OLP MM1

OLP MM1 made in China. Mine has a sparkling red body , short neck with 22 frets. Bought it second hand.
Body is Basswood (Linde).
Only one volumecontrol ,with a very small pot inside the body.
3 way switch.
2 zebra pick ups with a lot of output.
Maple? neck with glued maple fretboard.
Tremolo.

Indeed it has a sound on its own. Great sustain thanks to the wood and the pickups. Rich full tone and loud. I use a Fender de Luxe 85 amp.
No noisy at all.

Fretwork well done.

To anyone who has tuningproblems with this guitar, or any other guitar, do this.................
Just screw the nut on each tuner on the headstock a bit tighter with a 10 mm spanner, that's it. Your tuningproblems are gone...........
Most forgotten thing by adjusting your guitar!!!! Wood is shrinking a bit in years so this must be done some time.

I can lower the strings without any problem, no fretbuzz.

This guitar will last many years to come as the hardware will do.
Finish is nice and well done.

Don't know.
OLP's are no longer made from january 2009.

I play for 40+ years now.
Sometimes there are guitars around that won't cost that much and are a great deal for the money. This is one of them.
I would buy it again because they are rather cheap and well built. Prices will definately rise in the near future because it's such a great deal for the money and are no longer made.

I have 3 of these sunburst/black quilt and ginger quilt...after changing the nut for a Tusq/Re-fretting to improve on the chinese 30% champher/replacing volume pot with 500K CTS with .001 capacitor re:Telecaster and setting up properly...all of them are probably the best 'budget' guitars available...the most noticable thing is the sustain from the pickups!...with none of the usual rasp! you usually get with some others...It really should be renamed Musicman!...I cant see any difference except for maybe real quilt maple instead of foto-film...I find it incredible to believe that they have ceased production?...perhaps because they are scared of losing sales of Musicman top priced models eh?...

its very adaptable to all styles...ME70 plus 2 Fender combos in stereo...it isnt noisy in use....hasnt got the classic bite of a fender,but has a sound of its own and is versatile...dont really like the circular back end?...but it grows on you...fantastic value for money?...thats why I've snapped up 3 on Ebay 1st.one was ??85! 2nd.??120! and 3rd.??150!...have you seen the latest rubbish from Fender and its multi-national copies?...I have...I reckon my ??355 for 3 super quality guitars was spent well...

superb...neck is a little bit raw but i have a can of clear laquer and do it myself...pickups were adjusted ok from stock...no problems with the woodwork...except small adjustments used in the factory to clean up the neck slot(could have been resealed and not left raw)...hmmm...the fretting is a bit over champherred...but i refretted all of them to my own liking(I think the fretting champher angle is the only problem) but then any chinese guitar will be the same,someone should tell them about it?

yep!...hardwear is similiar to most guitars cheap or expensive...good finish it will last...strap buttons are better than my fender skinny ones!...My brother uses one of them in his 'full time'Status quo tribute band with no problems!...wot would you use for a back up?...probably another one the same,silly question...

I do my own set-ups and repairs!...these dont need much...OLP are no longer...but no worries

Ive been playing for 45 years!...my other gear is 8 various guitars incl.Gitane Gypsy jazz/5 string bass/7 string guitar/Stringbender albert lee guitar/and the usual strat and tele/88 note electric piano/several different effects me50/me70/Alesis midi-verb/Lexicon delay/Trace elliot bass combo/2 fender 65w combos/behringer 210 (2x60w stereo)digital modelling combo...and a small car!!!

I recently did a setup in one of these and was impressed enough to write a review.
This example is a OLP (Music Man) MM1 guitar.
Basswood body, maple neck with no finish - just oiled, small headstock with 4+2 tuning machines, 2 x zebra buckers, 3 way toggle, single vol control. Vintage style trem.
Clearly this guitar is based upon the ernie ball guitar used by Van halen in the 80s/90s; the body shape and features are very similar save for the Floyd Rose which is replaced by a vintage-style trem.
I believe Floyd models were available at some point; the OLP brand was retired as of 2009.
This one was finished in a candy apple red finish.
Overall the guitar appears solid. It has a good wieght (although it does not balance on your knee!).
Particularly impressed with the feel of the oiled neck - very fast.

I'm reviewing this based upon the post set-up sound.
The sound of this guitar is definately original. Not strat, LP, Tele sounding... I have heard other MM guitars and the OLP MM1 captures that sound very nicely. It has the fullness and compression of a Les Paul, but a little less bassy and more chimey. Very balanced sound.
The humbuckers deliver - I have measured them but they are high output. As stock pickups I can't imagine they are the best in the world but they do a good job.
As I mentioned, clean they are chimey and muscial. They dont turn to mush when pushed through the gain channel of my Laney.
The balance between the pickups is fine.
The single vol control wont suit everyone. Doesnt allow for great tonal variety, but the tones that are produced a solid.

Ok - here's where the main of my critisisms are.
The owner of this guitar asked me to look it over as he was experiencing tuing issues. He bought it second hand, and to his knowledge it still had the factory setup.

By the way I am not a pro tech - but I have learned how to setup my guitars through years of semi-pro playing - I think its good to know how to get the best from your instrument and know how to adjust it to suit your playing.:

The nut on this guitar was terribly cut. The string slots were too deep within the nut, but slots were still too HIGH in relation to the frets!! This combination of excessive nut material and high nut action was causing pinching and intonation problems.

In addition the strings were not ringing from the front of the nut - the guitar would not tune properly.

So the nut was severely screwing up the potential of this instrument. Before adjustment this guitar could not be tuned well enough to be gigged with. After adjustment the guitar sang like an angel. Its very unfair to let guitars out of a factory in this condition. Guitars like this cause countless hours of frustration to players - particuarly beginners who will be buying guitars in this price range.

Prior to the setup this guitar was a nightmare.
However, to its credit, with a setup this guitar is solid and dependable and I would gig without a backup.
I've no idea how old the guitar is - I would estimate between 3 and 4 years. All electonics/mechanics still working fine.
Review marking is based upon post-setup realiability.

n/a. OLP has been retired.

A good solid guitar that I would recommend to beginners and semi-pros without question. Has good looks and great sound even with stock hardware.
Setup recommended though to make this guitarreally shine.
In terms of value for money. At ??149 this guitar is a bargain. Compared to others in its price bracket (e.g. Squier Tele at ??150), the MM1 smokes the competition.
The owner of this guitar managed to acquire it for ??80!! He's pretty chuffed nows its been setup.

This is a follow up review. I've had this guitar for quite a few months now and absolutely LOVE IT! I have kept this guitar "stock" for the most part but did replace the pickup out for a Dimarzio "tone zone" and replaced the volume knob with a steel one. Basic setup; one volume, two pickups, toggle. perfect for my needs.

Sounds amazing with the new Tone Zone pickup. The old one was pretty good but had a slight "twangyness" to it like a Tele or a single coil strat that was annoying after a few days of owning it. I'm running this guitar into a pedal board with a Boss SD-1, MXR Flanger, MXR Phase 90, Digitech Digidelay set for a slight slapback repeat. Amps are a Peavey 5150II and EVH 5150III heads into two cabinets. Also use a Hughes & Kettner Matrix on occasion. Big sounding guitar that remains quiet through my rig. Love it!

After a few months of lowering/raising the action I've got it set to a nice height. Medium seems to work best with this guitar for me as opposed to ultra-low like I'm used to. The frets make it really easy to play so it's not necessary to have the action low IMO. I love how the stock bridge sounds. Lots of bottom end that you don't get with a floyd rose. I will never change this bridge unless it breaks or stops functioning correctly.

I recently road tested this guitar and took it to Parker, AZ for 6 outdoor shows in 90 degree heat near the river.. This was a perfect opportunity for me to see how well it worked under "not so good" conditions. The last time I played Parker my Washburn Idol kept going out of tune.. so I figured why not give the OLP MM1 a shot. At first I had a few tuning issues after the first song but after I re-tuned the MM1 outside (which I should've done to begin with) it stayed perfectly in tune throughout the entire weekend's six shows. I didn't bring a backup guitar so that it would force myself into giving a true test and this baby passed with flying colors... It's hard to get a nice full souond outdoors to begin with but I had no problem dialing in a great sound.. Although, having great amps helped. I never usually do a gig without a backup guitar but it would'nt bother me if I forgot to bring a spare. The MM1 kills! and I'm glad I own one.

Haven't needed them yet, probably won't.

Been playing for 30 some odd years. I also own a Peavey Wolfgang, Washburn Idol, Peal acoustic. I'm looking to buy another MM1 in the future. Great guitar! Check out my music at;

http://myspace.com/nicolari

Don't know when it was made, sorry! Basswood body with Maple veneer top, unfinished maple neck, single volume control, two humbucker/three position selector. Vintage trem that I will never use, so I blocked it! I actually have two, one red and one trans-orange.

I use these through a Peavey Valveking 112 with probably too much processing gear. The stock pickups were far better than I anticipated. I bought a set of DiMarzio Breed for one of them, but I may put them on E-Bay. Neck is quite powerful with decent sustain and harmonics. Neck is kinda like a PAF Pro, but not quite as good sounding.

Guitars were both bought off Ebay and were setup and taken care of by two guys who knew their stuff. Great low action with no buzz at all. I like how the pickups are mounted directly to the body. The neck on this guitar rivals that of a much more expensive guitar.

I don't gig, so these guitars are just great for me. I think you could use them regularly with some regular upkeep and care.

Never needed, and they don't make these anymore.

I've been playing for about 10 years, the last three very seriously. These are not the EBMM Axis guitars by any means, but they are outstanding for the money. Mine seem well built and sound pretty darn good stock. If lost or stolen I would be angry, because they don't make'em anymore as stated above. They will not replace my more expensive Ibanez's and Fender, but are none the less allot of fun to play. Definetly worth grabbing if you get the chance.

Transparent gold film top, single cut away, vintage strat bridge, standard tuners, 22 medium jumbo frets, neck relief tools and cable included, 2007, 3 way selector switch, and one volume knob, 2 humbuckers OEM, basswood body

Solid rock sound, has a fat tone to it, good for most genre's of music. Use a Vox XL modeling amp, and Fender Bullet 150 for practice. Very quiet guitar, Rich sound, could be a little brighter. This guitar is very agile and can pull off any sound a hardtail can. The bridge tremolo feature will throw the guitar out of tune. This can be fixed by installing a floyd rose system or a wilkinson bridge. The guitar's neck to body fit is outstanding, great alignment, and the fret work is good. Drawbacks are the pickups elevations cannot be adjusted as they are directly mounted to the body. You would have to shim under the pickups to raise, or route the body cavity deeper to adjust pickup elevation. This affects your adjustments for string action above the fret board. Minimum string action cannot be obtained as the strings will engage the pickups. Still adjusted action to a happy medium, could be lower though if this were fixed.

The guitar set up was ok, it was set high. The pickup selector switch seems bent and of poor quality. It works but I will change this out with a better switch.

With the exception of the selector switch and bridge, the guitar is a sound investment. The tuners will last and the bridge will be ok as long as I don't use the tremolo arm. I have had this guitar a month now and it stays in tune very well. The finish is well done, nice looking guitar. Strap buttons are standard and solid. I have practiced with this guitar twice, so it seems like it will do. I wouldn't use this guitar without a backup. But then again I wouldn't gig without a backup regardless of the make of guitar.

Haven't used company support yet.

I have been playing for 25 years, and own a Strat and a Les Paul. Each have thier own unique sound. I did alot of research on this particular model and knew what I was getting. This is a solid guitar you can upgraded and feel comfortable with. Great neck and pickups. The rest can be fitted with higher quality components. I would buy this guitar if lost or stolen again. I have compared this guitar to Epi LP-100's and Fender Squieres. It has a better quality in regards to neck and body fit. Stays in tune alot better. For a low budget you cannot do much better. I wish this guitar was made with a tunamatic bridge. I wanted a brown sound to play with and this guitar does that. It has a sound in between a Strat and Les paul. I bought this guitar over the web, so I feel real lucky I didn't get a lemon.

This is a follow up to my previous review.. I have since added a Dimarzio "Tone Zone" pickup in the bridge position to my OLP MM1 guitar. It now sounds just as good, if not better than my Peavey Wolfgang guitar. I a/b'd both guitars after the installation of the Tone Zone PU.. The Peavey is tighter and less distorted, the OLP is richer, fuller and fatter with the exact same amount of mids as the Wolfie pickup.. I am very happy with the OLP. A great guitar for the money and only a few extras made this as good as a $1,800 guitar.

This is quilt film top colored in a beautiful trans red MM1 which comes with a vintage trem. The body is basically a musicman Axis exact copy. The body is light thanks to its basswood material.

It comes with die cast sealed chrome tuners (changed to sperzel locking tuners, more details ahead...).

