First Act Sheena CE240

I actually don't have any idea as to point of origin or year, I bought it on eBay. 22 frets, 2 vol, 1 tone, 3 position toggle switch; bridge humbucker, neck P-90 equivalent; neck is maple, body is, I think, alder, it has a flame maple veneer on the top, pearloid pickguard; string-through-body design, Tune-O-Matic-style bridge, tuners resemble Schallers but no logo, probably Pings. Fender scale, slightly fat, wide radius neck. Styling (what made me interested in trying it, actually): Peghead resembles a Gibson Firebird's, body basically shaped like a Tele's but the cutaway is shaped sort of like a B.C. Rich Eagle's. Top is done in transparent blue, peghead black, fretboard natural maple.

Played acoustically, this thing sounds very nice. A warm, woody tone. I just recorded a song with it, but today I ordered a set of GFS P-90s for it, Mean 90 for the bridge and Dream 90 for the neck. The pickups have a usable sound, but the neck, while very clean, is painfully thin. The bridge humbucker didn't sound very good to me until I backed it away from the strings a bit, then it had a decent growl when distorted and, odd for a humbucker, almost a Tele tone clean through my late '60s Fender Princeton recording amp. Overall, I thought nice guitar but the sound ruins the effect so I went with something with a bit more personality since I'm thinking I'm going to want to keep this one.

I got it used and the action was very high. I suspect a rhythm player had it. With a little truss rod and bridge adjustment I was able to get a very comfy action, very low, about the same at the last fret as at the nut with only a slight buzz unplugged and nothing noticeable plugged in. The bridge pickup was right up under the strings, sounded kinda nasty. When I backed it off it gained a lot of clarity and smoothness distorted and a chimey Tele-like tone clean. The neck you can only do so much with, sounds odd distorted and really reedy clean, but if you back the tone off considerably it does sound pretty good--in limited situations. The finish and appointments are tight and good, tuners work well, truss rod is one of the smoothest to use of any guitar I've had.

Yeah, this guitar will hold up as well as about anybody's will. The hardware appears to be decent, though the chrome does seem to flake off the bridge fairly easily when adjusting things. Strap buttons are tight, but I generally replace those with Schaller straplocks anyway. Once it sounds right to my ear I would use it without a backup, sure.

No idea on dealing with them. This was a curiosity buy and I've never touched one before except to adjust one of the Walmart specials a guy asked me to set up for him. Believe it or not, that $80 guitar adjusted well enough to be very playable. So these guys have something going on, I'm thinking.

I've been playing about 41 years. Other guitars I have: '71 ES-335TD, PRS CE-24, Epi Joe Pass Emperor, OLP Silhouette, Gretsch resonator, Martin and Taylor acoustics, '76 Fender Precision bass, Squire fretless Jazz Bass, '74 Gracia Model C, '80s Squire (Japan) Wayne's World Strat with Warmoth neck, Frankenstrat I built with Seymour Duncan P-90s, Carl's Custom Guitars Tele, Dean Cadillac.

Solid flame top in transparent blue. Single coil at the neck and humbucker at the bridge. Two volume and master tone with 3 way switch to select pickup. Set maple neck with unique "thumbnail" markers in black. Fully bound body, neck and headstock, which is unique in shape and has 6 in-line tuners. All hardware is chrome. Pick-up poles are mounted in a creame plastic with chrome rings. Mother of toilet seat pickguard. The whole look is "modern-retro".

For inexpensive pick-ups, these are great. Very responsive to subtle volume and tone changes. Combining both pick-ups with individual volume controls for each makes for tons of tones. Using this in the living room thru a Blues Junior. This guitar can quack, crunch, growl, purr, rock and get jazzy.

Very playable right from the box. I've owned it for about 8 months now and have done one tiny truss rod adjustment. I raised the neck pickup a tad to bring volume in line with the bridge pick-up. The finish was flawless and everything was, and remains, tight.

I don't take it out of the house as I "play with" more than "play" guitar, but this thing is as solid as a U.S. Strat. Electronics don't click or crackle. Very solid.

Now the great part. The first guitar I ordered from First Act arrived with a severe crack at the body/neck courtesy of the box getting punched in the back by UPS. Customer service had an email off to me the same day with a pre-paid shipping label. As if that wasn't enough, there was a new guitar on it's way to me that same day too. Even before I had sent the broken guitar back, they had a new one on it's way to me! This is exceptional in my book.

I've been "messin' around" with guitars for over 15 years. I'm 56 and currently have 40 guitars in the collection. I pick this First Act as the guitar of choice in the living room stand. The Gibsons and Fenders hang and watch. The neck on this thing just works for me. It is comfortable and well balanced. If you can grab one of these things on the net for under $200, do it. You won't regret it.

Short scale maple neck. Solid body, maple top. Two pickups, one humbucker and one P90 style single coil. Two volume, one tone, 3-way selector switch. Very funky styling. Somewhat similar to a tele body but kind of euro-modern look.

Good variety of sounds. The P90 pickup was a little weak so I raised it slightly which helped. The humbucker is medium output with classic humbucker tone. For my style of playing I tended to favor the P90 pickup for its jangly articulate tone. Great for sixties surf or country picking. The humbucker gave great sustain and with a little overdrive could really sing with pinch harmonics made easily. I play through a medium wattage vintage style tube amp with suits this guitars tone well.

Great set-up right out of the box. Intonation was perfect. Action was fairly low with no fret buzz. Fret edges finished nicely. The tuners seemed solid and smooth. Nothing to complain about here! The guitar is finished in blue including the neck and headstock. It has a set neck. The top is semi-transparent so you can see the nice maple flame grain.

The guitars has a solid look and feel to it. My guess is that it will hold up well.

I have been playing for about 35 years. I own an American strat and tele in addition to a Hohner ES335 with P90s and a Martin acoustic. I play mainly classic rock and country. I bought this guitar because of the great clearance deal from the manufacturer so I didn't expect much but was pleasantly surprised. This guitar is a sleeper. Once you get your hands on one you won't want to put it down! I definitly plan on using this guitar to gig with.