Langcaster Scorpion

I love Harmony Central.
But, if it has a flaw (and it does) it is this. Ryan gives this guitar an overall rating of 10, and mr71minus2 rates it a 1 so the average is 5.5
mr71minus2 (hereafter referred to as just minus) actually gives this guitar a 1 in every category!
What kind of guitar actually deserves a 1? My son Matt's first guitar that I bought him for NZ$135, and was made in China didn't deserve a 1.
A guitar of this quality with only a 5.5 rating makes a mockery of the whole rating system.

As for features, Ryan covers this fully, so I won't bother. I will add however I'm pretty sure this is a solid Mahogany body as it is heavier than my OLP Musicman 5 string bass.
It has all the features Matt (or anyone) needs in an electric guitar, so I'll rate it a 10.

Minus complains that the guitar pickups output are too high!?
If he hasn't already tried it, I would suggest getting a Seymour Duncan pickup booster or similar to boost his other guitar/s, as the output of the Lancaster pickups is perfect!
I don't really know how to describe the sound of the pickups other than to say they are the best sounding pickups I've personally heard. Absolutely no hum or noise (not low noise, zero noise) and plenty of tone (what minus says about "snobby pickups" and being "worth nothing" is just a ridiculous.)
These pickups are exactly the same as the ones in the swamp kauri guitars that other reviewers totally rave about.
I also have to say I don't notice that the volume is as extreme as minus does.

My son plays his Scorpion through a Marshall JCM 2000 DSL50 with a Behringer BG412H 4x12 stack. His main pedals (always in his rig) are a Korg DT-10 tuner pedal, a Digitech Whammy 4, an Ibanez Weeping Demon wah, and a Voodoo lab Proctavia.
With or without effects his guitar sounds fantastic. And for those who don't think Marshall have a good clean sound; you should listen to a Langcaster through a DSL!
I'm with Ryan about not wishing to give a 10 as that means this guitar is perfect (no guitar is) so I'll give it a 9. I am however going to enter 10 to counter minus ridiculous 1.

Very nicely finished (but only what I would expect for a NZ$1500 guitar) although the paua (NZ abalone) scorpion inlay is pretty cool. Matt had a wee bit of fret buzz too, but I took it up to Auckland last time I was there and Joh sorted it for us.

This is a very well made, robust guitar, but it isn't an anvil, and I wouldn't treat it like one. Matt has had it for over a year, and in that time it has sustained one tiny paint chip on the head stock, and the battery that minus says runs out often has been replaced once. It actually had plenty of life left (tongue test), and I would wager the battery life in the guitar would approximate the shelf life of the battery.
Definitely 10 (I don't know how you could make a guitar more reliable)

I've had very good e-mail communication from Joh, and found him very helpful although until recently I had never met him, as we live at opposite ends of the country.
When I asked him about adjusting the truss rod after my son changed string gauge, he sent me a detailed e-mail & an Allen key. When my attempt failed, he told me to ship it up and he would sort it. As I mentioned previously when I went to Auckland last Joh invited us to his home / workshop to sort the fret buzz.
Joh gave us a tour of his workshop and showed us the +35000 year old Kauri guitars he makes (absolutely stunning - much better "live" than viewed on the web or catalogue), and his pickups etc.
He then adjusted the truss rod and action on Matt's guitar and filed then burnished some of the frets.
He refitted the strings (he gave Matt a new set) and then he took us up to the room where he tests his guitars, where Matt was able to final check the action of his guitar, and play one of the Kauri beauties.
Before we left, Joh gave Matt a copy of Sean Clancy's "Learn to Burn" book (available online, and an excellent book).
Joh spent a couple of hours with us and charged us nothing for his time.
He also sold us one of his discontinued chorus / delay / distortion pedals for a fantastic price.
I cannot rate Joh's customer service highly enough, as it only goes to 10, which of course I will give him.

I've been playing guitar since I was 15 (49 now). Matt and I have between us; a Marshall JCM 2000 DSL50 with a Behringer BG412H 4x12 stack, a Korg DT-10 tuner pedal, a Digitech Whammy 4, an Ibanez Weeping Demon wah, and a Voodoo lab Proctavia, a Seymour Duncan pickup booster (for my Strat etc.), a Daphon overdrive pedal (no longer used as the Scorpion has built in overdrive), Langcaster multi effect, a Peavey Mink bass amp, a Roland cube 15 guitar amp, a Squire Stratocaster, an OLP Musicman 5 string bass guitar, a Samick flying V and an Ovation Celebrity acoustic electric.
If this guitar were stolen Matt would be devastated, as Joh does not make this model any longer and his swamp Kauri beauties go for US$2990 (and are totally worth it.)
The overall rating must be a 10, because I have given 10s in all the other categories.
Bottom line, Joh Lang is a genius, and anyone who would rate this guitar lower than 7 is either deaf or an idiot.