The Neck is maple with maple fingerboard and it's a 25.5 scale neck.
The frets look like a medium jumbo to me. The neck radius is flat comparing to musicman's neck profile... I've tried these...
The fretboard has 22 frets which was part of the reason for the purchase. I don't like 24 fret guitars...

The guitar came with tools like a rod which can be used to adjust the neck and it came with a instrument cable and a trem arm.

I have no idea when it was made, I can probably inquire the company and find out... don't mind really, it's made in China like most products that you buy these days...

The controls are really basic: just your typical volume knob and a 3 way toggle switch. 2 direct mount humbuckers which to my opinion are extremely surprising pickups, I actually put them back on the guitar after many pickup replacments I've tried, later on that...

These are passive pickups with extremely high resistance around the 18K, I've measured it. Also it uses ceramic magents.

To be honest, as I write this review I have doubts about keeping this guitar and I'll try to explain later why...

This guitar has a really full sound thanks to its really good pickups, and it's very well balanced, it gives a really sweet round and clean distorted tones, which is a part of why on the other hand I have second thoughts about it, I miss this dirt in the sound you have on Les Pauls and strats... but it's much more comfortable guitar to play than those I've just mentioned to my opinion.

To my surprise the pickups are extremely quiet! It's so great!
I did make modifications like rewiring the components using high degree materials and it changed the sound actually, made it quieter and much more detailed.

This guitar can pretty much nail obviously the Van Halen era, not much the 80's metal genre though, and it can definitely play as fun as a Les Paul without the weight hassle...

So you don't get bells and whistles here, but you get an extremely good guitar which is worth every dime I paid for it.

I wish it had a middle single coil pickup for versatility and a tone knob for more jazzy tones... this is a straight rock guitar.

It will definitely nail those Petrucci tones, which is also a part of the reason why I think to part ways with it, I'm tired of that tone...

The guitar now sounds bright, round, punchy, detailed, too clean to my opinion and not enough character for bluesier tones and styles.

I made so many pickup changes: Dimarzios, even active EMG's and got back to the original pickups, that's how good they are to my opinion.
No other pickup actually changed the character of the guitar to my disappointment and I begin to feel a need for another guitar.

The tremolo which I'll talk about later really changed the sound of the guitar, the stock trem was really bad actually, impossible to maintain tunning and it made the guitar sound cheap.

The amp that I use is a Peavey delta blues 210... I didn't feel need to mention the gear and all because I don't find it relevant, I will tell you that I use a pedal board that goes to a clean channel on the amp, my sound is basically a lot of 80's metal and saturated distortion sounds for lead, think Satch and alike...

The setup was non existing, I naturally set it up to my liking so I don't give score here.

The pickups cannot be adjusted actually as they're direct mount, the only way would be to put some washers and screw it back in to gain more height but that's about it.

The bridge, well, it's a story.. the stock one is really bad. Not properly installed and low quality materials... it made the guitar sound dark, and cheap. I installed a wilkinson VS100G instead and it made things much more different. a stock MM1 would get a 5, modified gets an 8

Other than that, all was well from the start, the components, The assembly and great fret job!

The stock tuners were replaced for sperzel locking tuners, as I really wanted to make things easier and better for me, it works...

It will withstand live playing, it already did :) I replaced the strap buttons to strap locks, I never play without them.

The finish is good enough and it will definitely last, it does have scratches on it but it still looks awesome!

Can I depend on it? yes, do I want to depend on it? good question...

I never use just one guitar live, I always use backup so this question is irrelevant.

As I said there were modifications made to make it better.

1. the stock trem which was terrible got replaced with a wilkinson vs100g, the gotoh version... It's fantastic!

2. Sperzel locking tuners... great tuners!

As for the company they always replied my mails so I credit them for that...

I've been playing for the past 5 years, but I'm a musician for my entire lifetime, I have many skills that I use, I'm a sound engineer, a musical arranger and producer, I have another electric guitar, acoustic and a piano, and a home studio...

I have a pedalboard with too many pedals, and a Peavey Delta Blues 210 combo tube amplifier...

To be honest I wasn't even supposed to buy this guitar, it wasn't part of the plan but it just happened... so I cherished the moments with it... I really think it's time to let it go...

I didn't compare it with other guitars, I don't use this method unless we're talking about a life time decision which it definitely wasn't and financially it was dumb purchase, I'm not in a great financial condition at all... but I have this disease of buying guitars all the time...

I don't think there's anything to change about it, this guitar is exactly what it should be, a well worth the money and incredible quality for the price, and it can definitely be used with more professional applications, totally...

The thing I liked about it most is the neck profile, it's comfortable, my taste as far as sound goes changed obviously, I'd never imagine of letting it go if that wasn't the cause.

If it was stolen, I wouldn't buy it again because I don't believe this is the guitar of my dreams, I don't think I have one actually...

I just got my transparent blk MM1 today. Standard trem, hard mounted custom pickups, one volume knob, 3-way toggle switch, 22 frets. Package came with allen wrench for saddle adjustments, trem bar, instrument cable, truss rod wrench. I didn't give it a ten because the features are simplified... A ten for my needs but someone else might like a tone control.

I own a Peavey Wolfgang guitar after setting the OLP MM1 up to my needs I A/B'd it through my new EVH (Fender-made) 5150 III amp head and cab. First I played my trusty Wolfgang through the 5150 III head for several minutes, then I plugged the OLP into the head. To my amazement it sounded nearly identical. What a surprise! The OLP had a tad bit more high end and was a bit brighter. The low end was there as well and the "tight" chunck was the same as my Wolfy. Very quiet guitar and well worth every penny I paid for it. I'm thinking of getting a few more in different colors. What a great sounding guitar! Better than any other guitar I've heard in it's price range. Infact it's close to my $1,800 Wolfgang.

Out of the box the action was a bit high.. Nothing a few minutes of tweaking didn't fix. After my adjusting it plays beautifully.. I set the action very low and had to lower the pickups a hair so the strings wouldn't connect with them. The photo finish looks great. I wouldn't have known it was a photo had I not read about it. My only complaint is that the trans black looks a tad greenish.. Still looks nice but I expected a darker black. No biggie, I like it and I already have many black guitars. Ha!
I had to loosen the plastic toggle cover so that the switch would function properly and not jog into the middle position on it's own. No biggie. I have several expensive guitars; Ed Roman Rockingbird, B.C. Rich Mockingbirds, Ironbirds, Washburn Idol, Peavey Wolfgang and the OLP holds it's own. Plays as well as my others and sounds great. Much better than my stock B.C. Riches sounded before I modded them. The MM1 is a killer stock guitar and with a few tweaks is amazing. I changed out the white volume knob and installed a steel black knob only because I like the way they feel.

The neck is solid, great construction. My guess would be you could beat the living crap out of it and it would still play nice and stay in tune. I changed the strap buttons to strap locks because I plan on playing it live onstage. I usually bring a backup guitar but if this thing passes my "string break" test I wouldn't have a problem bringing to a gig without another guitar as backup.
String Test; every new guitar I get I change the strings to Ernie Ball 9-42 gauge and don't change them until one pops. This gives me an idea how long it takes.

Haven't dealt with them and probably won't need to.

I've been playing 35 years and have played in many touring acts beginning in 1988. I love how the MM1 plays and sounds. At a price like this you can afford to collect different colors and styles. I compared this guitar with my higher priced guitars. Stellar construction and sound. I'm gonna get a few more! Hats off to OLP! Johnny Roxx
http://myspace.com/nicolari

It has a pretty paint job and that is about ALL! I bought this because of the reviews. I was wondering did all of these reviews come from retails store because the guitar isn't anything like the reviews.

The pickup are as thin as a piece of paper- they got heart. I suspect the rosewood neck didn't help anything either.

I play thru a crate amp with lots of effects and nothing sounds that good with this guitar. The guitar is very bright.

let me say for the money a Squier 51 IS A MUCH BETTER GUITAR. I told myself I'd never every buy a squier again but this one is part of their master series and it has some heart and soul along with some guts too.

Guitar seems to be made well apart from inferior materials (basswood body)

the finish is pretty and the neck is OK as far as being comfortable.

no comment

been playing bass and guitar for 4 yrs. If stolen I'd only be sad about the money I spent on it as far as missing the guitar not at all.

This guitar is a amazing guitar. Only paid 80$ for it [Was on sale at guitar center] Features a very smooth neck, perfect for shreading, and of course a whammy bar.

THIS GUITAR IS THE S%$#! You can play any kind of music on it. I'm a blues rock, and heavy metal player, this guitar is perfect for any kind, don't let the Eddie Van Halen body fool you.

There's only one tiny flaw in my OLP, and thats the tremolo. In is very creaky. But it dosen't matter that much. Thinking about changing the pickups to eastwood airline pickups, or maybe T.V jones.

This guitar is buil like a rock, I've dropped it a few times and it held up fine. I can honestly depend on it. I am trying to start my own band, and if we ever get famous this will be my signature.

I have been playing for a few years, honestly best guitar i have ever played. I would buy this again if smething happend to it. I love the body style, kinda reminds me of a telecaster. The day i bought this was at a one day only sale at guitar center. I played several other guitars including a epiphone sg and a solidbody grestch. I wish this guitar had better pickups though but thats okay

The features are the standard as already covered. I think the finish is an outstanding feature as well as the pickups. Every other guitar I tried out in this price range (Squire, Epiphone, Dean, B.C. Rich, Yamaha) was less impressive or of inferior quality. None even came close on the quality of the pickups or of the overall finish on the OLP.

I'm a weekend player and have been using my Dillion Tele religiously for the last two years. I must admit I didn't expect I'd like the sound of the OLP. I was very surprised. The pickups in this guitar are excelent, especially for the bridge position and this guitar will scream. It has a full bright sound with a slight warm taper on the high end. I have been playing with it the last two weeks and it's become like an addiction. I love the sound of this guitar. I'm playing through an 80's Peavey 4x10 tube amp with a blues distortion, and a few other effects. It's got no hum, buzz, or other annoying habits. It's quiet when you need it to be and as big and bad as you wanna be when you need it. I am impressed...

I bought this guitar from a friend who has 40 some guitars and assured me I'd love it. He is hard handed and had heavy strings on it and the action was terrible for my style. I just simply lowered the saddles and changed to a lighter string (E.B. Hybrid Slinky .09's)... ---Perfection--- It's easily as good a player as my $500 Dillion. No, it does not look like a $500 guitar should look. However, the quality is excelent. The saddles are better quality than any crap-O-Matic, Frets are very good, finish is durable, mine's used so it's got a little wear from use but will obviously hold up well long term. No noise from the vol pot, switch, or jack. All solid.
Obviously if you're a big whammy user get the Floyd Rose. This OLP stays in tune perfectly but I use it like a hard tail. I do not foresee having to upgrade anything but you could easily Frankenstein this guitar into just about anything you can imagine and it would outlive you. The only reason I didn't give a 10 for this category is that I think this model should be a hardtail since the Floyd Rose is available on the MM1"F".

I'm almost 40 and there is no doubt in my mind that I will be playing this guitar 20 years from now. I know that sounds ridiculous for a $200 guitar but I just can't see getting rid of it now. I put straplocks on it so I don't drop it when I get drunk and rowdy, I bought a new case for it since I can't seem to leave it at home, and I will be upgrading my crappy chrome guitar stand(that I was using back before high school) so it won't fall over. You'd think I was in love with this guitar...
Anyway, if I have to complain(and I always do...) I have one nit-pick. The stock strap buttons were solid but small. My strap is worn and the holes are slutty. I suggest putting straplocks on it. Although I suggest putting straplocks on just about everything(including the dog's leash) so you decide.

I dunno. I do know that my local guitar shop likes dealing with OLP better than several other of the manufacturers. His only comment was that "they're good with their products."

I've been playing as a hobby for 20 years and in bands off and on for 12 years. I own 6 guitars and regularly play a Custom Dillion Tele, a Dean "Boca", and a Takamine Flame top. I play through a Peavey 4x10 tube amp from the 80's or a Ibanez MIMX150H head on a Marshall MG412 Cabinet. I use an odd ball assortment of pedals, mostly Voodoo Lab and Danelectro stuff. This guitar sounds great through my setup. I love the pickups! Did I say I love the pickups? I can get huge crunch or warm and sticky licks out of my OLP. I love the pickups.(I promise I won't say it again)
I'm going to look for a second one for my son. He plays on a Squire Fat Strat that usually has more pieces on the floor than on the guitar. In fact I am looking at his volume knob on top of the PC monitor...strange. Anyway, go buy one!

