Product: Langcaster Explorer
Price Paid: Euros 700
Submitted
02/21/2009
at
10:50pm
by
cees bergmans
Features
:
10
Langcaster Explorer Gibson shape with 22 jumbo frets, black finish solid mahogany.Two langcaster low impedance pickups with build-in sweet overdrive & gain control, 3 way selector switch, Bigsby tremelo, standard tuners, roller bridge and comes with a nice case.
Active pickups and only 100 Ohm
Rosewood finger board and hand made pick guard with the Langcaster Logo engraved in it.
Silver Langcaster logo in the head stock.
Sound
:
10
The style doesn't matter, as the pickups can play anything I like!
I play over a Peavey with a 15" speaker and use playing live, a Fender Bassman setup.
No pickup I have ever heard sound this clean and no hum!
The range is fantastic as you can hear on the YouTube "langcasterplayer" video clips and sound bites on the Langcaster sound page.
This guitar sill sustains over a minute after I hid a string.
Strange to play Classic and Metal on the same guitar! but none of my guitars sound like an acoustic, but this one does!
Action, Fit, & Finish
:
9
The guitar arrived in tune and had a good intonation.
I had to change a little after I put 9-42 strings on it.
Also the string setup was perfect for recording but for playing live I like the strings a bit lower as no one can here some string buzz.
The finish looks good.
I do like to change to expensive Schaller machine heads in the future but I can not expect for a Explorer for less that 1/3 of a Gibson to have top tuners.
The case alone this size is over 200Euro by it self.
Reliability/Durability
:
No Opinion
I do not know if this guitar will last? but it looks fine for now!I was told by Joh Lang that is was made in Korea like most! but is real Mahogany.
Langcaster imported the wood body and neck only, and put the hardware and pickups on it later.
The reason to have imported some is to promote the Langcaster pickups+Overdrive as not everyone can afford a Langcster with 35000 year old swamp Kauri.
So I was over the moon to get one for this price!
Customer Support
:
10
I have bought many guitars over the years and special in the USA, it is hard to get a fast and meaningful reply.
I have to say that it felt instant i was dealing with a designer-guitar maker he loves what he does, and is not only in for the money!.
It like he never sleeps and I have always a replay asap.
Joh even included a Sean Clancy speed manual book as Sean is playing one of his songs on this guitar on YouTube.
Overall Rating
:
10
I have played for over 20 years beginning with hard rock and now playing Jazz, this guitar has taken over all my other guitars in sound.
I have now also bought a Langcaster Pickup Kitset for my USA custom Fender and soon get a set for my LesPaul.
I can not stop playing! and have found the next best thing we have all been looking for!.
I was looking for Jan Akkerman (ex Focus)as I did see him on TV playing in Rotterdam on a Langcaster.
He also used this guitar for the Jimi Hendrix Tribute tour he did with Steve Lukather, and I thought I could never afford a guitar like this?
I now find out that my LP guitar was double the price of a Langcaster and put soon some Langcaster pickups in it!.
Some people with bad gear or never have played on a Langcaster feel the need to knock a small inverter out performing the big boys!
But if is is good for Akkerman once voted as the best player in the world! it is good enough for me and everybody else! end of story!
Thank Joh for a great service and best pickups on earth!
Product: Langcaster Explorer
Price Paid: NZD 1420
Submitted
02/09/2009
at
12:28am
by
Rupert
Features
:
7
Classic Explorer shape with 22 jumbo frets, black finish with mahogany or similar underneath, Two langcaster low impedance pickups, 3 way selector, bigsby tremelo, locking tuners, comes with case and strap locks. Inbuilt overdrive from the langcaster pickups (great idea for feature). 1 Volume 1 tone and 1 gain.
Doesn't specify whether he makes them or not, or where the wood has come from.
Sound
:
5
No noise, loud as hell and pretty good variation from different pickup selectors. But,
Sounds pretty bad unless you put it through a nice tube amp, you have to give it a decent tone after the signal leaves the guitar. Pretty bright though, and if you want to plug a guitar straight into a computer or sterio or something else then its probably pretty decent compared to the competition, but not anywhere near as good as the competition if recorded through an amp.
That said, it is alot better than the crap starting guitars (which cost 1/3rd of the price or less, but if your more than a beginner this isn't suitable.
Action, Fit, & Finish
:
7
Everything seemed fine on first inspection, except the case lock in the middle fell off straight away.
Reliability/Durability
:
1
It was setup ok when I got it, but things didn't last too long, the intonation was out within a month even kept properly (no change of strings, either in my hands or in the case).
Case lock fell off the first day, pots fell off not long after (1 of 3 is left).
Also the input jack is almost falling completely out of the guitar.
All this in less than one year.
Customer Support
:
4
He (Joh Lang) replys quickly, and is always very cheerful and seemingly very keen to help, however he often only answers one or two or you questions in an email even if your've asked 5, and he doesn't seem to speak english very well at all.
His website is also very poor.
Overall Rating
:
3
been playing around 8 years, don't own much other gear as this is what I thought would be my first 'top end guitar'. Sadly it is anything but. I have however played various peoples strats/teles/LPs and look alikes.
If you don't believe me based on the other reviews around, check out nzguitars forums, they have a very low opinion of langcaster in general, except for maybe his high end kauri guitars, as they are of high quality, but they still don't like his pickups.
