Legra Guitars MDV602

Specially selected heavy-swamp ash body
5 piece neck; mahogany/maple/walnut/maple/mahogany
Ebony board, maple bound.
(all woods are 5A)

Bare knuckle pickups:
Ceramic warpig bridge
Cold sweat neck

Schaller hardware: locking tuners, wrap around bridge

Lots of switching options:
On the 5 way:
Bridge
Bridge split
Neck and bridge
Neck split
Neck

On the push-pulls:
Neck out of phase
Bridge parallel

Graphtec nut

25.5 scale
15 inch radius
24 fret, 6000 gauge

Dark blue finish with black in the grain. Neck is just sealed.

10, easily: it???s EXACTLY what I wanted.

I went to Bob looking for particular sounds: I wanted a metal tone that was extremely heavy, but as clear, tight, precise and responsive as possible. I hadn???t really got the sound in my head with the guitars I've come by that were worth buying, even after BKP swaps (my favourite pickups, completely incredible handmade to order...but they're another story!).

I also wanted bell-like cleans and a clear, middy, but open lead sound.

There isn???t a guitar in a shop in the world that has all these in one place to an extent that satisfied me, so I thought it was time to have a stab at getting it right, from the ground up rather than making do with this or that.

After exchanging many an email, discussing possible constructions and combinations of woods and taking bobs advice on many things on achieving this sound, I settled on the woods and construction.

The tone is exactly what I wanted. More so than I expected. The combination of the guitar being what it is and the pickups means what you play is exactly what you hear, and it nails the tonal characteristics I wanted with it: mainly having a level of heaviness that descends into mud 99.999999% of the time. The other 0.0000001% of the time is this guitar.

Here???s a breakdown of the sounds:

Bridge: very low, extremely tight bass, an open, smooth mid and ultra clear highs in the bridge position. Some compression from the shear gain of the warpig, but not as much as its gain level would normally make.

The bridge lead sound is very aggressive, very defined and sharp and full bodied (jesus, I could be talking about a wine there! But you know what I mean).

The neck has very full, even jazzy cleans and a lead tone so perfectly middy-but-not-nasal, and without too much treble but not muddy that it???s almost a clich??.

Bridge split: makes a passable metal sound on its own! Very full for a bridge split! It sounds like it???s the neckwards coil, cos it has as much body as twang; it???s almost middle-single in tone. Either that or splitting a warpig still makes an insane sound. Very good clean.

Bridge and neck together: same deal as always. Add em up, divide by two. Good middle ground lead sound. Too bassy for heavy rhythm. Great clean.

Neck out of phase: I use this for Isis-y texturing occasionally. There???s not much to say. It???s out of phase. Sounds very high, every movement on the string is perfectly audible and difficult to control with rewards in uber-clarity and penetration, as usual.

Bridge parallel: really articulate lead and clean sound. As usual, compression and gain lower while high end goes up and the whole sound opens up somewhat. For a ceramic 22k bridge pickup, this sure is a great clean tone!

Neck split: very convincing single sound. I use it for clean arpeggios and blues mainly (neck singles have always been a mainstay of my guitars for these purposes, and I couldn???t see me doing without it for this one)

10. Again, this guitar was made to nail a particular batch of sounds. It does so brilliantly.

The build quality is incredible. Perfect. And there are little touches to it that really set it off and make all the difference, like the truss rod cover is made from the same piece of banded wood as the neck, so it blends in and the heel is sweet: the curve of the neck runs straight into the body.

Legra bolt on guitars have a unique construction: they are very tight fit, wood to wood contact (nothing really unique there, keep reading!) that are held together with 6 SPAX screws. These screws have a serrated thread, so they have much more friction than normal screws, and with 6 of them it really strongly couples the neck to the body. The sustain is amazing (though admittedly I play too fast to notice most of the time! It???s great to have it under the bonnet when you need it) and the guitar vibrates as one piece, so has the same sort of low end response and sustain as a thru neck. Really well engineered piece of kit (but then, Bob @ Legra was an engineer for 20 years!).

Out of the box the setup was very good (even after shipping) and now that the newly built neck has had strings on it for a few weeks it???s extremely stable. You can compound bend all day and it doesn???t bat an eyelid.

10. You absolutely CANNOT buy this quality in a shop. PRS customs aren???t this good.

Haven???t had it long enough to say.

There???s nothing on it that???s not top quality. Well built to the point of overkill. I can???t see anything being a problem, but will leave off the rating because it would, strictly speaking, just be a guess to say that a guitar you've had for nearly a whole month is reliable or durable. But I'll stress again that there isn???t a flimsy, loose, shoddy, shaky, flaky cubic millimetre to it.

This is where Legra (Bob Johnson) really shines.

To begin with I was sending him emails at a rate of 2 or 3 a day for a few weeks, quizzing him about what would make the sound I want. At this point I hadn???t given him a penny, and there was no obligation anywhere for him to give the time to my questions. BUT I got very fast, detailed and impartial advice anyway! (for example, I always think that when someone advises something cheaper because it would be better for you that they're giving good advice: bob did this on several occasions).

While the guitar was being built I got regular progress updates, All went swimmingly, and though Bob checked a couple of things that could go according to my (pie in the sky) plans with me, there was nothing remotely approaching a problem (i.e. Bob doesn???t change a THING without checking it with you: he???s all about getting what you want).

After sales support is 100% to the point where Bob even offered to post out Allen keys to make adjustments with (I already have dozens). With such a good product already there???s little actual use for after-sales service, but I've still exchanged emails with him on hints for care of the sealed neck with fast and helpful replies.

Overall the experience of dealing with a real person with such expertise is always a far better, more efficient and productive one than dealing with a large company. For me that???s part of what you???re buying into with custom gear. But Bob in particular stands out as one of the most helpful, accommodating and customer-centred guys I've ever had the pleasure of dealing with.

I've been playing 8 years. I've owned 8 electric guitars and played hundreds. I'm fairly skilled in the ways of the guitar tech and have a better than average understanding of what makes a guitar tick (though I learned an awful lot talking with Bob!).

Highlights of guitars I own or have had fairly regular access to include: my custom shop dean (though not customised for me...long story) my Jackson DX1, a mates Les Paul standard (he spent a couple of years trying out les pauls and bought the best he found in that time. That was about 5 years ago and he says he???s only played one better since. I haven???t been hunting for a les paul, but it???s the best that I've played: really great guitar), another mates '87 RG550, another mates 64 Jap strat and a 70s Yamaha SG I had (and have since sold).

This is the best guitar out of those in terms of acoustic properties (taking pickups out of the equation for a second: the bare knuckles don???t make for a level playing field against off-the-shelf stuff!).

The only one that approaches it in terms of low end and overall acoustic response is the les paul: they have a similar kick-in-the-guts bass and mid. This has that, and the same sort of clarity as the maple necked dean, and RG (stars of the show in high end clarity, note definition show). That just shouldn???t be possible, so it???s got a 10 already.

So, basically you get a guitar that exceeds the quality of ANYTHING in a shop, built by an expert exactly to your requirements (so YOU personally LIKE it better than anything in a shop: it???s made to match your tastes!) and with total support in the design, construction and after-sale maintenance. For ??1330. INSANELY good value. I wish I could give this one 20 out of 10.