OLP Axis

Made 2002(?) in China. According to sales rep:
- Body is solid bassword

- Top is "fake" photo of curly maple top that has been applied to wood and the laquired over (all wood is solid), cream binding is been placed in (it really binds nothing, since there's only one peace of wood) this is why the binding feels a bit odd when you rub your finger over it.

- Pickups are "DiMazio clones" or "Semore Duncan Zebra clones" which ever your perfer, the point is they sound very close to the EVH Music Man signature (which had custom DiMarzio's)

- Body style and neck is licensed by Ernie Ball, think of it has the Squire Axis of Music Man, but with high qaulity materials

- Tuners aren't fancy, they are immitations of the expensive tuners used on the high dollar Axis and EVH models.

First the pickups. I'm blown away, if you think these sound cheap, you need to plug in a Squire or any otehr guitar under $200, these pickups shine and sound very similiar to the EVH model, Lots of warmth in the front pickup, almost natural chorus sound in the middle and lots of crunch in the back.. great sustain thoughout.

Factory setup was horrible. I didn't realize this untill I let a professional adjust the intonation and the action. This guy happen to love the Axis models so he brought the action down to the factory settings of a real Axis and put new strings on it (.09's factory setting comes with .08's) and wow... It feels like a new guitar.

The pickup selector knob already broke. I have a feeling this will be a high maintence guitar, even as basic as it is.. You get what you pay for I guess.

There isn't any.

Jay Turser now makes a Axis/EVH MusicMan clone that only cost about $250 ($50 more than this one), while this official licensed Axis clone is an excellent value, I'm disapointed with the factory setup and I wish they would have put a real maple top on it.

The Jay Turser EVH clone (official model is Jay Turser MM-72 or (JTMM72)) is a much better deal. Although the body style is not 100% to scale of the Axis on the Jay Turser model, it does have a solid body and a real flame maple top for only $50 more than this one. The Jay Turser is made in China just like the OLP Axis, but Jay Turser puts there guitars though quality assurnace twice and as a result they are always perfectly setup out of the box (better than some high dollar instuments). If I had to buy one again, I would have bought the Jay Turser music man clone, just because it would have saved me $40 in work to get the OLP to sound right.

OLP Axis MM1 What a fantastic little guitar.....Its got two nice sounding humbuckers, a 3 way switch, cutaway neck heel, 10 inch radius neck, jumbo frets, cute mini dot markers, a spring tremolo, really nice paint job, smooth machine heads,plays like a dream and its light in weight...What else would or could you need for $199.00? I've paid more for repairs on guitars then this little beauty cost!! Only thing it is missing is a high dollar price tag.....

I think I would be the last guy on earth you would expect to buy this guitar however I snatched it right up!!! Im not really a heavy metal player or into playing in the style of Eddie VanHalen..I can play some of that stuff but have not been called on to play that in many years. I am more from the jazz, r&b, country,blues, soul, funky, swing, surf , roots music school and you have probably heard my music in movies or television as I play guitar and compose alot of that stuff..especially for the soaps. I have played a telecaster for years and have cut hundreds of sides with the same guitar. I went into GC on sunday to pick up some strings and I picked up this guitar that I could not figure out for the life of me what the heck the name was...The neck felt very familiar to me and it really feels like a nice tele neck...So I plugged it in and was amazed at the playability, twang and smoothness of the tone and I still cant believe something right out of the box could play so sweet!!! The tone is just perfectly blended,,not to muddy, not too shrill,,,its just right!! Its clean sounds are just beautiful....I can get a great jazz tone out of it or the twangiest , funkiest tones out of it...overdriven it got some pretty nice rock tones....and it gets a very pleasantly surpising Jeff Beck "Blow by Blow" or "Wired" tone...It can do all the blues stuff perfect from TBone Walker to Freddie King to those nice tones Duke Robillard gets....I think the tones in this guitar blow away half the Gibsons, Fenders and Paul Reed Smith guitars out there and this guitar plays great right out of the box,,,,the others need a really good setup..
Tone on this guitar is king!!!

