Ed Roman Quicksilver

READ THIS REVIEW!!
This is a follow-up on a review I made several YEARS ago. I purchased my Quicksilver in 2004. First, I need to qualify myself to help you judge this review. I am an over 50 year old retired successful businessman who is strictly plays guitar as a hobby. I do not play professionally. This is exactly the type of person Ed Roman???s marketing targets for the high end guitars. I play my Quicksilver through a Soldano Decatone, a very nice high-end amp, and perfect for the Quicksilver. I don???t use any pedals or effects.

As for features, they are endless to a degree. Yes, Ed Roman vehemently pushes the Duncan Blackback pickups. To be honest, I don???t think I have the capability to tell the difference between these pickups, Dimarzio???s, EMG???s, PAF???s, or any other well made humbucker. My Quicksilver has a solid black Korina body (no binding, no quilted laminated top), ebony neck with the 1500 finish, gold hardware, locking tuners, and strings through the body at the tail. It is high-end elegant without being gaudy. I also chose the Buzz Feiten tuning system, which I found to be a necessity for Les Pauls. Visually, it is the most impressive guitar I have ever seen, even to this day. It is the visual appearance and custom options that drew me to Ed Roman Guitars. I specified the options with little real understanding of their overall contribution to the guitar???s sound and playability.

Here is where it gets interesting. Ed Roman touts the Quicksilver as ???the most versatile guitar???. It really is not. If you are looking for a guitar to outperform a Gibson Les Paul or SG, the Quicksilver will do it easily. The Quicksilver is considerably lighter and more comfortable to play than a Les Paul Custom (I used to own a Les Paul Custom). I have never played a PRS, but I think the Quicksilver will most likely perform as well as a PRS (it was modeled after the PRS).
Recently, I purchased a Mexican Stratocaster off eBay. It has a humbucker at the bridge, a Seymour Duncan Hot Rail, I think. The two remaining pickups are the standard Fender single coils. I can get a wider variety of tones from the Stratocaster than from the Quicksilver. And the Stratocaster cost me $350. However, the Stratocaster can not do a dual humbucker sound that is characteristic of the Les Paul. Realize that even with pole-tapping to emulate single coil pickups, the Quicksilver can not sound like a Stratocaster. My knowledge of guitars is limited such that I really don???t understand why this is, but to my ear the Quicksilver can???t come close to the sound of a Stratocaster. And I have worked with both for several months every day.

This is also a mixed bag. Unlike several reviewers, I had absolutely no problems with frets falling off, being uneven, poor finish, etc. In fact, when received it (I drove to Vegas to pick it up), it was flawless. No problems with loose knobs, the nut and frets were perfect, and the finish (natural with Polyurethane) was flawless. It was, and still is, visually stunning.
Three years after my purchase I needed to have the frets dressed. I took the Quicksilver to a local luthier who had a Buzz Feiten license, so he could adjust my guitar. This is a very prominent luthier in the Southern California area. He greatly admired the quality of materials and construction of the Quicksilver, but he also remarked at the mediocre setup that was performed at Ed Roman Guitars. He dressed the frets and did a complete setup. The Quicksilver played 100% better after this new setup. The action was lower and the guitar stays in tune much better. Incidentally, to protect my investment in this guitar, I take it to the same luthier every year for a ???tune up???.

I have had my Quicksilver for almost five years now, and I play it almost every day. I take it to a local luthier once a year for a ???tune up???, and this keeps it in perfect shape. I have had absolutely no problems with it. Incidentally, this same luthier told me that as wood ages, it moves slightly. He recommended that I have the Quicksilver inspected and adjusted every year (probably overkill) until the wood stops aging. As of this writing, I have just completed the annual ???tune up???. He and I both noticed that as the Quicksilver ages, its tone is steadily improving. He remarked that it is ???waking up???. When new it had a somewhat sterile sound. Now, after 5 years, it is developing significantly noticeable harmonic character and sonic depth.

Here everyone complains about Ed Roman. I will grant you that he is quirky and eccentric. He is primarily a businessman, and above all he is interested in the bottom line. I had Ed???s luthiers adjust my Rickenbacker (360-12), and they did a superior job (setup and fret dressing). This begs the question why was the setup on the Quicksilver sub par? Also, it did take some work to get a build sheet and bill of sale for the Quicksilver from Ed. And the price paid was a few hundred dollars more than the quoted cost. But the quality (except for the setup) was excellent. I rate this as NO OPINION because I did not have to deal with Ed Roman Guitars after I picked up the guitar. I specifically chose a local luthier to dress the frets and do a re-setup because there are many excellent luthiers in Southern California and convenience is an issue. Incidentally, when I picked up the guitar in Las Vegas, my wife and I spent about an hour with Ed. I found him to be friendly and easy to deal with. I even went so far as to have photographs taken of him with (and signing) my guitar. He was always very cordial and never rude.

As I can see from previous reviews, many bought from Ed roman for the same reason I did ??? expectation of a flawless unsurpassable guitar that would be the final guitar purchase. I have spent the last 5 years trying to fall in love with my Quicksilver, and I am disappointed that it hasn???t quite happened yet. However, as the guitar ages, the wood ???sets???, it ???wakes up???, and its sonic character emerges, I am increasingly favorable towards it. And it is a very comfortable guitar to play. However, there is no guitar that will do everything. Comparing the Quicksilver with the Gibson Les Paul Custom (which I sold) really emphasizes the superior quality of the Quicksilver. And I can see that the build quality of the Stratocaster is inferior to the Quicksilver. But both of these guitars (Les Paul & Stratocaster, purchased used) together were less that half the cost of the Quicksilver.

My advice is that purchasing from Ed Roman has its drawbacks and positives. Yes, you can have a custom built guitar with nearly endless possibilities. But you had better know what you want going in, and you should be prepared for delays (mine was promised in 4 months and finished in 9). If you are not a famous music personality, Ed???s financial bottom line is foremost in his mind. You should have an excellent understanding of the different sonic capabilities of a wide variety of guitars, and above all, visit Ed Roman Guitars and play one first to get of feel for playability and sound. Do your own research. And be aware that the sonic character of new wood, even exotics like Korina, can noticeably improve with age. Yes, Ed Roman is extremely knowledgeable about electric guitars. But only you know what feels good in your hands and what sounds good to your ears.

2003 Ed Roman Quicksilver electric guitar.

This is a custom-built solidbody electric guitar designed to be similar to a Paul Reed Smith (PRS) CE24. It is number 232 out of all Quicksilvers ever made.

* Seymour Duncan Black/Back pickups
* Maple neck with 1500 G Neck Mod
* Rosewood Fretboard
* AAAAA Quilt Maple Top
* Electric Blue-to-Black burst finish
* Pearlcaster Tremolo
* Schaller strap locks
* Hardshell case included

Unlike most Quicksilver guitars, the pickups are NOT mounted to the body; they are suspended from pickup rings. This allows you to adjust the pickup height to suit your tastes, something that isn't possible on most Quicksilvers.

I play many different types of music and my guitar playing accounts for about 30% of my income - with the rest coming from production and programming work.

When I am playing for myself I play r&b or fingerstyle. I have played on some albums/tours that have done pretty well over the last few years and own many guitars.

Before I continue, I would like to invite anyone who would like to know more about this guitar to email me for photos and any questions.

Ed's shop (which I am not a part of) gets some crazy reviews here which are simply not true. If you would like to speak with someone about this guitar please feel free to get in touch.

I am using a few Fenders (Vibrolux, 50s Deluxe, Tremolux, etc...), Soldano (Reerb-O-Sonic), older Vox AC-30 and a Matchless.

Don't use many effects, but my pedal board has a Maxon Comp and OD-808, Ibanez Analog Delay and Fulltone '70 and SupaTrem.

I bought the Quicksilver on ebay. It was listed with a $600.00 BIN which included shipping and a G&G case.

The Quicksilver guitars are hand built and are very expensive. The resale value is pretty low due to it being a lesser known brand. I advise people on a budget to look used where these are usually $1000 - $1500.

I have a PRS (Pre Factory Custom 24 with 10 top and Birds) and it sat under the bed after I first played a Quicksilver. PRS makes great looking and playing guitars - that sound like wet cardboard.

The Ed Roman model is just a complex and rich sounding instrument that produces unique (but familiar) timbres. Because of the switching and coil splitting it can do glassy Stratocaster like parts and also scream like a great Les Paul.

Years ago I worked in a store that had an old BC Rich from the very early 80s - not one of the imports. The Roman is very reminisant of that guitar yet it has it's own persoanality.

The only two things I am not crazy about are the color (I bought this guitar used) and the 1500G Neck Mod - more on this later.

The guitar did not come from Ed Roman's World Class Guitars, but it was setup well and played in tune up and down the neck.

The interesting thing about #232 is that the pickups can be adjusted. Unlike most Quicksilver guitars, the pickups are not hard mounted. They are mounted like traditional humbuckers.

This is the best top and matching I have ever seen. If Gibson were to match a top like this it would be $50,000.00.

The guitar (again, I bought it used) had a little ding on the butt, down by the straplock.

This guitar feels substantial. I do not mean that it is heavy. What I mean is something a little less tangible and something that I have a really hard time explaining to people who buy the cheap imports.

The switches feel like they're top notch. The finish looks and feels like something someone sprayed and buffed by hand, the neck is 'just right' as far as shape and the frets are dressed great.

I would never go to a gig with one guitar, but if I had two of these I would be all set.

I bought this guitar used, but sent an email to Ed Roman's World Class Guitars with regard to a couple things.

The main thing I wanted was to see if I could get the 1500G neck mod reversed so the finish could be more like my Custom Shop Fender guitars.

I got an email back the same day with a phone number to call. When I called I got a friendly, helpful and really cool conversation about this guitar and about what the Vegas shop does.

The price quoted for the work I want to have done was very, very good and if I do not bond with the 1500G after a few more weeks #232 will be off to LV.

I have been playing guitar for about 20 years. Most of my other guitars are older Fender and Gibson as well as a PRS and some Gretsch electrics.

Had I ordered this guitar I would have gone with a les fancy looking top and maybe a more traditional burst color (this is blueburst) and I probably would have gone for a hard tail.

If this were stolen I would take the insurance money, call Ed and have him make me another one.

I love the fact that it's a handmade American guitar built by a shop that doesn't bend to trends, pay for advertising or kiss people's asses to get them to play their stuff.

I bought this because it was a great deal. I still like my Gibsons (sorry Ed and Co.!) but I would say that it is better then any PRS I have ever played.

I wish it were signed by Ed Roman. I also wish it had those cool light-up inlays. Maybe he'll sign it if I send it back for the work -not sure if he does that.

The main thing I would like to share is that people should be weary of the reviews here. After owning this guitar and playing other Ed Roman guitars it's pretty clear that there is a lot of BS out there about the guy and his work.

I have never met Ed, I only know him through his craftsmanship - and it's top notch.

For all the people here that paid $3000+ for a guitar made out of Home Depot Pine, etc... I call shenanigans. It's simply not true.

Look at the EdRoman.com website with an open mind. Read the tech articles, read the comparisons and try to find one of the guitars to play. If you're close to me get in touch and you can even try mine.

Email the folks with the bad ones and see what they send you back. I can guarantee these folks never owned a real Roman.

I give an 8 here because they are not cheap and the resale value is kind of low (so look for used ones!). All in all, it's a 20 next to a PRS - but if you decide to sell it the PRS will get you more back.

Oh, and to ManTurds (who goes by the name with Spuds in it on YouTube) I will not "fudge pics" for you.

Another reviewer said this dingleberry contacted him about trying to get some pics doctored to discredit Ed and he has also contacted me - and left bad comments on all my YouTube stuff - even the unrelated to Ed stuff - the guy is a loser who bought a kit and couldn't figure out how to put it together.

If you would like pictures or any other info, feel free to contact me - an actual Ed Roman Quicksilover Owner - who will answer all your questions without any internet BS.

My email is senor_sparkles at yahoo dot com and I am in Massachusetts.

Features... For what Quicksilver's cost even on Ebay--way too expensive considering what the features are? A push-pull wow! Do yourself a favor and buy an Ibanez Gio instead.

Like Seymour Duncan Black Backs would sound in an Ibanez Gio.

A Ed Roman Quicksilver is the type of guitar you get set-up and two weeks later the buzz is back and strings are still breaking like crazy. Seriously! Just to be fair the paint job is awesome, but so are fake tits till you feel them.

Reliability? Durability? Ed Roman's guitars are as reliable and durable as he is, do you really think a Quicksilver is worth it? Next time one is on Ebay write down the make and features, then compare it to his price brand new, Ed Roman Quicksilver's sale around 30-40% of what he sells them for? Do yourself a favor and at least buy a guitar you wont regretting buying and selling! You can tell a lot about a guitar based on resale value, especially an Ed Roman Quicksilver.

Customer support? Really? Go local to get to homebase, go to GC/Sam Ash and other online dealers to at least get a kiss on the cheek and go to Ed Romans guitars to get ****** up the *** with no homebase, no kiss on the cheek...nope nothings but an angry old ginger guy making your guitar. Watch the SouthPark Episode on Ginger Children. It is a great autobiography of Ed Roman.

Seriously watch the Ginger Children Episode of SouthPark after you have to sell your Quicksilver on Ebay because you have a lemon $4,400 guitar that sells for $1800.00 used???

As an acoustic builder of 30+ years I have a certain appreciation for well built instruments. The Quicksilver ranks among the best I've seen. I ordered an ash body with a cocobolo top and ebony fretboard. The rest of the hardware, tuners, pickups, bridge and tailpiece are common among the Quicksilver line. The finish was flawless and the setup was as tight as one could expect. The only addition I would recommend would be pickup rings as a final cosmetic touch, but that is a minor point.

My primary playing styles are blues and rock so the split coil humbuckers were a good fit. I use an old Fender reverb amp and the sound is "killer". WHile the split coils may not be for everyone they certainly deliver all the range I need.

I really have not had to do anything to this guitar. As a builder I almost expect to have to tweak the action a bit but that has not been the case. The bookmatch is dead-on. A caveat however for those considering a cocobolo top - it is a VERY dense heavy wood. It is not something you would want to have hanging on your shoulder for a 3 hour gig!

This guitar is almost impossible to knock out of tune. The Sperzel tuners are a must, they simply don't let go. My Quicksilver outshines the other two guitars that I take with me on gigs by miles ( no names mentioned here but suffice it to say they are WAY more popular).

I've read some of the reviews of folks complaining about the customer support at Ed Roman's. Maybe it's professional courtesy but both Ed and Stephan have been absolute gentlemen. One thing I can attest to as a builder, it is quite annoying to have someone who knows very little about how guitars are made but acts as though they know more thsn you do. Custom building guitars is a tedious, exacting job. It is not an assembly line task. Many complaints are about action. Most gutars are setup for the "average" player. If you're the next Stevie Ray Vaughn you're going to need a custom setup. A little tip: you're better off taking your guitar to a local luthier than to send it back to the manufacturer for a custom setup.

I've been playing for 43 years and I have played more guitars than I can remember. The only downside to the Quicksilver is that it is not an inexpensive guitar. The bottom line is that if you want a top of the line guitar you are going to pay a high price. It doesn't matter if the guitar comes from Ed Roman or Gibson or Fender or PRS or whomever. I would venture to suggest that a guitar from any one of the above mentioned custom shops would be as expensive if not more so than Ed Roman's shop.

24 fret,ebony fretboard,lightning bolt inlays,s/d p/ups,push/pull pots,sperzel locking tuners.
i did have to pay extra for case and shipping.

i like the sound of the s/duncans...very "crunchy!"
a little disappointed with the push/pull sound...tends to sound scratchy.
i'm using a fender vibroking, and a fender cybertwin....so i can mostly compensate where i feel guitar is lacking.

the finish was great, p/ups okay.

one complaint is that the plastic cover covering the electronics on the back is missing.

one is supposedly on the way to me.

it also appears that the case that was sent to me is used, oh well.

will have to wait and see.

this is where i've really become frustrated!
first off ed seemed very annoyed to even talk to me. i tried to get some answers by email, but they were never answered.
when i called ed and let him know the cover was missing, he seemed quite annoyed at ME, and said that one of his salespersons could have handled my request! i did talk to joanne, i believe his wife, and she tried to charge me for the missing cover, AND the shipping to my house!

also, when at first, before i purchased this guitar, i tried to negotiate the case price and shipping (i prefer fedex over any other shipper)i was told they ONLY use ups. take it or leave it. the same with the price of the case, which seemed a little out of line, $275.00.
and he also tried to tell me that interior damage to my case was either ups' fault or mine! i gave up on this issue.

i don't think i'll ever buy a guitar sight unseen, in person, again.

he does have a great website, but i think his business practices could use a little "fine tuning."


i also don't believe i would send the guitar back to vegas for servicing, i'd rather have it done locally where i still have some control.

Roman Quicksilver Flatliner, USA Made Custom Shop Electric Guitar, Korina Body, Birds Eye Maple Top, 2 Piece Maple Neck, Ebony Fingerboard, Lighting Bolt Inlays, Ebony Headstock Overlay, 25" Scale, 24 Nickel Silver Medium Jumbo Frets, Seymour Duncan P-90 Pickups, Sperzel Locking Tuners, 1 Volume 1 Tone 3-Way Switch

Case also purchased

Amazing. Like a PRS but if everything wrong with a PRS was fixed.

I tried to get a PRS but I couldn't get ebony, couldn't get Korina, couldn't get a guitar without a huge heel on the neck and couldn't choose pickups or inlays.

Plus, I my friend had a PRS Custom 24 10 top and it sounded like a poor copy of the QS. Kind of what a Mexican Strat looks like next to a Custom Shop Fender. Of course if I wanted a S-Type I would get a Pearlcaster.

0y one dislike is I wanted a green burst but didn't want to wait for a buildup so I got cherry

Took it out of the case and it was in tune and ready to go. Everything was perfect. Also got a letter explaining all the features and a thank you note from Ed.

Amazing.

I wouldn't use anything without a backup.

I think anyone with 1/2 a brain can tell who the people here are that have actually purchased guitars from Ed.

The HC Forum folks hate him because they are mostly bandwagon jumpers who love Agile and $300.00 guitars and spend hours discussing pickups ad tone instead of playing.

Facts are facts and Ed would not be the success he is if anything they say about him was true.

To the people claiming these are built out of Home Depot pine I say look at the pics (mine is still on the sale page) or go to NAMM or the Vegas store.

Ed is hated because he speaks truth and poor people get jealous or someone buys a PRS and doesn't want to believe there is better.

Ed is first a businessman. He is not your pal and you should deal accordingly. This is my 2nd guitar from him recently and I'm very satisfied.

Also, the kid with the Caligula kit posting videos contacted me for pics of my guitar (Maximus) and asked me to fudge some pics for him to discredit Ed. This is what goes on online.

Ed Roman is The King.

Roman Maximus, Custom Shop Fender and 1970's Gibson Les Paul.

