be fixed easily. And I don't know if the neck fit makes much difference. I used to think a thing like this was monumental, but after working the neck and neck pockets of many guitars to a perfect fit, I have found little or no difference in the before and after sounds. The fact that this guitar sounds so good even with the bad fit further reenforces my notion that the thing that really counts is whether the guitar has a decent overall resonance or not.

How do you tell if a guitar has a good resonance? Don't plug it in at first. Don't plug any guitar in until you determine it's acoustic resonance. The way to determine and electric guitar's resonance is to feel it. Does it vibrate? Can you feel the body of the guitar vibrating as you play it? And I don't mean just the big strings. Can you feel even the G sting resonating through the body? If so you have found a great guitar. From then on everything else electronicly is secondary. Most guitars come with crappy pu's and you will probably end up changing them, but if the acoustic resonance is there any decent pu's will be fine.

I can't say this is a tank like your typical Fender. It seems a little on the delicate side. It's not a plank. It has lots of curves and wierd physical innovations. But it will be fine for me, because I don't plan on leaving it out in the weather, or jumping on it, or smashing anything with it, or setting it ablaze.

No idea.

Been playing 25 years (yeah I'm an old fart, but I know my sh*t when it comes to guitars). At present I own an Ibanez AS80 and a Taylor 510, both primo specimens. If stolen or lost I would kick my own ass for being so careless as to let it slip away, and then I would check out Brian Moore again. But I would not limit myself to any one manufacturer. Selecting a musical guitar is a gut wrenching endevour, and a serious musician should not take this adventure lightly. Look at everything and anything without bias. A guitar is such an ify thing. You can find treasure or trash in identical models! So be carefull! Listen and feel for RESONANCE!!!

Kalantas mahogony body, Seymour Duncan pickups, coil tapping, Sperzel locking tuners, and floating tremolo. Included deluxe hardshell case.

I hate to say it but the Duncans sounded very thin on this guitar. Nice clean sound but not good with distortion. For all the coil tapping options I did not find too many sounds that I really liked.

Action was hard to get low as I had excessive fret buzz from 12th fret on. Finish was beautiful as was the whole guitar cosmetically. Main gripe is the neck; very thin and fragile. Putting 9 gauge strings or less is advised. Tuners, bridge saddles, and tremolo were top notch though!

Would not trust the neck on this if it fell that's for certain.

Basically this is a very cosmetically pleasing guitar with alot of features. The main drawback is the neck and weak pickups.

This is the brand new i2000 line from Brian Moore. The guitar has a Kalantas Mahogany body with a highly figured maple quilt top. 22 fret maple neck with rose wood finger board, medium jumbo frets. Seymour Duncan pickups in a H/S/H configuration. The Neck is a Duncan Alnico Pro II, the middle a Duncan Alnico Pro II single coil and the Bridge a Duncan JB. The body is comfort contoured just like it's cousins the MC/1 and C-90. The bridge is a standard trem bridge, looks like it was made by Gotoh, the tuners are Sperzel locking tuners. All hardware is gold. The finish is a tobacco sunbust, but looks more like a honey / cherry sunburst.

I'm currently playing this guitar through two rigs, one is the Line 6 POD and the other a Fender Super Reverb. The guitar has a great tone to it acoustically. The first thing I look for in a electric is how well it resonates. The i9 has a very nice shimmer to it when played acoustically, not to say it sounds brittle, but it has a nice tone to it.
When plugged in, the i9 is a monster. Brian Moore spared no expense in the hardware because this baby has REAL Seymour Duncan pickups! Not Duncan DESIGNED, these are the real thing. The pick up selector gives you the standard 5 positions, but adds in a twist: the volume and tone pots are push/pull which split the two humbuckers to single coils. This gives you so many great tones from Les Paul to strat! Fantastic!

This was the first Brian Moore guitar my local guitar store, Good Guys Music & Sound received. It was meticulously set up using a twenty two point checklist. The action was low and frets looked polished. This guitar was a joy to play from the beginning. The guitar is very light weight. Not as light as a Parker fly, but not as heavy as a Fender Strat.
Although the i2000 series is handcrafted in Korea, the entire guitar is put together in the USA and set up by Brian Moore technicians. This guitar is EXACTLY like the C-90 with the exception of two things: C-90 has a Wilkinson tremolo and a different pickup selector switch that allows the middle position to get a tele-sound.
The top is a beautifully finished curly maple, just like those seen on the higher priced MC/1 and C-90. The neck is small but not too small or thin. Fretting all over the neck is a breeze because of the setup at the factory. The dot inlays are mother of pearl just like its cousins and the tuners are REAL Sperzels!
I couldn't find any flaws in the body finish, but the neck had a little flaw on the headstock where the paint should have been masked off but it was very minor and not noticable. The contour shaped body is fantastic because the body fits nicely against you when you play and there is no need for a pickguard because the body is curved. The jack plate is located in back of the guitar and works very well in that placement.
The nut and bridge were also very good fits, although I have already changed the bridge to a Wilkinson just like the C-90's and I will soon change the pickup switch as well.

I can imagine that this guitar will last through years of playing simply because the materials used are so good and are the real thing. I have used Duncans and Sperzels for years with no problems, and the craftmaship on the body and neck are first rate! The strap buttons are very heavy duty and will last a long time too.

I have emailed Brian Moore and I have gotten fabulous response from the people there. The president of the company even emailed me back. Talk about great customer service! I wish more companys could be this way. I doubt I will ever have a problem getting it repaired since I am kind of a hack at setting up guitars, but I am sure I could send it back to Brian Moore and they would take care of me. The guitar has a 5 year warranty.

I have been playing for 17 years and I own a Les Paul Custom, Ernie Ball Van Halen, Ernie Ball Luke, Fender Nashville Tele, Custom Strat, Yamaha SG 2000 and I must say, this is the BEST guitar I have ever played.
I can recall back in 1996 playing an MC/1 for the first time and thinking "I GOTTA GET THIS" then realizing it was about $4000+!!! Brian Moore has finally done it! They made a C-90 affordable with the i2000 series. Don't be fooled with the made in Korea on the back of the neck. Try one out yourself. The quality of the materials, the genuine hardware and the setup is just incredible. I still don't know how they can sell this guitar at a MSRP of $1195!
If it broke or got stolen, I would have to replace it, although I am looking forward to seeing the MIDI version as soon as it comes in to Good Guys.
If you have always wanted a Brian Moore but could never afford one, check out the i2000 series! It is simply the best guitar you can buy for the price!