The guitar was setup very nice, the finish looks as nice as a Mexican Trick Paint job, the frets were perfect, the whole package is a very high quality guitar.....better then some Gibson stuff for 10 times the money

this guitar feels pretty solid.....the bridge saddles,,,,I dunno...there not the best quality but...the guitar sounds so good and its cheap!!!I think it will last a long time...there is not much to break on this guitar its so simple

Have notneeded to call

Playing since 1982...thats 20 years !!! and all kinds of guitars, good and bad..

I wish I could of got some kind of info on this guitar like who makes em? A catologue? what other options? How much if I buy 10 of them!!

I compare all guitars against my old tried and true 60's Telecaster and this thing really comes close in tone and feel however its different enough to spark other musical ideas...I really think this guitar is something.....so all you old farts like me who been playing for years...pick one of these up , you will love it...if you dont..give it to your kids....

See the (many) other reviews, as far as I know there is only one single version of this guitar... one that is basic but is good at what it has.

I LIKE it, a lot.
Came across a guitar-shop coincidentally, and having some time decided to pick up a few guitars just for the fun of it.
After having had my go at various Fenders, a Gibson, and a Blade or two, I noticed this OLP Axis.
Recognized it as a MusicMan copy, but didn't know what it was.
When I got it in my hands I was amazed (it just immediately felt right). Looked at the pricetag, and was staggered.
So it is possible after all, to get a guitar that feels right but doesn't cost...
When plugged into a few amps (small Marshall practice-amp, ieks, and then, better, into an Orange 15 combo (cool! must get one...), I liked the sustain and liveliness of the tone.
The neck-PU sings beautifully, but the bridge-PU was not solid enough for my taste.
Decided to sleep on it, came back next day. The guy at the store had a used Seymour Duncan TB4 (Jeff Beck model, I think) that he offered at Euro 70,- (+/- 60 US$).
With this PU at the bridge the guitar was alive at BOTH positions.
Also had the Volume-pot changed by a pull-push pot, to get the single-coil output of the TB4 as well.
With this, the guitar is really versatile: warm/full at bridge, heavy at the neck, and twang in the middle (both pu's, bridge at single-coil).
But most important: the tone is somehow "alive"...

At home, ran it into my Marshall TSL100... ahhhhhhhh, love it!

Actually, the store also had 3 "real" MusicMans, so I could compare.
Ok, admitted, they are sooooo nice, but then again, cost about 5-10 times as much.
So, for the money (Euro 370 + 70 for the SD-TB4 = US$ 400,-), it is definitely a good deal.

Guitar was set up quite nicely by the store, standard .009 set.
They put on new strings for me .010 (no charge !), and finetuned intonation and action.
I still would like the action a little lower, which I think should be no problem, as there is hardly any rattle or so.
The nut could be better though, I'll need to find some files.
And as the headstock is not bent backwards (like Fender), but does not have string-things (you know, that push them down), the G-string seems to be not 100% when played open.

The finish is a matter of taste. I got the gold-paint, and I like that.

no idea, just got it a week...

The store ("Stand By" at the Oudegracht in Utrecht, Netherlands) was 100% ok.
New strings, a bag, and changing of neck-PU: all for free!
Also they give THREE service-runs for free, which may be difficult for me as I live in another country :-(

Came across this OLP in a guitar-store in Utrecht (Netherlands) named "Stand By".
Small shop run by 2 or 3 guys that became fed up with the mentality of pushing boxes across the counter of the "large" musicshop in the same city; so they started their own, and doing well in the past 7 years.
I personally like it a lot when in these small shops they have time for a chat (and free coffee... I'm Dutch...) and don't push you to buy.
Also, "Stand By" has an impressive collection of guitars (and basses) that are out of the ordinary, like special colours and models: not mass, not a huge selection, but what is there is really worth being there!
Recommend this shop highly !

