Product: Bumstead Fury
Price Paid: UNKNOWN
Submitted
06/22/2009
at
04:13pm
by
joebwhite
Features
:
8
This is strange looking guitar from Bumstead, a Michigan company. The Fury has a shape similar to a Rondo SX -- a melted Explorer shape, in this case meant to suggest a car's tailfins. There's a goofy chrome flames bridge piece. The Fury has three hot humbucking pickups, a six way selector, volume, tone and an onboard overdrive that chirps when you engage it. From there, it dials in progressive overdrive until you get to full tilt thrash, a buzzy tone I don't like much but some could. The fat maple neck with reverse headstock similar to Fender strat is this guitar's best feature. Plays nice and true.
Sound
:
8
This machine is made for rock and roll. I gigged with it recently and got a lot of complements on the tone. The six-way gets you a range of sounds-- there;s even a strat sound in there. As noted above, the on board OD is ok in first 2 settings. Full gain is over the top.
Action, Fit, & Finish
:
7
My Fury needed a pretty thorough redo of the setup but that was done well at Nine Mile Guitar. Plays nicely now. Cosmetics - you either dig the green, 1950's space age guitar thing or not. My Fury has some sloppy looking work around the pickup holes -- exposed wood. But overall it looks like nothing else. No flaws in playability at all. See above -- I like the action and frets a lot, so far.
Reliability/Durability
:
8
Looks pretty sturdy. The onboard OD effect needs a 9V battery which is a bit of hassle to replace, but not a huge problem.
I had to adjust the tuning a few times during my show after whaling on it..nothing i don't expect with all my guitars. It is a bit heavy and bulky..but I got used to that.
Customer Support
:
No Opinion
I emailed Sean Bumstead via his website one time. Never heard back. No problems with the guitar yet. If I had any, I'd go to Nine Mile guitar, the dealer.
Overall Rating
:
8
I have been playing in an amateur way for 30 years, gigging in a bar band for nine. I bought this guitar on a whim, partly because i live in Detroit and could use a campy, car oriented guitar for certain shows. I have been pleasantly surprised by the way the Fury sounds and by the positive feedback from guitar playing friends. I wouldn't make this my first guitar, or my second. But if you are into collecting offbeat sub $1,000 electrics, it's a good catch. I didn't pay the $781 list and you shouldn't either. If lost, I doubt I could replace it. Not sure he even makes them anymore.