Marshall JCM-800, Marshall Plexi Super Lead, Soldano SLO-100, Engl and Metaltronix,

ADA MP-1, Digitech Twin Tube and GSP-21, Eventide H-3000, Palmer Speaker Simulator, Bradshaw switching system, etc...

dont know alot about the guitar as i should from spending days on his site reading every thing twice..i will get to that later.. sperzel locking tuners / custom paint 2000 something?? build date. seymore duncan blackback pickups bolt inlays.special neck? other stuff? supposed to be loaded..no tools or t shirt , stickers , picks or any bonus. had to buy case.

guitar sounds great feels good nice neck looks good. gets alot of sounds / push pull taps. play on a peavey wiggy and line 6 head with marshall stack. pedals. i play rock. got a good deal on it cause they had it so long and i guess no one liked the paint job in person .i bought it online with just apicture to look at till it came then i got the let down..

action was good / pickups good / knob fell off when first pulled from case?/ paint job not as good as i thought. for this kind of money the knobs input jack and screws should be solid gold not cheap junk..tuners were top of the line.

seems solid . would gig with a backup . finish seems like it is not so hot. have to be carefull .. strap buttons for the money should have been top of the line ??

dealt with them before buying not after..promised me a build sheet ? wood type all the specs / day of build / luithers name/ every bit of info i could get/ made him promise before i bought.. never got anything but a letter saying it was one of a kind. pretty sorry. had to pay shipping and buy a case or pay more to ship.. pretty sorry.. was all excited the most expensive guitar i had ever bought.. got it in mail , opened it up , looked at the custom paint job , just paused and looked was not impressed.. picked it up and knob fell off in floor..sorry set up . i had to wait for an extra day to get it because they said they never send out a guitar before it goes through a serious set up and inspection..yeah right i think they just did not do much at all. the nut was lose on the input jack that i noticed was a cheapo .. a few other minor little things that should not have been let go..i figure i got screwed in a way for the money you spend the case and shipping and setup should be done right and free!! also you should get what they promised like my build sheet. he told me the body was swamp ash but how can i know scrape off the custom paint to find out? year of build have no idea?all that info i feel raped on. for his custom guitars he should hire one guy to handle the process from start to finish so word of mouth wont kill you later. sad really sad.., a free tee shirt stickers picks and a thank you call and letter should be insisted opon..

been trying to play for years, have been a guitar trader for years . thought i could fall in love with this guitar and sell some of my large collection of gibsons fenders and deans . dont know now?// feel raped and confused. if it were stole i might get abeat up one off ebay thats it.it beats most 1000 $ guitars but for the money it should have came with top of the line everything..hell i got to keep it cause if someone ask me what kind of wood year built all the normall stuff , what the hell am i gonna say uh call ed and good luck now give me 2 grand so i can at least get some of my money back.. 7 rating overall cause it is a pretty good guitar..

First of all, I would like to say to anyone reading these reviews and considering the purchase of a QuickSilver ??? Please take the bad reviews here with a grain of salt. Ed Roman is a very controversial person and clearly not well liked in the industry. But just because he rants on and on (and is many times critical of others in the industry) that does not mean he is not correct about many of the topics upon which he opines and that his guitars are not superior in make.

My QuickSilver Story

About 2 ?? years ago, I made the huge mistake of walking into a music store and playing a really nice PRS through a Mesa Boogie amp. From that moment on, I was hooked and determined that one day I would own a PRS, and, like many of you I???m sure, became obsessed in my search for tone. I began researching PRS guitars and constantly checking eBay for prices. My search for information led me to the Ed Roman web site where I probably read every article that he posted on the construction of guitars and his theories behind what produces great tone. Everything he wrote made a lot of sense, but what the hell did I know.
I was close to pulling the trigger a few times but decided that I still didn???t know enough. I even priced out a QuickSilver. They start out at $1,500. That didn???t seem too bad. The problem was, by the time you get all the fancy tonal woods and a nice looking top, you are easily over $3,000. I wasn???t ready for that.
Then one day as I was perusing eBay for PRS guitars and I saw a QuickSilver up for auction. I forget the starting price but it had a ???Buy It Now??? for $2,500. I priced it out on the Quicksilver pricing sheet and figured that it would cost over $4,000 (possibly as much as $5,000) to produce that guitar today. I decided to buy it.
The guitar has an absolutely gorgeous spalted maple top (amber), Korina (Black, I believe) back, and a rosewood neck. It came with LSR tuners. By the way, I saw that some posted critical comments about the finish. The only blemish on this guitar was my fault. I banged it really hard into the very sharp edge if a very solid desk. It barely left a mark and did not break through the lacquered finish. I owned a Carvin and one day barely tapped the guitar onto the edge of the case. It broke through the lacquer and the finish down to raw wood. One fifth the force produced five times the damage.
The QuickSilver guitar looked great and sounded great. The problem was that, if I set it up the way I liked it, there were some dead spots on the neck. The high D (22 fret on the E string) was totally dead. I thought that was sort of crappy and went back to playing my Strat. I was in a cover band and decided that I should have a tremolo bar on all of my guitars, so I decided I would go back to looking for the ???right??? PRS and that I would ultimately sell the Quicksilver.
I got a great price on eBay on a beautiful PRS and was happy. I still wasn???t totally happy with my tone but I determined that it must be the amp (Mesa Lonestar). (*NOTE * I sold the Mesa and got a ???57 Twin replica ??? amazing amp.) I was committed to selling the QuickSilver and decided that I would take it to band practice for its last hurrah. WELL, it turned out that it was the best our band ever sounded, and it was totally because of my guitar???s tone. Now what the hell was I going to do?
I decided that before I sell it I should see if a fret leveling job might not help. (I had never done this before.) I sent the guitar to Ed Roman and talked to Alan Dreher about what should be done. We replaced the LSR tuners, made a few small adjustments and leveled the frets. I NOW OWN THE PERFECT GUITAR. It is truly amazing. I own an old (circa 1965) Gibson SG that had the fastest neck I have ever played. My Quicksilver is now better. Tonally the PRS and QuickSilver are pretty close if you are on the neck pickup doing the Santana thing. Any other setting, whether splitting the c

I have owned a bunch of expensive guitars and this is, by far, the best sounding guitar that I have ever played.

The action wasn't great when I got it, but is now amazing.

As discussed above, Alan was great.

I cannot ever imagine getting rid of this guitar. If it were lost or stolen I would definitely replace it. I guess I should mention that I play mostly rock and blues. It would seem silly to me to use a guitar like this for metal, although I'm sure it could handle it.

I ordered my QS with a spalted maple top. Upon picking the instrument up, I thought that the finish looked like crap. The top was barely figured and just looked like raw pine with a few dark lines here and there. Warmoth has far better spalted maple finishes. I also didn't like the finish on the back of the instrument. It didn't seem as glossy as with other instruments, also like Ed had just gone to Home Depot and bought the cheapest stain on the shelf.

The Seymour Duncan pickups are not versatile and do not deliver the crunch that I wanted. The instrument sounds flat and banal, sort of like a Mexican strat without the hum. It's never delivered the Les Paul crunch that I like.

I ordered the locking tuners but found it had regular tuners when I picked it up. They claim that they priced me for regular tuners and that if I wanted the locking tuners, I'd have to pay more (after already dropping 3k!). Ridiculous.

The headstock and lightening bolt inlays look really cheesy. It doesn't have the classy, grown-up appearance of a PRS. I could never imagine someone playing this toy-like instrument in a former setting, such as with an orchestra. I would have asked to see a fretboard with the lightening bolts before ordering. My mistake.

As I already mentioned, it doesn't have the crunch of a Les Paul. There is nothing unique about the sound -- just a bland instrument with no color. The sound is what you would expect from a $400-600 instrument, not an alleged premier instrument. I record and gig often, and I find myself turning to my PRS and Carvin Carved Top when I really need a versatile instrument that excels in every way. I have demoted my QS to a practice instrument that stays at home and doesn't go to the studio because of its sound and doesn't go to gigs because of its ridiculous price.

As I said, the finish did not seem professional. The guitar was set up well and hasn't required any adjustments. I am disappointed with how the routing doesn't seem to be tight around the neck pickup. There's a small gap where you can see between the body and the side of the pickup.

I actually wouldn't mind if the finish would wear off so that I could get it refinished. If I were attached to the guitar (which I'm not), then I'd consider having a professional luthier (not one from Roman's shop) replace the cheesy fretboard and headstock and give the instrument a custom shop worn look. Judging by the poor routing job on the instrument, I have my doubts about its structural integrity.

I agree with most of the other posters that the guys at the shop are a-holes. They acted like it was my fault that the guitar didn't have the locking tuners that I specifically remember requesting. Everyone should force Roman to sign a contract specifying better customer service and warranty - although he probably wouldn't sign one if just one person approached him about it, he'd have to sign it (or go out of business) if everyone who purchased a QS insisted upon a written contract with explicit terms. You get much better CS from established, main brand instruments, and the personnel at those companies are much more pleasant to deal with. Need an example -- just look at the Carvin website and how liberal their return policy is -- if you don't like the instrument upon inspection, you just send it back with no questions asked and no a-holes telling you to your face that you didn't request some feature that's absent from the guitar.

This guitar is a ripoff and a downright fraud. I feel cheated and really disappointed in myself for paying so much for such a crappy instrument. Ed may think that the name brands like Fender are ripping poorly informed, beginning guitarists off by selling them an overpriced piece of **it, but he's doing the same thing to allegedly more savy, higher end customers. I'll probably give the guitar to my son as his beginning guitar once he's old enough to start strumming. To think that I paid $3k for what will be a beginner's guitar, I feel so stupid. Moral of the story is to the stick with the name brand makers with a proven track record.

I recently traveled to Las Vegas and spent some time examining the Ed Roman Quicksilver at Ed Roman Guitars. I had played a Quicksilver before, but I had not seen a large quantity of the instruments before and thus did not have an informed opinion about the quality of the instrument line. Here were my impressions.
First, I immediately was unimpressed with the cheap, ???homemade??? look of most of the instruments. The necks had a clear, waxy finish over unstained maple reminiscent of a cheap Ibanez. The headstocks also are neither ornate nor unique; the bland shape and black finish reminded me of a Hammer. The font of the ???Roman??? on the headstock and the lightening bolts on the fretboard both degraded the instrument and made it appear cheap and juvenile. While the painted finishes were adequate, the wood finishes (with the exception of the spalted maple) were amateur looking and fell far below the quality standards of Gibson, Paul Reed Smith, and Carvin.
Second, after brief examination of all Quicksilvers in stock, I noticed several inconsistencies among the instruments. With some of the instruments, it appeared that the pickups and necks did not fit as tightly as with the other instruments. If you go to see the Quicksilvers for yourself, then take a metric ruler that measures in mm so that you can measure the inconsistent gaps surrounding the pickups and necks.
Third, the instruments sounded far above average but still not on par with Paul Reed Smith, Gibson, or Carvin. The clean sound is bland, flat, and not ideal for nondistorted styles, like jazz and country. When distorted, the instrument lacked both the crisp, sneering sound of a Paul Reed Smith and the distinct crunch of a Les Paul.
In conclusion, I would say that the Quicksilver is a flawed, homemade instrument worthy of neither the price asked nor the constant comparisons to Paul Reed Smith. The consumer should known that PRS and Carvin Carved Top both are far superior instruments in sound, finish, and most important, consistency of production. For all of the flaws that PRS may have, Quicksilver has its own and more of them. While someone conceivably could make Quicksilver into a renowned, national brand by buying it and improving on such things as the inconsistencies, blandness, and juvenile appearance, the instrument will never be a major market force so long as it adheres to its current design under Ed Roman.

This is a early model #182, 3 pc. maple laminated bolt on neck, sweet purple/blue (thick) quilted maple top, blonde korina back, push/ pull knobs, black back pickups, locking Sperzel tuners, ebony 24 fret w/lighting bolt inlays, gold hardware and light as a feather!

This paticular guitar is very versitle with the tones I can achieve matched w/various amps, but mostly mesa's. It is capable of delivering anything that I can dish out, it can go from a cool chick'n pick'n tone to a Kataklysm grind without a problem, if your amp can handle it. I have read where people bash the blackback pickups but I really do like them and can cover alot of ground with them. There really isn't anything I dislike about it.

I bought this guitar used from ebay and the seller had it set up properly the way that I like w/10 thru 46 strings and the action was low but not too low, just enough too avoid any fret buzz.

I love the contrast of the purple /blue top w/the blonde back, beautiful. When I opened the case for the first time, the UPS guy was standing with me and both of our jaws dropped (gorgeous).

The craftsmanship of this instrument seems to be flawless- This is one well thought out axe.

This is my go to axe, I didn't pay so much where I'm very paranoid when playing (like my Jet) but at the same time I do take care when handling.
I could get through a gig without any backup guitar if I don't break a string.
The body finish seems to be a little weak, I don't know if it is a laquer finish or not but it seems to mark easy. The gold hardware seems to be holding up quite well compared to others where the gold finish seems to wear off in no time.

This guitar was purchased used from ebay, but I've dealt with Ed Roman in the past and he was okay, I bought a $4800 Jet from him without having any problems. I never had to deal with any warranty issuses though, this one is a tough call.

I have been playing since 1978 and have owned many fine guitars (I've accumulated quite a collection over the years) and I can say the Quicksilver is a top contender. This guitar compares closely to pre-95 PRS but it is much lighter and comfortable to play. Not to bash or discredit PRS in any way because they do make very nice guitars, but I just perfer the Quicksilver. If it were lost or stolen I would replace it if another good deal came about like this one.
Overall it is quite the looker and player and I will have to say again that the weight of this guitar is just awesome. This one's a keeper, I have read the dissatisfied reviews posted here and I don't get it because the Quicksilver I have is Top Notch.
All that said I guess the only way to know is to try one for yourself.
Good Job on this one Ed!

Purchased the Quicksilver basic mohagony body, 24 fret, 25" scale, black backs, push/pulls, locking tuners, tune-O-matic, tung oil finish. On paper, close to what I was looking for.

Single coil settings sound close to the strat and tel but honestly I have become disenchanted with this guitar and probably will not play it much before selling it.

Set Up-little to none that I could see. The high E string was tuned up on the saddle edge instead of in the saddle groove. The action was great for a slide guitarist. I like very low action. The Roman inlays in the head stock terrible, fret tang slots unfilled, tool dent in the body from adjusting the bridge, G string groove in the nut several thousandths low, nut width visually narrower than the neck with raw cuts visible on ends. Set up terrible.

I feel the durability is good enough and again I bought a plain guitar with no decorative features. Would liked to have the Roman logo omitted. I may just cover the "R"

Over the phone I got three promisies to check on what could be done to remedy my concerns with return calls. I flew back to Vegas with the guitar where they agreed to complete the fill in the headstock inlay, fill beneath the fret tangs, resand the neck and make a new nut. I could have done the same but had them do it out of principal. After I got the guitar back I was pleased the tasks had gotton completed even though the nut is still marginal. I do better work in my garage and am not a luthier.

My overall rating for the guitar as it sits after the trouble I went through getting it to an acceptable condition is low. I will never do business with Ed Roman Guitar guitar again nor will I recommend them in any way. I am a small business owner and would be out of business if I operated this way. I would rate the guitar at 7 but overall including my experince in buying a 3. I wish I had bought Les Paul. For those considering a purchase from ER-Go there and buy the one you like but don't do a custom build or sight unseen purchase unless you live in Vegas and can manage and oversee your own project.

this quicksilver wasmade in 2005, it has a mahagony body with a quilted maple top (one of the first for ed roman quicksilvers) standard hardware throughout, seymour duncan black back pickups, 24 fret model, coil taps, 3 way selector, locking tuners, and a hard tail bridge. this is pretty much a standard quicksilver except that it has an extra extra wide fat neck to suit my big mitts.
as far as features this guitar is ok. while it would be nice to have one guitar that could do everything i think i am learning to respect a guitar if it can do just one thing well. there are a lot of tonal options with the taps and i can get a number of sounds that are quite good but i would be hard pressed to say any of them are outstanding or even excellent, especially when you consider the price tag on this model.

like i said this guitar is good, but i have a hard time saying it is truly great, especially when you consider the price. the one thing that is a saving grace is that i play it through a bogner metropolis which pretty much makes anything sound as close to great as you can get. the guitar is a little muddy on the neck pickup and i find myself using the single coil a lot to try and get more definition on chords.
it won't "twang" out really hard but it is acceptable for some country/rock tunes, i think overall that a brighter sounding pickup would help this guitar out a lot.

here's where it gets a little interesting. i drove to las vegas specifically to check out the roman showroom and myth and played a number of guitars there. i played a number of prs, jaros, and jet guitars and this is the one i fell for, mainly becuase of the large neck carve. now this guitar is very well made, and i think a lot of the problem with the tone is due to the pickups but these guys really screwed up the set-up on this one. when i first played the guitar i noticed a number of problems.
first the strap holders were silver (all other hardware is gold) and they were not even screwed in. seriously, they had set about 1/4" of the screw into the body and the rest was dangling off the side like it was broken.
second there was an actual chip in the finish directly above the neck pickup, hard to belive on a brand new guitar that lists for about $5,000 but true. to be fair i pointed this out to the salesman who took it up with ed and i was offered a pretty decent discount because of it, but to me it seemed like thay just didn't care about the guitar in the first place. how do you put a brand new custom guitar that you manufactured on your showroom floor without a final check. the strap holders were super ghetto and the guy acted like he never noticed the ding in the finish, but again to be fair, when i pointed out the holders they replaced them with gold lockers at no extra charge, but my point is, its not really my job to be pointing this stuff out to them, i worry about people who order stuff sight unseen.
third the set-up. i have seen $200 ebay guitars that had a better set up than this one. when i was playing i mentioned to the saleman that the action was a little high and he responded that of course they would lower it and set it up however i wanted, the guitar played well but was not really where i like it. so i drive back home, wait 2 days to get the guitar in the mail, open it up and the action is actually higher than before! that got me going pretty good so i called ed roman to talk about it with him and he suggested just lowering the bridge. i told him it looked like a truss rod adjustment to me but he blew me off and told me to just adjust the bridge myself or send it back to get looked at. right!, like i'm gonna shell out another $75 to ship it both ways and then wait for them to get to it.
upshot is i took it to my local guy and spent $35 to have it set up. as soon as he took it out of the case he remarked on how much tension the neck had in it and wondered if i had tweaked it out myself, but no folks, thats how it came from the factory. the positive side is that i got the guitar back 3 days ago and its like a different instrument. the intonation is much much better than previous and the whole rig feels much better as a result of the adjustment.
this is the section of the review i am spending so much time on because it bewilders me as to how someone can promote and sell a guitar so hard, and at the end have no actual once over before the guitar hits the showrroom or is shipped off. the salesman kept telling me they had so many guitars it was hard to keep all of them in top shape, but come on, if you're showing a guitar for $5,000 it better look good especially if it is a new custom piece. it seems to me that they don't really care about the finished product, which really surprises me because i actually think this guitar is very well built and quite beautiful, but not quite there without some help.

this guitar seems very solid and well built. i trust it now that i had another luthier go through it and tweak everything for me once.

i don't know ed roman so i won't say anything about him. the poeple i dealt with were helpful and friendly even if they were a little preoccupied. i dealt with stephan and he answered all my questions and got me anything in the store i wanted to play. he was very helpful in replacing the strap holders and giving me a price break on the finish fault. when i called about the set-up and was pretty much blown-off i decided then and there that i am not going to rely on these people for anything,and besides they're a couple of states away.

i've been playing for 15 years and have owned or played a fair amount of gear. if this guitar were stolen or lost i would be sad, but i think i could do better for the money i spent. i am really interested to change the pickups because i do like it a lot more now that the set up is fixed and i think the guitar might rip with the right electronics in it. a nice guitar with good parts and craftsmanship, i just wonder about their motives and dedication. are they trying to produce a great instrument, or just an alternative to a prs? from the factory this is a good guitar but it seems to take a little extra work to make it great.