This guitar has a body copied directly from a les paul, with a scorpion headstock. Features langcaster's pickups.

This guitar has extremely high output, everytime when you change guitars you will need to fiddle with the settings on the amp because the output is simply too high.
This guitar has no tone, sounds like steariled dead wood.

The pickups are the "snobby" Langcaster pickups which are worth nothing. They have no tone at all, do not get sucked in buying anything from langcaster, joh lang has no idea about how to craft guitars.

As i said, everytime i change my guitar, i have to mess with the settings on my amp because the output of this guitar is simply too high.
Battery does not last long.

Joh Lang is a scam, he will say and do anything to try and rip you off. He has constantly spammed my email about getting an attenuator installed to cool down on the output of the guitar, eventhough i was already selling the guitar.

DO NOT buy anything from langcaster, this guitar was a total waste of money.

Gibson Les Paul Standard body, with Langcaster Lo-impedance pick-ups at neck and bridge, with overdrive switch, and overdrive control. The Scorpion has a stop tailpiece, non-locking tuners (schaller perhaps), fat neck, rosewood. The scorpion came in a lovely case with strap, string oil, and a cool langcaster tea-shirt. Too much to write about the pick-ups, but see Johs webpage (www.langcaster.com) for information on them. Body made in Korea, but pick-ups invented and fitted by Joh Lang, made 2005. Also contains a beautiful paua scorpion in the head stock. If anyone wants a photo, then just drop me an email.

my goodness, Joh lang is a genius. When I first plugged this in, I thought I had died and gone to blues heaven. These pickups are completely hum and hissless (thanks to the low-impedance of the pick-ups), and has a sound that sent shivers up your spine. Each pick-up has fantastic attack, and a sound that makes you want to quit your day-job and perform for free, just to allow others to enjoy what you are enjoying. The pick-ups put out a very beautiful clean rich and full sound that is perfect for the church setting in which I play. With a flick of the switch, you can get a grunty overdrive (an inbuilt one also designed by Joh), although I have to say that this may not be as good as a typical stack overdrive system (that goes without saying). Overall though, this is one fantastic sounding gat, which is puncuated through my Podxt, which has absolutely come alive with the scorpion. My only dislike, is that it is causing me to stay up long hours of the night having fun on it, so that my boss is mildly upset that I am turning up to work tired. To be honest, you dont need any effects of any kind to produce the beautiful clean, bluesy, etc kind of sound, but if you are wanting a lot more grunt then thats when you can use your amp or effects pedals to get it cranking. I desparately want to give this a 10/10, but that would leave no room at all for improvement for any other gat, but this is by far, more gorgeous sounding than my friends PRS custom 24, and the odd les paul and Fender strat I have heard in my life. Please read the reviews on Loh's langcaster pick-ups by the top guitar magazines. You will be most amazed

gat fantastically set-up, however I am getting slightly too much fretbuzz, so will go for a five minute job to correct it. Everything else seems to be almost perfect. Please take the time to read about the gats that Joh makes out of New Zealand Kauri, because they are the most beautiful gats of all time (very serious about that as well).

this Chrome hardware and the solid Gibson Les paul body will last a lifetime. This thing is built like a tank. Nothing else need to be said

My goodness, if I could give out ratings of 100, I would. Joh Lang is honestly one of the most nicest, organised guys I have ever gotten to know (albeit through email). Joh is sought after by a lot of the top guitarists in the world (had Joe Satriani give him a visit while over here in NZ), and so is making gats and answering emails for the top-notch fellas, yet he still emailed me a couple of times a day for a couple of weeks. Talk about not showing partiality. Joh gave me a money back gaurentee for the guitar, but he would have to shoot me dead, and then pry it from my lifeless fingers for me to ever give this up though. Without wanting to repeat myself though, Joh is a genius.

Been playing for a few years. Also own a Laney LC30 II amp, a squire strat gat, Yamaha Pacifica (also a lovely gat), K. Yairi classical gat, PodXT effects unit (one of the best by far), Boss chorus (which I accidentally blew up). But out of all of this, my most precious item is my Langcaster Scorpion, which I would buy at the drop of a hat again (although only a few of them are being made I think). Fully going to save up and buy one of the Langcaster Kauri Strats that Joh makes with 35,000year old Kauri. That is definitely my dream guitar. Fav feature definitely is the cool pick-ups. Burstbucker, Alnico, PRS etc are all scrap-metal names compared to the Langcaster pick-ups...sorry no offence intended. The only thing I wish it could have had (but doesnt fit), it the stealth sustainer Joh sells with some of his other gats, boy I would be humming then.