What a crazy cool cheap guitar this is! I have two of these a red one with normal tremelo and a golden wood colour with floyd rose. Both are basically identical and botn play awesome!! Both my OLP's have maple fretboards and the stock pickups. These are two of my cheapest guitars and I play them all the time.

the sound is awesome! The pickups impress me to no end considering their price. They are ballsy, silky and get that high gain metal rawness. I use this with a Peavey JSX combo and various effects. It gives a beautiful range of tones flicking between neck, bridge and in between. You can go from almost a strat to almost a les paul which is what eddie van halen wanted in this design. The sound can be a bit tinny due to the cheap construction... it not a bad thing... but the pickups pick up any clanks and bangs the tremelo produces. Harmonics in this guitar are easy. Its a light small guitar too...it feel comfy and easy to play with and the longer Ive had them the better their style is in terms of looks. They have really grown on me. The sound is both rich, full and bright...maybe not as deep as Id like but thats also maple fretboard guitars for you. its seriously an awesome pice of equipment for the price!

I love the action and feel of these guitars. Very precise and easy to play, the standard temelo one I own hardly goes out of tune. Both of mine sounded superb straight off the shelf and I only had to adjust the action height a little to suit me. Honestly I can't flaw these guitars - I wish they were around when I was learning!

They are built pretty well although some of the hardware is cheap, particularly the input jacks. Those sort of things are easily replaced or upgraded but Id use a spare guitar if playing live. The actual guitar materials are well built though and will last. The natural fretboard finish gets dirty quick and is a little bit more effort to clean.

Never dealth with them...these are so cheap I wouldn't bother - just buy a new one!

Absolutely awesome guitars. I often take this to rehearsal because of the range of sounds I get. If I need a strat tone it does the job, if I need to play a neck HB les paul tone, it does it, and if I need to play shred van halen stuff it comes to the party wearing leather. When I rest it back in its stand it patiently awaits to be played again with a quiet elegance. Ive been playing 20 years and the two MM1's I own are played often and I use thenm frequently for recording. Great great great playing and outstanding value!

Simple guitar, 2 Humbuckers, One Volume know and all that. Its what i wanted! Lets face it, the electric guitar is one of the few items that was perfected in about the first 2 years of its existance, it borrow a little from the les paul but just does it cheaper.

Amazing. I have two of these guitars. One is a orange flame top with the stock pickups, this works great for blues, classic rock style stuff. The second is the odd, but awesome, mint green finish. This one i replaced the pickups with an EMG 81/85. Great metal guitar now. I've seen shecters, ibanez, epiphones, fenders that cost 4 times as much and are terrible. This thing is awesome

Both the setups were perfect on mine when i got them. However, be sure to play it in the store. One guy on here said he bought it without playing it in the store and he got a lemmon, i've also played some in stores and noticed the neck wasn't as nice as mine. I think if abused (like any guitar) the neck will warp really bad, so be sure you're getting a good one.

had one for 3 years and one for 3 days. Both have had no problems at all.

No idea...probably enver need it...for 90 bucks what do you want?

Excellent, this is a fantastic guitar and i would reccommend to anyone. A few snobs will criticize and say their PRS is better, but screw them...this guitar can be had for 100 bucks! Don't be a brand name snob and pick one of these up.

beautifully finished guitar with gorgeous curly maple. One volume, no tone control but a great short guitar. Other have allready listed all the speckd but I am astounded by this little guitar that cost 139.00 new!!!!(musicians friend had a sale on them)

Very impressive guitar for the money it's unbelievable. The pickups are plenty powerfull and have a nice tight sound. Very nice sound. You'll try guitars in a music store that easily will tripple this price and they sound like crap. I was very surprised and impressed

Mine was flawless. Binding, top, neck is a little chuncky but doesn't fell uncomfortable at all. Factory setup was pretty good. I lowered the action slightly but that's a personal preference. Guitar was ready right out of the box. A very pleasent surprise when buying such an inexpensive guitar.

seems to be built well but time will tell. Feels very sturdy and compact.

This was the most pleasent surprise of any guitar (outside my Parker nightflyM) right out of the box I've ever had. I bought based on all the posotive things I've read about it here and elsewhere. I own too many guitar to run down the list here but this is a GREAT little beater. I would never perform at any venue with it, too mant other much more gig worthy guitars available. But for what it is you could pay 4 times what this cost and get less guitar. One of (if not the best) guitars out there for the money, bar none. Please note this doesn't replace any REALLY good guitar but you can hand it over for someboby to jam with and never have to worry about it looking or sounding cheap. For the money the MM1 is a 10.

mm-1
purchased in late 2006
photo finish
I rate this catagory an 8 because of its stupid low price of $129.00

It suits me fine for blues and rock. At first I wasn't sure about the pickups but I was using a couple crapy cords. After replacing them with all George L's it sounds fantastic. I run the MM-1 into a Vox clyde mccoy wah - Boss CS-1 (T-von mod) compressor - Boss DS-1 (T-von mod) distortion (These Boss pedals now rule!)- Rockman chorus - Rockman echo - stereo into Crate VC-20 (jj tubes 12" Alnico speaker) Crate V58 The sound is simply amazing. If these pickups are shit then I guess I like shit pickups. I have been playing on and off for 40 years and these are great for the sound i'm getting and that sound is huge. As for clean sounds it is equally fantastic. I love the pickups! No dislikes here. I have some great guitars, 71 gibson SG, 85 contemporary Telecaster, Stratocaster, and several others that are sweet players. I have owned many high end new and vintage guitars over my 40 years of playing but now I can't stop playing this inexpensive OLP its unreal!

This guitar came set up well. I couldn't believe it as I usually take off the strings right away and have to do many adjustments on almost all guitars I have purchased in the past. Even the strings are ok for a couple days. People who complain about strings amuse me as all strings must be changed often. This guitar has no flaws unless you consider the photo finish. It looks ok I guess but I don't really care for it but its the playability i'm interested in. I use it in my studio as a player and that's exactally what its intended for. Its a smaller guitar and may look toy like but I don't give a rats ass when I hear it sing. This thing actually inspires me to play and it helps my playing alot. what the hell more can you ask for? When I play I smile big!

So far it seems like it can take abuse very well. Some of the parts are cheap but it cost $129.00 HELLO!!! I can aford to upgrade it when needed.

N/A

I may have to purchase a couple more of these. Not sure if I would be as lucky to get great ones like this one but sure couldn't hurt to have backups. Its just a joy to play and if it were lost I would look for another. A great tool for free. Yes its a gift. I think some people who rated this guitar may be inexperienced or perhaps they did get bad ones but mine is killer and plays like a dream.

Not may bells and whistles here, but that's what I wanted. A plain and simple guitar at a great price.

I play through one of the new Digitech RP 250's, and sometimes an amp, and it sounds great either way! I think the pickups are very good for a "less than 200 buck" guitar. I definitely won't need to change them out. Good clean sound and great with distortion.

Not to good of a set-up from the factory. Strings way to high, frets unfinished and a touch of overhang on the edge of the fretboard and some buzzing. Once I gave it my own set-up it was great. Also, a rough job on the routing around the pickups. That would be my biggest complaint. I still can't complain for what I paid.

I think it is very well built. I don't gig, but if I did, I wouldn't doubt it. Very solid guitar

Never needed

I've owned this guitar about a month and love it. If it got gone, I would buy another one today. No doubt

Basswood body, Ernie Ball MM body, maple neck, medium jumbo frets, sealed die-cast tuners, chrome hardware, two humbucker pickups, 3-way pickup switch, 1 volume knob, vintage tremolo bridge, and no tone control knob. I give it a 10, because I love all aspects of this $200 guitar.

I really like the sound of this $200 guitar. The stock pickups provide
good clean and distortion tonality. The guitar sound is vibrant. It rings acoustically. I do plan on replacing the pickups with either seymour duncan or Genesis Mr. Brownie EVH pickups, but the stock pickups are very good. I just have money to spare after only spending $200 on this guitar. I installed Power Slinky strings (48-11) and the tonality
is great and the instrument stays in tune song after song.

The playability of this guitar, at least for me, is incredible. I've owned a Les Paul, a Music Man Steve Morse, and a stratocaster american deluxe guitar and the OLP MM1 plays the easiest. Not only is the neck perfect for my left hand, the action runs low without buzzing, and the string tension for my picking right hand is sweet. I bought a second OLP MM1 to use as my performing guitar, while I keep my three year old MM1 as my practice guitar, which I will continue to beat to death.

I have had my first OLP MM1 for three years with no problems whatsoever. I play the heck out of it and it still doesn't need a fret job. The stock tuners are good, but i upgraded them with locking tuners for ease of string replacement.

Never dealt with them and I doubt that I will need to.

I love this guitar! For me it is the ultimate guitar for playability. The stock hardware is very good. The stock pickups are great! I would strongly recommend this guitar to players of all skill sets. I would particularly recommend this axe to the guitarist that wants a guitar that is effortless to play.

You know all the features by now, i give it an 8 because i think everything is great, dont need a tone or seperate volume controls just the photo finish, although it looks great, its still a photo finish and lets the guitar specs down a bit

I really like the sound of this guitar, it isnt great for heavy downtuned riffs but just for dropped D and rock n roll riffs and soloing is sounds absolutely great. I also have an epiphone flying V which has a price tag of double this guitar and i had to replace the pickups in that with a seymour duncan and a schaller because i hated the sound! but iam not touching these pickups! they are awesome!

Action, awesome although i put heavier stings on it, 10 - 46, as soon as i got the guitar and the inotation was as spot on as it could ever be, the neck on this thing is incredible, sit down and play one for a while and you will forget you are playing a guitar that has such a small pricetag. The finish is a bit weird in some areas of the binding but for the cost it is definantely not a worry and hardley noticable

it feels solid, wont fall apart although the finish might chip easily

never dealt with them, doubt i will need to

i have been playing 8 years, if this guitar was stolen i would buy another one, if it got badly damaged i would buy another one..you cant beat it for the price especially in australia, i chose it over an epiphone les paul because epiphone pickups are horrible and it would of cost me about a grand to get the guitar i want with an epiphone, or $395 for an olp :)

This is my second MM1. I gave a very good review of the first one I had. I got the first one off of eBay and it was excellent. This one? Not so good.

I got this new one because I really missed my first MM1. I expected this one be as good.. no way.

Features.. you can see it all in the other reviews.

Fantastic, as I expected. I love the pickups in the MM1's. I asked if you could just buy the pickups but they said they were designed for the MM1's only. Almost worth it to buy the guitar and gut the pickups out of it and trash the rest.

I never leave anything stock as far as setup. I don't even tune the thing with the factory strings. I pull the strings and go to work on every guitar I buy, so I can't comment on factory setup.

With that said, here are my findings...

After putting a set of 10's on it, I found that either the tuners are shorter than the old MM1 I had, or the headstock is set at a deeper angle. This causes the bass strings to have an excessive break angle over the nut. This is actually good if you don't plan to use the Tremolo. If you do, this angle makes it just about impossible for the strings to return to pitch.

I'm not talking about a cent, but like half of a note. If you use the Trem.. it's over. You have to re-tune. You can't fake it and keep playing, its just out way too much.

I of course tried all the tricks, lubrication, nut slots, etc.. So I just put five springs in it and flattened it down on the body and took the arm off.

Next part, the nut. The B and high E slots were way too wide. When you bend strings, they would actually slide back and forth in the nut. I fixed this with the old baking soda and super glue routine, but I hate to have to do that with a brand new guitar.

Now lets talk about the neck. I set strings 1-4 at 4/64", and 5-6 at 5/64". Normal height as they say. I got excessive string buzz on the D string at the 9th fret and the G, B, and high E strings buzzed excessively on the 12th to the 14th fret. And when I say excessive, I mean excessive.

So I had to do a very aggressive fret level on it, in fact, I did it four times to finally take enough off so it would not buzz. It actually plays and sound really good, as far as the fretboard now. But your average person is not going to have the recourses to do this themselves, and if you take it to a shop to do, it will cost you $125.00.

When I did the fret level, I found that at the factory, someone for some reason tried to spray an extra thick coat of Poly on the neck as a last measure. The problem is, some of it stared to crack off. When I pulled the masking tape off from the fret level, huge chucks of the stuff pulled off with the tape.

I then had to chip off as much as I could, because most of it was not sticking to the finish below. This left a huge level difference. I had to sand the thick finish down quite a bit so there was little perceivable difference in height between the lower and upper finish, then polished it so it was smooth. This was a big and irritating job.

Now, the Fretboard finish. It appears that on this neck, there is no finish on the fretboard. I feels like raw wood. I found it really hard to play this way. OLP said to use Butcher Block oil on it. I could not find that so I used Watco rejuvenating oil on it. It did an excellent job.

But the body and is in GREAT shape!

Since I've done a huge amount of work on this thing, and know it backwards and forwards, I'd say it's really well built, and it will hold up to whatever you throw it's way.

They are very quick to respond.

If you don't use the Trem, and you hand pick one out, you can find a great one. I made this one into to a decent player.