Features a body similar to a PRS made from black korina, 24 fret neck, quilted maple top, ebony fretboard, 2 Seymour Duncan humbuckers, and Les Paul style tune-o-matic bridge setup. Everthing is pretty straight foward, and the layout of the controls can't be more simple. Aesthetically, this is a very nice guitar with one exception, the lighting bold inlays is cheesy and the "Roman" logo on the headstock is awful, especially for a high end guitar. Otherwise, I would rate this catagory a 9.

I play mainly rock, fusion, and jazz. My main amp is a Mark Sampson era Matchless Chieftain head, with a 4X12" Marshall cab, loaded with Vintage 30 speakers, and an old 60s Fender twin. I also overdrive the amps with a Fulltone Fulldrive 2 pedal. I also run a few other effects such as delay and volume pedal. This guitar seems to fit well in that setup. I only own 3 other electric guitars ('56 Fender Closet Strat, Gibson ES-345, '58 Gibson LP reissue) and in my opinion, this one is actually the least versatile out of the 4 electrics that I own. In comparison to my one other solid body carve top, which is the LP, the LP sustains better and actually covers a wider variety of musical style. This Quicksilver does achieve the classic rock to metal sound (with the right setup).

For the price I paid, the fretwork was terrible, which cause the guitar to buzz. (The guitar still had the setup when I got it). The finish and the wood was very well done.

I bought this guitar used, but I can hardly call it used because the original owner was just not happy with his purchase. As a result, this guitar just sat in the case until he sold it to me for a lot less then what he paid. It seems like it will last a while as long as you take care of it, just like anything else.

It seems I've heard more negative remarks about Ed Roman's customer service then positive, so I consider myself lucky that I bought this guitar for a good price from the original owner (2 months after he received it). He dreaded his decision to buy this guitar it and just wanted to get rid of it. I never had to deal with Ed Roman or his sales staff.

The original owner paid well over $3000 for this guitar. Even for the money I paid, I didn't think this guitar was all that great. I can't see myself paying more then $1500 dollars for this guitar.

Body like a Paul Reed Smith. Sperzel locking tuners, which I do prefer. Neck feels just right,But, and a BIG BUTT, the frets on the high E side were cut a too much of and angle and the string slips off when playing. Appearance/cosmetically it looked great. Came with a lousy case but for a pricey guitar.

Pretty good and swallowed the BlackBack nonsense that ED and his Drones preached. Go with what you think is best for your style of music and not what Roman guitars say. I did notice that Ed used to slam a lot of pickup manufacturers out there, even Seymor Duncan, but now his website has been revised to speaking good about all the great manufacturers and sounds of their PUPs. Guess what, he's carrying their lines now... Seems like a total sellout to me.

Good for eventhing except the FRETS! I complained about it and just got grief from ED when I rerquested him on the phone.

Very nice, looks as good as the custom stuff from the big manufacturers like Fender, PRS, & Gibsons Custom Shops.

My Goodness, don't even waste your time on the phone unless you talk to JoAnn or Alan. My experience with everyone were total A-Holes for one reason or another. I think ED ROMAN got to be a big company from ripping off the little guys ... and the little guys had no money to sue him. I got him on the phone and basically insinuated that I was playing the guitar wrong! He was rude, his worker bees were worthless, and I wasted WAY TOO MUCH TIME TRYING TO GET THEIR DEFEATS RESOLVED! I also heard (after complaining to people at NAMM 2005) there were a lot of law suits against Ed in the past, and near the end of the suit, he'll get some High Price New York Legal Frim to make yah go broke.

Steer COMPLETELY away from this Guy and his company. I am sorry to bite on his fancy Website and Ed's BS throughout the webpages. (Pure Marketing BS)

No warranty, well compared to real guitar companies... I will waist no further time on my mistake spending money with World Class Ripoffs! Going to stick with a professional, established company.

Not sure about the year the Quicksilver was made. I assume it was made in the USA I do not beleive it unless I see it in front of my face many things are made in China and assembled in the USA. 24 fret Model. The top was absolutely perfect looked great!! 1 tone knob that was also a push pull to control the Seymour Duncan Humbuckers into humbucker or single coil. 1 volume push pull also but the volume push pull did not change the pickups it seemed to be a boost very slight? Double Humbucker/seymour duncans as stated above. Cocobolo Top, Black Koa back, Macassar Ebony neck- very neck heavy. Body style- similiar to a Paul Reed Smith. Sperzel locking tuners. Neck feels perfect just right I really liked the feel of the neck over everything, thats what got me. Although to be fair cosmetically it looked great. Came with case but for a spendy guitar like this he charged for it anyway, even though he said he did not but I did the math. The features are more than one can imagine. I base the rating off of the price paid 10 is the best 1 is the worst

I liked the sound of the guitar especially in the clean mode. I use a mesa single rectifier and I must admit that most guitars do not sound good with the mesa rectifier clean, the mesa tremoverb is a different story, but the rectifier model is not that good. But the Quicksilver still sounded great clean at least. Distorted is a different story though. I do not like the modern heavy tones that mesa provides I usually keep it in the raw mode with the gain all the way up I like a crunch to it but not hardcore distortion. Ed bases his Quicksilver model on Pre 95' Prs's that is why the Quicksilver bodies are so similiar so are the necks. The Quicksilver feels like a PRS standard neck. But Ed makes the mistake of talking PRS down and all those "yuppies" in his words that buy them. I like PRS and you cannot pass judgement on seasoned guitarist for the brand they use. Most beginners cannot afford a PRS or a Quicksilver for that matter, most of those who purchase these guitars are not yuppies or beginners they are seasoned musicians looking for their guitar fix. Also, Ed neglects that his main competition is PRS for the price and class of guitars that he offers, if one of these so called "yuppies" comes in to buy a Quicksilver he will sell it just like PRS would. Fortunately I am not a yuppie and rather an immense guitar collector to my standard and those musicians who I have surrounded myself with always have complimented me not on the brand of my guitars but the guitars themselves that I have purchased and owned. For those intrested in buying a guitar view a book by its content not its name (brand). I have played horrible Gibsons, Fenders, PRS's, Hamers, and yes Quicksilvers, even though they may have been made at the same time, same wood, same hardware guitars have personality too?? With that put to the side the Roman lacks the Clarity, Punch, and all around full tone that a PRS offers, but to Ed's benifit being compared to Prs should be a compliment not to Ed but those who work hard making his instruments....but as stated a Roman Quicksilver is better than a PRS solid body in clean mode through the same amp but definitely lacks the quality of a PRS in a distorted mode. A point that should be made clearly I own 10 very high end PRS's and some of their stock models, I have owned over 25 guitars many of the best models of top notch "name brand makers" and the Quicksilver is good (not worth the price but very good). With full honesty though a Quicksilver solid body in clean mode still cannot mess with with a PRS hollowbody or a Hamer artist, but take it for what it is worth. That is a hard comparison with a solid body guitar. The Quicksilver is Rich not full and bright not tinny.

The action was set in front of me so it was perfect I really like the neck and the feel which ultimately is a strong contributer to the neck. Pickups a little high but I like them that way so I noticed it. Awsome finish better than any guitar I have seen. The neck had a little step on it but no biggie. Action, fit, and finish were great cannot complain. Rating based off of price!

This is a hard one, but I can tell you all this. When I bought the guitar the neck was perfect, then over time a step on the neck was there. The hardware I am half/half the tunomatic bridge will last for sure but the tuners, hell no! But once again PRS tuners are not made to last either. I do not know if the finish will wear off I doubt it, it is dependable, you do have to tune it but very dependable. Rating based off of price.

I got sick and tired of hearing that I could not play an instrument unless I was serious and quite honestly I was a fool overall for purchasing an instrument from them for the service I received before and after I bought the guitar. PRS actual service department not their retailers are definitely one up on Roman. PRS's service is okay 5 out of 10 (PRS service that is). I drove a long distance to see these guitars and spent immense time on his website and what did I come to? I wondered around for a half and hour until finally someone came to help but they kept asking are you serious or not, drove me nuts! Ed prides himself on the idea that he is the little guy against a huge guitar industry that is only out for one thing $$$.....But counting the fact that when I visted the store, there were less than a half dozen people the service sucked. His salespeople may not be on commision but what is the difference between being on commmision and pressuring a consumer with the annoying question, "are you serious?" Made me want to say, " no I just drove 8 hours to look" this is a problem. What I should have asked them is, "if I play it do I have to buy it?" After I purchased the guitar, I called a couple months later and informed them that I had purchased a couple of items from them ($10,000.00 to be exact) that I needed to sell and I wanted some advice Ebay is not the way to always go trust me, I was on hold for a long amount of time; long distance that is; this ultimately is what turned me off of Quicksilvers forever. With all the preaching Ed does he sure does act like all the suits he complains about and all he obviously cares about is the $$$ (sale) I do not care if he was busy for the $$$ I spent I deserved some "consumer respect" and yes I did get some of that when I called PRS with some problems I had. Given I did not speak to the big wig PRS himself but his salespeople helped me with my problems Ed's did not and could not.I get better service at Guitar Center crying out loud. But they all could help when they realized I was a "serious" buyer hmmmm$$$$$ with all ed says about the big wigs he sure teaches his salespeople to be about the sale and the $$$$. So take it for what it is worth.

I have been playing for 11 years 7 of those years have been very serious. I am obsessed over guitar I love it all, I want it all. I still have not found the guitar that can satisfy "all" my guitar hungers. (period, I doubt I will) The Quicksilver was close, not as close as a PRS, but for the price I paid I would rather get a PRS. Ed says himself that PRS is by far the best guitar you can get at a local guitar store or GC (Guitar Center) but he neglects that it is not only better than the all the guitars at your local guitar store but the way a PRS comes stock is better than any custom guitar you can have made, even a Roman Quicksilver, especially for the price. My rating is based off of the price and to Eds benifit PRS is not much better, at least if you get a custom (private stock) from them it will cost you more than a Roman but it will definitely sound better, but same point remains I paid $4400 for the Roman and $7700 for a private stock honestly both guitars are not worth it for that price espcecially with what you can get stock. A PRS Custom 24 stock will cost around $2400 a great value over Quicksilver anyday and the PRS resell value smokes the Roman, you might like a guitar now and sell it later??I would give the private stock PRS a similar rating due to the price, but do not forget my Roman sold for $4400.00 you will only get maxxxxxx $1500 on ebay a PRS private stock costs $7700 you will get maxxxxxx $5000 do the math base your decision off of the quality and how much you want it.

Plenty of features. Two Black/Back Duncan p/ups, push/pull pots.

Haven't been able to fully test.

Beautiful Emerald Green quilt finish, with chrome hardware. Fret wires loose. Two actually fell out during shipment! Ordered, and paid for locking tuners, but received regular tuners.

Haven't been able to play guitar! Don't know if it's dependable or not. Not very confident at this point!

When I was buying the guitar, Ed was fine, very, I thought, knowledgable. I had to send the guitar back for repair to the fretwires and replace the tuners. I even had to pay for shipment! At this point, I sent the guitar back over three months ago, I can't even get Ed on the phone, and he won't answer my emails! I guess I'm going to have to dispute the charges with my credit card company! This is not the way to treat a return customer!

Tired of trying to get satisfaction. Ed's wife was no help at all, she claims ignorance of the whole situation!

Well, everyone who may be checking into Quicksilver's. I must say this being my second one its just amazing that Ed Roman acually keeps making these Guitars better. ed and his Head Techs have developed a new way to mount the pickups into the Cavity so the lines around the pickup are nice and straight. There aren't any more curves on the sides of the pickups to get at the mounting screws. I don't know where these guys learned how to build these Guitars but everyone of them are AMAZING GUITAR BUILDERS. That's all I can say in this catagory of my Review. Great Guitars with Tons of Options. Anyway you want it you'll surely get it. There's nothing else I can say. Fantatic job men. Keep on making them better.

The sound of this particular Quicksilver is a very Fat Beefy Sound which I like very much. The Bocote Top and Mahogany Back make the Guitar a little heavy but I like Heavy so its OK with me. The Bocote Top on this Quicksilver is absolutely Beautiful. I think it also has a lot to do with the sound. After having some conversations with Ed on this subject he tells me that its the Ebony Fret Board that may have to do with that Big Beefy Sound. And who am I to tell Ed where the sound is coming from. If anyone knows about this subject Ed does thats for sure. And it just so happens that ANY Guitar I buy from now on WILL have an Ebony Fret Board. It does make a very big difference in the Tone and Playing ability of the Guitar. Its very smooth and just makes playing the Guitar much easier. This Quicksilver sounds just GREAT. That's all I can say. A perfect 10 in this catagory.

The action on this Quicksilver turned out better then my first one. I made a very big mistake by not having the guys do a setup on the Guitar before taking it home. I was having problems in the higher registers getting sound out of it. But it was only because I didn't let the Techs set up the Guitar before I took it home. So it was my fault that I couldn't play in the higher registers. After one of the Techs Ed has set the Guitar up for me the action was lower then my first Quicksilver which I like and the sound is just increadable. The Top on this Guitar is Flawless. A perfect Bookmatched Top. Fret wires are all smooth and very nicely done. There is no buzzing anywhere on the Guitar. Every detail on this baby has been taken care of and carefully done right down to the Nut Cuts. The new way the Pickups are being installed is really a Huge Improvement. But there are some guys that like it the old way. I happen to really like the new way. Every piece of hardware and wood that was used on this Guitar is Perfect. The Finish is Beautiful and its my main Guitar at this time. It can't get any better then it is. After Ed had it Set Up for me it was completely like a different Guitar. Overall this Guitar is PERFECT.

This happens to be one Solid Guitar. I use my Spalted Maple Quicksilver for a backup now but haven't needed to use it yet. It sits in the stand and looks BEAUTIFUL though. I get compliments on Both of my Quicksilvers. They really draw lots of attention that's for sure. So far I haven't even broken a string while playing. Its a Very Reliable Guitar and gets lots of Compliments.

Well, This is where I had a problem but it was my own fault. After I brought the Guitar in for the Setup that I should of had dome before taking it home I would have never had a problem. After Ed had it setup for me the Guitar was PERFECT. Ed was excellent with me and really had a nice setup done on it for me. Thank you Ed Roman for knowing your stuff. Its perfect now.

Well at this time I own 7 Gibson Les Pauls, 5 Kramers, 2 Steinberger's, 2 Acoustics and of corse my 2 Quicksilver's and dollars for doughnuts the Quicksilver's are the better values out of my whole Collection of Guitars. I would highly recommend them to any Guitar player any style any sound that they may be looking for or even just for looks, these are the Jaw Dropping Guitars I would say. They are really GREAT VALUES when you consider what your getting for your money. Your not going to find a Guitar like this being built by ANY major Guitar Building Company. They just won't have all the Options these Guitars have. I would recommend every Guitar Player to own one. From beginers to professionals these are the Guitars your going to be grabbing for. I can vouch for that. Thank you Ed Roman for Building the Guitar of my DREAMS.

Hand made in 2003-04. 24 Frets. Ebony Fretboard. Body is a solid piece of oiled white korina wood. Has volume and tone control with push pull knobs for pickup splitting and phase altering. Seymour Duncan black back pickups. Passive Electronincs. Tune-O-Matic bridge with Sperzel locking tuners. All chrome hardware. Thin fast neck. You can see this guitar on the ed roman website. It is quicksilver # 565.

With the pickup splitting and phase cancelling options (standard on this guitar) you can get any sound out of this guitar. Very versitile. Sound is really rich and very full. I highly recommend a white or black korina body when you get one of these. They can be made in other woods too and I have tried them there at Ed Roman's store in Vegas. The Korina is super light, but what amazing full tone it gets. I really love this guitar especially for a gig as it can get so many different sounds and it is light weight but sounds amazing.

Guitar was set up very nicely at the shop when I played it. I chose this one out of 10 others that I tried because of the great set up. When I restrung it with 11s I took it back to them and the redid the set up free of charge to make sure I would be happy with it. Did it while I waited too which was excellent. The overall finish of the guitar is very nice. Keep in mind it is hand made, it has some "character" to it. I would say that it is finished just as good as any mas produced guitar you get in the stores today but it uses much higher quality parts like graphite nut not plastic etc.
Mine has an oiled body no paint so I can not comment on the paint job. The ones I saw with paint jobs there were beautiful though. Some really amazing custom work too. Everything on the guitar was in first class working order. I did find that the volume pot seems to be more loose than the tone pot. I kind of like it tighter, but it functions fine.

This guitar will stand up to gigs very well. I have played 3 with it already and only had it one month. Travels well and stays in tune perfectly. Very dependable. I would never gig without a backup guitar but have not used the backup since I got this guitar.

Called once because the 1st fret was buzzing. They talked me through a minor truss rod adjustment. Problem solved. Customer support while at the shop in Vegas is top notch. All sales people and tech/setup personel are very helpful and well schooled. Limited lifetime warranty.

Been playing 25 years. I play this direcly in to a Steve Vai Lagacy and it sounds amazing. I have over 25 guitars, but most recently I used to use a Fender custom american strat and an ernie ball axis before purchasing this guitar. The EB has become my back up and the Strat is being sent to Ed Roman for upgrades. I would replace this guitar if it were lost or stolen. Hope that never happens though ! After playing a quicksilver guitar you will realize that it sounds and performs better than anything you have now or probably will ever have. It is that good. It is pricey, but not too bad if you consider what other hand made custom guitars go for. It blows the PRS out of the water too. Feel free to email me if you have questions.

Maple neck, brown ebony fretboard, solid white korina body, tung oil finish, gold hardware.

