OLP Axis

Just like everyone else said. Axis copy. I liked everything about this guitar except for one thing...it is so small...maybe its just me, being 6 feet tall, but it felt like i was playing a mini guitar...i saw artists play it live, and could have sworn that it was regular size...if your a small person, than this guitar is probably great for you. I couldn't take how small it was for 1 day, and i had to return it. Other than that, its a great guitar.

Sounded great when i played it. Everything i was hoping from it.

The finish looked a lot better on the picture than in person, yet it still wasn't horrible.

I have no idea, i had it for 1 day...and returned it

No idea

This is a great guitar, from the one day i had it, but keep in mind if you are a tall person (6 feet or over) like me, this guitar is going to look mini on you. I even have a Fender Strat, which is a pretty small guitar, and that blows this out of the water size wise. From the hour i played it, it sounded very good.

22 frets, maple neck with maple fretboard, solid basswood body with laminated maple top. 2 "DiMarzio clone" humbuckers in neck and bridge positions. Quilted maple photo under clear laquier finish on top (to give a quilted maple look). Strat style (non-Floyd rose) temolo unit.
One volume knob, three-way selector switch for pickups.

This guitar is amazing! It sounds fantastic, the pickups have a lot of volume without cracking or sounding muddy (like the Ibanez custom humbuckers in their lower-end guitars). Pickups are balanced well and I find myself using all three settings regularly Set in the middle to turn both front and back pickups on to get a sparkling clean tone that's almost telecaster... Think "Finish What You Started" or "316" (sorry had to make a Van Halen reference).

I'm considering replacing the pickups, I called DiMarzio (the company that created the pickups for the original EVH sig MusicMan guitar) and they suggested using a DiMarzio PAF in the neck and a DiMarzio ToneZone in the bridge to get "as close as possible" to the custom EVH sig pickups in his MusicMan (which are no longer being made). I really like the stock pickups so I haven't decided if I'm going to shell out an extra $200 do update the pickups or not.

This thing was inspected and setup on par with American made Fender strats. Guys, if China can mass produce this kind of quality, we're in trouble! Seriously, put your "Everything American built is better" attitude aside and give this guitar and unbiased try, you'll be blown away buy quality/cost.

Its action is setup almost indentical to the non-tremolo version of the MusicMan Axis (the ones with Floyd-rose tremolos all have very low-action). I considered lowering it a bit, but found it perfect for what it is (I wouldn't recommend using the tremolo bar anyway as it will just go out of tune on you).

Don't know. Someone said Ernie Ball is distributing OLP. I'm not sure if that is acurate as OLP is created by:

HHI
4940 Delhi Pike
Cincinnati, OH 45238
(800)-999-5558

Not sure why this information is so hard to obtain.

Never contacted

Outstanding value, pick one up!

Made in 2001, Ernie Ball/Music Man Axis copy. 23 frets, solid Basswood body. One volume control. Two Seymore Duncan Zebra copy open coil humbucker pickups, 3-way selector switch. Passive electronics. Gorgeous Solid, rock maple neck and fret board. Beautiful Ernie Ball head stock with 4 over 2 under. Excellent brass fretwork. Mine is finished in Candy Apple Red--matching Ernie Ball headstock with OLP ensignia. Standard Fender type tremolo, adjustable bridge. Closed Grover-style tuners (solid). Only reason I cant give this category a 10 is because it is a very simple ax. But in this case, less is BETTER!

First, right out of the box--TRASH THE STRINGS! Put some good strings on before you do ANYTHING! I am using Ernie Ball Slicks, which perform nicely on this guitar, but you will have to use your own favorites to find the real value in this instrument!

Although this ax only has a volume control, there is a great deal of sound variation between the pickup selections. Of course, there are infinite sounds that can be created with a decent amp and digital processor or stomp box, but there is plenty of variation here. I like the fact that the manufacture of this guitar allows the player to control the sound through the electronics he/she uses, and allows the freedon on the guitar itself to limited selections--that way the player can change sounds quickly with simply the flick of the toggle switch and adjustment of the volume knob!

I MUST add that this guitar has an INCREDIBLE SUSTAIN! I could not believe that a guitar in this price range would sustain a note for 20 seconds, but THIS ONE DOES!!!

This ax has Seymore Duncan copy humbuckers, but they are not your average Asian "just barely passable" pickups! They actually have a nice tone, and are very quiet. I fully planned on relplacing them with some nice p-90's or Seymore Duncans, but I think I will put that off for now--these are quite usable!