I still like them for a straight ahead rock guitar, or even blues, or whatever.

The photo film top is excellent. They do a really good job on the tops.

The problem is, for $79.00 more you can the MM1F with the Floyd Rose. The quality is much better, the Floyd stays in tune, and you can actually use the Trem. and it has a REAL flame maple top, not a photo film top. The top alone is worth the extra $79.00, and add the Floyd to it, it's that much better of a value.

That's why I have to sell my MM1. I bought the MM1F and have to offset the cost of the new one. I'd like to keep the MM1 because it plays really good now, but I still can't use the Trem.

2005 made in china

I want to clear something up that has been mentioned here several times that the stock OLP pu's are the same as the custom wound DMZ's
the stock pu's on the OLP MM1 are very good without a doubt for the money this guitar goes for but simply CANNOT be compared to the custom wound dimarzio's in the EBMM evh or axis guitars
first off the OLP's pu's use a large ceramic magnet and the DMZ's use a alnico 5(a world of difference!)
the bridge OLP pu' is wound to 14K and the dimarzio is at 17.5K
the neck OLP pu' is at 9.5K and the dimarzio neck is at 15K
and is a airbucker.
the OLP pu's are very good for a stock item but if you really want the MM 1 to shine on the tone department get the tone zone and air norton set for it
which is the closest production set to the custom wound dimarzios in the EVH or axis
I also know the tweak to do to the tone zone to make it EXACT to the custom wound dimarzio, this is what i did to mine to make it sound like my EVH and axis guitars
if you are interested in the tweaked tone zone Email me and i can tweak a tone zone for you if you want that exact tone the bridge pu gets in the axis or evh guitar
the air norton stock is so close tthat any tweak's are not necessary

please read my review on the OLP MM1 floyd rose model
http://www.harmony-central.com/Guitar/Data4/OLP/MM1FR-1.html

http://www.harmony-central.com/Guitar/Data4/OLP/MM1FR-1.html

they are great for getting answers about thier product

like i said in my review for the OLP MM1FR
these are a great bang for the buck even stock they are worth the money if you cant afford a real deal ernie ball/music man

I think everyone already knows what these things have...purchased few years ago,maybe 4 or 5

I must say the humbuckers aren't very hot...not good for any kind of metal. The thing is also pretty noisey in high gain settings,good luck trying to shred on this mammoth

the guitar from factory came like dung,action was a mile high...hell even after adjusting the action myself it's still very high. intonation is a pain (I use D'Addario .11) I have not once got it to intonate perfectly,I suspect a fret or two has been filed wrong,playing past the twelth fret produces half dud notes (of course this is solved by raising the action,but then it's so high you can't play anything at all) The guitar surpisingly had shielding!! I'll give it a point for that,but that's as high as it's gonna go for this guitar

well...this baby has never failed me,I gig with it regularly as it's currently my only guitar

I've been playing for quite a long time,I've owned all kinds of gear,big and small name. Always searching for that perfect gem that just keeps eluding me...I would not buy this guitar again if it got lost/stolen/broken. The previous guitar I had before this one was a million times better than this one and it only cost about $100 more,which is an extra week at work. So save yourself the trouble and work that extra week and get a better guitar. Don't get me wrong,I advocate cheap gear,but this guitar just can't cut it compaired to other low cost equipment...OLP needs to get back into the shop and work out the kinks with the action and elecotronics,I'll give them 2 brownie points for working hard though

I believe it's an 04 model... it is a certain mega-store's exclusive being that is red in color. I like the fact that it is a different color. I was told that it was a quilt top veneer (like on the Wolfgang) but suspect it's a photo film top - which is fine as neither really adds anything tonally. We all know the specs by now, Basswood body, maple/maple neck, H/H, 1 Volume, etc. The one thing that really blows my mind is the quality of the fingerboard wood... it appears to be a slight (2A - 3A) quilted maple they used for the fingerboard - I guess I lucked out as I have yet to see any others with quite as nice of a fingerboard. The website says it has a satin finish on the neck but mine came without any finish - you can tell by how quickly the neck picks up dirt. I have since finished it with gun-stock oil and it plays like butter now. It's got all the features I could want - being an EVH freak I don't see a need for bells and whistles (coil tapping, tone knob, etc). Also, being an EVH freak I have a need for a locking trem so I did replace the vintage style trem with a Floyd Rose (licensed) trem. The whole job took less than an hour and cost me around $50 or so. The tuners appear to be decent although if I hadn't added the locking trem I may have replaced them. Tuners are a moot point once a locking trem is on the guitar. All the other hardware (Volume pot, output jack, p'ups, etc) all seem top notch. It didn't come with a gig bag but talked the saleman into throwing one in for free.

The sound is amazing, especially when you factor in the price. The pickups are built to the same specs as the EBMM EVH model. They are surprisingly hot - but not too hot. IMO - they are just right. I'm playing it through a 5150 half stack with a pinch of chorus and reverb as well as a Rocktron Hush. It definately has a full rich sound to it. I did raise the p'up's a hair to get them a but hotter sounding, but were fine in the stock location.

I didn't find a single flaw in this guitar. The action was set up pretty well from the factory but as with any guitar, it can usually be a bit better. I did lower the action a bit but I just needed to lower the saddle about 1 full turn of the allen screws each - not bad.

I wouldn't hesitate to gig this guitar. My only concern is to be able to remove the OLP logo from the headstock. I mean, yeah, it's a cheap guitar and I am proud of the deal I got and how well it plays, but I don't need other guitarists thinking I'm a newbie for playing such a cheap guitar. Honestly though, I would put this up against alot of more expensive guitars on the market.

It comes with a 1 year warranty although I'm sure I voided it within the first week I had it by ripping off the vintage trem and adding the Floyd locking trem haha

I've been playing for nearly 20 years and have 14 or so guitars ...maybe 15, I have to re-count. This is my 3rd favorite behind my Peavey Wolfgang and Kramer 1984 re-issue. It is my cheapest guitar though which definately makes it the best value. Even after adding the Floyd (licensed) trem I still have under $300 into this guitar. Not bad for such an unbelievable player. I would rate this guitar a 9 overall ... but when you factor in the price I believe it deserves a bit more so I give it a 10!

basswood body, maple neck (it must be maple, because the one i'm looking at over to GC has BIRDSEYES), 2 hums, 1 vol, vintage style trem, photo phlame top. looks dead on like a EBMM axis. decent showroom setup. cheap materials, but what do you expect from a $200 guitar that can be had for $150? the REAL kicker, to me, is that it has the same neck profile as my real EBMM axis super sport....verrrry comfy.....

no finish on the neck, and that DOES make the neck look cheap.....go ahead and lemon oil it(NO SILICONE!)...( i do all of mine....for years...)....it won't hurt it....will prolly make it look better......and, as far as resale value.......i wouldn't EVEN give THAT ISSUE a second thought........THIS GUITAR IS NOT AN INVESTMENT PIECE.....NOR WILL IT EVER BE! just play it....

trem: forget about vintage trems.....they NEVER stay in tune....this one is no exception..... "lock it down" and pretend it's a hardtail w/ a built in reverb tank (that's what eric clapton does.....;^). )

it sounds quite ADEQUATE.

let me make something clear......i don't own one.....i am currently shopping for a killer deal on one, and trying lots of them out in the process.....i OWN a real EBMM axis super sport, and want an MM1 for backup....and for FEEL, more than for tone!

for my purposes, it sounds just fine. i played it thru several different amps and effects.....for what it is....no complaints. i play ALL styles on it!

again....for what it is....great! when you get yours, take it out and play it hard.....concentrate on your music and NOT on what makes this axe inexpensive.....it'll do the job.....don't nitpick it to death! (although, i do agree with the other fella that a new set of 10's will make a world of difference.)

when you become EDDIE......THEN...you can nitpick!

not to blow my own horn.....HONK!......but, i've been at this awhile.......and i can just TOUCH a guitar and tell if it's good......i feel very comfortable buying one of these (for $150 and no more). i would like to have a backup....but that's a good idea in any situation. it'll last long enough for you to get your money's worth out of it.

i wouldn't expect too much, but then, i've been surprized before!

it feels and looks like my expensive ernie ball axis.......and soooo much cheaper.......i am looking forward to having one as my backup. whatever it doesn't have, i'll put in....like a tone pot, better tuners......i think it will be worthwhile. and i believe it will be reliable!

the only "hate issue", is that the neck really does LOOK cheap.

solid body, cheap trem, 22 frets, non-locking tuners, dual humbuckers, volume pot, pickup toggle, short-slim neck. I have owned this guitar a year, well past the honeymoon stage. At first I loved it, then I hated it, now I love it again. I learned a few things about how to make this baby into a sweet instrument. see below. I wish it had a tone pot...
cheap looking photo-top meant to look like the music man axis. But the newest release of this guitar looks amazing (the MM1 with Floyd Rose trem).

The stock bridge pickup is pretty weak. It doesn't pickup the higher harmonics in the strings, so the guitar doesn't scream out of the box. That is unfortunate because its built for face-melting rock n roll. If you replace the bridge pup with any decent pickup, it improves this guitar immensely. I put a Dimarzio super distortion DP-100 in there. You don't have to go as hot though, any good pickup will improve this guitar %100. I know of another guitarist who put a Dimarzio PAF in the bridge, and it sings.
Plus, using skinny, soft strings will make this guitars intonation unfixable. See below.
The neck pickups aren't so good. I wouldn't use the neck pickups for anything. They are all bass, zero bite. Actually I'm lying. I used the neck pickups one time for a chord comping part when I wanted to meld in the background.

This guitar is designed for EVH speed, and high gain. In that respect, it rocks. I had serious troubles with the intonation until I made a head-slapper: (figured something out)
Originally I had been using Ernie Ball super-slinky strings (9-42). The guitars intonation was horrendous. When tuning, you could watch the pitch indicator in the tuner dance around. Hence, the guitar held a tune like a bad American Idol auditioner (William Hung?).
Here is what I just figured out. Since this guitar is shorter than most, the tension on the strings to reach a specific pitch is much less. Thus the guitar couldn't hold a pitch very stably, and there were transients in the vibrations. I was using 9-42 guage ErnieBall super slinkys. I just switched the strings to Ernie Ball 10-46 guage regular slinkys. Simple physics (look up the wave equation): heavier strings = higher mass = higher tension. Now this guitar really holds a pitch solidly, no more tuner dance. The heavier strings improved the intonation too.

For a $200 guitar, this baby seems to be rock solid. I have gigged with it a bit (blush), and it has never failed me. I'm a little leary of the bridge, my low E string still has sharp intonation despite my having cranked it as far as it goes. If you use lots of string bends, this baby tends to flatten out, and you need to frequently retune. That was with 9-42 strings though, I bet the 10-46's hold up better.

no idea

In then end, after applying a little common sense (slim strings = bad intonation, stock pups = crap), I really like this piece. I bring it to gigs, and use it for high gain songs (thats why I put the super distortion humbucker in the bridge).
It's a sweet, cheap guitar. It's a nice change of pace, because of the short, sleek neck. I like to use a bit nicer guitar as my main axe, but this is a great buy. If you're looking to buy your first guitar, you should try playing an OLP at your music shop.

Probably made 2004 in china, basswood body with photo quilt top, maple neck and fingerboard.
Only has volume control and toggle switch,3 positions to control 2 humbuckers. Vintage tremelo, no string trees.

This guitar was my first experience with humbuckers and probably my
last. Maybe the wrong pickups for country bass note runs and blues.
The bottom E string if played open or when playing open chords resonated, from E to A on both of my guitar tuners So I changed the original Ernie Balls to D'Addario but the problem persisted. Annoying. If a guitar doesn't sound good it must sound terrible. Turn up the gain and rectifier put in some ear plugs and it will

Because of the above problem, I set the intonation, lowered the action just before the fretts buzzed and the action was still way higher than my strat copy. The neck was the big disappointment, as soon as I picked it up. The neck looked like raw pine. After 2-3 hours playing around with it, the fretboard looked dirty. There were also gaps between the side of the neck where it bolts to the body.
Someone mentioned putting tung oil on the neck, I bought some, but did not apply it as it might effect the resale value, which was now a priority.

Didn't have it long enough to put it to the test.

Ive been playing acoustic guitar for 12 years, mainly Neil Young, Cat Stevens, and took up electric 3 years ago, to play blues and country. I have an SX strat copy, the build quality, slab of rosewood for the fingerboard, and sound are far superior the MM1, but I had opportunity play and compare the SX with other guitars. Maybe I got a lemon MM1, but after reading reviews on this website I was convinced that for the price this guitar was the bees knees. After I bought this, I saw an MM1 in the local music shop, when I enquired about it, the owner,a guitar teacher said he was not impressed with the quality and sound either. I suppose I was niave buying a guitar without playing it.