This is a follow up to a previous review. I had heard the blackbacks before I had bought the guitar and wasnt real impressed with their sound or at least the sound of the bridge pickup; I did think the neck pickup sounded quite nice. So upon the recomendation of Seymour Duncan I had a set cutom wound by their custom department. Again I thought the neck was sweet, but the bridge was even worse then the "Black Backs". So upon the recomendation of Jim Wagner of WCR Pickups I purchased and put in a set of his "Crossroads" and it is now the sweetest sounding guitar I have ever heard. As I had stated in the previous review when the Quicksilver was strumed unpluged it had an awsome tone, I knew it just needed the right pickups. You really can't believe how good it sounds. And the solid mounting makes a difference as when I got my guitar back from the local luthier the bridge pickup was loose and when I played it I thought it sounded a little thin in the bridge. I noticed the pickup was a little loose tightened it and it made all the difference in the world. Thank you Ed in your design and thank you Jim for winding those awsome pickups. I also installed a Hovland Musicap Capacitor in place of the stock one....makes a difference, should come stock, so should WCR pickups.

The action was set up worse then a $300.00 Ibenez, it just was. It came with a bad pot which I replaced. Beautiful craftmenship on its fit and construction, just the set up was lacking- nut too high, didn't check the controls, needed some neck and fret work. It came with a really nice neck, good feel to it. Once the set up was done correctly it became easily my favorite playing guitar worth the extra couple of hundred it cost me at the local luthier, now it's a 10, stock 5.

I have had the guitar for awhile now and it seems very durable; I'd give it a 10.

To be fair Ed was very respectful towards me, a little gruff, but respectful. My problem was that he moved his east coast shop mid way through my the construction of the guitar and changed his policy on allowing customers access to his luthiers so you could talk to them directly. If I had talked to them before my guitar was shipped out I wouldn't of had any problems with the guitar as I would have made sure they checked all of the things I had to change or repair. I was also a little upset, at the time of my first reveiw of this guitar with him in the way he has treated his customers in the past. I just feel when someone takes a few thousand dollars from someone for goods, a little humbleness, on Eds part could go a long way in customer relations; important in any retail buisness.

It has the best tone in the world right now. It has the potential to always be a 10, not every guitar has that potential.Depends upon the woods selected, the pickups used and the set up. I'm going to have to give it a ten, because you can't make a silk purse from a sows ear.

I bought this Korina wood, pearlized red finish from Ed probably about a year ago. I didn't custom order; went to the (old) Vegas store, played around for a couple of hours and this one simply felt the best. It has the fasted-feeling neck of anything I've ever touched. Duncan Black and Whites, coil splitting, tone, volume and 3 position toggle. Locking tuners. Stop tail. Hardshell case came with it. 24 frets.

I have had a lot of different guitars in the last year. I still have a couple of LPs -- a 68 Custom and a 69 Professional, a Clapton Strat and 2 Variaxes. I've had two different G&L Tele versions (one hollow body), a SRV Strat, and a few other guitars. Each was an infatuation; but I keep coming back to this one.
The Variax has lots of tones -- many of them are great. The LP Professional also has tons of tonal options. But the much simpler, lighter, and more elegeant Quicksilver garners more tone compliments than anything I've played. All the controls make for real tonal differences, and cover 80-90% of the typical tonal spectrum you'd need for ANY kind of music. Ed Roman advertises that this is the guitar you take to the gig when you can only take one. That statement has become true for me. And no matter what else I've been playing, going or coming back to the Quicksilver always feels like coming home.
I use it with a Carr Slant 6 head -- and its a perfect match. I usually use the amp at 18 watts (Cathode) running a 12" Eminence in a Randall cabinet. Together, the music is alive, and covers a huge tonal palette even in a small club. The fact that these pickups are not particularly HOT lets pedals and/or the amplifier do what they are designed for. I think thats another reason this guitar is so flexible.

As close to perfect as anything I've ever owned. A friend who is (although for no reason I can discern)one of the legion of Roman detractors said "That guitar was probably made in the same factory as my Dean." My point was: So what? This is a near-perfect guitar and I don't give a **** who anybody thinks or says makes it. The truth is in the instrument. And there IS truth in this one.

I gig with it every week and practice a lot. Solid. I think it will last and last. I do gig without a backup sometimes and have confidence in the instrument.

I have never heard of anyone in the music business more hated, and more admired than Mr. Roman. All I know is that as a middle aged hobbyist, I was treated personally with respect, patience, and professionalism. Yeah, I can see where his manner and size would put some people off. And lots of people (most of whom I suspect have no personal experience with him or his company)consider him a crook. I'd buy from him again in a heartbeat. Oh, and he mentioned that it was unusual to put a pearlized top on a korina wood guitar so he guessed there was probably an imperfection in the wood. If he was the s*** others say, it doesn't make much sense for him to tell me that.

Other guitars listed above. I wish I had this guitar's clone but with a whammy bar. I'd get another one if this weren't available. The neck is thin and fast. Would I buy mail order? Maybe like some of the nay-sayers on here I'm not smart enough to be able to say what I want or negotiate the deal on the guitar I"m going to ultimately love. But to go to the world's largest guitar shop, be treated well, and find out what you like -- how tough is that?

2003 US made 24 fret, highly figured quilted maple top with scraped binding and a translucent dark green finish, korina body, ebony fret board with custom inlay, jumbo frets, maple neck, solid body. 2 passive Seymour Duncan black back pickups, 3 way pick up selector, 1 volume, 1 tone ( both are push pull for a variety of configurations), tone pro's bridge and stop tail piece, sperzel tuners, gold hardware and case. The case was ordered not included - it is recommended to buy one when the guitar is made. This is an option I appreciate because I do not always want to purchase a case - they start to take up too much space. The only complaint about the options offered are there may be too many. Essentially you name it they, will do it.

My style of music ranges from some pretty hard rock, blues and R&B/Jazz but mostly its rock. I play usually through a Boss GT-6 and a pair of active monitors or a Mesa Boogie Nomad 45. I get a large variety of tones from this guitar - more than any other guitar I own or have owned. If I am taking 1 guitar with me - it is definitely this one. I do not view this guitar as a sub or a replacement for any other guitar - it stands on its own. You get similar Les Paul etc sounds but a Les Paul never sounded this clear - I know I have owned at least half a dozen of them. The combination of clarity and sustain may be unmatched by anything else I have ever played and that says a lot. In some part it has to be the fact that the neck pickup is actually mounted to the neck itself and the pickups are direct mounted. This is my go to guitar. I still play my other ones but this takes the best of them and crams it into one single unit.

Factory set up on the guitar was excellent. I prefer my action lower than it was but I made the adjustment myself. The woods used are top rate and the matching of the top is perfect. All high quality hardware installed as expected. There is essentially no heal on the guitar where it joins the body so access is not an issue. What good is a 24 fret guitar if you can't easily access the upper frets? I've read comments saying ht guitar needed to be set up properly or the frets need to be dressed - I find that hard to believe. I can tell you I commissioned to have a vine inlay installed that included my initials. When I received the guitar the inlay was not what I expected - it was much more detailed and intricate. I did not think it was up to the standard of other inlays I had seen. I called Ed and his only question was "what do you want me to do because I want you to be happy with the guitar"? So they made another neck with a flawless ( big word) inlay EXACTLY like I wanted it. This is a true custom inlay not some kit or CNC job like other manufactures of quote hand made guitars.

The guitar is a tank. I can't imagine any issues with it. Everything on it is solid. Because of the way I rest my hand when I play the gold plating on the bridge has begun to wear. I have never had a gold plated bridge that didn't. I should always go with the chrome but this guitar just begged for gold hardware. I can't imagine anyone only taking 1 guitar to a gig but I have never had to use a back up for the Quicksilver. Very dependable guitar. I like the additional material on the back of the headstock where it joins the neck anyone who ever had a Les Paul fall over will also so appreciate this reinforcement.

Okay this is the big one. First of all the guitar has a lifetime warranty - period. Need I say more? I have never written a review before but have read many. As a matter of fact I looked up Ed Roman before I ever met or talked to him and almost wrote him off - but his website was so intriguing I had to go to his shop. The first time I met him was when he and his shop were in CT. I went there expecting the worst and I went looking for a Joe Perry Les Paul. I also had my 8 year old daughter with me not the best place for a child - a lot of expensive interesting looking guitars. He told me I was crazy for looking at the Gibson AND (a big and) he explained why. 3 hours later yes 3 hours, I left with a new appreciation for guitars in general and did not make a purchase. I did buy the JP Les Paul (on EBAY) and guess what it is a piece of sh*t. Sold it 1 month later. Back to Ed I had a Melancon Strat style guitar made but I had I had to have a unique color, unique pick ups mounted a certain way etc. All taken care of and delivered as ordered. Next custom acquisition was this Quicksilver - again I spent hours in his shop picking out the body blank discussing options etc. All the time I am there he gets phone call after phone call always excusing him self and most of the time apologizing for the interruption. I also get to hear him in action which is a sight. The man receives more dumb phone calls that should be allowed. I actually heard him refuse to sell one guitar because he knew the customer would never be happy - refused a sale. He gets burned a lot here and maybe he can be a bit tough but you will never meet anyone more passionate about guitar. Even if you don't like the presentation the facts speak for themselves. The Joe Perry Les Paul's sold for what $3,000 new. For what perloid inlays, at best a 2 a flame top and a built in active tone control? Zakk Wylde's Les Paul - maple neck and a bull's-eye paint job? They should be ashamed of themselves (all the way to the bank) for putting their name and stamp of approval on their signature guitars. The Gibson custom shop is a joke. For the same money go see Ed actually you'll save money and end up with a truly custom piece. I decided to write this review because I talked to Ed yesterday. I sent him a Arch top BC Rich Mockingbird that I purchased three months ago that I traded because I didn't need or play it because I had the Quicksilver. Yes three months I had it - he takes it back and sends me something else I wanted - yeah he sucks. While on the phone I asked him about changing the profile on the neck of my Quicksilver because after a year and a half I decided I'd like it a little thinner - sure send it in he said. I asked how much? No charge. That is customer service. Find me someone else who would do that - that's customer support. To all of you who have had such terrible problems with Ed or bad service or whatever your complaints are maybe its time to look in the mirror. Most of us hate going to music stores because the sales people are assholes and wanna be's or posers or whatever we call them. They don't exist at Ed's store and that says a lot. Everyone I have dealt with has been first rate - returning phone calls , passing on messages etc. I'm no "rock star" but have always been treated fairly and with respect. Enough said. Contact me if you want more.

I have been playing for 30 years. I own a Melancon Strat, Fender 52 reissue Tele, a Warmoth Strat, McNaught Single cut, Breedlove Acoustic and just ordered a Robin Savoy from Ed. I did a lot of research before buying this guitar and would replace it in a heartbeat if it was lost or stolen. I don't know what to compare it to but the PRS is probably the closest except the Quicksilver has more options, better neck pick up mounting, custom inlays, no heel where the neck joins the body and it costs less! My advice is to call them. The only guitars I have not purchased from Ed since I first went to him are the Les Paul mentioned the Breedlove acoustic and the warmoth I put together though he did offer to set it up for me if I needed it. No Ed doesn't make the guitars personally so what he has hired quality trusted people to do that.

Maple neck, brown ebony fretboard, solid white korina body, tung oil finish, gold hardware.

The guitar itself is nice sounding. The stock pickups are a little weak in my opinion and nothing really special.

The guitar was set up poorly and had to go to the luthier to have it refretted and the neck properly done as it was not perfect, not even close. The nut at the neck was set up poorly as well as it was obvious is was to high. I asked them to use a pretty piece of white korina and it really wasn't. Fit was pretty good. Nice router work. The tone pot that came in the guitar was defective and it is obvious they don't spend the extra cash to get tested ones. Do yourself a favor and replace the stock pickups with a set of Jim Wagners, WCR Pickups. They are awsome, and it's not just hype. The rear pickup wasn't made correctly and they did not catch it. You would think they would plug each and every guitar in and teat them out, but I'm afraid they don't.

? Seems to be built strong enough.

Man don't even think about it.

Been playin' a long time. I play through Voodoo modified Marshall TSL602, a Self Modded Mesa Boogie Studio 22plus and a "Blackfaced" '71 Silver Twin. I still can't fiqure out how they came up with the price for my guitar though, I think it was arbitry as it it a pretty plain guitar for $2700.00. I love the tone of the guitar itself. After I replaced the stock pickups with a set of Goodwoods from WCR Pickups the guitar sounded awsome pluged in! Just can't say enough good things about WCR Pickups! I wouldn't but a guitar from Ed Roman again. Once you hand over the cash it is impossible to really have a connection with what is taking place in the construction of the guitar as you do not have access to their shop or the personal therein. Do yourself a favor and buy Drisskill guitar, you'll get the finest instrument made for a good price for the quality of work that is done and Mr. Driskill is friendly where as....

This is a follow-up to a previous review. I've now had the Quicksilver for some time (bought it this year), and I've had the chance to play out with it. The features and options are unlimited. Custom in nearly every way. The selection of woods and finishes is overwhelming.

I play this through a Mesa Boogie Studio amp. Wonderful clean tones. The pickups are extremely quiet. No hum even with coils tapped. Noted that the electronics are thoroughly shielded. The taper on the tone knob is not quite to my liking, and I may have this changed. Sounds somewhat like my LP custom (which I sold to get this - good idea), but it is much warmer. Very alive.

This is the extreme high point. I have looked and looked and found no better fit and finish. Absolutely flawless. Beautiful fretwork and the 1500G finish make the playability effortless all along the neck. Even now I am amazed at how perfect the Quicksilver feels and looks. Beyond perfect.

I was concerned about playing out with the Quicksilver because it seemed almost too perfect (= fragile??). This baby travels well, the neck is stable as a they come (I've had LP's, Strat's, Epi's, Ric's). Even with being tossed around the van, the Quicksilver is very stable. Can't say the same for other brands.....

From prior reviews, I was concerned about dealing with Ed Roman. I found him to be EXTREMELY KNOWLEDGEABLE and very courteous. He spent considerable time with me, answered all my questions, and was very helpful. EVERYONE there is friendly and easy to deal with, especially Ed. The store is incredible. AWESOME SELECTION. This is no Guitar Center or Sam Ash. You can actually have a conversation without having to scream over multiple guitar noise. I honestly could not imagine buying a guitar anywhere else. You can't beat the selection & service.

I don't own lots of guitars, just a few (3, actually). I will probably buy more. I've visited Ed Romans Guitars 3 times in the last 3 years. Each time the service was fantastic - far beyond anything at Guitar Center or Sam Ash. I talked with Ed sometime during each visit, and he took sufficient time to answer all questions. He is great to deal with. Again, I can't imagine buying a guitar anywhere else.

This is a review of a 2004 Quicksilver made at Ed Roman's World Class Guitars in Las Vegas, Nevada
Specs:
Solid white korina body
Tung oil finish
24 fret neck (nickel)
Bolt in neck (not a bolt on neck)
2 Seymour Duncan black & white humbuckers direct mount to body/neck
Push/pull pots for coil splitting & phase
1/4 sawn maple neck w/1500 G finish
ebony fretboard with matching headstock
dot inlays
Tone Pros locking bridge and tail
Sperzel locking tuners
Hard shell case
Lots more features available; these are the one I could afford. It took about 2 1/2 weeks to build and another 5 days in shipping so I had it in about 3 weeks.

I play blues / classic rock and this guitar does it all from the single coil sound of strats to the full, rich sound of humbuckers. Loads of sustain even at low volumes. I'm playing it through a Marshall AVT100 w/ built in effects and a VOX wah pedal. Between the amp and guitar I get all the sounds I ever need. I've only ever played Gibsons w/ humbucking pups and having a single coil available opens up whole new dimensions of sound for me. To my suprise, the single coil is quite noisey compared to the doulbe coil (well, duh!). Something I didn't consider when I ordered it. The single coil sound can be a bit bright but that is easily over some with the tone control. Overall I am so tickeled by the sound that I just can't get over it. I'm just amazed and can't wait for the next time I get to play.

Fit and finsih on this guitar are superb. Not a hair out of place. The only minor complaint I have is that the action is a touch high for me, but I'm used to the super low action on my Gibson. Not that the action has impeaded me in any way. And I'm used to a little more resistance from the pots. They seem to turn almost too easily but agin, something I'll get used to and not a big deal. The tung oil finish brought out the imperfections in the korina wood. Ed was apologetic that it happened but theres nothing really that can be done about it other than finishing it in a different way. Ed didn't charge me for shipping because of that but when I got the guitar I loved it! The imperfections give it character. I was afraid that is was going to be too plain looking.

This quitar is solid. A real work horse. The finish is of the type that I don't have to constantly worry about scratching and cleaning like my high gloss Gibson. I have yet to gig with it but that doesn't make me nervous in the least bit. In fact, I've only had it for a week but did get to use it a our last band practice which is very similiar to live performance and I was quite pleased. This thing will probably out last me!

I was realy nervous when I got to talk to Ed in person. I didn't know which version of him would show up (evil Ed or good Ed). Appearently I got good ED 'cause he was a pleasure to deal with. Didn't make me feel rushed at all and even though I wasn't ordering the most expensive quitar I felt that I had his undivided attention on the roughly 4 phones calls I made to him. I also spoke with Alan Dreher the shop foreman a couple of times just to make sure that everything I told Ed made it to the order form (it did). Alan talked me out of getting LSR tuners because of reliablity issues even though they do look pretty cool! As I mentioned earlier, Ed didn't charge me for shipping because of a imperfection in the wood as he saw it. I got nothing bad to say about the guy. I'd love to be able to go to his store in Vegas and meet him. One of these days ... I know this review is fairly glowing but, that's the way it is -

I have been playing guitar on and off for 30+ years and have been playing nothing Gibson's but I've always noticed that something was lacking, mostly that the tone from the neck pup was always very muddy and I've always had strings, notably the G string, sticking at the nut. I know how to take care of it but why is it that I have to at those prices. Dunno. I alway wanted to find something better but didn't know where, until now. If this one every got stolen I would with out a doubt replace it, maybe with some cosmetic upgrades though. I bought this guitar strictly because of Ed Roman and his description of it and his approach to guitar building and because of his descriptions of problems inherent to other manufactures. Most of which I was experiencing with my Gibson.

This review is for a 2004 Quicksilver. If you want to see it, it is in the "gallery" page of the Quicksilver section of the Ed Roman website. To sum it up:

Striped black Korina body, Ultra Hi-Gloss finish
Ebony neck with 1500G finish, 24-fret, medium jumbo frets
Ebony fretboard with Abalone lightning bolt inlays
Sperzel locking tuners
S/D Blackback pickups w/ coil tapping
All gold hardware
Matching headstock (No logo!)
String through-body option, strung with 0.010's
Buzz Feiten Tuning
Schaller Strap-Loks

The biggest problem I had with this purchase was taking the large amount of time specifying the options I wanted. There are really too many options. It took 2 hours to spec out this guitar! Fortunately, salesman Scott Krell was patient and knowledgeable. I was looking for a superior and unique instrument, and with his help I got it. If you want a guitar that is truly you, this is it. It has everything you could possibly want. It came with their standard quicksilver case which seems more than adequate.