Bought new in 2002 from Musicians Friend based mostly off of other reviews here. Features are simple, just the volume control to let your amp do the work. Simple enough. Just crank up your amps volume and vary the sound by adjusting the volume. Jumbo frets, and mine is the photo top transparent gold. Cheap Fender style tremolo/whammy bar. Everything else is as stated previously.

Sounds very good. I am impressed with the stock P-ups. They sound much brighter and better than the stock P-ups on my Epi LP, but not as good as my Gibson 57's in another LP but that's a different type of sound. The OLP can get a variety of sounds by going through the different P-up selection. The neck P-up is surprisingly smooth and the bridge P-up can put out some great rock sounds. Both P-ups are a lot clearer than I would have thought on such a cheap guitar. This guitar has made me replace my Epiphone LP pickups with Dimarzio's just so I will continue to play it. But even if I do replace the P-ups and tuners, for $400 dollars I will have an outstanding sounding guitar, and it's all about the sound.

The setup was alright. The strings were crap and thus replaced. The pickup selector switch was busted off which seems to be common. Dealing with MF was a runaround, but I talked them into a partial credit back to my account rather than take the chance with another guitar. The neck is super easy to play. The selector switch, even broken, works fine.

Seems reliable. I replaced the strap buttons immediatley with strap locks so I don't drop the thing and I plan to replace the selector switch one of these days. Very impressed with it for such a cheap guitar. Even the "photo" top is alright. It's not going to fool a lot of people, but it still looks decent. May replace the tuners as well.

Don't know how to contact OLP, but MF, after about ten emails, finally credited back money for shipping the instrument with a broken selector switch. So for MF, I will give them a 7

Have been playing for six years, this is a great buy for the money. I also play an Epi LP standard, a Pan (Japanes imitition) LP, and a Washburn Strat. I can't imagine paying high dollar for a guitar when there are quality guitars around for so cheap. I don't even think I will replace the P-ups, at least not for a while. It offers a sound my other guitars don't provide. I would recommend this guitar to anyone looking for a great guitar and for the money you can't find any better. I would put this up against guitars that cost 3-4 X's as much. Don't expect it to sound like a $1500 guitar, because it won't, but it sounds incredible for 200 bones, and better than my Epi LP with stock P-ups. If stolen, I would buy another one.

The OLP Axis -- a year 200x made guitar (probably). Manufactured in China. Licensed by Ernie Ball. The neck has 22 Jumbo frets (I think they?re jumbo). It?s a copy of the EVH Signature, which you know already from reading the other reviews here. I got the Black sparkle top, it is really nice looking and doesn't grab everyone's attention or shine too much, which is just how I like it. Plus you can?t really tell if it's dusty or anything. It's a good clean finish without any major blemishes.

It comes with two Seymour Duncan zebra pickup copies, they are nice, but not the best I've used. For one thing they're relatively loud when I move my fingers across/against the strings, like the screech you'd get on an acoustic. I expected a less noisy output, but it could just be my pedal because when I play with my amp's overdrive on it sounds fine. The distortion sounds like crap if I put on my pedal and try to play, but if I just use my amp's (Ibanez 25R) overdrive it sounds fairly crisp. I think it just seems like it's too much with the humbuckers picking up all up and all the distortion going at once. I rarely get that annoying screechy feedback, but it's there if I stand close to the amp naturally.

The body style is that of the Musicman Axis, it's kind-of half-and-half, sort-of like a strat on the bottom and a Les Paul on the top. Standard tremelo, it really stays in tune because I bend the hell out of the strings and they don?t break or go out of tune. I haven't broken a string yet, and I've had the guitar for about 3 weeks.

Tuners are nicer than the ones I used to have on my old Rogue ST-3. I like them, they're pretty solid and they stay in tune well. The neck feels comfortable with the frets seeming a little sharp on the ends, but not nearly as bad as some that I've felt on some generic pawn shop guitars. The neck seems to be a tiny bit fat, but my fingers are pretty long so it suits me. The head seems really small (only like 2 inches when compared to strat necks). The selector switch is 3-way, and the sound changes a little with each position. I got a whammy bar, 8 foot long cable (estimation of length), tremelo adjusting tool, and a truss adjustment rod.

