Italia Maranello Speedster II

Same as most average guitars. Two p-ups you can interchange. Gave it a 9 cause some guitars have fancy tricks.

I saw how cool it looked (never heard of italia before so i was just kinda messing around)plugged it in and dropped my jaw... When italia talk about vintage look and sound for modern standards they aren't just blowing smoke up your butt. It doesn't sound like a vintage guitar just has vintage qualitys. I play mostly distorted. Not super high gain but enough without being considered one of these new day mesa high gain junkies...not saying anything bad about mesa, they are cool amps, im just a marshall guy. This is my first non-gibson guitar in years. Alot of people compare it to a les paul, its pretty close but its not as muddy and low sounding, and when i say low i do not mean low as in medal low, i mean low as in a lower instrument tone, there is a difference... The pick ups are in fact way hotter than most stock pick ups and i actually love them. To really understand this guitar you have to play one, and than own one, its a love hate relationship. It sounds great to me, but my band plays in a small practice space and it feeds back way more than my les paul custom. And yes i play a les paul custom and choose my italia over it fifty percent of the time. Love them both... would replace either if they were stolen... and than track that person down and raise some hell.

I got this guitar from a place called Gear Guys in Denver. The guy who owns it name is Greg. Hes a great guy, loves his customers and is a huge help, probably one of my favorite stores and it has lots of cool stuff. If you are a musician in Denver its a must go. Anyhow, im not sure if he set it up, or if was used(i really don't think its used, if it is i don't mind) or if is out of a box, but it was set up rad, the paint job is better than on most newer gibsons and to be honest its done really well! And the paint job is Awesome, i have the off white one with black racing stripes.

Guitar is solid. I really don't worry about it. Looked in the guts like i do with everything and it looks great. Easy to fix too! Its almost made to hot rod or fix if broken. Its also made of korina wood! Impressive. Nice wood and durable.

Never delt with them. Unfair for me to rate. But if the customer support is done aswell as the craftsmanships than i wouldnl't worry.

the guitar is very well finished with top quality hardware, considering the price. I like the Grover tuners and the bridge as well.

The sound is fat, rich and somehow comparable to a mid quality les paul. I've been playing LP for years and this one is really competitive.
I don't like the pickups though, which I replaced with a spare les paul set I had. With the gibson pickup the sound has surprinsingly become more solid, with higher volume and richer tone.
In any case, the instrument by itself is pretty well designed.
I play it through a JCM800 head and a Koch TwintoneII head.

the action and the neck profile are actually the best points of this guitar.
The neck is fast, slim and very comfortable to play both standing and seating.
While standing the main drawback is that the guitar is a little unbalanced, somehow like the SG and you need to hold it a bit with the let hand.

nothing to say.. seems reliable, but it's too soon to tell

never called

I've been playing for almost 20years, mainly with LPs and teles, through mesa/marshall/koch amps.
I must say that it is a really good instrument for the price, even though it's not a "top brand" name. You must like the design and colors of course!

Chapter already covered by other reviews.

I plug it in an Ampeg reverberocket tube amp (amazing underrated amp) and a boss ME 50 multi-effect (which is not fantastic but so easy to use in live conditions). The result is really good for the vintage kind of rock I play (something like AC/DC, Led Zep and so on). This guitar has its own personality, those humbuckers produce a sound that's round and bright at the same time, sounds very rich playing alone but still beeing well voiced to cut through a mix with other musicians. I won't try to explain sounds with words, only say that I love it and that I would strongly recommend to try it.

Every Italias I tried in guitar shops were very well adjusted, which was not the case of other guitars I was looking for.

The neck is quite flat and I'm not very used to play on that kind of neck. But I'm getting used to it with great pleasure.

Nothing to complain about.

Never had to call them.

I've been playing guitar for ten years and owned a Gibson SG special faded (crap) and an US stratocaster HSS. I really loved the fender but had to sell it for some reason. Now I needed an electric guitar again so I purchased that Italia which is a bargain for what it delivers. Of course the strat was a little better but the price difference is not justified. What's more the speedster has a little something that no other guitar has, both look-wise and tone-wise. I've been playing it for two months, I love it and I don't plan to buy another guitar : she's got everything and even a little more.