Here's a pet peeve of mine. Everyone (including all at Ed Roman's) mispronounce "Feiten". They pronounce it like "feet-en". Folks, this is wrong. It should be "Fight-en". Want proof? How do you pronounce "Budweiser"? Buzz, if your out there, you know I'm right. Anyway, I would NEVER buy an electric guitar without the Buzz Feiten tuning system. Expensive but worth it.

The first thing I did with this guitar was take it to a guitarist that owns a recording studio. He was a touring rock musician for 10 years before he opened his studio. He was extremely impressed with the guitar. He played it through a hot-rodded marshall, and this guitar really sang! Endless sustain, tone to spare. The only thing that threw him was that Quicksilver is an archtop, and he was used to playing only Strats. The controls are super quiet and the pickups when split are also quiet. I play it through an old Mesa Boogie Studio 22. It sounds extremely clean. How much of this is the guitar? I believe most of it has to do with the amp.

Quick note: a prior review suggested playing the guitar unplugged to evaluate its tonal characteristics. Good idea. When I play my Quicksilver unplugged, I can feel the whole guitar resonate. Unplugged, it is almost as loud as my Ric 360-12 played unplugged. The Quicksilver is not a hollowbody or semi-hollowbody.

On Alan Dreher's advice (one of the shop foremen), I drove from So. Cal. to Vegas to personally pick up the guitar. I had seen Cirque de Soleil's "O" the night before. That show is "WOW". The Quicksilver is also "WOW". It was set up perfectly. Its appearance blew me away. It is freakin' gorgeous. Note to all you married players - my wife came with me and even she was blown away. I spent over $4K on it, and it is worth it (My wife hated my Les Paul Custom & loves this Quicksilver - go figure). I have had it now for nearly a month, and even under close scrutiny, there are no flaws. It plays effortlessly. I sold my Gibson Les Paul Custom to buy this. Want to know what THE real fretless wonder is? Look out Gibson! I highly recommend the 1500G finish on the neck. This option really adds to the ease of playability.

Its too early to tell, but my Quicksilver (great name, BTW) seems very rugged.

OK, everyone hates Ed Roman. Yes, he is brutally blunt. And his bullshit filter is cranked on the high side, but remember what market this is. The music business has more baloney than all the New York deli's combined. The store is great. No noise from rock-star wannabe's playing Les Pauls with every stomp box cranked to 10. And the store is clean and well organized. I like that. Alan, Rod, & Scott were very helpful. It takes forevever to get an audience with Ed, but that's OK. When I picked up the Quicksilver, Alan gave me a tour of the shop and spent over 2 hours talking about care and feeding, amps, and anything else I wanted to discuss. To all you naysayers, give Ed Roman this: he know how to hire great people. Only one problem arose: it took 11 months to the day to get the guitar. I bugged Alan with a phone call every week after the 9-month mark passed (it was promised in 6-8 months), and Alan took all phone calls without getting pissed. In their defense, their production shop moved from east coast to Vegas shortly after I ordered the guitar, and this contributed to the delay.

If dealing directly with Ed, don't waste his time. I'd recommend dealing with Alan, Joanne, Scott, or T.C. The thing about Ed is that the man really knows guitars. But you can't sit down with him and have a conversation for more than 5 minutes without an interruption. He is dogmatic in his opinions. Just read the "Rants" section of his website.

I waited a long time for the Quicksilver, and paid big money. But this guitar will be around long after I'm dead (pleasant thought). I will never sell it. My grandfather bought a Gibson L-011 in 1942. He passed away 20 years ago, and I now have that guitar. There is something comforting about passing exceptional things of value to future generations. This guitar (and probably a Soldano amp) will be my contibution to my lineage.

Would I do it again? Oh yes. I recently took in my Ric 360-12 to Ed Roman's for the 12-saddle bridge upgrade, the vintage toaster pickup upgrade, and my own idea which worked out well, remove the lacquer from the fretboard. With the lacquer removed from the fretboard, the Ric plays smoother and looks better. Even Ed thought it was a good idea and now offers this upgrade. So he does listen! I also got the vintage Ric case. This will be another family heirloom.

Who was it who said "life is too short to play less than ieal guitars"? Probably Ed Roman.

My advice? Buy the best and cry only once.

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Okay,here we go!It's time to vent now that my credit card has been credited,after 4 MONTHS!!First off I don't have a complaint with Rich,my original salesman,this is all directed towards Ed Roman and Joanne,his wife.Quicksilver #244 was ordered on 11/17/03 after much haggling with Ed over the phone,on my dime of course!After negotiating the price I asked if he would ship it to me for free,no dice.Then I requested that he send it FedEx instead of UPS,no dice.Ed said that he NEVER uses FedEx,but if he did it would cost me $200.00 for regular ground shipping!Even though on THREE previous occaions Rich had sent me guitars,OVERNIGHT MIND YOU,for only $80.00!!!When I tried to negotiate a lower price Ed actually screamed and hung up on me!I called back and spoke to Joanne and okayed the deal.She explained that the guitar would be at my door the following Monday.Well,to make a long story short,Monday rolls around with no guitar.I look on the UPS website and it says that the guitar was left on my doorstep on Friday!UPS left a $3000.00 guitar and didn't bother to get a signature!After many emails and phone conversations with both UPS and Joanne Roman,I was FINALLY reimbursed by my credit card company,AFTER 4 MONTHS!!!!Even though I was told by a UPS Rep. that most customers are reimbursed after 4 to 6 weeks! If this is the way they treat a customer who purchased 6 gutars from them,I wonder how they treat their other customers!Thank God I didn't pay by check or money order!

I obviously will never do business with Ed Roman again.His claims of having the lowest prices is bogus.I've found dealers on the Net that beat his prices.He does have a great website though!Just delve deep into it,and you will see the contempt he has for people who don't agree with him!

2003 "EKG" Quicksilver. USA made, 24 fret 3 piece laminate satinized Maple neck, White Korina body with 5A quilted Maple top and scraped binding in "Tiger Eye" finish, bound Ebony fretboard with custom "EKG" inlay (I drew it, they put it on), Seymour Duncan Custom Custom in the bridge and a 59' in the neck, gold Tone Pros hardware, Sperzel locking tuners, and push-pull pots for single coil splitting and in/out of phase. The wood, scale length and the pickup options give great diversity. All the standard sounds I rely on and a couple of new ones to incorporate.

I play mostly BLS, Rush, with a progressive Dream Theater twist. The sound I was going for was the Zakk Wylde rhythym sound with the Phil Collen lead sound. But I needed the ZZ Top tones as well as a clean lead Petrucci tone. With my Tech 21 PSA-1 and Peavey Triple X, these sounds are matched very well. The Korina gives me the depth and slight sponginess for rhythym but not totally overbearing for sharper leads like with a heavier grade Mahogany. In single coil mode I get shimmer and sparkle like a Tele but without the hum. I can get pretty much any, except like a Danelectro, tone from this guitar without any hassle. Very simple layout. Very effective.

I asked the guitar to come in tuned to B for a good comparison to what I have at home. It showed up in tune and ready to rock. The neck is very comfortable and highly addictive! The binding is very Jackson-esque with the Ebony fretboard (my favorite!) and is totally effortless to play. No scratchiness in the pots or sticky tuners, the nut is files perfect. No flaws whatsoever in the finish or woodwork. My only plans are to put some .011-.049's on it instead of the .046's so I can really dig into it! All in all, top-notch!

Already one gig down and got plenty of comliments on it. The hardware is all grade-A stuff. I have had this hardware on 2 of my other guitars for 2 years now and haven't had any problems so I don't see anything going wrong in the future. I have Schaller straplocks on it and it stays rock solid! I always bring a backup just in case, but the only way this comes off my shoulder is if somebody slams into me and breaks it!

Ed took my order and didn't jerk me around at all. He stayed true to his word on the prices he quoted and wasn't offended when I haggled with him. Very professional all throughout. Sending e-mails with "in-progress" pics and being helpful with me establishing a payment plan. I could always get ahold of him on the phone if I needed to but I dealt mostly with Joanne when I made a payment. Good service all around.

This guitar is my new #1. I will always have my 2 US Hamer Specials and my almost wore out BC Rich ST-3 (for Floyd purposes). This looks and sounds incredible! I made a good choice considering the number of incredible luthiers out there like Alembic, Driskill, Eric Christman, Rico Jr., Timtone, Stambaugh etc... This one really caught my eye as a new twist on the PRS, but within the blue-collar price range. I don't have alot of cash cause I'm in the military and I saved for a year to get anything I wanted from the about builders. I played all but the Driskill and chose the Quicksilver to save a few hundred bucks. Glad I did. If it got stolen or broken I'd get in line to get another one. Maybe not as "fancy" (plain Korina, Rosewood fretboard etc.) but just because it gives me what I want.

24 fret beauty. Deep gloss black. You can view the guitar at www.edromanguitars.com and go to the Quicksilver line of guitars and it's number 241. One volume and one tone, with pull pot. Hum-Hum configuration using Seymour Duncan Black Backs. Ebony fretboard with lightning bolt inlays. Sperzel locking tuners, Tonepros bridge. Neck is unfinished with the 1500g system on it (makes for a fast neck). 25" scale. Neck is bolt-in (bolted inside the body). Neck pickup is mounted on the neck (not using springs). Bridge pickup is mounted to the body (not using springs). Part of his direct coupling theory. Body is a carved top type. Similar to a PRS. Plays better than a PRS.

I mainly play rock and metal. The sound is excellent. I'm using a Krank Revolution Series 1 halfstack with it. When you roll the volume down, it gives you a nice "brown" sound. Suits me for what I play. Everything is great. When you use the pull-pot, it splits the coils for those "Strat" type tones. I very rarely use that tone, so I really have no opinion on it. Overall great sounding guitar.

Set up was awesome. I asked them to lower the action as low as it could go, and they seemed to hit it on the mark. Everything seems stable and well built. They also installed strap locks for me before they shipped it. Deep gloss black finish. The picture on his site doesn't do it justice. Gold hardware. I would of rather had chrome hardware, but no complaints with the gold. No noticeable flaws in any part of the guitar.

I'll start gigging with it this weekend. I believe it will handle just about anything you throw at it. I'm going to use it without a backup since I have locking tuning keys. String changing will be easy with those on.

Haven't had to deal with them about any problems. Guys at his shop seem really nice and knowledgeable. Thanks, Mick. I spoke with Ed briefly about the pickups, he seemed pretty nice. I'll actually get to meet the guys at the end of this month once I head out there. I'll see how they are in person. Other than that, no complaints from me.

If it were lost or stolen, I'd be hard pressed to buy another one since they do cost more than your average guitar, but I sure the hell would try to get another one. Overall it's a very nice guitar. Superbly built. Can't ask for much more in a guitar.

Classy looking axe...rich red flamed maple with gold hardware, futuristic LSR tuners, gold hardware and tonepros bridge, two Duncan Blackbacks with volume, tone, and toggle switch. Rosewood fretboard with dot inlays and jumbo frets. Looked great right out of the box. The big ROMAN headstock inlay looks goofy, but it doesn't bother me too much.

This guitar is very idiosyncratic and "moody". Read on.

The QS has a very Les Paul vibe, with seemingly infinite sustain and good middy punch, though it lacks a little of an LPs beef and authority. It really sounds best overdriven, and the pickups kind of reminded of a warmer but slightly anemic P90. But while it hints at versatility, it seems to only want to sound as good as it looks when it's babied and tended to carefully. Rather than thinking "Hmmm....I'd like to get a cool jazzy clean tone" and simply dialing it up on the guitar, you're forced to make numerous pickup, amp, and sometimes external EQ tweaks. I've used this axe with AC30s, Fender twins, a Roland JC-120, a Fender Deville, and a Marshall Bluesbreaker and it's always the same story...going from something like a country-ish twang to a warm overdriven blues can find you twiddling knobs for ten minutes, rather than flicking the toggle switch and bumping up the guitars volume a bit. I don't have this problem with my other guitars, and it drives me nuts, because I'm really not that anal...but it makes it seem like I am.

And while I dig the sustain, it makes more complex notes and runs tough to control.....you have to be careful not to let everything mush together. Not a forgiving guitarin the slightest.

This guitar came setup great. Everything looks clean and the instrument feels very well put together. Very confidence-inspiring.

Someone earlier mentioned the "handmade-feeling" neck. I second this, though it's not majorly chintzy. But it does have a "stock neck thatwas altered somehow" feel. In other words, it feels more like someone goofed around with a factory neck a little bit, rather than actually manufactured one.

I think this thing will prove to be very reliable and durable. I've tested it on stageand the studio over the last 8 mos andit's done great. Nothing has broken or come loose at all.

Fortunately, I've had nothing but goodluck thus far....all you other Ed Roman-ites no whatI mean;)

I've been playing 24 years andown lots of gear. I mentioned amps above, and I have two Telecasters, a Jazzmaster, two Strats, one Les Paul, one ES333, one Gibson SG Jr., and Rickenbacker 360-12. I wanted a completely different animal of guitar in both brand and appearance from the rest of my collection, hence the QS.

I still feel like this guitar needs to prove itself to me. Because I've maintained such traditional taste in appearance and features(sunburst is about as crazy asI got before this), this guitar still has an "All show, no go" vibe to it. Again, why bother with twistingknobs over and over when I can plug in my '52 RI Tele and roll? Maybe my old-fashioned tastes have tainted me, and I'm subtley discouraged by the flashy looks. I don't know.

As mentioned above, it most closely resembles my Les Paul in feel and general vibe. Since I dig my LP severely, I like the homage paid to it by the QS. It doesn't come close to my Fenders in terms of clean tones, but it's still not bad.

Not a bad guitar... but does not stand out past any of the major guitar manufacturers.

ABout the same as most other guitars out there... I was expecting some very goods sound and sustain, etc... about the same as other closely manufactured guitars

Fit and finish was pretty good

We'll see...

Horrible... this Ed Roman guy thinks everyone is an idoit who buys guitars except for himself. A Very Good BS artist and I actually found him to be a thief... changing pricing and adding charges that he said weren't there in the first place, which was agreed upon verbally, and then gets kind of insulting when you question his sneaky tacits. Get your attorney to draft up a IRON CLAD business agreement when dealing with guy. If you don't believe me, ask in any of the online guitar forums.

I won't ever you business with this organization again, and I recommend you steer clear of ED ROMAN completely. I think I am going to notify the BBB on this Guy...

My quicksilver has a dark Limba/Korina back, and a great spalted and flamed maple top. It was made in the CT shop during 2001 and 2002. I actually wanted the PRS-style 5-way knob instead of the switch but Alan talked me out of it, and I think he was right that there is more versatility this way. After reading about the SD BlackBack pickups and playing a couple of quicksilvers at his CT shop, I thought they sounded pretty good so I went with them. The TonePros bridge is solid and I went with the LSR tuners, which I'm pretty happy with.

I wanted a versatile guitar and I think this guitar delivered. I still prefer my 79 strat onstage, so I can't give it a 10 but then again, I play alot of SRV stuf and I'm in Texas, so.....

The Bridge pickup with both coils on has a good nasty biting distortion sound that I like, and the clean sounds are different. They don't sound as much like a strat as I had hoped, but they have a refreshingly different sound than I have ever really heard out of a guitar, so I would call that a wash. The neck pickup gets an awesome jazz sound with both coils and the tone turned down, so I would say this guitar does a good LP sound, good Jazz sound and mediocre strat/single-coil sound.

Crazy good. I have heard of people having problems with the QS, but mine is flawless. For a hand-constructed guitar I can't imagine it getting much better than this.

I play this guitar live every weekend and it has held up pretty well. My problems with it are:
1. It's too pretty to be bashing up onstage
2. The electronics/wiring has sort of cut out after sitting for awhile, by moving the knobs, etc, that seems to clean up. Might be related to the slightly higher noise level than I expected. Alan offered to look at it but I didn't want to ship it back, so I'll probably tacke it myself (eventually).
3. E string pops out of the nut, which might be related to using heavy strings and tuning down to E flat ;) I will have a local tech widen/deepen the slot at some point.

So, some minor issues, although one might argue that there shouldn't be any issues for a guitar in this price reange.

Alan (in the CT shop) was absolutely fantastic when I needed help, and Ed spent a good 30 minutes talking with me face-to-face helping me decide what I wanted when I was in his shop, so I can't really say that I had any problem in this area. Ed is an opinionated east-coast kind of guy, and this guitar is definitely a reflection of his opinions. I wanted something unique, made in the US and this guitar delivers. Besides, how good is the customer service at Guitar Center, etc. anyway? If you compare Ed to Guitar Center you're comparing a guy that knows what he likes and what other people like who will be able to help you get what you're after VS. a 16 year old kid who can't wait to get home to play video games. No contest to me. If his shop takes a long time to build a guitar and you can't always get him on the phone, so what? I'll take that over a lack of knowledge and quality any day.

I still prefer my 79 strat to this, maybe I'm just a creature of habit and afraid of change. This guitar works really well onstage and I have played gigs with only this guitar. I think it is a great exotic handmade in the US guitar and worth the money I spent. I was hoping to be able to leave the strat at home but that is probably unrealistic considering that I play 4-8 SRV songs a night and nothing beats my 79 25th anniversary strat for that stuff.

This review is of a custom Quicksilver, made for me to my specs. Features include an alder body w/ AAAAA quilted maple top, superdark ebony fretboard (no grain showing), wide neck (1 3/4 at the nut), Schaller locking tuners, Floyd Rose (without the locking nut), a Seymour Duncan "single coil" in the middle position (actually has 2 1/2-width coils) and coil taps for both S/D blackback humbuckers. Buzz Feiten Tuning System. The hardware is polished gold and the body finish is transluscent purple. I had a monogram of my (and my wife's) initials set at the 12th fret, other than that the fretboard has no position markers. 1500G neck, 24 frets, etc. & other standard Quicksilver features complete this beauty.

Unplugged, the guitar resonates beautifully. Plugged in to my 5150 4X12 cab powered by a Peavey Ultra head, it screams. I'm a Lynch/ Mustaine rhythm freak and the guitar excels in this arena. Toned down, it's still got punch when tempered by the single and neck pickups. On the clean channel with a little chorus & delay, it tackles everything from flatpicking to creamy blues. The best sounding and most versatile guitar I've ever played. No electronic or action buzzing. Perfect linear tone & volume pots. Outstanding action. Perfect intonation (thanks to Buzz Feiten!)

Cosmetically perfect. No blemishes in the wood, paint, stain or finish. I'll put this AAAAA quilted maple top up against any other custom. A little crowded with the extra single coil in the middle position but I'll get used to it (Vai did, didn't he?)

High quality parts throughout except bridge is misstamped "F OYD ROSE". World Class Guitars missed it but have already offered to replace it at my leisure. I've only had the guitar about a month but it seems solid. No hesitation about showing up to a jam with only this in the road case.

