Indie Guitar Company LP Hollowbody

This is a hollow body LP type guitar. Standard configuration 2xH(passive), 2xV, 2xT & 3way toggle. Mahogany back and neck, curly maple top and rosewood fingerboard with abalone inlays and cream binding (also around top of body). Two f holes. All the wood is satin finish. All the usual LP hardware in gold finish. Grover machines. Pick-ups marked Indie Custom. Chunky frets. Bought this used including Stagg hard case for ??220, looked unused. Manufacturers price ??539. Well no surprises there, no more nor less than expected so I suppose thats a 9 (10 says "tons of features".

First thing I need to say about this is that this guitar had an intermittent fault with the bridge PU when I bought it, so I never had it working long enough to form an opinion of it. I replaced it with a Tonerider Rocksong, which is a nice, medium output PAF type that works well with this guitar. The Indie Custom in the neck has quite a high output and is very responsive across the range, with good string definition and no muddiness. Very nice depth of tone, great for arpeggios clean. I'm a songwriter who does a lot of recording. I play in a number of different styles. For each style I have a selection of guitars to suit the mood of the song (and me). This one slots into my no or minimal distortion, atmospheric, darker, arpeggio led, played-with-feeling stuff. My other LP's can be a bit heavy handed for this. This guitar can rock, but it is happier doing other things.

I have had this guitar in bits on a number of occasions, trying to sort out the bridge pick up (so has Cardiffs best guitar tech!, so I feel particularly well qualified to answer this. The workmanship on the joinery is excellent, and all the materials are good quality. Neck and action are fine. I do have some issues with the finish, but they are personal preferences. The only fault is the rough finish on the wood at the bottom edge of the body. The electrics, however, are a different story. I never discovered exactly what was wrong with the pick up, but the pick up it was! I found this a bit worrying on a newish guitar that obviously hadn't seen much action. The pots are absolute rubbish, on/off controls, and the wiring had to be seen to be believed (two short lengths of wire soldered together to make it long enough!). But these are the only faults.

Now that I've replaced the crap electrics, assuming the other pick-up doesn't suddenly expire, it should last forever. To answer all the questions that you can't see, I think it would withstand anything within reason. No-one gigs without a back-up. I'm giving it a 6 because of the electrics, everything else would be a ten.

I have dealt with the company, the guy said he was the owner, but I've forgotten his name. I think he may have been a bit more helpful if I had bought the guitar direct or from one of their dealers. He gave some advice as to possible reasons for the problem, mainly that the pick-up was a gonner, and suggested that I send it to them for repair. Sounded a bit expensive, so I thought I might as well do it myself. Couldn't expect much more from the guy really.

(Unseen questions again)I've been playing forever and I currently have 20 guitars. My opinion of this guitar is that it is ok. There is nothing outstanding about it, in fact I find it quite characterless. All of the components are there and they do what they are supposed to. More of a tool than a thing of beauty or joy. Were I to part company with it, and I probably will, I would not buy another one. In my opinion there are far nicer guitars available in this price bracket.