2003 MM1 with bronze quilted film top and cream binding. Bought second hand off eBay and came with hard case and Planet Waves locking strap which is an fanastic piece of equipment. You will already know the rest of the spec, 2 humbuckers, 1 volume control and 3 way switch. I personally like the lack of tone control 'cos I can set it just how I like on my amp.

I play mainly industrial metal and this guitar is made for the job. I play a lot of Static-x in CGCFAD or Soulfly with it tuned down to B,F#,B,E,G#,C# and even through my Peavey Blazer 15B practise amp it sounds awesome. I found best results are from the bridge pu and setting amp gain to 6, low 7, mid 4, high 4 and a touch of reverb. I also play through a Behringer V-amp2 and using this I can get some amazing sounds.

I bought this guitar second hand and the previous owner had set the action really low which suited me fine. Everything seems very well put together and there is virtually no noise from the pick-ups or volume control. The neck is really fast and is starting to pick up a little dirt in the grain which adds to the 'dirty' look which I like.

I would use this live but I would alway have a back up no matter what guitar I was using and I would always use straplocks, although as I've already said, this came with a Planet Wave strap which is just as good

Not had to deal with them.

AS well as my OLP, Peavey Blazer and Behringer V-amp2, I also own a Dean V, and a BC Rich custom Warlock with floyd rose trem but this sounds as good as or probably better than both and I just love the neck. I am not a big fan of floyd rose as I like playing around with different tunings and my OLP lets me do this with ease. I would definitely buy another if anything happened to this one.

03/04 model gold photo flame top. 2 humbuckers etc see other reviews. Mine came with a Dimarzio tone zone in the bridge as a gift from my music store (Regular customer been buying cymbals and drum heads from them for about 10 years). Everything is a copy but the copyies are quality, not junk that you'd find in other bargain basement models.

I always loved classic rock sound, Van halen, the Doors, Poison, Aerosmith. This is great for that. It's good for a bit of thrash as well with old school punk like the Ramones. I've only played it on solid state amps but it gives an awesome fat distorted sound as a pretty good clean. Very surprised at the quallity of sound for the price.

Toggle switch and volume knob are a look and feel cheap,but easily and cheaply replaced, finish was flawless. Love the feel of the unfinished neck. Action was low and the Ernie Ball slinky's are top notch.

GET Straplocks. The hardware on this might not be musicman quality but close enough copies. The stuff on thiss is a lot better than the other guitars I looked at (epi lp "special" II, Squier Bullet and affinity series, the Ibanez AX series as well as the Washburn WI24.)I don't gig very often and if I do it's almost always on the drums. This is solid, but no guitar is going to take a full swing and come away scratch free.

1 year warranty from my local shop. Know em well and trust them.

I like because it's light, but resonant. A real flame top would've been nice but they're still a while off here. THe Price is good too because this is my secondary instrument. I've playing guitar for about 5 years and althouugh I've got mainly low end model guitars that sound pretty good but offer good bang for buck. I Own a Peavey Raptor and a Samick acoustic. This is so much better than the Raptor in terms of hardware, build quality and general playability. My lead guitarist and the guy at the shop pushed me towards this and I really love it.The competition in this price range is tough, and there's a few quality brands out ther but this is way better than anything I tried.

2004 model - mint green color, copy of MusicMan Axis
22 frets, basswood body, maple neck/fingerboard, two humbuckers, one volume pot, one 3-way pickup selector, vintage style vibrato bridge

Surprising amount of output from the pickups. I also own an OLP MM4 guitar, and the MM1 has much stronger pickups. Approaches the VH "brown sound" pretty closely. The pickups offer a fair amount of different tones, especially in conjunction with manipulation of the volume knob. I'm running this guitar into a Korg AX100G pedal, and a Line 6 Spider 2x12 amp. I have yet to gig with this guitar, but I'm certain that I will.

Lots of little black spots on the back of the guitar, otherwise the finish is pretty well done. Tuning machines seem pretty solid, and keep tune well. As far as the action: It did seem to be set up pretty well with the factory strings (.009s I think), but I play strings 14-56, so I had to do a fairly radical change to the factory action. I expected this, so no big deal. Nice polish on the frets. The body/neck join seems pretty solid, although I had to shim the neck due to my string gauges.

I plan on gigging with this guitar. There is nothing about it that would make me think that it couldn't hold up in a live situation. Granted, I'm not too hard on my guitars. I'll probably replace the strap buttons with locking buttons before I gig with it. I'll gig with a backup (probably my OLP MM4).

I haven't had to deal with OLP's customer support.

I've been playing for nearly 20 years. I own quite a few guitars (electric, acoustic, 7-string, etc.), but I tend to play cheaper guitars at live gigs. I play for the crowds, not the other guitarists in the audience, so I'm not very anal about my live sound. And if my guitar is going to be trashed by a drunken club-goer, I'd rather it be one of my cheap ones. If it were stolen or lost, I'd probably buy another MM1. It's a decent guitar for the money.

It's a copy of axis, so you can guess how cool it looks.
22 frets (I wish it was 24), basswood body, maple neck / fingerboard.
The hardware looks quite OK. I'm giving it an 8 instead of 10 because nothing is perfect. But this guitar is one of a kind...

The sound is what I like most. I plug this axe to my Korg guitar Processoe and straight to Laney combo amp. Play 80' & 90's hard rock and some standard jazzy tunes. This axe can cover 'em up nicely. The stock pick up works stunningly well. No noise. The bridge PU has good harmonics with rich middle and high frequency. As everybody says, you can get EVH sound easily. Very nice. I can also get a twangy bluesy sound from the neck PU.

Mine is a red translucent one, with cream binding on the front edge. Looks pretty cool, from a distance it resembles an over 500 dollar guitar. Good set up right from the box, and it stays in tune much longer than I thought.
Only a couple of small problems I have : The tremolo is a bit hard to dive down, I am still wondering if I can replace the back spring with a softer one.. (I usually play Ibanez RG with lo pro edge, so I've never dealt with this problem before). The second problem is : the maple neck and fingerboard may need a kinda wax paint finish, to minimize the friction as you shred. Other than that, it's just GREAT!!

If you are a professional performer, you'd be a jerk to gig without a back up, whatever axe you got. I only play inside my home studio and occasionally play outside. And yes, I think this guitar will do the job as it should..

It's one year warranty. But I guess I should never depend on it.

Been playing on and off for 10 years, and do cover band most of the time. I am never interested in buying expensive guitar since I don't make money from music. Sound, and playability, and reasonable price is what matters most for me. Previously I owned a Samick, Japanese Fender Strat, Epiphone Les Paul, Ibanez RG670.
I still keep the Ibanez for collection because it has higher spec (24 frets, super thin neck, thicker sound of dimarzio pick ups, and rare natural color body). But for sure, I'd be playing more with my OLP from now on. If it's stolen, I'll buy another one, no, two of it! As said, nothing is perfect. But this axe is more than perfect for the price.

Everyone knows the features of this guitar, but mine is the new one with the FLOYD ROSE, glad I waited... Mine is black finish, really looks a lot like Eddie's. Maple neck no finish that feels well... i'll tell u

good sound, neck pickup is beaaaaaautiful, and for 90% of players, the bridge is hot enough, good harmonics, almost as much as the 2 dimarzios i tried, very clear sound from both, even with distortion, good clarity, you can tell they were trying to emulate the real eb mm's, and they do a pretty convincing job, but I wanted a little hotter so i dropped a Tone Zone in from my other guitar.

Mine came set-up nicely, low action, butter to play, dude, BUTTER, the neck feels like your running your hand through a girl's hair from a tresemme commercial. your fingers just FLOAT on the the strings, it's very welcome in my home. finish was nice, binding is cool looking, and mines black, so you cant really pick out the somewhat overbearing trem route... great guitar for the money man, no doubt

who knows

who knows

I love it man, it turns my old guitar, my baby, my first, into a commemorative piece. it just feels soooo good in your hands man. just try it, you can always find someone to sell it to. the neck shape is just untouchable, more comfortable than the real axis's or the wolfgang. sound is good too, basswood is a good choice for rock guitar. very complete sound out of this guitar, and now that my tone zone is in, i can input more dynamics into this puppy, but stock pickups are still very good, put it this way, i only took one out and the i kept the other one in case i wanted to switch back...

Bought it 26/12/04 trans-blue, 22 frets, jumbo , 1 vol control, two humbuckers, maple neck and basswood body.
A cheap cable is included.

Probably, i'll change both pickups but i think im already getting sad that the bridge one will have to leave so I can use my JB...
I really liked the bridge pickup, very EVH sounding...
the neck one has a fat sound, but i don~t use it very much cause i think it needs more treble... Anyway ill give a solid 8

the guitar needed some adjustments as the D string was having some trouble with fret buzz (open string till fourth..). The action was low enough to me, and the neck is probably the best thing in this guitar, even with the lack of tung oil ( the neck eventually will startto get darker and darker and therefore uglier with a dirty aspect) ill give it a 10...
the hardware stands up nicely and ocassionally it gets out of tune, but i bend very hard, so without a floyd rose there~s no way a guitar can stay in tune all the time with me ....
the finish is good, no flaws and overall it deserves an 8
id give a 10 for the neck and an 8 for hardware and finish.. average of 8!

I think it'll withstand live playing, but im using it as a backup
in my opinion this guitar will last at least 8years in good condition, with luthier inspecting every 6 months..

never had to deal with them

i've been playing for 9 years
good guitar indeed, worth every penny and i think i'll buy another olp, a mm4!!

Just got this one for christmas and a few others on here I got the mint-green color. I think its looks cool...like a 57 chevy color on crack. I like the setup for pickups and the single volume knob.

I play whatever style of music is on my mind on that particular day. I use this guitar for playing modern rock requiring good trebly distortion. It works good for the van halen sound (of course). The guitar is not for blues but that's why this is a good second guitar...get yourself this for modern rock and a strat or something like that for blues/classic stuff.

Perfect action! I have a 71 strat setup with really big strings for the blues side of things but this one is setup with small strings very close to the neck. No problems at all with the construction. Gotta love the mint green finish...the other available finishes look pretty good too.

Haven't had it out in the "gig" (anyone else tired of that word?) world yet. Based on the way its built i'd say it can take it with no problem.

doe not know...hopefully i'll never need them

Great guitar for the money...even if you shell out the usual 180 sale price most stores list it at. Easy to play...small so it fits in those tiny studio rooms too.

I have the mint green color because it was cheap. It's a love/ hate color, but I like it. It stands out. The tuners work fine now, but I am curious to see if they hold up, most generic ones do not. The headstock could really use string trees to improve sustain and string performance. The neck is awesome, and is worth the price alone. The fretboard is unfinished, and can get dirty, but lighter fluid (naptha) will clean it right off. The bridge is a solid, and strat gotoh copy. Considering the price of this guitar, the pickups are nice. False harmonics are a breeze. Bridge pickup has a decent output and is great for hard rock or the EVH brown sound. The neck pickup is decent also. I was able to get some blues and country tones out of it. No tone control available, but I never use them any way. My eq is done on my pedals and amp. The volume knob, which is usually never commented on, is something else I really dig about this guitar. The volume change is gradual, not instant like on cheaper (and expensive) guitars. It is very easy the sweeping volume pedal effect. With a distortion pedal, it acts like a smooth gain.

For the money they sound great. For tone geeks, you could put some DiMarzios in it for an upgrade or tweaking. But played through a Mesa Boogie Studio 22, they sound fine. You can achieve about any rock tone (excluding nu metal) with the bridge pickup. Country blues and blues tones with the neck pickup.

Set-up from the factory needs come serious improvement, but this is typical of these imported guitars. The truss rod adjustment nut was so far out that is was pushing the neck pickup cover inward! A quick adjustment fixed that problem and added some relief in the neck. The neck pickup is a little flimsy and probably needs the screws replaced or a shim to keep it stable. I also had to adjust the pickup height. Pickup selector appears to be a little on the cheap side. We'll see how it holds up. This guitar was strung with Ernie Ball Slinkys from the factory, not some cheapys! Once this baby is set up, it plays like a dream.

Only time will tell, but based on my experience with owning expensive and budget guitars, this should hold just fine. The only thing that I see changing is the toggle and the tuners when they go. All a minor expense.

I have been playing for about 15 years as a semi-professional. I own 12 guitars and I am very selective on my guitar purchases. I gambled on this one because it was 99.00, and I needed a "hacker" guitar for leaving around the house. I must say that I can not put this thing down. I love how the neck feels on this guitar. If you have big hands or if you are a heavy handed player, you may want to try test drive this one first. Great for a beginner and a steal for the price. The experienced player may need to do some minor tweaking, but should seriously consider this guitar to add to the collection. Is this an Axis or Wolfgang copy? By all means no. The craftsmanship and parts are far superior on those. The closest thing the MM1 has in common with those is the neck and the appearance.