I play a lot of grunge and rock type stuff, Nirvana mostly, but usually whatever seems to interest me. This guitar gives a lot of power when distorted and gets kind of complex when used with a pedal. It is best heard when used with the on-board overdrive that comes standard on some combo amps.

When the guitar is played clean it sounds great, there's not much difference between the 3 different switch positions though, the farthest right position {closest to the tremelo} is really twangy and sounds good clean. The middle is bassy but the farthermost left {closest position to the neck} is a little bit heavier.

When I received this guitar from Musician's Friend the action was set perfectly for how I play --- nice and low. The playability is great on it. The tremelo has 3 support springs, which is standard I'm pretty sure. It was intonated (Which I'm glad of, because I've heard of Musician's Friend sending out guitars that aren't).

The volume knob is nice and solid, it's better than my old Rogue knobs, it seems a little fatter and harder to turn so I can get more precise volume levels.

My main concern with this guitar's workmanship wasn't actually anything related to the guitar makers at all. It was Musician's Friend. They sent me the guitar with a busted off selector switch, which I've heard isn't uncommon. Weather or not it was sent to me from the factory already broken, or broken during shipping is only for them to know I guess. I eventually just decided not to return it because I've heard of the run-around they give to people. I just counted my losses like others have, and just decided to live with it.

People often ask me what type of guitar it is, and I kind-of like that attribute because you don?t just look at it and say, "Oh. That's just a Fender." or "Oh. Look he has an Ibanez."

It's heavier than my previous guitar {Rogue ST-3} by a few pounds, but it does look a little small. This is only because of the shortness of the head. I actually like having it smaller because I bump it on things less often, but it sometimes goes out of tune in my gig bag.

I never needed to use it, although I could have notified Musician's Friend about my broken selector switch. It just didn't bother me enough to want to spend all the time getting a new one. I will probably never buy anything from Musician's Friend again though.

I've been playing for only about 6 months and wanted a new guitar with less feedback and a heavier tone. My amp is only 25 watts, but I hope to be getting a new 65-watt Crate combo or something similar within the next few weeks/months.

I wish it had a tone knob, but that's not really needed very badly. If it was stolen I probably would buy another one because I don't like spending a ton of money on my equipment because I don't have a job and have to save my money for long periods of time. This is really worth the $200. I had the personal decision of getting either this or an Epiphone or squire, I picked this =). I've never played the real Musicman so I can't really compare it to this.

I love the finish on it, and I don't know anyone else with a similar looking guitar. The only thing I wish would change is the pickups. If they were a little quieter I would have been in paradise, but the guitar is still very good for the price range. Overall it?s a great deal and seems good enough to be used from beginners to even advanced players.

This Guitar is made in China, 22 frets maple top basswood body,maple neck. All passive electronics. I give it a 5 because its a basic guitar, which I feel is good what it missing in features it make up in tone. This is a red hot tone machine!!!!

Well, I'm a great fan of Eddie VanHalen so I bought the guitar to try and capture his tone as well as a cheery rock axe, you get your two basic sound distortion and clean. It captured Eddie tone Exactly, I played it against a sound track of wn its love-live Cd, couldnt seperate the difference.
mean distortion sound, blues-like clean sound like a 63 strat.
They may be dimarzio clone zebra pick-up's but they sound just lke the custom blackbacks Eddie uses on his axis.

Well the action is very very low, just as Eddie likes, me too ha ha ha.
The finish is beautiful and smooth not ruff at all, I cant believe what I got for my $650.00Aust well I traded my mex fender strat for it costing $1200.00, But man it was worth it

Well I'm ing to test this guitar on stage at the local club, I have that much faith in it I could use it without a back-up, but a back is a good Idea only coz the strings dont last foreva.
But I trust it, It has become my number one axe!!!

Neva had to deal with em, but since Ernie Ball himself licenced it I guess his company should be contacted.
But hey mines made so so well I wont be needing to do that.