The difference between the neck pickup and the bridge position is huge: the neck pickup creates a nice, warm, jazzy stlye sound with the capability to grind with the volume turned all the way up; the bridge pickup is nice an chunky and brassy and fat, making a classic rock tone; put the selector switch in the center position and you haev a nice, full, warm yet chunky tone that will rock with the right amp behind it! I love the sound this ax makes! Its hot as a nympho in a peep show!

Action is a relative thing, and perfection has a different definition for every player. Anyone past the beginner stage will be able to tell what he/she likes or hates, and either be able to set it up or pay a luthier to do so--I highly reccomend the new player to LEARN how to set up the neck and bridge and action, and set intonation as well (it is NOT all that difficult!), because there will come a day when it has to be done, and nobody will be around to do it FOR you!

Out of the box, this guitar was set up nicely--obviously our Chinese friends have learned how to build a guitar properly! The neck and fretwork is as nice as the real Ernie Ball Axis; the neck nice and smooth and well crafted and solid! The tuners are a generic Grover, but nice and tight. This guitar literally comes alive when you play it, transferring vibrations all over the body and neck for a nice responsive feeling. The routing for the pickups is nice, and the fit and finish on the body is excellent for a guitar in this price range. I would have to say that for price vs. value, this guitar is worth much more than what it costs.

I would gig with this guitar without a thought, and without a backup! I like this ax BETTER than my 1986 Fender rear-routed Strat with HSH, double locking Floyd rose tremolo set up! It is heavier, better balanced, the neck is faster and the tone is more versatile--even though all you get is the volume knob! The general FEEL of this guitar is just--comfortable! This guitar would hammer nails if you didnt care about the finish! The strap buttons are rock solid, the fit around the neck is tight. The tuners are solid, the bridge is like a rock and stays in tune even after thrashing on the tremolo. The only real complaint I have is that the back covers are a cheap plastic, and the pickups are screwed directly into the body, and have no covers around them so all you see is the routed edge. I will fix all that for next to nothing, though, when I replace the pickups--AFTER these go bad, probably!

Have had no need to deal with the company--but if Ernie Ball warranties this instrument, I have no worries!

I have to be honest--in this world you GET what you PAY for! It is rare to find a two-hundred dollar guitar that is better overall that a SIX hundred dollar guitar (My Strat)but, FOR THE MONEY, this is an incredible deal! It is not to be compared to the 2,000.00 Ernie Ball/Music Man Axis, because there IS no comparison, but REALLY, for 200 bucks, I DARE you to find a better guitar! This is, WITHOUT A DOUBT, the best value for a guitar in the 200--500 dollar price range!

Made in 2001 in China. Offical name of guitar is apparently OLP Axis MM1 (sometimes the Axis and MM1 part are subed out, so I'm not sure as to what the manufacturer intended) neck is 22 Frets with a 15" radius, maple fretboard with finish, large frets, laminated maple top with clear coat over (unconviencing) quilted maple photo. Sales rep told me back is solid basswood. One volume knob (no tone knob), one three-way toggle switch (Gibson style)

Pickups are "DiMarzio clone" humbuckers in neck and bridge. Bridge is a Strat style tremolo. Tuners are generic and cheap. Out of box included truss-rod adjustment tool, allen wrench for action adjustment, instuctions on how to adjust the action and truss-rod, and a guitar cable. Case not included (and if you want one, prepare to spend an extra $130-$150 on a MusicMan Axis case).

I'm giving the OLP Axis 10, Because for $200 you'll find few guitars that include this many features, with this kind of factory set up for the price.

The sound is great! Although this guitar is a "low-end" replica of the American made Ernie Ball Musicman Axis, you have to keep in mind that it's design and concept is very much the same guitar that took MusicMan many years to design (Eddie was a very hard guy to please), same goes with the pickups. I've played many, many guitars. The n/b humbucker setup is common these days, but with 95% of the guitars out there you always get inconsistancy in volume and/or EQ when you toggle the neck/bridge pickup selector, making it common that you use the neck pickup for rhythm and bridge pickup for lead (often requireing different EQ on the effects patches to compensate). Not so with any of Eddie Van Halen's designs or inspired designs, including: The original MusicMan EVH sig, the Axis, the Peavy Wolfgangs and now even the OLP Axis!