2004 Ernie Ball Official Licensed Product (OLP) MM1 model, solid "mint" green color with matching headstock color. Basswood body and maple neck and fretboard. Standard tremelo with H/H pickup configuration, single volume knob and selector switch. Just like the Music Man Axis model, but with no Floyd Rose Locking Tremelo, string tree on the headstock and tung-oiled neck. Otherwise, identical. No gig bag, but it did come with a cable, wrench and extra springs for the trem.

I own both the Music Man EVH and Axis Models. Granted there is a big difference in craftmanship between those and the OLP, but this little guitar has nice sweet TONE clean and for basic stock pickups, this guitar cranks out plenty of rock and roll. The sound is rich, full and you get good variation between pickups. It is not that far off from it's big brothers in the sound and tone department. Amazing for a guitar that is only $199 dollars. Yes, you get the Van Halen Brown Sound out of this guitar. Straight out of the box it sounded great!

Again, I'm amazed at the fit and finish on a guitar that I paid $99 for! It's clean, and everything is fit together very, very well. It looks good, the "mint" green is more of a gumby seafoam green when looked at in real life, but it's got a nice 50's vibe to it. Nice touch with the matching headstock. Straight out of the box the intonation was set very well and it comes with Ernie Ball strings on it already and they are staying in tune with no problems. Action was a bit low, but a little turn of the wrench and that was not a problem. The neck needs some tung-oil, but it's a nice fast neck and well balanced. The design of these neck, just like it's big brothers, is small in scale, great for small hands, but if you have Steve Vai-ish fingers, this may feel very small to you. However, this is sized just right for younger students. Fret work needs a bit of a clean up, edges are a bit rough, but very nice for the price

Ok, this guitar is not an Axis, nor the EVH model. However, this is a close second in the reliability/durability category. It feels solid and plays solid. Only complaint is the nut is a bit weak, as far as material and setting, and a string tree on the headstock would help more with sustain and string reliability. The trem is decent, but it's no Floyd Rose. So if you do some heavy dive-bombs, you may want to consider a locking/floyd set up like on the Axis. But for basic vibrato and heavy bends on the strings, the OLP has held up and stayed in tune. I use it to teach my students with, as an example of a solid guitar on a low budget, but it plays great, very smooth and easy and holds up to 4 hours of lessons without breakdown. I've not giged with it, but I would not hesitate to add it to my lineup of guitars. You are getting more than your monies worth out of this guitar, best entry level (and intermediate for that matter) guitar that I've seen in 24 years.

Never delt with the company, Ernie Ball makes good products and the Music Man line of guitars are exceptional. I do not anticipate a problem if I had to contact them. Thank you guys for making the OLP that I can share with my students and kids and not go broke in the process. It's a new guitar that I bought from Musician's Friend, has a basic Warranty on it, so they stand behind their products!

Bang for the buck, nothing else comes close. This guitar is just behind it's big brothers and costs a good $1000 dollars less. Compared to other guitars, like the Wolfgang, this guitar is easily in the $700 value range and on average goes for $199. How do they do that? Ok, it's not U.S. Made, but compared to other imports, this guitar is in its own category, it really stands out. I've played for 25 years, perform and teach guitar part-time. I highly recommend this guitar as a first electric and student guitar. It plays like a dream and is great for smaller hands. An ease to play and that is important for learning. However this is no chump! Clean it has that sweet crystal tone of basswood and really sings, drop down to the brige humbucker and you have that EVH cranked brown sound. You can tweek harmonics out of this guitar and the neck plays fantasic. Sqeels and screams come out of this guitar, just like the expensive big brother with the fancy pickups, now how did they do that for under $200???? I love this guitar, it looks great, plays great and I would use this guitar in any environment. If lost or stolen, yes I would replace immediately and probably grab a second of another color just to add to my collection and share with students. I recommend new and old players alike get this guitar. New players will never outgrow it and old players will enjoy its ability to get the Van Halen brown sound without spending $1300. Great studio tool and extra guitar!!!

Pretty much been said already--two zebra humbuckers.

One volume control, no tone control (which I like alot!). Three position PU selector (neck, bridge, both).

Decent tremolo bridge.

The non-locking tuners are okay for this price range. Nice finish, smooth action--but feel a little "loose".

Thin laminated maple neck/fretboard with medium frets. Neck is finished with a light satin finish. Fingerboard is finger stained after less than 8 hours of playing.

25-1/2 scale.

Included a cheap cord that had connection problems after a few hours.

The overall guitar length is very short. Perfect for tight studio work, or in my case, very tight computer home studio work.

I have played guitar off and on for 30+ years. I have owned and played dozens of guitars including my main axe, a 70's Strat I purchased new in 77-78. I purchased the OLP MM1 based on user reviews and a my own hands-on experience at Guitar Center.

The sound of the Guitar Center OLP MM1 through a clean Twin-Reverb amp was excellent. The bridge PU was clean and bright, the neck pickup was full and had a nice deep sound. I also tried an Epiphone Standard LP ($600) and Gibson Standard LP ($1,800) and frankly, I liked the tone of the GC OLP the best, especially with distortion.

However, the bridge PU of the OLP I purchased from Music123 sounds different than the GC OLP--it sounds like the Strat middle PU--kind of quacky. Also, it has much less output than the bridge PU. My OLP bridge PU sounds identical to the GC OLP which is to say, fantastic.

By the way, the absence of a tone control is not a problem. Like the experienced users say, just adjust the amp/preamp tone controls.

The reason I wanted this guitar was for the humbuckers (no 60hz hum). They are completely 100% hum and squeal free regardless of the amount of distortion or gain I apply to its signal.

The OLP is perhaps the easiest guitar to play I have ever played. Action is great, the neck is thin, it just wails. Great for new students and kids with small hands.

After playing the guitar for several hours I have found the neck is a bit too thin for my liking. I have large, strong hands--I can literally pull the thing out of tune if I use my normal ham-fisted technique. I have noticed lately that guitar necks have become quite thin, probably to save $$$$. The problem is they just don't put with player abuse--I mean who needs a tremolo???

The guitar arrived from M123 in good playing shape. However, it was not innotated properly (strings tuned at 12th fret, were out of tune when played open).

After two days of playing I started getting substantial string buzzing. I followed the included OLP instructions to resolve string buzz and made matters much worse. Why? The truss rod adjustment nut was shimmed against then neck with what I can best describe as ends of toothpicks. I thought they were just misc wood shavings--nope, shims. Hence, after removing them, I could not get the neck adjusted to save my soul. Hopefully, my local guitar shop (Modern Music) can fix my mess.

A couple of other complaints: Most pics of OLP guitars shows a string tree. Mine does not have one. If any guitar ever needed string trees it is the OLP MM1. Since the tuner head is not angled back (ala the original), you must have string trees to provide proper string tension, alleviate buzzing, etc.

The bridge pickup arrived sitting on an angle. I did not find a ways to level it out (front to back). My local store hopefully will figure it out.

Finally, the sunburst photo finish is actually quite attractive, but the body routing for the pickups, the extreme light weight, and a few other things here and there scream CHEAP GUITAR. Again, I am used to my strat whose body is one piece of ash, a one piece maple neck, etc. I guess you get what you pay for.

For those who indicate the fit/finish/quality of the OLP is better or much better than current Squires, just simply don't know what they're talking about. I have played both extensively. The quality of the Squires I have played (Tele, Fat Tele, Strat, Strat HH) are heads and shoulders above the OLP.

I cannot believe anyone would trust this guitar for frequent gigging. However, for home, students, etc., it should last just fine.

OLP has responded to every email (5+) within an hour or so. I would say they are very attentive.

In retrospect, I should have purchased another Squire. However, it is a good guitar for the $$$, it is extremely easy to play, and at least the GC OLP MM-1 sounded great.

Chinese-made Music Man Axis copy. Trans-red finish, quilted top. All the features are the same as all the other reviews. It is a nice copy of the Ernie Ball, with some cheaper hardware and no Floyd Rose. For $200, I'm very satisfied.

Nice sound, the pickups compared to the real thing aren't quite as loud and don't quite have the same crunch. I've played both through a Marshall JCM2000 and a few other amps at Guitar Center.

The action was great out of the box, nice low strings. No visible flaws. All in all it was nice. You have to be careful, though. Because the other models that were in the store were set up terribly and felt awful. Take your time and try out as many as possible.

The guitar seems very durable. The hardware is a bit cheaper than the EB MM, but can be replaced if you feel that's needed. The finish is very nice. It seems like a very dependable guitar.

It has a warranty, but I really don't know about the customer support. No opinion here.

I haven't been playing all that long. I own a Takamine acoustic as well. I've played friends' Ernie Ball MMs pretty frequently though, and really enjoyed those -- so I wanted an inexpensive replica that didn't look, feel or sound terrible. This OLP is a better guitar that I could have ever imagined.

Ernie Ball axis style guitar, 22 fret,syncrinized tremolo, maple neck, maple fretboard, basewood body,2 humbucker pickups,

the bridge pickup is bright, puncky and clear, lacks power that most of us are used to,

i plan to replace them with the Seymour Duncan "Dimebag" humbuckers
and coil taps

the setup was good, intonation was correct, the parts fit really well, and there are no gaps in the neck pocket,, the bridge was a bit stiff so i took out a spring, and might have to take out another
the hardware is good, no rust or ill fitting parts

i wold never try to use this guitar for a live gig unless i changed pickups and put a string tree on it, even tuned to pitch, the strongs feel loose and i bendstrings hard,

GET STRAPLOKS!!!! the buttons on it is crap, straploks are the only way to go

i have never dealt with OLP, it has a warrantee, but if anything goes on it, i'm sure i can find a better product to replace it with

this guitar is of fair quality, its not great, but again its a $200 guitar

i have Schecter, Carvin, and Warmoth, and this doesnt compete, if yer lusting after a real axis, get a real axis a olp and ernie ball are 2 totally diffrent animals

Features as decribed by others. Finish is trans purple.

I play rock, pop, blues, some country, some jazzy stuff. Guitar worked with all styles in gig and rehearsal action.

Gig amp used was Fender Deluxe 90 (small bar). Rehearsal amp was a Peavey 5150 head w/Marshall 4x12 cab. No effects. Guitar's volume control and pickup options were enough to vary sounds accordingly.

Guitar is very quite in middle position, a little hummy on either bridge or neck - once song starts, not noticable.

Pickups are very versatile and sound very good.

Guitar was good to go out of the store - after a change to .10s.

Slight pickup height adjustment made during gig but nothing major.

Finish is nice but insignificant. This is a gigging guitar that's going to get nicked and beat up. That's what it's for. It sounds and plays exceptionally.

I've only had it for a week. 2 gigs and a rehearsal. Broke a high E and the A string but I break strings on my Gatton Tele and 70s Strats all the time.

But the guiutar held up to a 4 hour bar gig, a 45 minute showcase and a 2 hour practice and didn't fall apart.

I took the bar off and lost it but I nver use one anyway. That was the one thing that seemed kinda useless on the guitar anyway.

I wouldn't gig without a backup, but I would use this $200 guitar as a main or backup. It's good.

Bought aat CG. A friend is mgr. so any issues would be handled.

Been playing 20-something years. I have several 70s Strats, a CS Strats, Gatton Teles, LP, SG, etc. Hopefully the OLP will be able to handle lots of work without falling apart. But even if it conks out after a year or so, it will be worth it. I don't see that happening but you never know.

I would definitely get another one if it is lost or stolen and may get another aanyway.

I did try 5 or 6 Music Man and Peavey EVH guitars and NONE was as good as the OLP in feel or sound.

Brand new MM1 (as of 7/04). Guitar was made in China. It has 22 medium jumbo frets (despite what OLP's site says about them being jumbos). Photo quilt top (trans gold) over a black painted basswood body, plastic creme binding on body. Maple neck, maple fretboard with a plastic nut. Neck is 25.5 scale length with about a 10"-12" radius Trans gold veneer headstock overlay. 4+2 schaller copy tuners (pretty good actually). Bridge is a 6 screw vintage (sort of) type, chromed. Two zebra coiled humbuckers with a three way switch and one volume control, no tone controls. Guitar came with the trem bar, a guitar cord (haven't tried it yet), a small allen wrench for the trem, a "bar" for adjusting the truss rod, and some generic setup directions. Styled after the Ernie Ball/Musicman Axis guitar (formerly the Van Halen signature model). I'm going to leave a "no opinion for this catagory, as I don't see a point to rating it's features. Either you like the guitar or you don't; one knob or ten, you know what I mean?

