Ed Roman Abstract Caligula

Don't really know what the honest options are but Ed will promise the moon until your wallet is closed. Mine has gold hardware, Floyd Rose, Seymour Duncan Black Backs at the bridge (lame pick up), SD hot rails at the bridge (great pickup). Ebony fret board with the triangle inlays. This gem has 27 frets where the edges are like teeth on a wood saw. Mine has a Hard Rock Maple Neck with huge variance in grain spacing through mediocre grain mahogany/cork spotted body. (This wasn???t the option I was sold but rather provided). A quintuplet laminated headstock with a shimmed locking nut that is not level. The wiring was ordered as the telecaster Mega three-way switch (ala Pretucci) with a CTS 10% tolerance potentiometer (brass bushings and uniform sweep in resistance). The input jack was to be done at a 45-degree angle (ala Caparison) Mine had the Ed Roman custom shop body cavity inferno wire job. This is where Ed???s luthiers boil out all the flux during every solder job, melt in sections of the wire shielding in with the solder joints and then cram the whole mess of excess wire lengths and wiring remnants underneath the plastic body cavity cover. .

Well as a woodblock it is ok, but it is supposed to be a guitar???.so???well the neck pickup is cool enough. The Black Backs lack punch, bass, clarity and have a marshmallow delivery overall. The blade switch was ok and has a pretty positive feel to it (although it is not the Mega switch I had ordered). The volume pot is not a CTS 10% as was ordered but a basic run of the mill volume pot that has been subjected to an incredible amount of direct heat. Flat and static spots were found as a direct result of careless electronic installation. The shielding???..what shielding? Ed you begin the shielding process you have to shield every component that is in the direct signal route or you create an antenna. In this case this guitar will pick up short band, FM and for some reason it really heterodynes in the local Hispanic radio station. The compartment covers were not shielded either. So this guitar is an electromagnetic nightmare. Tonally it might be ok but I didn???t hear the justification for the purchase price.

I can???t overall complain about the finish other than Ed had promised me that it would be sanded and ready for the paint preparation process and the guitar arrived with divots, scratches and burrs. The frets were not dressed out at all. I cannot tell you how much this sucked. They are like turning an old wood saw sideways and trying to run your hands across the edge. POOR FORM the worst fret dressing I have ever witnessed in 30 years of playing. The action was supposed to be set ULTRA LOW. I???m guessing this guitar was set up by placing an old cassette tape on the fret surfaces then the ???luthiers??? lowered the bridge until the strings touched the cassette tape. Way wrong on the action Ed. I???m guessing that this was to compensate for some irregularities I am going to experience during the final set up.

I am trying to get my money back on this one. I do not want to play this guitar with anyone, as I am ashamed that I actually bought it. It fails by every measure I hold as a standard with any guitar I own. I have an 80???s Jackson Fusion Standard that is regarded in much higher esteem that this Abstract. Ed Romans Abstract Caligula failed in every respect.

You???ll get customer support as long as you are paying for it. Ed does not honor his warrantees I submitted a review on this site and as a result Ed Roman will not deal with me. Ed Roman Rants about his knowledge and past dealings with the professional guitarist around the world, but he treats the little guys as if they were insignificant and unworthy of true quality work.

I spent numerous hours doing extra work and subjected myself to an unreasonable purchase price goal to get one of these guitars. I ate, slept and dreamed of this being my last Floyd Rose purchase. I wanted perfection. Halfway though the process I discovered that I may have to slide my standard scale from perfection to exceptional. The guitar I ended up with did not measure up to exceptional but rather unacceptable. Ed did not care and was rather irritated by my bothering him. I would never recommend anyone to buy anything from that ???enterprise???. What is made in Vegas should stay in Vegas.