World Class Guitars is a quality outfit with the exception of it's czar, Ed Roman. I've already sent him a letter indicating it's too bad his lack of attentiveness and poor communication skills have cost him any repeat business. Alan Dreher at the custom shop is the best! Nothing but good things to say about him and his staff. However, the guitar took NINE months to be built and delivered! Much longer than the original two to three I was told. And it showed up with the wrong gauge strings and a neck pickup I didn't want. My advice: deal with Ed as little as possible. Unless your picture's been on the cover of Guitar World, he doesn't care about you. If it weren't for Alan, I wouldn't have anything good to say at all in this category.

Been playing 25 years and own about a dozen guitar including a couple of customs. Needed to "retire" my main guitar (a Warmouth custom) and was looking in the $3000 range when I discovered Ed's website. Went to Vegas and fell in love with the Quicksilver line. Too bad Ed's customer service philosophy will keep me from buying more of them. Next time I'll do more research on the company and it's staff before I spend four grand. The guitar is a winner though. Very happy to (finally) have it!!

The quicksilver guitar is available with loads of features although neck thickness wasnt an option available to me (i was under the impression that it was) seymour duncan blackback pickups with black hardware, sperzel tuners which are great, string through the body with the piezo pick up system also blending ability and a coil splitting knob. body is made of korina with a maple neck and ebony fingerboard with a candy apple red finish that i must say is absolutely stunning! (ive had it refinished so more on that later) you can get any combination of woods you want the only thing i can knock here is the lack of options in neck sizes which i feel is critical for a custom guitar especially one sounding this much. Also comes with a great padded gig bag very secure and useful.

I play a Bogner Shiva 112 and the sound of the blackback pickups leaves something to be desired especially in the bridge position...with that said the piezo system sounds great especially when blended with the pickups very clear sound kind of jazzy but pretty well balanced. the guitar itself is not too bright or too dark tonally, but it is not very distinctive in its sound. distorted it sounds ok but the bridge pickup dosent do distortion too well. I like to play some jazz and funk and some rock sometimes too but for that sound my mexican made fender really blew this guitar out of the water with the exception of the piezo system (which probably could be installed on the fender with similair results) In the quest to get every sound out of the quicksilver ed roman has made a fatal error i think it dosent really sound outstanding for that one style of music which is really a shame for a guitar costing this much

this is where im pretty upset i first received this guitar two years ago after waiting about a year to get it. Right out of the box i noticed some major problems. First of all, it buzzed all over the place on a lot of the different frets this is quite obviously unacceptable on a guitar like this. The next problem was that the finish had scratches in it and there were actually a couple of small dings in this brand new guitar! I called Ed Roman and he said that i could send it back to him or i could have it fixed myself. well with the prospect of another year long wait i decided to take it to the local guitar shop (world of strings) which have a reputation for solid workmanship. they did a set up for me but they also told me that the guitar would need a fret dressing and recommended that i send it back to ed since he made it. about a year or so later i did this (i also sent it back to have it refinished in another color) when i received the guitar back this time the finish was flawless much to my delight but the buzzing was still there and this time they set it up with 11's to try to mask it! ed told me that 009's are the best strings for the quicksilvers but perhaps not in my case. it still buzzed quite a bit unfortunately and right now i realize i will have to have the action raised quite a bit to compensate for this (it will feel more like an acoustic). It's really too bad too because the overall feel of this guitar is really good the unfinished neck feels great the size and shape is perfect and its really easy to play if you can ignore the buzzing. people are always complementing me on the guitar

i cant really be sure there but it seems like it can hold up

Good and bad. I dont think Ed is an asshole like some people do but they did make some mistakes and they never fixed my original problem with the guitar

for the money i think that one can do better although you can get this guitar pretty much any way you want it. I think my experience with the buzzing may be an abberation but nevertheless i must factor that into my reveiw of the guitar. i wouldnt replace it if i lost it there are simply too many fine guitars out there that are better for less money. if youre thinking of buying one look around there are loads of luthiers out there and if you still want to buy one consider asking for different pickups

I picked up my Quicksilver (#143) a year ago. Ed Roman gave me so many options in regards to features that there is no way to fairly rank this category other than giving it a 10.

To be specific, I asked for a top of the line, highly figured, Flame Maple top, Dark Korina back, Ebony fretboard (24 Frets), bolt-on Maple neck, custom color, matching headstock, Sperzel tuners and a French Rub finish. I went as far as to request a color that Ed Roman and his crew had never done before, they went out of their way to do test samples for me until I was satisfied with what they achieved.

I was very pleased with the standard pickups and the stock Tune-O-Matic bridge when I tested the guitar out at Ed Roman's compound so I decided to stay with those. The two Seymour Duncan Black Back humbuckers can be split and there is a 3-way selector switch as well as a tone knob.

When you combine these features and all of the choices made available to you, there are so many combinations to work with, if you can't find what you like, you probably don't like anything.

I play mostly rock and this guitar fits the bill perfectly. I run through a Digitech GSP-2101 Tube Preamp, a Mesa-Boogie 50/50 Tube Power Amp and a 2/12 Mesa Speaker with Celestion Vintage 30's. When I need to palm mute and pull out all of the deep rhythmic nuances to my riffs this guitar delivers. When I go into my clean channel for some lighter strumming parts it rings beautifully. The guitar screams on leads and does everything I want it to do in every situation imaginable. The stock Seymour Duncan Black Back pickups (passive) provide tons of sustain and they are strong but not noisy at all. I'm extremely pleased with this guitar's versatility.

I have not needed to take this guitar for a set-up since I got it. There was never a trace of annoying buzz or dead notes. The action is perfect for me. I've been playing the guitar for a year and I've experienced no major issues. The pickups, nut, bridge were all adjusted / routed properly. The guitar is extremely reliable.

The highly figured Flame Maple top on this guitar is unbelievable. It is truly jaw dropping and that is despite the fact that I went for the less spectacular (but still amazing) French Rub finish. To be clear, I prefer the French Rub finish because it feels better to me, sounds better to me (a Poly finish inhibits your tone) and while some might disagree it even looks better to me. A Poly finish would probably make this guitar look like more of a jewel, but my intention was to have a more organic look and feel to my instrument. That said, I cannot take this guitar anywhere without being asked about it. Once again, the wood was top notch as I requested.

After a year: no problems. The Quicksilver can definitely handle live performance. The hardware, finish, strap buttons, etc. are all holding up incredibly well. I would never go to gig without a backup, but if I had to, I'd feel more than confident with this guitar.

Ed Roman was extremely professional to work with. He is a hard-working and very busy man so he won't have time for idle chit-chat. I suggest if you are interested in dealing with him that you approach him after you are well-read, informed and you know what you want. I've had no reasons to get this guitar repaired so I cannot comment on that aspect of customer support.

I've been playing for 11 years. I've had the opportunity to play a variety of custom guitars (Hamer, Schecter, Charvel, PRS, Anderson, etc.). This guitar is by far the most versatile. It is also the most beautiful. I've had the good fortune of owning some very reliable instruments and this guitar is on par with all of them. Since I ordered it completely custom, I have no regrets, Ed Roman provided everything that I asked for. If this guitar were stolen, I'd buy another one in a heartbeat, I would also hunt down the thief and make him eat his own large intestines. My favorite feature is its versatility and extremely comfortable neck. Finally, I'd like to say that as far as I'm concerned, this guitar comes highly recommended.

Well first off I'd like to say I've been playing guitar for 37 years of my life. I've palyed every type of music imagineable. Also palyed 13 years in a pro rock band on the East Coast called Avalanche. aI have to say after eading some of these reviews on the Quicksilver Guitars that are all hand made by Ed Roman there are alot of people out there that cannot know what there talking about. Being a professional for 13 years I have to say anyone that has any bad things to say about the Quicksilver line of guitars don't know jack shit about guitars in the first place. I give the complete guitar an overall rating of 11. It blows away any Gibsons or Paul Reed Smith guitars by a landslide in every way. Now for my review of the Quicksilver I own.

The Quicksilver guitar I bought suits every music style I use which range from my own personal Rock sounds to anything else I want to sound like. Overall this guitar can sound like anyone or anything out there. I use a Roland JC-120 with rack mounted effects. There is absolutly no noise with any settings I use mostly distortion and clean with some delay. The guitar has endless Sustain due to the Seymour Duncan Blackback pickups that Ed developed to be SOLID MOUNTED to the neck of the guitar on the neck pickup and also SOLID MOUNTED to the body of the guitar on the bridge pickup. The neck has absolutly no heel and is a very major improvment then any PRS or Gibson being sold today. I was a very big Gibson Les Paul fan. I own 5 of them at the present time and have retired all of them due to the fact that the Quicksilver is a much lighter and better feeling and sounding guitar. You can get very rich and full sounds when playing it clean or very bright sounds also. The overall sound of the guitar is an 11 on a scale of 1to10which is over the 10 because I feel its well deserved. I still can't figure out why there are people out there knocking Ed Roman because since I live in Vegas and have a fairly good relashonship with him he will make you happy in any way he can when you buy a Quicksilver. There is never a problem and he will set up the guitar for free for as long as you own it. The man happens to be one of the busiest men I've ever met and has his bad days but he is under a very HUGE amount of stress trying to keep up with all his orders and keeping people happy. He will go out of his way to make you happy when you make the switch to the Quicksilvers bad mood or not. Anyone that gets a Quicksilver must have patience and be extra nice to Ed even if he is in a bad mood. He will come around sooner or later. He is the most knowledgeable man I've ever met when it comes to guitar building or repairs or upgrades and will never steer you wrong. So if your one of those guys that are bashing him you have to be a real jerk. He will go out of his way to make you happy but not if your gonna treat him like a peice of dirt. The man is very proud of every guitar he builds and will stand behind his work no matter what it takes to make you happy. So if it has a flaww give it to him to fix and he will fix it until you feel it is flawless. I have absolutly no dislikes in my Quicksilver at this time.

The guitar was setup after I owned it for about 6 months. I would suggest anyone else that buys one does the same thing. This way it has some time to break in. When I first got it home the intonation was perfect. Action was just the way I like it. Beautifully done with a Splatered Maple Top and an Alder back that were both perfectly finished in every way. The wood quality was the best I have ever seen in 37 years of playing. The Tone Pro Bridge was set in just perfect. The pickups were perfect. It has Sperzel locking tuners and never goes out of tune. After about 6 months as I said I brought it in for a setup and just the D string intonation was off ever so slightly and when it was returned to me was perfect and Rod the head tech even lowered the action a tiny bit so it was better. The frets are all perfect. Controls with push pull pots perfect and gives you an increadable variation of sounds from a Les Paul to a Telecaster whichever you may prefer. There was not one flaw in this instrument and its my main guitar at this time. I use it % to 6 nights a week and its just fantastic in everyway. I also get alot of people commenting on it and the way its played. I also take very good care of all my instruments even the Gibson Les Pauls that are now retired. I sold the 2 PRS guitars I had because I just had no use for them anymore since I bought my Quicksilver. The Quicksilver just blows the PRS out of the water in everyway. The no heel concept on the neck is truly amazing. Makes playing in the higher registers an ease compared to a PRS or Gibson.

I play on the average 5 to 6 nights a week and do not bring a backup guitar with me anymore. I have owned my Quicksilver for about 10 months now and it hasn't let me down yet. the hardware has absolutly no wear on it. I have Schaller Strap Locks on it so they are set and never give way. I very highly recommend these guitars to anyone who needs a very reliable guitar thats doing nightly gigs and cannot afford to have a guitar let him or her down. When I first purchased it I would bring a Double Cutaway Gibson Les Paul with me with the 24 frets but it was just collecting dust so I leave it home now. I have a guitar collection if 14 guitars at this time and the Quicksilver is my main guitar. There is nothing else that can come close to it.

The Quicksilver has a lifetime warranty on any manufacters defects and also gets free setups whenever it may need one. I had it setup once in the 10 months I owned it and it has stayed in perfect intonation, neck is perfectly straight, never broke a string yet, and overall the guitar is just flawless plus beautiful. Every night I'm out playing I get comments on it from other musicians and just regular people because of the Splatered Maple Top and the different sonds I get with it. The variations are endless. It gets an 11 in my book as a professional Musican. Ed Roman is the best at what he does and backs up his guitars 150% always. I feel like part of a very special family when I go to the shop and I am always treated with the utmost respect and feel like I'm at home with the complete staff there. Ed is a very moody guy but for some reason when he sees me he gets very happy. The rest of his staff are very friendly and helpful in everyway and never let me down yet. The Quicksilver guitar is the best out of 14 guitars I own and I have also had a very huge amount of guitars and retired all of them to the Quicksilver. I am also in the process of having Ed build me an LSR which is another amazing instrument. Check them out to if you want a good bang for your buck.

I have been playing guitar for 37 years and 13 of those years as a professional. There is nothing I would have rather had and I played 4 Quicksilvers before picking the one I wanted. If it was ever lost of stolen I would get a new one right away with no doubts. I love the way it sounds feels plays the sustain is endless because of the inovations Ed has made with the SOLID MOUNTED PICKUPS. I chose it because of the sound looks feel and for the money was just an overall excellent value. PRS does not come close and are overpriced machine made guitars now. The Quicksilvers have upgrades in every way they are built and designed. I would not play anything else except an LSR which is another line of guitars that Ed Roman developed. For anyone out there that has anything bad to say about Ed Roman or his guitars you can't have the experiance or knowledge that you should. He is one of the best builders in the world and I have had alot of guitar techs in the past 37 years. He is the only man I would trust with any of my 14 guitars. He is honest and trustworthy and makes you feel like a part of a very unique family.

Yours Truly,
Charlie
Anyone wanting to contact me on the Quicksilvers my e mail address is
Charlieroxs247@aol.com. I do not work for Ed Roman and am not related to him in anyway other then having him do the work on my 14 guitars in my collection. Feel free to contact me anytime with questions about the Quicksilvers.

I bought this used at Guitar Center. Not sure of the year it was made. But I do know that it was made in the U.S. and that it was a custom order. My Quicksilver has a beautiful dark walnut figured top, very nice Australian Lacewood back, 24 fret Maple Neck, Two Seymour Duncan custom zebra humbuckers, 3-way switch, bolt on neck, Tune o matic Tone Pros Bridge, LSR tuners (very cool), and Rosewood fretboard. The volume, tone, and selector switch knobs have dark orange jewel inserts that match well with the walnut top. The bridge and sides of the volume, tone and selector switches are gold plated. The LSR tuners are a flat colored copper finish. This guitar looks very cool and attracts attention wherever I go. I bought this guitar used and it didn't have a case. The body shape is similar to a PRS so I was able to purchase a PRS case which fits it perfectly. You can order cases, gig bags from Ed Roman in Las Vegas. Guitar Center gave a good deal on the case/guitar so I went with the PRS case. I was originally looking for a good used amp and this was the guitar the guys at G.C. let me use. I liked the guitar so much I decided to buy it.

I play mostly rock and blues with a band on weekends. I like mellower sounds when playing at home. This guitar is great for all types of music. This is probably one of the most versatile guitars I own and I own a wide variety of guitars from different makers. The 5 way selector gives you a variety of pickup/tone selections. I haven't found any real dislikes with this guitar. The selector switch is somewhat similar to a PRS. I find myself enjoying position 5 when jamming with friends. This guitar sounds great playing jazzy rhythms and can really rip it up when playing rock. This guitar has great sounding Seymour Duncan custom pickups. I play through Matchless Chieftain, Mesa/Boogie Rec-to-verb, orig. Fender '65 Deluxe Reverb and Soldano Atomic amps. This guitar sounds great with all of these amps.

The action on this guitar is just right for me. Pickups appear to be adjusted correctly. Whoever owned this guitar before me took good care of it. Only flaws are few minor spots around the bridge pickup cutout on the finish. The back of the neck is a more raw (no glossy finish) than I was initially use to but I found that I actually prefer it this way.

I think if I bought this guitar new and paid over $2500 for it I would probably be hesitant to take it anywhere. But since I got a good deal on it used and it has it's first scratch that I don't mind traveling with it. It's built very well and suspect it will last a very long time with normal care. I would only gig backup just in case.

Never dealt with Ed Roman. I don't have a warranty since it was bought used. There are plenty of qualified guitar techs in the area I live. I'm not that concerned.

I've been playing off and on for several years. More in recent years. I own a polished chrome James Trussart Deville (Les Paul style), Gibson Flying V limited, Custom shop Fender Strat, 1961 Gretsch Tennessean, Gibson 335, Brian Moore, Danelectros, etc. I use to collect them but now I prefer to play them. I sold my PRS CE 24 which is similar in body shape to the Quicksilver but that's where the comparison ends as far as I'm concerned. I didn't like the way that the PRS sounded. Found myself messing with the selector too much. The Quicksilver selector sounds great on all settings. This guitar is my first pick when choosing a guitar to take with me for weekend jams with friends. My other guitars sit at home. What would make it perfect would be a MIDI/Piezo RMC system. Later I'll order a Quicksilver with the RMC system along with several other options that Ed offers. But for now I feel very fortunate, happy and pleased with my Quicksilver guitar.

Ed roman's made in USA quicksilver, Solid Swamp Ash body, Black Opaque finish, 24 fret Maple Neck, Two Seymour Duncan BlackBack humbuckers with Coil tap, 3-way switch, No neck heel, bolted in, Tune o matic Tone Pros Bridge, Locking Sperzel Tuners, Ebony Fretboard with medium jumbo frets, wide thin profile. Came well packaged with a hardshell case. Was going to purchase one with a nice quilt top, but went for a simpler look for less dough. This guitar has many nice options for sound, playability, looks and tuning stability.

I normally play rock, and this guitar is made to be versatile. It is not too bluesy, not too metal, not too jazzy. Just as in the PRS fashion, it has the clarity of single coils, and the bite of humbuckers, plus the dark warm sound of a les paul. I am using it through a fender hot rod deluxe, which really brings out the clean tones, and a few pedals which let the distortion shine. It can be bright, dark, crisp, and thick and cutting with the controls. I just got it, so i'll leave a follow up report in a couple months, but so far it beats my PRS CE 24, another really versatile instrument.

Action is nice and low, really solid not too loose, pickups are not adjustable in terms of height, but they came perfectly set, and the acoustic tones are very nice because the pickups are pressed in the wood. After looking at the guitar for a long time, no flaws were found in finish or quality. Its handmade, and more prone to these flaws, but ed is a pro and nothing was found. The freakin strap buttons were even deep into the guitar with felt inside. Nice!! There was a nice abalone truss rodd cover and inlaid headstock too.

This guitar will definitly stand live playing, its more solid than anything else I have played. Its very light, around 5 pounds, and the straplocks are sturdy. Gold Hardware wont rust, electronics are really solid, and I would gig this with no backup. Unless I had another one, then I would bring both!!

Ed roman is a very busy man. He gets 45 emails an hour, and calls constantly. I have read all of the other reviews before buying his guitar, and although he has a temper for people who bug him about their guitars-in-progress, he is extremely knowledgeable, helpful and funny. I started out with a pricey top and an alder body, but I was a little skeptical of the price at the time, so I called, and he helped me the whole way. Has a lifetime warranty for setups yearly and any flaws. I hate it when people give this guy bad reviews even though they didnt simply ask ed to fix a problem. Stop being annoying and get practical. Just ask the guy to fix a flaw. He would do it gladly.