This guitar is moldeled after a famous rock guitar, so you know what it's intended to do! That said, the guitar sounds good. With your amp on distortion the bridge humbucker sounds very good. It sounds better than the dimarzio super 2 or 3 (don't remember) in my fender HM strat, but not as good as the schaller pickup in my '83 Kramer Pacer. The bridge pickup seems to have "loose distortion" if that makes any sense, kind of a flabby, non tight dist. sound; but it is still quite good sounding, just a little different than I'm used to. Clean bridge, sounds "spanky" or "honky", almost like a country sound. I think it would be great for chicken pickin'. Neck pickup: With distortion the neck p.u. sucks, very muddy. Clean, the neck pickup shines! Sounds good. Middle Position (both pickups): Sounds pretty good distorted and clean; don't know how to describe it, just sounds nice.

NOTE: I rate things harsher than many folks, so view my ratings with this in mind.

When I tried this guitar out at Guitar Center, all it needed was to be tuned up (straight out of the box I opened). The action seemed to be OK at the store, but I knew that I had to get it home to really inspect it (intonation, truss rod, ect.). I tried the guitar out through a CRATE solid state amp of some sort; and now I know why everybody hates crate amps.
At home, I started to set up the MM1 properly; but decided to save time for myself and not set it up, as I plan to tung oil the neck soon. I did however adjust the truss rod a little. The intonation is off a little, but I will go through a detailed setup after the neck is oiled (OLP says the neck is finished, but let me tell you- I got the neck dirty just from playing on it for about an hour, so tung oil is going on this neck soon!) I did't find much fret buzz at all, and I am anal about that. What very little fret buzz there is will go away when I raise the action and adjust the truss rod to my liking. The frets themselves are VERY nicely done, no errant "hangovers", unlike a certain big name company's frets always seem to have. The only nit I have to pick is that the neck pickup cavity has some kind of white stuff on it's walls. I'm not anal enough to remove the pickup and clean it, so it will remain. The pot and switch are fine. I know on most cheap guitars these things tend to go out, but I don't hear nary a crackle from them as of now. Note: Some of the OLP MM1's at the store had some sort of tool marks in the wood, on the fretboard between the nut and the first fret; just so you know to look out for this. Remember, I rate things harshly, so my 7 is akin to other's 9's.

One thing I have always noticed about cheap guitars is that the finish is pretty soft. The OLP's at the store had scratches on the their backs, so I assume mine will probably follow suit. This is not a musicman, so I don't presume to think that the parts are all top shelf. Everything seems fine now, though time will tell I suppose.

Never delt with Olp. I purchased the two year extended warranty from G.C., so I'm good for at least two years. I believe the salesguy told me OLP's warranty is six months.

I have been playing on and off for about ten years. I wanted something un-strat like in my arsenal. I am now a believer in inexpensive guitars.
Note to kids: Please don't go out and spend a fortune on an instrument and an amp. Sink your money into lessons and instructional materials. You will be FAR better off in the end. Your same crappy playing will be just as crappy on a American std. strat as on a squier. Don't let friends/peer pressure get you tied up on the headstock name. TRUTH.
Good guitar overall.

Bye!

Made in China, can't find any serial number on it so I have not idea when it was made.

As far as features, you can read the other reviews for more details..

2 humbuckers, no tone, volume control, tremolo. Basic stuff.

It really does sound pretty good. The neck pickup is pretty dark sounding. Sound a bit muted but when you get used to it, it really grows on you. The Bridge is actually quit bright. Almost like a Fender. Very surprised that it sound like this.

As with all humbuckers, it sound better when you crank up the gain.
Lots of sustain and a good hard rock sound.

I bought it used off of eBay so it needed a bit of work when I got it. Had to clean it up and do a full setup with a new set of strings.

It has a photo maple designed top that actually looks decent, and nice binding on it.

Everything fits fine and it's very playable. It does have a fret buzz at the 12 fret. May need a good level, but since I intend to play this overdriven all the time, it's not that noticeable.

There is a bit of slop in the tuners, but the guitar surprisingly stays in tune even with radical string bending.

There are a few finish rough spots on the back of the neck that you feel a times.

Seems decent. Does not appear to be fragile in any way.
I'll know after I own it longer.

NA

I've been playing a long time. I also stated recording a couple of years ago. I own mostly Fenders, but I wanted a humbucker based guitar for really heavy sounding rock rhythm.

It fills the bill. I like it. I think it's really decent compared to other guitars in the $200.00 new price range.

It has no tone control, but honestly, I never use them anyway.

I got the amber finish version, It has two humbucker pickups, a basswood body, dot inlay frets, and a standard brigde. I based the quality on the price I paid therefore im giving it a 9

Its supperior to all other 200 dollar guitars, I'll give it that, the tone has a lot of bite giving it a raunchy feel, however, it lacks sustain and warmth which is an essential quality to have a great sound. The pitch on the bridge pickup seems to bright but it still sounds good regardless. The chords ring to high when putting it through a lot of distortion however, it manages to maintain a reasonable shape. Being that this guitar costed only $179 dollars, this is the best that can expected of it so im giving it a 9

Ive been playing for 5 years on and off and overall I find this guitar to be a good value. it would be ideal for blues,country ,rockabilly, some 80's metal, and some rock music. Dont count on it to provide a grinding powerfull rock or metal tone since its wood neck and pickups lack the necessary attributes to provide warmth and sustain however, if your looking for a punchy sound, this is the guitar to get. For a $200 guitar it sounds great and as good as many 450-500 dollar guitars. Not as good as an 800 - 1000 dollar guita, I don't want you to think your getting that good of a value. I'm going to sell this guitar because ever since I got my Gibson, I can't accept any sound that isnt as fluid, rich and warm. Everything else sounds like a toy.

2004 model, trans. purple with photo-quilt top on a basswood body. Bolt on neck, H/H pickup config, Ernie Ball Axis style body, non-locking bridge. OLP Gig bag included with purchase.

Perfect for classic rock or metal. Pickups enhance the mids and highs, but they sound like the Dimarzio's on the EBMM Axis. 1 volume control. In short, it sounds great.

Trans. Purple finish looks great! I had to set the guitar up, and intonate the guitar, but once I did that, it plays excellent. The strings are almost on top of the frets, and there is no buzzing. Stays in tune really well. Can't see any flaws. Guitar plays great.

It's a very light guitar. I would never gig without a backup, but it's going to be my main stage guitar. It feels very gig worthy.

Haven't dealt with OLP.

This is a great guitar for $199.00. This thing plays great, and sounds great too. It looks fabulous, and is perfect for the beginner and the seasoned pro. Neck is fast and slim like the EBMM Axis.

Please see all the reviews below. This guitar isn't about features.

This is my second OLP MM1. It is only slightly brighter than the first one, but that may be attributed to a bad day for the pickup winder or the wood used. There's not a lot of difference in sound between the two I have. This thing absolutely rips! It sounds very much like it looks: a cross between a Tele and a Les Paul. I love these cheap little guitars.

The action on this one (2004) is a little lower than the first one. To be honest, I like medium action and this one is a little too low for me. I'll raise the saddles a tad to get it to my liking.

The finish on this one is the new sunburst finish. Very '60s Strat, with the brown/red/yellow pattern. The gloss is very high on the body. I had to rub some of the shielding paint off the finish around the pickup routes, but that was easily done with some water, a soft cloth and some elbow grease. There is a small ding in the wood near the cutaway and there looks like there was a little screwdriver mishap near the lower strap button, but nothing serious. It'll look a lot worse after I gig with it a few times.

I think the neck may be just a little thinner than my older one, but that may be due to the lower action on this one. It's still a great neck shape.

These things hold up well. I've had the first one for close to a year. It's playing better now than when it was new. These guitars break in well. I used some 0000 steel wool on the back of the neck and the fingerboard and it is even better now than before. I highly recommend doing this, if you like the neck to be smooth and slick. While you're at it, polish the frets with the steel wool for silky bends. The leveling they do at the factory is pretty good, but the polishing is non-existant. Hell yes, I'll use it on a gig. I have it's older sister as a backup, though.

I never use the vibrato. I'm sure it's very similar to a Strat bridge. If you know how to make those work, you'll be able to figure this one out.

Huh? I don't care if there is customer support. Never dealt with them and honestly, if you can't take care of this simple guitar, maybe you shouldn't be playing. Any competent setup guy can make this thing work.

I've been playing for a few years. I think it's around 20. I own and have owned a lot of great equipment and some crap. I know good from bad.

I love this guitar. Great sound, the best neck I've played and it's stone simple. I hope nobody else catches on to how cool these things are.

2004 OLP MM1 (lefty).
Fake maple top
You know all the other features from the other reviews.

It sounds like a guitar costing a great deal more than $225. When given a goodly amount of gain it provides lots of sustain and nice crunch with a very minimal amount of noise. I play mainly blues & classic rock through a hopped up Fender Deluxe Reverb and a Pandora PX4 for effects.

Off the rack this one had good action and pup adjustment. Tuners nice & tight and a decent nut. Just a couple of very minor flaws in the finish around the pup holes. Took it home and set the intonation and she's good to go!

I don't gig live much but I think it would hold up.
Immediately replaced strap buttons with strap locks.
Never gig without a backup 'cause ya never know....

N/A

I've been playing for over 30 years and have accumulated a fair amount of gear including a 76 Les Paul Custom LH and a 2001 Fender American Deluxe Strat LH. Being a lefty severly limits choices available for guitars - mostly the usual suspects when cruising the music stores (Mexican Strats & Teles or an occasional Epi SG). I saw the MM1 hanging there and gave it a whirl. I was not expecting much because of the price tag but when I started playing it I didn't want to put it down. It felt comfy in my hands and was very easy to play. Then I plugged it into an amp and was surprised by the sweet sounds I was able to get. Needless to say, I purchased it on the spot! Took it home, tweaked it a bit and now it's the guitar I play the most. If it were lost or stolen I would definately replace it - actually if I see another lefty MM1 I will probably buy it for a backup.

same as others plus a locking trem

same with a locking trem

same with locking trem

same with better tuning stability!

great!

I wanted to let others know that OLP is going to be releasing a locking trem version of the MM 1 very soon,here is the Email i got,


thank you for your Email inquiring about a OLP MM 1 with a locking tremelo.
It has been discussed and you see it very soon. Retail and colors have not been determined yet so it will probably be at least around September or November before it is available. Thanks for your suggestion though, we already have it in process but at least it lets me know I am moving in the right direction.

Rock Clouser, Assistant Product Manager - Fretted Instruments
B.C. Rich guitars and OLP guitars
Email: RClouser@BCRich.com <mailto:RClouser@BCRich.com> or RClouser@OLPguitars.com <mailto:RClouser@OLPguitars.com>
Phone: 800-999-5558 Ext. 524 Fax: 888-442-6737

2004 made in china 22 medium frets
solid body guitar with a film top wich looks good in sunlight, has 2 dirtyfinger style humbuckers that sould ok with lots of distortion "what do ya expect, dirtyfinger design-complete with tilted coils"
body is basswood,very light,but solid and sunstantial, the way it should be, the bridge is modled after a vintade fender syncronized trem "booooo" the neck is solid maple with a real maple fretboard, not frets pressed into the neck like some guitars i have worked on *fender cough cough* i'll give a rating of 7 on this cuz the body is decent

i play heavy metal with lots of palm mutes and harmonics and this guitar can put the rubber to the road,especially with a randall warhead amp, my neighbors hate me hehehehehehe
very surprising for a $200 guitar
i would like to install carvin scorchers into it, really make it gruff and thick

to be honest i expected it to look like it was build as a project by jerrys kids, but its actually good, the neck pocket is so tight aboutall ya can shove in betweenbody andneck is a sheet of paper, like a prom date, the tighter, the better!!!
the height on the pups are fine from the factory, very balanced, but lacking power but it did cum with stock strap buttons, i call tham ejectors!!! anyone not usin straploks is just beggin on bended knee for trouble and that bridge, dont even get me started!!!

this guitar "like any other guitar" will withstand a show, but i would have a backup
the hardware is good, the tuners seem tight and strong, i ust with it had a wilkensen dbl knife style or a kahler trem, one nice thing about this guitar, ya can customize it and make it yours, i dont see why ya cant add whatever components ya want pups,electronics, etc
very upgradable

i got it at GC, typical 1 yr warrantee, blah blah bah
if eyr smart, ya will already have it custom tailored to ya by that time

with the right components and good pups, ya can have a resy nice little axe

i have been playing for longer than most ppl will believe
i am not a very good player, i am a tech and luthier and can be quite critical i case ya didnt notice

i do wish it had good hot pickups and coil taps,

the only thig that really bothers me to no end is it has a fender style headstock, ya know, the "SPOON!!!!!" there ya have no down pressure and a nut the size if a matchstick, i'd rather see a $200 guitar with a tilt head than a $1,500 spoon head, c'mon, no pressure on the strings, ya lose tone,volume, sustain and good string springiness, its like puttin new wipers on the busted windshield of yer 1988 Yugo

i bought this guitar out of couriousity, and over all i am impressed with it, its a good started guitar, or a guitar to beat the hell out of, and if you are a beginer, its a guitar that you can hop op as you get better, there is no reason why ya cant make this guitar every bit as good as a real EBMM for less than half the price,
very worth the $200 tag,