In the category of guitars with a vintage and original feel, with a rich warm sound but not too bassy and for reasonable price, I think the Italia competes with Hagstroms very well. The Italia won the game for my part.

set neck has a SG junior feel. two vol, 1 tone, you probobly already know what it looks like, mine's yellow "i mean BRIGHT yellow" Whoa!they call Ferarri yellow it's an eye catcher, or an eye sore to some Has a wrap around bridge thats very nice and wide and fat, makes it very comfortable for resting your hand on. no intonation to mess with on this one. the tuning keys are big and work outstanding love'em. I own a LP with a small neck and this is even thinner. love that too! I've owned it over a year already and the new buzz is still buzzin" big time

I own three Italia's all of them can be played at extremely loud levels and are totally quite . I give wilkinson an A+ for that!
OK so hears the reasons i'll probobly keep this one around for along time ..It's fun, it's easy, it's clean tones, it's heavy overdriven tones, and about any amp you plug into it sounds great
The only this doesn't have is that really hard bite in the bridge PU Thats not really a bad thing , it just a different animal, it can still get very nasty too! There is ablolutely nothing I dislike about the tone of this guitar!

Hear comes the bitch Bitch #1 Neck heavy to say the least!
Dear Italia, you have to put the strap button behind the neck,(like SG's) There ya go prob (almost solved) maybe you should move the back one up about two inches,,, Yep that helps! and lastly, tell people they will need a wide sweade strap on thier shoulder, and that's it! prob. solved! good thing or it woulda been a goner
Bitch #2 this one's not that bad considering how much this guitar cost me. No thier aint no buzzing flat or dead spots, "OOPS" oh yea just one. only when I bend the 2nd string on the 17th fret..it cuts off completely I've learned to stay away from that spot, but like i said I'm keeping it so i"ll fix it one day. If the heavy neck was not able to be fixed I woulda gave this a crap rating, I really love this neck!

Not a problem at all
stays in tune 4 ever....(and ever).....and then some

Yes Thier cool!

this is the question that should be first, cause if someone siad I own a Epi a squire, been playing a year and a half ,,"This is the greatest guitar ever" I probobly would stop reading the review
Me ..well...I've been playing 30+ years and have owned a handful of guitars nothing too high end LP's SG's Fenders Bla,Bla Bla
I said before this thing sounds good through every thing i've tried it through I love its tone and playability Gee! what else is there? If it were stolen or lost? i'd be pist! but it's a cheap one, right? Yea, i'd replace it! same color and every thing!!

I just purchased this brand new Feb. 06' so I assume it's a 2006 model.I imagine your familiar with the look and features of this guitar if your reading this .
Kind of a modified double cut away body ,I say modified because it doesn't really have distinct cutaways,they're more like 2 humps.Mine is blue with white racing stripes.I think it's an Alder body with a beefy les paul type set in neck,rosewood fingerboard,with racing stripe inlays ,wrap around bridge,les paul style controls.This is the 2 pickup version ,dual humbucker ,3 way toggle with 3 knobs ,one tone and two volume .Pretty clever knob set up with the input jack on the front of the guitar next to the knobs .Pretty standard features but because of the cool input jack I give it a ten.From what I've read these are made in Korea .Mine has no serial number or markings(that I can find) as to where it was built .

I use it with a Line 6 AX2 ,I play mostly current and classic rock .I would say the stock pickups are voiced more towards the vintage side .
They sounded ok but I prefer a hotter pickup in the bridge so I replaced it with a stewmac overwound 'golden age' pickup .In general the guitar leans towards a les paul type sound ,maybe not quite as beefy as a genuine LP but a quality sound just the same .

Like most new 'import' guitars this one needed a good setup .action was high out of the box but the fit and finish was great.Came setup with .010's which I thought was odd.I changed it to .009's.I found no finish flaws at all .Very impressed with the overall quality of this guitar .seems to be very solid and well made .doesn't feel cheap like alot of other import guitars I've purchased in the past.all parts and electronics seem to be of decent quality .One thing that is a bummer is it's very neck heavy .doesn't sit on your strap as comfortable as 'normal' body shape guitars .the neck tends to wanna dive to the floor when you let go of it .I guess the design is too blame ,small body ,with a fat les paul style neck with a big headstock and full size grover tuners add to the neck weight .

I've only had the guitar for a short time ,but I have gigged with it a few times.It's a solid guitar .your not gonna break this guitar unless you really abuse it . After a good setup and bridge pickup change it sounds and plays great .The pickup upgrade was a personal thing ,you may find the stock pickups to be to your liking .

no idea ,haven't delt with them .I bought it from a dealer on ebay .supposedly italia guitars come with a limited lifetime warranty .I've never had to use a guitar warranty in my life .

I've been playing professionally for 20yrs and own many expensive guitars (prs,gibson,fender,g&l etc.)I know what a quality guitar is .This Italia is solid .Very impressed with the quality of these guitars compared to the cost .a real 'bang for the buck' .I bought this guitar on looks alone, basically sight unseen after seeing a picture in a magazine hoping it would be of decent quality and I wasn't dissapointed .My only gripe is that it is a little neck heavy like I mentioned earlier .All in all it's a fun guitar .If your looking for a high quality fair priced guitar with a 60's vibe ,this is your guitar .