All of these guitars have pickups that sound almost indentical, and I'm blown away that OLP pulled this off with their MM1. The pickups are very powerful and balanced in front and back positions, you can play rhytm and lead on both without adjusting EQ or volume. To really understand this, you need to plug into a high-gain amp, but when you do.. you'll be blown away be the versitility of the three unique pickup tones you can get.

If you're a Van Halen fan, you can hear Eddie switching all the time. One of the best examples is "Humans Being" off the Twister soundtrack. The begining of the song is played on the front pickup for that deep sound and then when the drums and bass kick in, he switchs to the bridge pickup and the tone is just varied enough to cut though perfect without having to make any amp/effects adjustments. I believe Eddie used a Peavy Wolfgang when he recorded Humans Being, but you can get that same versitility out of the OLP Axis, even my wife noticed this.

Adjust was suprisng perfect. I assume Ernie Ball MusicMan did the setup themselfs.

No comment.

No comment

I love this little guitar, I'm really glad Ernie Ball decided to start licensing low-end models, because their American crafted instruments are way outside my budget. I'm also very pleased with quality of the OLP product. In my opnion, Ernie Ball/MusicMans high end guitars have always been a few notches above the rest, it only makes since that Ernie Ball/OLPs are some of the best built in their price range. I bought the photo-finish quilted "gold" model, I suppose they did the best they could have with the fake top, but when you put it side-by-side with a real quilited maple top, you notice instantly. I hope OLP produces more color selections in the future, but I'm not counting on it.

Made In China during 2001. 22 fret maple neck with 15'radius that feels much like the neck on the Musicman Axis' and Peavey Wolfgangs. However, neck is finished unlike the Van Halen signature guitars. Two passive humbuckers w/ 3-way switch and a volume control. Basswood body like the Peavey and Musicman, maple foto-quilt top. Vintage strat style trem. Generic tuners. Tools for adjustments provided along w/ cheap cable. Cheap volume pot and three-way switch. (normal for foreign guitar in this price range and easy to replace)

Excellent sounds from both pick-ups. Very quiet w/ full sound. Good clean sounds, but the guitar is best suited to a distorted amp. After all, it is a copy of a guitar designed by and for Ed Van Halen. Great sound from cheap pick-ups provided, but a set of Dimarzio or Seymour Duncan pick-ups would make the guitar sound even more complex and interesting. I wouldn't hesitate to spend $200 on pick-uos for this $199 guitar.

Set-up very well, altough the intonation did need to be slightly adjusted. Binding on top had no gaps or edges, very smooth. the butt end of the neck could use a little more sanding, but that is easy to fix. Otherwise, a flawless little guitar.

Solid guitar that should last a long time. Superb finish that is very glossy and attractive. Hardware is good. Cheap volume pot and three-way switch.

N/A

Played for 10 years. Own a variety of guitars and amps. Marshall, Laney, Red Bear, SWR, Behringer, Yamaha, OLP, G&L, Ibanez, Gibson, Kramer, etc. I lost I would replace immediately. In fact I hope that OLP comes out with the foto-quilt/bound top model in other colors such as green, blue, red, and purple. I love this guitar because I am a long time Van Halen fan and have always wanted a Guitar like the Musicman EVH or Peavey wolfgang, but didn't want to spend $1500 or so each cost. Excellent guitar for anyone's arsenal.

Made in 2001, neck is 22 Frets with a 15" radius, maple fretboard with thin/medium frets.Top wood is laminated maple with clear coat over curly maple photo to give a curly maple look (it's very hard to tell the curly maple top isn't real). Back is solid basswood (black) with a cream color binding between the top and back. Pickups are generic brand two color (cream/black) humbuckers in neck and bridge positions. Pickups are screwed into the body wood. Bridge is standard Strat-style tremolo. Tuners are generic brand. Fresh out of box included tools to adjust Truss-rod and bridge action.

Given the price/class of the guitar, the features are above average.

The sound is very good. The day I bought this thing I had an empty music store with my choice of amps. I picked a vintage Marshall stack and cranked it (so the harmonics would shine though). I had three guitars lined up to try: an orginal MusicMan EVH sig (used), MusicMan Axis (new) and the OLP Axis (new). All three instruments are very close. They all sound very good; but, to be honest the EVH sig was the best sounding and best feelings of the three. The difference in sound between the Axis and OLP Axis is really small. A lot of people have made negitive comments about the pickups, but these aren't your average generic asian humbuckers that you get on the Series 10 and other low-end guitars. The OLP Axis pickups sound crisp and are very responseive.

