Product: Malden Utopia
Price Paid: US $300ish
Submitted
03/18/2006
at
05:01pm
by
Anonymous
Features
:
8
This is a Jaguar/Jazzmaster (Offset waste) style guitar:
-Alder body
-25.5" Scale, Maple neck with a fairly dense Rosewood fretboard and 21 Jumbo frets. The back of the neck has a flat satin type finish which gives it a very smooth/fast feel and vintage look.
-Vintage (Off white) dot inlays
-1 Volume, 1 Tone, 5-way selector (mounted on the bottom horn)
-3 Alnico V Vintage (Off white) single coils (S/S/S)
-Chrome hardware
-Fulcrum/Strat style Trem w/adjustable saddles
-Gotoh style tuners
-Daphne Blue with a White Perloid pickguard/trem cover and matching DB headstock. (This particular color was discontinued in late '05)
-Malden is based in L.A. The guitar was produced in Korea 1/04.
-Included accessories: Trem bar, cord and truss rod allen wrench.
Sound
:
7
The p/u's are very hot. Maybe too hot for some but typical of ceramic. I happen to like ceramics but I did have to lower them quite a bit to tame them. Tones are quite Strat like with plenty of qauck but the 60-cycle hum isn't as noticeable as many Fender MIM's I've played. I found this odd considering their output but whatever ...
Action, Fit, & Finish
:
10
Setup was almost perfect. Considering this was made over a year ago, most likely on the store floor for awhile and the solid reputation of this store, I'm betting their tech gave it a checkup. Action was just about right, intonation; spot on. Nut is nicely cut and finished. Absolutely no buzz. Neck is straight. No adjustments necessary.
Trem is Strat style but more solid. The bridge route is just slightly crooked (Maybe 1/32") but it is obviously only visible with the trem cover removed and has no effect. It was initially setup to whammy down only but since I usually block my other trems or use Bigsby's, I decided to set this one up as designed. Very little tweaking involved and stays in decent tune with fairly vigorous tremolo action.
The fretwork is excellent. I think the Asian market has improved drastically in this area in the last few years. They are nicely rolled; smooth with no burrs.
The placement of the p/u selector is something I thought I wanted but does occassionally get in the way when strumming aggressively.
The finish is not deep but lustrous and most likely nitro.
Guts are well organized and cleanly soldered.
Reliability/Durability
:
9
As noted, this is a surprisingly well-built, solid instrument.
Customer Support
:
10
I hadn't heard of Maldens before but the company responded fast and friendly to my inquiries.
Overall Rating
:
9
I've been playing a wide variety of styles for almost 25 years but probably sway mostly towards Surf, Rockabilly/Psychobilly and Blues. I'm in between amps right now but have borrowed my friends' Fender Twin for a few weeks to play this through. Wow!
I am a fan of retro and unusual guitars and own a few but I'd been looking for an inexpensive Jaguar/Jazzmaster "copy" for years and stumbled on this at one of the very few local music stores in my area. Glad I did. This has been my go-to guitar since acquiring it. I've spent considerable time with it and feel comfortable with this review.
It isn't flawless but it's surprisingly close. Especially for the money.