Excellent I bet even Eddie himself would trust this guitar on stage, after all he designed it-right.

all I can say that this rocks ellegantly and burries the les paul dead. It sings in my fingers.
I'll leave you with this thought THIS IS ONE CHEERY ROCK AXE!!!!!!!!!!!!

See Previous Entries. Only thing left out in previous entries is that the top is not carved/contoured like the high-dollar axis/wolfgang

In my opinion, the pickups sound just as good as the axis and wolfgang, which completely surprised me. I bought this guitar as a fixer-upper. I'm not changing a thing, including the pickups. This can be a bit subjective, but I think that the pickups couldn't be any closer without them being the real deal. This is the kind of guitar eddie would've experimented with in the early days as a fixer-upper.

It came with 8s. I changed them to 10s, lowered the action a bit and I could fly on this guitar. Straightest neck I've ever felt. You can bend strings up 2 steps without fretting out. You can lower the action as low as any high dollar guitar without buzz.

I'm sure it is fine. I gig every week, but I would never gig without a backup no matter what I was playing. This guitar is going in line with my strat and LP.

Who the hell makes these? They don't have a website.

For the money, this gets an 11.

Okay, here's the scoop. I broke my most sacred promise to self: Never buy a guitar through mailorder without playing it first. Well, I'm glad I did with this one, because for the money, it may well indeed be the best guitar I've ever owned. I'm 32 and have been playing for 20 years. I play a wide range of music, mostly good old R&R Van Halen, SRV, etc...If there were some way people could do a blindfolded "feel-test" and "sound-test" with this guitar, as compared to it's more expensive counter-parts, and other high dollar guitars, I would guess that people would pick this guitar at least as much as the other guitars, and would certainly always pick it above the cheap ones. This guitar may be cheap, but I've been making money by playing for over ten years, and it will be right up there with the big boy strat and LP guitars. When the new sunburst version comes out, I'm picking it up too.

This guitar is a korean made copy of the Ernie Ball Axis model guitar (which was originally the Eddie Van Halen signature model guitar). The pickups are humbucker/humbucker and are voiced to sound very close to the original instrument its modeled after. It's all passive electronics with only a 500K pot between the pickups and the output. The guitar is simply a basswood body and a maple neck.
If you're familiar at all with the Van Halen /AXIS style guitar you have a good idea of what the OLP Axis MM-1 is all about.
This guitar however comes with a 6 post vintage tremolo, not floyd Rose like the original. In my estimation, this is an easy retrofit to fix.

The sound of this guitar is incredibly lifelike and "brown", just like its older sibling. If you're a fan of modern Van Halen tone you will like this guitar!

The faux maple finish on the yellow guitar model is the only one I don't like. Frankly because of how inexpensive these guitars are to buy I don't know why anyone would care about the finish. Buy it, bring it home, and get your favorite color spray paint out and paint it up for the price its sold at!

The action on these guitars is very nice. Because the neck profile is so close to the original Axis it plays quite well. I must admit that the action seems a tad high for an Axis type guitar (having played the real thing) but if you do buy this guitar you owe it to yourself to put in a Floyd Rose anyways and then when you do that you can just adjust the action to your liking.

This guitar is so inexpensive you should not feel bad about experimenting with it to make the instrument as GREAT as it can be. Install a Floyd Rose, move the switch to the REAL place it ought to be (if you know the EVH model, you know what I'm talking about), paint the body to your liking, and put on a Strat style TONE knob!

This isn't just a fixer-upper though. This guitar has TONS of potential!

I've not played it for too long but considering the price, I'd buy 2 of them and keep one as a backup. Personally, I never buy guitars valued over $400 because they were meant to be PLAYED not worshiped! High priced guitars are worthless if you ask me. Real musicians will see the value in the OLP for the instrument it is ... buy it, play the crap out of it, and love every minute of it with no regrets!

Don't worry about it. EVH once said, "It's just wood and metal."
Play it for the instrument it is.