Leaving the EVH Signature music man behind, I took the MusicMan Axis and the OLP Axis and moved on to a Fender Twin Reverb and pluged in. Regardless of what othese may say: clean, these guitars sound indentical! A very glassy full tone. A sound that almost says "I'm a single-coil", but not quite.

There isn't a whole lot of variety in the OLP Axis, just as there isn't much in the MusicMan Axis, so I'm only giving it an eight overall.

Factory action setup is very impressive for this class of guitar. On par with Ibanez and Yamaha products you'll find in this price range, but not as much attention to detail as a American made: MusicMan, Fender or Gibson guitar.

What few people have commented on is that the OLP Axis is actually modeled closer to the MusicMan EVH Sig than the MusicMan Axis. Cosmeticly it's very hard to tell the difference from a short distance. If you pull out your inspection glasses you will notice things (most easily to spot is the photo curly top on the golden model).

Finish was nice, but not perfect and not the same quality as either of the MusicMan Axis or MusicMan EVH sig. You can tell this guitar was more machine assembled than the MusicMan products.

I'm not going to comment on the reliability or durability right now as I haven't had it long enough to say.

Well, who are you going to call? The best I can figure (and from what the Guitar Center sales rep said) this guitar is distributed by Ernie Ball Music Man in the USA. Ernie Ball is stamped on the back of the neck with "licensed by" above it, but I can find no mention of OLP products on Ernie Ball or Music Mans web-site, so go figure.

If you're looking for a quality guitar at a low-price you've probably already looked at Yamaha and Ibanez guitars in this price, the OLP Axis is a quality product for it's class, in fact it may very well be the best guitar value for the money

Made this year, in China.
22 frets.
Solid top.
3 way, 1 volume, no tone.
2 passive Dimarzio copy humbuckers.
Basswood body, maple neck and board.
Deep red semi-sparkle finish.
EBMM Axis body.
Standard tremolo.
Generic tuners.
Jumbo frets.
Came with no accessories, but was very cheap.

No tone knob, but changing between pups creates noticable tone difference.
Good for rock, metal some blues, depends on the amp.
Seems to be very quite, even with gain on high and volume on 5 on an 80 watt amp.
Full, semi bright sound.
I like the sound of this guitar with my amp, but if your amp change the tone much, you're pretty much stuck with just a few tones.

Set up well when purchased, NO buzzes.
Frets and fret edges were nice and smooth, no work needed.
Pickups were raised and even angled when purchased.
No noticable flaws, plays great.
Great deep red semi-sparkly finish.

Seems solid, would probably endure live playing easily.
Hardware seems solid.
Great looking finish, but thin, maybe prone to wear, scratches.
Strap buttons were good with a Ralph Marlin strap, seemed slippery with cheap one.
But, it is dependable, and I would gig with it.

Good guitar, great for the money. Feels more expensive than it actually is. For some reason, local store had several, brand new OLP Axis' for $110, $90 below MF. Came without trem arm and accerories, but those are cheap to replace. Too good of a deal to pass up, actually thinking of getting another.

OLP Axis guitar a music man copy, this guitar was made in 2001 in china . it has 22 frets 2 black and cream humbucker pickups with a vintage style fender type bridge. One volume control no tone controle and a gibsin style 3 way switch. the tuners are inclosed (I cant tell what kink thay are ) a 25.5 maple neck with a maple finger board with meadum jumbo frets. And like the more expensive music man it also has a small wheel to adjust the neck . The guitar has a gold flame top with the back painted black and a cream buinding dividing the black and gold top

the sound is big and full when played through a tech 21 trade mark 10. When the trade mark 10 was set to more of a clean sound the sound was bright . theres a lot of tone difference from the neck to the bridge pickup . And that is a goot thing because there is no tone control on this thing .The guitar would be good for hard rock or blues ,but I dont think is would be very good for country music or jaze . The lack of a tone control limits it to rock or hard zeplinish tipes of blues.