I have been playing for 5 years, but have been in music for over 14. I have built two of my own guitars, and have owned strats, prs's, les pauls, and many others, and this guitar is superior. It doesnt combine the sound of a strat and a les paul, it definitly beats both! The design is really nice and comfortable with contours everywhere. There is no heel, and the neck is so smooth! The tuners really keep the guitar stable even after minor third and fourht bends, and I would definitly buy a new one if it were stolen (God forbid). I disagree with some of the people who gave ed a bad rap, I see no flaws in his work, and he is not an asshole, just as long as you are not an idiot. I will one day either get another one with a quilt top, and have complete confidence in ed's products and his work. He is a top builder who simply wants his guitars to be the best. If anyone has any questions, feel free to ask.

most the same features as the others: tone-pros stop-tailpiece, 2 zebra custom Seymour Duncan humbuckers, PRS style (rotary) 5 way switch, walnut top, rosewood board, LRS tuners, satin neck finish, bolt on neck, that's about it.

too bright sounding, not the most resonant guitar I've heard. I have Ibanezes that have more vibe than this guitar. these pickups aren't right either. I like super warm neck tones and cutting bridge pickups, and these aren't right. to buzzy sounding. sounded like it had no bottom through the Mesa Road King (several settings).

I did like pickup selector position #2, better clean tones than any other selection. Couldn't get a great distorted tone out of it.

It sounds okay. But not for the money I spent

It's definetly and art piece...you know: form before function. I love the heel-less neck joint though. Action is okay. The pickups should be angled forward a tad. when playing in the high registers (12 fret or higher), the string angle towards the one side of the pickup only, and the spacing is way off. In Ed "xenophobic troll" Roman's defense, this may have been originally ordered this way (I didn't!)

well, the walnut cap and finish is coming up around the bridge pickup. not what you like to see in a $2K+ guitar....

Ed knows a lot about guitars and such, but has his head up his ass about somethings. Won't listen to reason, hates imports (I thinks he's compensating for something!). His senior tech dude (forget his name) is pretty cool though, nice guy there.

a nice looker, but this one isn't right. get an approval period if you're thinking about buying one. I didn't order this one so it's not totally up to my specs.

I have serial # 11 and i ordered it pre production. Once again I was also told it would take 4 months and it ended up taking over 9 just like many of the reviews I have read. More about that later. The color is razberry red with a quilted maple top solid alder back and I requested a Floyd rose trem system on it. I also requested the neck to be the exact shape of an Ibanez JMP-1 petrucci model but ended up with something completely different, more on that as well later. madagasscar Rosewood fretboard, Grover mini's, 24 fret 5 way rotary.

I have been playing for 20 years or so and I gig regularly in a rock metal band. I play live through a Rocktron voodu valve and a velocity 120 power amp and Marshall Silver jubalee cabs. When I first plugged in the guitar, turned on my amp and played the first chord...it sounded like ASS!! It squeeled like a dying pig...I was SO pissed ! even more so cause I had him overnight the thing to me cause I got so sick of waiting. The pickups in it were the zebra b&W color and I noticed that they looked like they were upside down! well they were..and not only that I was told that they put some kind of "experimental" pickups in it when I called. Baloney !! How could you not notice that? They must have not even plugged the thing in and played it. I sent it back, their tech guy Alan was extremely helpfull. Ed was useless and almost did not apologize in the least bit. Once I finally got it back, the sound was great....not quite metal as I had hoped, but had a great all around tone. Versatility? where is that? I was told that because I had a Floyd ordered on it....it would affect the versatility of the tone....Maybe that is true, I have several other wonderfull guitars and I did not seem to get any more versatility out of the quicksilver then I did any other guitar. I have a 76 explorer, a Malmsteen signature strat, 2 Ibanez USA customs with the tension free necks on them if you remember those and a Jackson PC-1 model so I have been fortunate to have some very great sounding\ playing guitars to compare it to. That is actually ok for me cause all I really need is a distorted tone and a clean tone and for me it is kinda like those preamps with 1000 effects in it....neat to play around with but I will never use all of them. I broke the 5 way swich right before a gig...remember those backups!! and had it replaced with a 3 way toggle which I feel is much more practical for Live use. You know exactly what setting you are on just by looking at it. The 5 way I kept on grabbing and torking it to make sure the bridge was full on and ended up breaking it. Other than that, I really like the sound, nice and full, not muddy at all.

I know everyone is picky about their setup and so am I. Right out of the case the action was a little bit high, but I was able to lower it down to where i was happy with it. No buzz, perfect intonation. One problem is that they did not install a string tree, so you almost cannot play the thing if you do not tighten the locking nuts all the way down case the headstock angle is not enough to keep the strings pressed down hard enough over the nut. I have since added one and it is fine now. Like I said before when I first got it, the wrong pickups were in it and it sucked, after I got it back it was fine.
I was not too happy with the color as it was not what I expected. The guitar is a shade of red and Ed mentioned that the quilt in the top will not shine through as well on a red guitar. Well he was right, you can look at it in the light just right and see how beautifull the top is but the color takes away from it quite a bit. I also noticed some spots onthe body that the stain didn't seem to take well. I was told by Ed in one of many phone calls that the guitar had to be painted twice because of whatever. Everything else was very solid, great neck joint, tight neck pocket, quiet pots and switches. The guitar plays just as good if not better than anything else I have ever played even though I would have preferred a thinner neck.

I have had this guitar for over a year and a half and I have played probably 30 gigs with it and drag it to practice 2 times a week. I use it as my main guitar and never had a problem with it except when I broke the 5 way switch and that was my fault. I usually do not take a backup only because my other guitarist does but I still think you should no matter how good the guitar is, you never know what can happen. I baby my guitars so I feel it will last just as long as I do. Very solid, very dependable.

Well here is where I get even more critical. Ed Roman is a great person for his knowledge and passion for guitars, but on a customer service level he gets a big ZERO. Look, I don't care who you are but if I am spending well over 2000 for anything half way across the US you better show me some freaking comapasion and respect. Then when I pay the extra $100 to have you over night me somthing you said would take 4 months and after countless calls and excuses it ends up taking over 9 and it is f-d up you better start kissing ass. The bastard just acted like it was a big hassle for him and said send it back. Well send it back on YOUR dime and re emburse me for the overnight charge and then overnight it back to me after you fix it!!! To make a long story short, I ended up paying for shipping it back, and he knocked $100 bucks off of it.....which only covered for the Overnight!! I had a local guy put in the 3 way switch for me, there is no way I would send it back to them to do it unless they guaranteed me a turn around date. I will have to say that the rest of the crew there is very helpfull. Alan is an extremely cool guy and must have the patience of a sait to deal with ED and all the clean up calls.

All and all I do love the guitar. The neck though it is a liitle thick for me but now that I am used to it, it is perfect in every way. The color I have grown to like it and I get lots of compliments everywhere I play. It has held up to every single guitar I have compared it to and I even took it to the local Guitar center and they did not have anything close to this guitar for the price. I would probaly never get another custom job ordered from Ed unless I lived close to the shop and I could personally visit him if I had a problem and not have to deal with him being a dick on the phone. It's just bad business and I demand customer service with that pricetag. I would love to get another one but would not want to wait or go through the ordeal it took. If you have the time and patience, go for it....in the end it was everything I wanted.

Still happy with all the features, which is only natural since I selected them all myself. I am especially impressed with the tuning stability of the LSR tuners. If any of you out there are interested, they are worth the slight upcharge, IMHO. I love locking Schallers too, but it's nice to have something different every now and then, if you're able to spend a little extra for it. If not, no problem, locking Schallers work great too.

I'm also impressed with the ND Seymour Duncan Blackbacks, more than I had originally would have guessed, actually. These are most definitely NOT extreme metal pickups, NOR are they blues-specific ones (Mind you if you want these tones, he makes lots of other models that would likely serve the purpose). They're more of an all-around-with-lots-of-versatility pickup, which is pretty much what Ed was shooting for anyway. Don't let that throw you off though: I practice a wide variety of things from Dream Theater licks, to heavy old-school Metallica power chord riffs, to Telecaster-like chicken-pickin licks and pedal steel-type bends, to fluid legato clean-toned runs and arpeggiated chords, and I've yet to come across any disappointment. There's lots of gain for overdriven/distorted tones, and clean they have nice full headroom without ever letting the highs become brittle, even when the coils are split. Rolling back the volume pot and/or doing smooth volume pedal swells work VERY well with these also: the swells are much more consistent from start to finish than with most pickups (as funny as that may sound to some of you). I'm still wondering how Seymour got these so perfect.....

I still believe I have found that magic wood combination for tone: Korina body w/french polish finish, Maple neck, jet black Ebony fingerboard. Everybody has their combination that works for them individually, and for me to have found mine, I consider myself VERY lucky. The only other option that works for me is an alder body, but that'll be for the next one! ;) I'm still able to achieve damn near every sound I need with this axe almost eight months later.

Everything on this axe is still a perfect fit. The only reason it doesn't get a 10 is because I'm too picky about the action and/or tension, and I probably always will be. But make no mistake: it's about as low as it can be without buzzing or fretting out, and it's quite comfortable. Maybe instead of my light complaining I should just put in a few more hours of daily practice! :) But I have to work too, I guess.....damn!.....

Again, like I said before, rock solid. Simple as that! Gotta love the french polish too, I hate having to polish a lacquer finish all the time personally.....

Haven't had any complaints, and whenever I called or e-mailed, they were pretty quick in getting back to me. They answered anything I threw at them.

I just wanted to submit a follow-up to my initial review from Jan. 3rd., especially for those of you out there in cyberspace who may have been skeptical about that first review, seeing as I had only had the guitar for a few days. That's completely understandable. Well, here it is almost eight months later, and I still feel the same way about this instrument now as I did then. I've done home studio recording as well as gigs with it since then, and I can honestly say that my custom Quicksilver left absolutely NOTHING to be desired, be it in features, playability and/or feel, durability, and most importantly, tone.

To those of you who e-mailed me with questions, I hope I was able to help out. If anyone else has any Quicksilver questions, by all means drop me a line. Again, I will state for the record that I'm no expert, but I've been playing for 13+ years now, and I've been through several inferior corporate guitars before I acquired this gem (see my previous review dated 01/03/2002 for the list of them). I'll answer you as best I can.

To Ed Roman, Alan Dreher, and all at WCG: I hope the Las Vegas expansion is going well, and I also hope it will not lead you guys down the same evil path taken by most of the well-known big guys (you all KNOW who I'm referring to, I'm sure). Please don't ever compromise the quality of the instruments you carry. Thank You Again for a wonderful kick-ass instrument!! Within the next two years (hopefully), I hope to acquire a custom Pearlcaster Angel from you (just to have an axe with a vibrato bar), but that is another axe, for another review, for another day.....

Completed Feb. 2002, 24 fret neck, ebony fingerboard, no inlay, headstock matches top. Killer quilt top w/ korina back. Seymour Duncan Black Back humbuckers. 1 vol., 1 tone push/pull knobs and LP style, tone pros bridge, sperzel locking tuners. Emerald green transparent finish.

This guitar doesn't have as much "thickness" to the sound as I would have wanted. Don't get me wrong, I do like it. There are a myriad of tones you can achieve w/ the control setup. I didn't like the bridge pickup too much, so I replaced it w/ an Invader. That helped get that "metal" sound that I love. It's not perfect, but it's close.

This is where the guitar shines. The setup was perfect. This guitar plays like a dream. The neck just rules, and it is almost effortless. I can't say enough about it. The finish is incredible. It's not a laquer, so it doesn't shine, but, in real life everyone who sees it is in awe. This guitar is solid, and is beautiful.

This guitar should be really reliable, I don't see it coming apart any time soon. Everything on it is top shelf. I'd use it live, and I don't know anyone who doesn't use a backup. You never know what could happen, ya know?

At first, Ed is a real asshole. I think he's like that so you don't waste his time. If you don't know what you're talking about or what you like...well, he's not the nicest of guys. I actually flew from California to New York to see his shop. Of course, I had other things to do too, it wasn't just for him. I made an appointment to visit the shop, and as I said, he was a little bit harsh. But, once he saw me play, and discovered that I knew what I was talking about, he was very cool, and helpful to me. He took me upstairs and we plugged a quicksilver in and then let me jam for as long as I wanted. No pressure at all to buy. Very cool.
His shop foreman, Alan, was very cool. He and I got along right from the get-go. All in all, I spent about 4 1/2 hours there trying out all sorts of guitars.
When I got the guitar, I was a little disappointed in the sound of the bridge humbucker. I played it for a few days, but was still unhappy. So, I called the shop, and the guys were extremely helpful. In fact, they let me take my guitar to a shop that I was comfortable with here in california...and offered to pay for it. That's pretty cool. Good customer service by the guys.
Ed can be a little harsh, but that's just Ed. Get to know him, he's cool. that initial attitude drops it one point.

I've been playing for 20 years now, and I do think this guitar is very good. And the price really isn't that high, when you consider that a PRS, or Les Paul, is more expensive and not custom to your specs. Ed gives you so many choices, that it's mind boggling. I went to the East Coast Music Mall in CT at the same time and played a Zakk Wylde LP that was used and was still more money than my Quicksilver. I'm not sure if I'd replace it if it ever got stolen or lost, because there are so many choices out there now for really cool guitars. I mean, just check out Ed's site. It'll blow your mind.

After a lengthy search for the ultimate MIDI capable electric guitar I chose this 2001 model custom made in the USA:

Body: Black Korina, thinline, PRS compatible body style, full upper fret access.
Carved Top: Highly figured Bubinga.
Neck: Maple, deep bolt-in, 25" scale, medium thickness.
Fretboard: Ebony, no inlays, 24 jumbo frets.
Headstock: Bubinga Overlay, inlayed logo, shell truss rod cover.
Nut: GraphTech.
Hardware: Gold, knobs have shell tops.
Tuners: Sperzel.
Bridge: Tone Pros Tune-O-Matic.
Pickup Switch: 5-way rotary.
Pickups: Duncan "Black Back" (Ed's own specs).
Pickup Configuration: H/H, hard mounted directly to the wood.
MIDI/Piezo: RMC System.
Finish: Hand rubbed satinized French polish.
Other: Buzz Feiten Tuning System.

I'm a finger style composer and a blues-inspired lead player. I record directly to a PC using a Novell headphone amp driving a Yamaha multi-effects box. This instrument is very versatile and can accommodate many styles effortlessly.

I have 2 favorite settings on this guitar 1) Classic hum bucker and 2) 100% Piezo acoustic sound. Both settings are warm and rich with a blend of nicely balanced, higher frequencies. The other settings are various useful combinations of astoundingly clear, Strat and Tele-like tones. The strings I ordered for the guitar were 9s but I'll be switching to 10s because sloppy light strings produces too much fret buzz on the bright pickup settings. I hope to achieve a true surf music tone.

This instrument is capable of such remarkable sustain I have altered my playing style to mute the strings more often than before. My lead riffs sing out longer as if I'm driving an amp in a live venue. I am now able to produce amazing piano-like finger-style solos due to the clarity of the pickups and the solid overall design of the instrument.

I believe this guitar took a beating during shipment. Although I ordered the Buzz Feiten Tuning System it arrived poorly intonated. I have since reintonated it myself using the Korg DT7 tuner with great results. Part of the Buzz Feiten system involves replacing and moving the nut. One of the new nut's slots was cut noticeably higher than the others but it didn't take much to correct this. Also, I would have prefered the overall nut height to be lower but I don't feel the need to change this. I'm told they haven't been installing Buzz Feiten very long so I believe they will get better at this as time goes on.

The frets are solid and beautifully dressed, neck relief is right on, and the neck pocket is firm and snug just as advertised. Although the strings don't line up perfectly over the pole pieces the effect on sound is not noticeable. The pickups are hard mounted deep into the wood at quite a distance from the strings and are not adjustable, however, they sound so good firmly mounted this way that I wouldn't change a thing.

This guitar's smooth satin finish is not very photogenic but looks great in real life, making the exotic wood top look wild and natural in a way I could never have imagined when I placed my order. The wood selections - both front and back - are real showstoppers. The satinized neck had a few rough spots that I smoothed out myself without any trouble. The volume pot is faulty: when turned very near to zero it jumps to full volume. But none of these quirks affect the instrument's functionality for my playing style and I will not pay to change them.

Before I placed my order I figured there would be a few things I would want improved after the instrument arrived since I was purchasing the guitar sight-unseen. Maybe someone else would be disappointed by these minor issues but I can't say that I am. In fact, this guitar has exceeded my expectations in beauty, sound, versatility, and playability.

Since I am not a gigging musician I chose an exotic thin finish for this guitar and I don't know if it is durable. I assume the finish will last because it appears to have penetrated deep into the wood. Something to consider: I have noticed that when the battery dies everything goes dead so I'll need to carry spare batteries just in case. Everything else about this axe seems perfectly solid and trustworthy.

Ed and I got along just fine and his staff members were great to work with too. I spoke with Ed a couple of times before placing my order and, although he is obviously a very busy man, he was very helpful, knowledgeable, and accommodating. So I mailed in a modest deposit together with a list of several remaining questions and he called me very promptly to discuss them. At that time he upgraded my order while staying within my budget and we had an instant deal. I paid a small premium price for the Bubinga top for what Ed promised to be "the best I got" (and it must be 'cause it's absolutely beautiful). I was never nickel & dimed for free finishing touches like jeweled knobs and real shell truss rod cover (even the finish was upgraded later from the free Tung Oil to an expensive French polish just because the guys in the shop thought a guitar this nice deserved it). After a couple courteous phone calls from Ed's shop foreman the guitar was built and delivered right on schedule.

I believe the excellent service I got from Ed was due in part from my having done my homework before I called and from my ability to make quick, informed decisions when firming up my final order. Although Ed spent a fair amount of time with me to get things right, I sense that his business is geared toward satisfying reasonable people who know what they want, are not in a rush, and are willing to pay a fair price for it.

This is by far the best guitar I've owned. I especially enjoy having a guitar that can produce a clear, bright tone. My previous muddy sounding axes were 1) an early '60s Epiphone ES335 semi-hollow and 2) an off-brand Les Paul clone with DiMarzios. Amoung the guitars I test-drove before making my decision were: a Gibson Firebird V, a couple Parker Fly models, various PRSs, a Brian Moore 8.13 MIDI guitar, and a Roland Ready Strat.

My final wish list had grown to include the internal MIDI of a Brian Moore, the upper fret access of a neck-through Firebird or a Parker, and the classic beauty of a PRS. I surfed the web endlessly to find all these qualities in a single guitar until I found the Quicksilver. Now, Quicksilvers can be equipped any number of ways but I chose the Bubinga option because Bubinga is heavy and I've heard that MIDI guitars track better if they're firm. If I weren't going for the MIDI option I would have considered a very resonant Korina/Maple combination (I will rate the MIDI tracking abilities of this instrument in a separate review).