I've heard a lot of nay-sayers rip this guitar apart and I think its because these people spent $2500 on the real EVH guitar and now feel jipped. Personally I think EVH got jipped when Ernie Ball took this GREAT guitar design away from him. (Yes, his contract with EBMM stated he never owned the design - that's why he went to Peavey). The OLP guitar is a nice instrument. It beats every Squire, Epiphone, Washburn and other cheap guitar out there for tone and playability. And best of all, it actually gives its higher priced cousins a run for their money. If I were you I would get TWO of these guitars and show your friend who bought the EVH model ... they'll hate you for it!

This is a very simple guitar. Two humbuckers with a volume knob and a a 3 way (LP style) switch. The pickups are zebra Seymour Duncan clones, and they are very nice. I currently play a one-of-a-kind custom Carvin, 1968 Alvarez acoustic, and a 2000 American Strat Plus--all of which are pretty high end. I bought this guitar for the chapel I play in, and now I leave my electrics at home and play this. It's great. The controls seem limited, but I agree that going through the 3 settings (N / N&B / B) REALLY change the sound. The neck is great! No sharp edges, very high end feel to it. Nice finish (I got the red one). Standard strat style tremolo.

Very rich sound. It does what it should. Play through both humbuckers, and this baby pushes a beautiful clean sound. I can get a Carlos-y sound through the neck pickup with some gain. I play this through a Tech 21 Trademark 60. No effects, just the amp's reverb and channel switching. Clean is marvelous! Not too bright, not too dull. I'm pretty much of a riffster/soloist. This might lack for the rhythm guys (our rhythm guitaist doesn't like the round back on the neck).

I bought this used from a guy who bought it and sold it right away. The action was way off from him, but I let loose on the truss rod, and raised it and it rings wonderfully now, man. ABSOLUTELY not a single flaw on this guitar. Not one. I never realized what pieces of junk we make here anymore. This is only a $200 guitar and it kicks!

The finish does seem a little thin, but I like that. When I do my own finish work, I do that intentionally, so that might bother some people. I've only had it a month, and I leave it at church, and kids and who knows who and what else regularly pick it up and bang on it. It's a rough and tumble guitar. The hardware is solid, but I do agree that the tuners are weird. They are die cast plastic, I think, but they keep tune well.

I wouldn't know who to deal with. No warranty...used.

This is a FANTASTIC guitar for $200. FANTASTIC! The tremolo is set up pretty tight on mine, and I don't use it. Come to think of it, I wouldn't know how. So, if you're a Van Halen type dive bomber, I would stick with a Floyd. But otherwise, if I had to stick with ONE electric, of my custom Carvin, Strat Plus (with the works--noiseless PUs, trans red finish, locking tuners), I'd have no problem playing this one instead. None at all. If it were lost, I get a hardtail, and maybe the amber flame photo job.

It has everything it is supposed to have

typical 2 humbucker guitar, not especially subtle tonally

pretty nice for $200. Some of the american branded imports
better take a look at these, ahem, fender...

for what it is, this thing is well made.

here's the deal:

I was asked to help a friend select an instrument for a friends
11 year old son as a first guitar.

i went to the Guitar Center and looked at all ibanez, fender , epiphone etc. all of them were really poorly finished; sharp edges on frets andswitches that didnt work.
were the most telling example of the cost cutting involved.
i picked up one of these and the difference was night and day.
It played like a real guitar, sounded like a real guitar, sustained well and just generally rocked. i was sitting in front of a decent amp and I have to tell ya, regardless of the tone i set the amp
up for, this little guitar sounded great.

ive owned many many guitars in the past 25 years. lots of vintage
stuff, really GREAT guitars. I know a skunk when I smell one.
this little guitar is the real deal. I would gig with one of these
without hesistaion. as a matter of fact I might buy one,
put a split coil humbucker in neck position and a single coil
in the middle, add a switch and have a dandy little guitar for
blues jams. My 63 strat can stay home.

For $200 ya just gotta love these guitars!