There were some things that were set up very good and some not so good .The bridge ,pickups ,frets, and tuning keys were all fine and as thay should be . The neck pocket was good and tite but was way out of adjustement, the nut slots were not as deep as thay needed to be . So out of the box the action was not good at all. the finish is very good for a $200 guitar, a very good looking guitar. The frets are finished very well,and the neck( if it has a finish on it I cant tell)
feels very good . The neck is a little fatter than my telecaster and the finger board a little flater. After fixing the nut slots and adjusting the neck , the action was very fast and ez to play

ben playing about 10 years . If it was stolen it would not be so bad the fender noisless pickups on my tele coust allmost as much as the axis did. the only reason it cant sound as good as my USA made tele is it has on tone control.The lack of a tone control makes you loose out on a lot of good sounds. It is a good guitar for the money and would be worth a lot more if it was set up the way it should be from the factory.

No real frills here...

Ok, This guitar sounds exactly what you pay for. For 200 dollars you cannot be too choosey, However, THIS GUITAR DOES NOT SOUND NEARLY AS GOOD AS A "REAL" EBMM AXIS. Not even close. It sounds very much like the korean ibanez or esp guitars of this price range. The wood...whatever it is (Particle Board maybe) has zero resonance. A poor sounding guitar.

Action was not horrible, HOWEVER, keeping this thing in tune is a nightmare. The tuners are INCREDIBLY cheap, they almost feel like plastic. The neck's wood color is so bright it screams "I have a sub-par guitar because i couldnt save another 100 or so dollars and buy something almost reasonable." The finish. FRIGHTING. I tested the gold quilted top (I mean computer generated quilted paper top). Resembles diarrea.

For a novice (bedroom) guitarist this instrument. You cannot have high expectations on a guitar that you can pick up for 199$ new.

What else do you expect out of this. IF YOU ARE BUYING A GUITAR TO MAKE PEOPLE THING YOU ARE PLAYING AN EEMM AXIS THEY ARENT GOING TO FALL FOR IT. OLP =Obviously Lame Product

I ordered this in september and was hoping to make the first posting, it was backorder and I suggest you read what the others have posted as I agree with them. Mine is a 2001,Just off the boat from china, It has 22 frets, solid "foto flame"wood faux-pas top,one volume, 3-way,4 top side & two bottom side tuner config,vintage style trem, 2 Dimarzio paf type knock-off pickups, passive, basswood body, neck ???, glossy finish on body and headstock, satin finish on neck, It is a Knockoff of the ernie ball model, Maple neck & fretboard is pretty flat I'd say around 16" radius I could be wrong. It came with a cord,allen wrench for saddle adjustment, truss rod adjusting bar,tremelo arm.a pretty simple guitar.

I play mostly classic rock and some newer stuff, As I found out last night, this guitar can do the job. I used it with my trademark 60 amp and some little dano's chourus, phaser, flanger,tremelo, delay, and it hit most of the harmonics I've been used to and even some that where unexpected but welcome. It only has a volume knob so your tone has to be set up through the amp, I only had to adjust the amp volume. I have to say it went pretty seamless through stones/zz top/marshall tucker/Lit/and others. My only dislike is unless you have it slung low you tend to hit your arm on the top of body, like on a tele, and if your a real agressive player you can get bruised, like on a tele...I'd give it a ten but I think the pickups, which are some of the best copies of dimarzio's I've had, were not superb but for $200 bucks I really can't bitch.

This is where I can give some Kudo's,The factory setup wasn't bad at all, and for me to do a setup on the Axis took less than 45 minutes, a new record, I had the reliefs, neck adjustment, saddle heights, intonation, trem spring adjustment finished and still had time to play it before midnight. I did not adjust the pickups, because I plan on replacing them. Because after I played this thing, and i'm still hedging this idea, is that it could use some better pickups more atoned to my playing style. For me that says something good when you'll shell out $200 bucks for new pickups for a $200 guitar to only gain a slight margin in tone quality.

Last night I played an outdoor Hog Roast in Ohio. It was between 60 degrees at the start and got down to 45 degrees at 11pm, I didn't even change the original strings and it stayed in tune even after doing some dive bombs. Everything held up perfectly, it does seem to be a really well built item, and I plan on using it alot. I am however going to touch up the solder joints when I change pickups, I've already gigged it without a backup, but I am prone to breaking strings so I can't gig with out a backup.

Don't know

I've been playing about 20 years now, and recently agreed to start playing gigs again. I needed "sacrificial" gear to play out with so my les pauls and strats wouldn't have me paranoid about there well being. This guitar is the ticket, I also recently purchased a Dearmond SG copy which lowered my playing out total to $310 in guitars between the two. I looked for postings prior to the purchase and couldn't find any. I took a risk well worth it. If it were lost or stolen, I could easily replace it and I would, I like it that much.