Make no mistake: these guitars are for real! If you have seen these fabulous axes on Ed Roman's web site you may be wondering where's the catch. There may be one if you aren't willing to pay for what you get. Also, If you are in a hurry forget it. Remember you're ordering a custom guitar from a small shop (there's no high efficiency production line there). If you're too poor for a fully loaded one there are more affordable stock models that I think are very cool and are sure to play great.

I believe I couldn't have bought a guitar that better satisfies my requirements at any price.

The construction on this guitar was completed February 26, 2002, made in the USA by Ed Roman. It has 24 frets. Top is made of highly flamed maple. There is a 3-way control as well as one volume knob and one tone knob. There are two position for each knob: pressed in, and pulled out. There are four different ways to configure them: both pressed in, both out, one out, or the other out. Each setting turns on different coils in the two humbuckers. The three way switch then allows you to choose both humbuckers, or one or the other. The pickups are two zebra Seymour Duncan humbuckers. Ebony fretboard, maple neck, Alder body (with flamed maple laminated top). Paint job is great: stained translucent finish, with color of antique violinburst (you can see that on the color chart on Ed's page). The headstock is matching. Ed was a little dissappointed that the Ed Roman logo didn't come out too well on the headstock, as it is usually white. However, it came out a dark red, due to the fact that it is inlayed and not a decal. If this matters to you, don't get a sunburst matching headstock: I don't mind at all, and in fact, I kind of like it. The body style is similar to a Paul Reed Smith or a Jacob guitar. It is equipped with a Tune-O-Matic bridge and sperzel locking tuners. It has a case as well.

The sound is great. The wiring is tremendous because it gives you so much versatility. I play in a jam band (funk, groove, rock), which requires a wide array of tones and sounds, and with the settings on this guitar, one can get most of them. Ed certainly did attain the Les Paul sound without the muddiness that he was going for. You can get some really full tones out of this thing, fiddle with the knobs and find a crisp sound without having to screw around with your amp. One sound I was looking for, but feel is a little bit lacking is that bright, twangy sound that you might find on a fender, but even here, you can still do pretty good.

The action is real low with no side effects. It is a fast guitar. Intonation is good so far, pickups mounted (bolt in) well. There are no flaws upon inspection, with everything where it should be.

Well I have only had this a week, but it seems durable enough - you never know though

I had a tough time with Ed Roman. I had a particularly difficult situration. I commissioned this guitar on July 23rd, 2001. I had a Les Paul Standard at the time. In August, the guitar was stolen in New York. I called up Ed Roman and asked if there were any way it could be finished quicker so that I could have something to play. He said sure, that if I upgraded to a matching headstock, there would be a better chance of me getting the guitar by end of September. I was originally told the guitar would take 3-4 months, and fully expected it by Christmas. Well, January rolled around, and the guitar had been in paint for three months, because they were working on that matching headstock. Ed told me some bs, and I let it go because he had given me a loner for the time being. I was pissed because I ended up waiting an extra two months because the feature I had purchased to get the guitar sooner was actually what was delaying the completion. I am still pretty pissed. Plus, cost an extra $200. Horseshit.

It's a great guitar and I really do love it to pieces. I have been playing for five years, and this is my fourth electric guitar. I had a crap Hondo guitar (beginner; discontinued) and then a Gibson Les Paul Standard, then a Hamer (loner, but played surprisingly well - Ed won't sell it), and now the Quicksilver. I currently own a Fender acoustic, but need to get rid of it bad, and get a new one fast. That's my next purchase. I have a Fender DeVille amp, Boss pedals (octave, digital delay (5), compression/sustain, distortion, volume) and a Crybaby wah-wah. If this guitar were stolen or lost, I think I would cry, not only because it's such a great guitar, but because having my Les Paul stolen was an ordeal I never want to go through again. I have to say that my favorite feature on the guitar is the vast versatility of it.
Also, if you want a Quicksilver, order it soon, because Ed raises those prices pretty frequently - not the standard price, but the options.

I finally have the pleasure of holding in my hands my very first handmade custom guitar after 13 years (and counting!) of playing, and was it ever worth the wait! After researching and comparing makes and models for almost two years, I ordered a brand new Quicksilver from Ed Roman's World Class Guitars in New Fairfield, CT on Dec. 20th, 2001. Before I get into details, I have to commend Ed and all of his staff on how quickly the guitar was completed. Today is Thursday, January 3rd, 2002, and it came yesterday! (Thanks Guys!). Not to mention, despite the short amount of time, it is still immaculate and top-quality, and done completely by hand also. In other words, they didn't pull a rush-job, they got it right. But, on to the features......
The body wood of this wonderful USA-made instrument is Black Korina, and even though it was the lowest priced grain, it is still fairly rich in detail for the money. Not the most drop-dead figured grain, but I didn't expect that, either: I got what I paid for. Mind you, the French Polish finish I requested plays a part in enhancing the grain also, unlike the usual lacquer-type finish. It's very much like a light matte finish, just enough to seal the wood and let the natural grain come through, yet retaining an almost bare-wood feel. Bolted in (and not on, like almost all guitars using Strat-type construction) to the body is a maple neck with a 24-jumbo-fret ebony fingerboard. By bolted-in I mean that the heel is buried inside the body (Thank you! Everybody should do this!) and held there using a 4-bolt neck plate, but there is no flange sticking out of the body (which would be bolt-on). Very-well made neck here too folks: NO dead spots or buzzes or inconsistencies across the ENTIRE neck, something that is definitely far from common. Access to the higher frets because of this is unrestricted. Frets are also perfectly crowned and dressed: no jagged edges on either side of the neck to slice your fingers up, which is another commonly overlooked (but VERY necessary!) feature. The neck is also a 25" scale and offered VERY comfortable string tension: it enhances my bends and doesn't fight them. It also makes use of what Ed calls the 1500G neck mod, which makes the neck real slick and comfortable on your hand. It's not perfectly slick, but it's pretty close, keep in mind you DO have to have a slight bit of resistance. It also seals and protects the neck while maintaining an almost unfinished raw wood feel.
Pickups are a pair of passive Seymour Duncan Blackbacks (Non-Disclosure, Ed had these custom made for him by Seymour himself), and the controls are simple yet versatile: a 3-way switch, 1 volume, and 1 tone (both push-pull pots). The push-pull pots are wired to coil-split the humbuckers (one for each pickup) and come in very handy, especially when playing clean. The bridge represents yet another step ahead: a "Tune-O-Matic" style bridge and tailpiece, but called the System II, and made by Tone Pros. What's the difference, you ask? This system makes use of Allen screws to lock the hardware in place, so that when you go to change all the strings, the hardware STAYS PUT where it belongs. Why didn't someone think of this sooner? (beats me......). Tuners are locking LSR's, which work very well and are simple and straight-to-the-point to use. I had to buy a locking strap on my own and pay Ed extra for the hardshell case, but hey: as far as I'm concerned, you had BETTER have a hardshell case, period. Sure, I would have been happier to have the case included, but if I have to buy it separately, I'll always fork out the cash. Knock off one point for that, but otherwise I'm a happy camper.

As far as sound and/or tone is concerned, it is very hard for me to be objective, because to begin with, this axe sounds incredible acoustically. I mean it's REALLY THAT GOOD. I have always considered it a rule of thumb to play ANY electric guitar unplugged first and listen to it resonate acoustically. If you've never done this, try it, people: the axes that will always stand out are the ones that both sound great and resonate well acoustically. Think about it: if they pull that off, imagine what they'll be like plugged in!

Plugged into my Johnson J-Station and/or Millenium (JM-150) amps, this particular Quicksilver practically waits for me to stop the sustain, especially in overdrive and/or distortion tones. I've never played a guitar that resonated this well, and even though I consider myself far from an expert, I've been through six electrics already in my short guitar-life and have heavily played countless other makes/models: PRS's, various Gibson's, Strat's, Tele's, whatever up the wazoo (yeah, I know.....but I'm not made of money! I'm 26 and as stated above, it's been half my life and counting...not an expert, but not bad). Played distorted, solos have richer and warmer tone than any of my previous guitars, and chords have almost violin-like sustain. Seriously, chords were sustaining very richly and for so long, my jaw was on the floor. Must be the Korina, or maybe the pickups in combination with it, who knows? Played clean, again I heard and felt very warm tones, which gave single notes and arpeggiations a nice amount of push, and gave chords ample amounts of lushness to almost fill a room. Keep in mind, though, that as warm as this guitar is, it is also perfectly balanced for me: highs have nice presence and clarity without being too harsh or biting (maple/ebony seems to be a good neck/fingerboard combo for me with a warmer sounding body I guess). Also, although the mids aren't cut-out almost completely as on most Strat-styles axes, they also don't overwhelm you (this is more of a PRS-styled guitar, but regardless, there is still a bolt joint of some kind). It seems there's enough to fatten up the overall tone without drowning out the highs while blending in (and not fighting with) the lows.
The coil splitters do their job for the most part. I have never found much use for them distorted, but clean they add dimension when used at the right time. They come in handy especially for more country-oriented licks like simulating pedal steel bends and chicken pickin' and the like.
On another note for the pickups: NO NOISE, EVEN SPLIT, PERIOD! Finally someone has it right.
To try and sum it up, this Quicksilver has a fairly well-balanced tone overall, but unlike a more Strat-styled instrument, there are just the right amount of mids added to fatten the tone without drowning out the highs or lows. I ran the gamut from clean, slow blues licks, to more jazzy-oriented sounds, to long, singing overdriven chords and loud, distorted solos and had no problems at all. Seymour did a hell of a job voicing these puppies, and my wood combination seems to be a great match. Tone-wise, there is NOTHING this thing won't do for me and my style of playing. A perfect 10.

The guitar was set up damn near perfect by the time I got it, right out of the box. I may lower the action a little, but then again, I may not, time will tell (we ALWAYS bitch about it, don't we? :) ). Although the pickups are direct-mounted and not adjustable, they pose no problems for me at all. They appear to be set just right, and I wouldn't touch them, which is odd for me, I usually adjust damn near everything on most guitars I buy to get it right. Not this time. Action was great, intonation perfect thanks to the Buzz Feiten System I ordered on it (which he offers on several handmade lines he carries and is WELL worth the investment, if you haven't heard of it by now). Hardware all seems to be top notch as far as I can tell.
I examined this guitar for a LONG time, trying hard to find any flaws I could: maybe the pickups are slightly off, maybe the bridge and tailpiece isn't in right and/or completely, maybe the neck isn't perfectly in the pocket, maybe there's the odd flaw in the French Polished finish.....whatever. GOOD LUCK finding ANY problems in fit OR finish on this one. It's about time someone started building guitars properly so that our hard-earned money doesn't go to waste.

With it's rock-solid-as-hell Tone Pros bridge and tailpiece, graphite nut, locking LSR tuners, and near-perfect setup, I have complete faith this guitar will stand up to anything. As far as tuning stability is concerned: I sat and did whole-step, step-and-1/2, as well as some almost two-step bends for 30-60 mins, and the odd time strings went out of tune, it was by very little. No fear with this one. Strap buttons are solid, Hardware is German manufactured (real steel people, not fake softer steel like a LOT of companies use---you KNOW who you are!) and will last forever, of that I have no doubt. As far as the finish goes, yeah, it'll last forever, anything does if you take care of it! Just general wear and tear over the years won't be an issue. And as long as you don't surround it in cigarette smoke and alcohol constantly, it will last. The only backup I would want to have for it is a duplicate, but I don't deem it as "needed"......unless I break a string, of course. And even then, changing a string on this is truly child's play. The strap buttons are also solid, and I swear by locking straps anyway. At this point it's too early to tell, of course, but I get the impression there will be very few issues with reliability and/or durability, if any arise at all.

This area is the one I need to spend a little more time in explaining a few things. Yes, you've heard from a lot of so-called reviewers (you know.....the ones who call themselves Anonymous and/or don't give their REAL name, IF they give one at all) that customer support sometimes really sucks and/or Ed can sometimes be an asshole and a real pain to deal with. In my phone conversations with Ed, yes, you can tell that sometimes he may not be in the greatest of moods. That happens to all of us. But not ONCE did I ever have any problems whatsoever in getting the customer support I needed, even if it was just wanting info about a particular line. If it wasn't from him directly, it was from his wife Joanne, or from his shop foreman Alan, or whoever. I think a lot of people badmouth Ed and his shop in these types of forums because they honestly don't give him a chance. Yes, WCG probably has their share of fuck-ups from time to time, but I get the impression they WCG also puts up with its' fair share of bullshit on a daily basis. I have been a steady visitor to Ed's website for about 7 years now, and thoroughly did my homework for the last year or two before buying a guitar from him (as I said, it's only been 13 years of playng, and I wanted to be sure of what I wanted in this axe). I knew exactly what I wanted because of this, and I don't forsee having any problems because of this, either. Sure, on some days Ed may need to work on his attitude a little, but I don't honestly believe that he's anywhere near as bad as a lot of people make him out to be. Cut him some slack guys! And if you're going to post a negative review anywhere on the net, grow some balls for a change and sign your name to it! You never know: he may actually benefit from it if there's any constructive criticism in it. And as far as his knowledge goes, we could ALL learn a lot about guitars from his website. I know I have, and I'm very grateful that it exists. I'm tired of plunking down my hard-earned dough on guitars that always leave me craving something, now I don't have to go through that anymore. Sure, nothing (and no one) is perfect, but no problems so far.

If it were stolen or lost, of course I would replace it, without doubt. I plan on buying one or two more from him in the next couple of years anyway. The only thing I hate is the fact that I wasn't able to get this guitar sooner. I know I haven't had much in the way of negative things to say about this guitar, but keep in mind this is a custom instrument done to my specs, so I'm pretty happy. Of course nothing is perfect, but for me, this is as good as it gets. I can't compare it to the other guitars I've owned, one because it's in a completely different league, and two because it's the one I've been trying to buy for a very long time, where others have always failed in some way. But for reference sake, my previous electric guitars (in chronological order) were a Charvette (hey, we all start somewhere!), an Ibanez RG-570 w/EMG's, a '93 Fender Strat Plus w/DiMarzio, FLS, and Duncan pickups, an Ibanez S540FMTT w/DiMarzio's, a '93 Paduak Washburn N4 w/DiMarzio's, and a '99 Quil-top Washburn N4 w/Duncans.
I know most of you probably feel this is quite an extensive review for someone who has only had this guitar for a day or two, and that is understandble; however, I invite anyone to e-mail me anytime after whatever amount of time passes to see if I still feel the same way about it. I'm just a joe-blow-studying-devoted guitarist, and I will always tell you the truth about it because I have nothing to hide, and wouldn't gain from it anyway. And contrary to a lot of other "reviewers" in here, I have no problem signing my name, as you will notice. I'm no expert, but I will try to answer any e-mails as best I can if you are considering purchasing a Quicksilver........One final note: if you haven't visited it yet, or have only been there a few times, you really owe it to yourself to visit Ed's website: http://www.edroman.com , and whenever you decide to buy ANY guitar, above all DO YOUR HOMEWORK!! It always pays off, even if only to learn a thing or two.

2000 Quicksilver made in Ed's shop. Check them out on Ed's website. You can choose from several that he's already made, or you can get one made to your specs. 24 frets, 2 humbuckers, your choice of wood, pickups, color, tuners, fret markers, etc. I'll start by saying that these guitars look VERY cool. From what Ed describes on his website, the Quicksilver is the ultimate guitar. In fact, I made a special trip to CT to check them out. DON'T JUDGE A BOOK BY IT'S COVER OR AUTHOR. Unfornately, I found out (in my opinion) that the Quicksilver is not the holy grail that I had hoped. See below for details. I will say this though...If you're looking for a new guitar, check out Ed's site for what you're looking for. His studio is quite remarkable, and if you're serious about buying a guitar, it's worth a trip to CT. His selection will blow your mind!! I went to CT to buy a Quicksilver, and I left with an open mind and a whole new perspective. Check out JET, McNaught, PRS, Heritage, and the BC Rich Eagle. All very cool!

After reading Ed's writeup, you'd think that the Quicksilver is a prelude to an orgasm. I played the Quicksilver through a piece of shit Fender M-80 amp that Ed has in his studio, and I wasn't too impressed by the sound. I plugged in several PRS, Heritage, Gibson DC, Gibson LP, BC Rich Eagle, and Bc Rich Mockingbirds, and I think they all sounded better. Keep in mind that I simply like distorted tones, and the Quicksilver didn't hang. I would like to have heard them through a real amp, but the other guitars simply sounded much better through the M80. On paper, the Quicksilver looks great, but we're all playing for sound, right?? The Quicksilver was much brighter than the other guitars and didn't seem to have the same amount of sustain. You can get a variety of tones from the quicksilver as it has the PRS-style 5 way knob + coil tap. Despite the variety, I simply wasn't impressed.

I played several different Quicksilvers. With any model, some guitars are going to feel/play better than others. For me, the neck didn't feel right on any of them. I'm sure it was made from the finest woods, but the quality was lacking. Ed's claim to fame is making HANDMADE guitars, and he talks bad about the mass production of PRS, Gibson, and the others. The Quicksilver neck was too HANDMADE feeling. It felt chintzy and imprecise. The JET guitars are entirely handmade, and the neck on the Jet guitar I played felt great. The pickup selector knob on a couple of the guitars felt loose and cheaply made as well. The baseline Quicksilver starts around $1800, and for the same amount of money, you can do much better with a PRS. I didn't have the heart to tell Ed that I liked the B.C Rich Eagle much better, and I fell in love with PRS guitars while in his studio. I'll talk more about Ed under customer support.

Again, it did feel like a "Handmade" guitar. The Quicksilver is made of the highest quality parts, but unfortunately, the sum of the parts = a less than perfect guitar. I've read reviews about other Roman guitars having craftsmanship problems (frets coming off, etc), and I can see that happening with the Quicksilvers I played.

I have to agree with the other reviews in saying that Ed is not the nicest guy in the world. When I called to set up an appointment, he was very short and acted as if he didn't care if I visited or not. When I visited, he was extremely cool and helpful. I couldn't help but laugh as he screamed at customers on the phone, his help staff, and his wife. It makes you wonder how he gets any business. BUT, as I mentioned before, he was very cool and very helpful when it came to talking guitars. Ed is righfully in the business of SELLING guitars, not being Mother Theresa. If you want handholding, go to guitar center. If you want to talk to someone who is not about B.S, knows his shit, will tell you the way it is, and won't nickel and dime you, talk to Ed. He has a passion for guitars, and that certainly came out in my conversations with him. I have to respect that.

The Quicksilver was not the best guitar for me. I think the craftsmanship was lacking, but I would not rule out the other guitars(from other manufacturers) that Ed Roman sells. If you're looking for other handmade guitars or the biggest selection of PRS, BC rich, McNaught, heritage, etc. call Ed.