2004, made in china
22 medium frets(not jumbo's)
blue photo film top
one volume 500K pot,gibson LP type 3 way toggle
two ceramic humbuckers that are voiced to sound like VH(bridge is 14.3K and neck is 9.4K)
multi piece basswood body and a maple neck/board
tele meets les paul shape(real cool look like a 57 chevy)
fender tradtional non locking tremelo bridge
schaller copy tuners
rounded neck with a 1/58' nut size(similar to wolfgang EVH guitar)
due to the lack of a locking tremelo and the cheaper tuners i give this catagory a 6

Stock this MM1 is very impressive,so i figured things could only get better.
so i put in a set of dimarzio EVH music man pu's i had from a Ebay score
needless to say the OLP MM1 now sounds EXACT to a real EBMM axis or EVH guitar. dont believe me? put in a set of these custom wound EVH dimarzio's and hear for yourself.
what a $200 OLP that now sounds the same as a $1700 EBMM? yeah i give it a solid 10!

set up from factory is what i expected,which was not very good.
but on the other aspects like neck joint,frets,bridge alignment,pickup routes,it is very good, way above average for a guitar in the $200 range so i give it a 8

I would gig with it no problem, very dependable!

had no problems getting answers to my questions.

been playing for 20 years own a few other guitars( EBMM axis,PRS,fender)Well even if i did not already own the EVH dimarzio's to put in the OLP i still would give it a great overall rating,the stock pu's are not bad at all and would cover many styles.
for me i put in a set of dimarzio custom wounds i got from Ebay for $150
so the guitar wound up costing me $300 total and it sounds just like it's much more expensive brother(the EBMM axis)
overall even stock it can be beat for this price!
made the other $200 guitars sound like true "i was made in another country and no one cared how i turned out" guitars

Earlier 2001-2202 black sparkle China.
You can read the 80 other reviews for this crap..

I play 80's shred mostly..
I have a Crate gx-212.. A REAL Guitar player only needs 4 things to play.. A guitar, a chord, an amp and desire.. No effectshere folks..
I own a 2000 Axis and these two guitars do not sound alike. NOTHING sounds like the custom Dimarzios in the AXIS guitars. THese pups sound fine for the money, they are just NOT AXIS pups. I find em a little thin sounding and lacking in sustain.

The factory set-up was HORRID! I've seen lower telephone wires!
I'm a guitar tech so it only took 10 minutes of adjusting to get her down to exceelent action and perfect intonation.
The paint looks cheasy on all these OLP's.. It's a foto finish for God's sake-It's supposed to look like ASS!
I could rip any guitar to shreds in a review because I am a tech and very particualr. With that said, to the average guitar consumer this guitar is relatively ready to play right out of the box with the exception of the factoy set-up.
THis is one of the best low-dollar guitars I've seen in awhile..

I'm too old for that live playing stuff plus I suck as a player anyway..
The guitar and it's componets are as sturdy as just about anything out their. The guitar will withstand normal playing with the best of them.

Never dealt with them..

I've been playing for 10 years
I might bye one in each color and experiment with different pickup configurations..
I love the cost and solid built.
I hate the the cheesy neck. It is too strat-like instead of Ernie Ball like.
I only compare it to my Ernie Ball Axis as that is what the guitar is supposed to be mimicking. Not bad for the money-It's no AXIS but cool guitar none-the-less.
I think solid colors or real figured tops would be nice too. I'd shell out another $75 for a real quilt top..
I also wish this guitar had more tremolo options. A strat trem on a guitar built in the spirit of Eddie with a strat bridge? WTF?
I would like to seee this guitar in a stop bar version as well as a Floyded version.

It has been argued that guitars manufactured offshore (ie. Korea) as popular knock-offs, have come a long way in terms of fit,finish, quality and oem accuracy. I agree and attest as I myself have several. I also have a beat USA made '88 Fender standard strat. As beat as it is, it still sounds silky and warm. It is my opinion that the strat is best characterized by Eric Johnson. Of course, there is a long list of venerable players that have personified the strat with their own legacy of musicianship. This cannot be denied or overlooked. Before I go off on a tangent, I wanted to note that I also use my strat as an approximate standard to compare it's manufactured quality against that of an import and in order to validate the former argument. Tonal personality is obviously different from design to design.
All of my instruments are left handed, as am I. As so, this significantly reduces the number and variety of stock instruments available to my displeasure. Try getting a lefty Peavey Wolfgang. There has been much protest, but I believe Peavey still stands by its regard of the lefthanded community as unmarketable due to volume constraints. Thus, we have the next best thing, OLP's knockoff of the Music Man by Ernie Ball made famous by Eddie Van Halen. OLP (Officially Licensed Product(s)) is manufactured in China under License and approved USA design. On with the review!

Features of the MM1: Current year production 2004

Solid Basswood body (not glued multipiece body like Yamaha Pacifica or Raven West's PRS McCarty knockoff)

Body Color: Black laquer (non-translucent)

Faux quilted maple top (laminated picture on basswood body)
single ply cream binding for show only
Faux top color: very nice gold

22 fret Maple neck with truss rod NOTE: the neck is 2 piece maple with the second piece being a little thicker than a normal rosewood board glued to the solid neck over the rod. A little disappointed with that. I kinda expected a SOLID maple neck like my Fender Strat has.
This neck is polished, but not finished with laquer so I wonder how long before the dirt builds up from finger acids and the like. The neck also has small black dot inlays probably about a third of the size of the inlays in the strat. The headstock has the OLP logo and is the same color as the faux quilted top (gold). The back of the headstock displays the Ernie Ball trademark to olp.

I cannot remember the type of tuners, but they seem solid enough and not cast like some cheap shite I've seen on other more expensive instruments. The upper nut is plastic, but seems decent enough. The frets could be a little smoother, but break in playing will take care of that. I cannot remember the scale however, it seems smaller than that of the Strat.

Controls:
3 way switch
1 volume control only, no tone control (I like it!)

Pups:
2 direct body mounted Humbucking (not able to get specs)

Bridge:
chrome Vintage style vibrato for diving etc. Standard chrome plated saddles. Better quality bridge than other more expensive instruments

Accessories:
Shipped double boxed with soft shell gigbag, 6ft cable, trem bar, extra vibrato tension spring and allen wrench complete with .009 Ernie Ball Slinkys and not crap strings like every other import.

I haven't played it a whole lot yet, but so far, so good. The setup wasn't bad. I will have to adjust the action down a bit. No biggie! Pups seemed alright height-wise for now. It is pretty quiet sitting on the stand. The MM1 delivers nice full sound and I can tell that it will work well with my other equipment. I might consider changing the pups eventually, but for now they sound sharp and I am not disappointed with any of the settings. The sound is somewhere in the middle of pup variety. I also like the fact that there is no tone control. Take the bias right out of the instrument and let the outboard gear shape the tone. Beautiful!
I don't play out, so I cannot comment on its attributes with respect to the stage. My application is purely studio. I use a variety of effects with my main effects board being the Boss GT6 and my backup being the Line6 Pod 2.0. I also have some nice high quality analog pedals to try out with the MM1. These will better reveal the true dynamics of the instrument, as opposed to the highly digitized processing utilized by the other two I own. It seems to me that every guitar I've tried with the Pod sounds the same. The Gt6 offers more in the way of sound sculpting and I still have a lot of exploration to do with that processor.
I feed a pair of Marshall 15watt solid state practice amps L and R channels from whatever processor I'm utilizing. Good for the studio, but lack of power and driver size barely make the delivery.
I use the computer heavily for recording and also have a heavy duty 4 track recorder by Audio Technica (they don't make 'em like this anymore).
I concentrate on a style similar to new age. I may need to qualify the category with an explanation considering the evolution of this particular category. When I first interested myself in new age, it was mostly a category reserved for keyboard music and a style born of classical roots, yet not as polished or organized, an improvisation of classical if you will and a bit strange at that. Through the years, new age has become a crossroads for several genres of music that didn't quite fit into any one particular category. Then after the keyboard explosion it became mood music, and now an ever-shrinking genre, practically the flamenco category. So, I fit in the part of new age that represents a progressive and technical melding of blues,jazz and rock. That cleared it up right? NOT!
Oh! One more thing. My kingdom for a tremelo instead of the vintage vibrato. Oh well! Leftys can't be choosers.

Okay, here's where I won't be as complimentary as I've previously been. Most of my complaint is credited to cosmetic problems.
The laminated quilted top is cheesy, but I'm sure that it was a cost saving measure on the part of the manufacturer. There are visible body colored paint spots in the laminate around the pup cavities where the body paint meets the laminate.
The rearside of the guitar body had all kinds of small scratches in the laquer. Not a glaring defect, but hey it's the only import I've received new with any sort of scratch in the body laquer. I mentioned some of the other flaws earlier.
The biggest complaint I have is the maple neck. It looks like it was sanded by a five year old around the headstock and there is a tiny knot in the neck by the 4th fret near where you would rest your thumb. Not the greatest specimen of maple used for the neck, but I have a tendency to be critical.

As I stated earlier, I do not play out. However, it is my opinion that the guitar would be suited to live playing. The hardware of the instrument seems a little higher quality than other more expensive instruments I have owned. We'll have to see about the finish and the test of time. The instrument seems reliable enough to depend on regularly. Personally, if I did gig, I would never play out without a backup, period.

There is a website, but other than initial research, have not had to contact customer support. http://www.olpguitars.com/usa/mm1_trans.htm
The above link will take you to the exact page for this guitar.
Not sure about the warranty, maybe 1 yr.

Overall, this is great guitar at a modest price even though I got ripped for being a lefty. The color looks great even for a picture.
I expect to play and own this instrument for years to come.
It's too bad that the MM1 only has two pups, there is certainly enough space in the center for a third pup. If this guitar was stolen or damaged, I would most likely replace it with another one.

This is the 62nd review for this guitar, so by now you know the deal. Like many of the previous reviewers, I also own an authentic MM Axis (see my review there). I bought the OLP out of curiosity and for back-up. If you gig with a Floyd Rose, you damn well better have a backup, because changing a string can take a while. So the big difference between the original and the OLP: No Floyd Rose, which is fine by me. I miss the micro-tuners at the tail, but the Schaller knock-offs on the headstock are more than adequate. My Musicman is a special order natural quilt maple, so there's a big difference between that look and the OLP, which is a picture of tobacco-brown quilt maple. The matching headstock is a very nice touch for a budget guitar. The first thing you'll notice when playing the OLP is the difference in neck feel. The original birds-eye maple neck is finished and smooth. The OLP is non-birdseye maple: straight, comfortable, but unfinished on the fingerboard. It can feel a little scratchy, particularly if (like me) you like to bend the strings a lot. Overall, this is a fantastic feature set for a budget instrument.

It sounds a LOT like the original. Tons of sustain, maybe a little more el-distorto on full tilt. Whoever wound these pickups better be paying a license fee to DiMarzio too, because they nailed it. Some reviewers have lamented the absence of tone controls. Pussies! I play this one just like the original: The one and only knob cranked to get the most from the hot pickups. Toggle to go from one pickup to the other, and get any other tone from the amp. I use a rack system with Dean Markley 12AX7 pre-amp, vintage Tube Driver and a McIntosh 75 (many tubes, including 2- 6550s(KT88s). I blow it out through 4-10s - 2 Celestions and 2 vintage EV SROs. When I don't feel like carrying all that stuff around, and for rehearsals, I use an old Fender Princeton 65.

Unlike many reviewers, mine came in with a great setup. This could be because I bought a "blem" factory reconditioned item from Musician's Friend. I know it was shipped directly from the Ohio facility where they bring 'em in and do repairs and such. The blem consists of a scratch on the back of the headstock - big deal. As I mentioned, the action is great, but I prefer the feel of a finished fretboard, so I'm going to sand and finish it myself. The metal parts seem OK for now. The one thing I'll replace is the plastic volume knob. It's identical to the one on my real MM Axis, and that's the problem. The one on my MM broke after a year, and I replaced it with a knurled chrome-dome Fender Bass style knob. This is a major upgrade on both the original and the OLP -- Do it. You'll be able to work the volume knob better while playing and it looks great. Depending on your finish, you can go for other color options, too. The OLP is a well-made guitar. The quality is on a par with many US-made instruments and blows the Mexican Fenders out of the water. If I had my choice, I would have gone for a simpler real finish instead of the photo finish. Mine looks great from a distance (on stage) but way stoopit up close in the light.

I haven't played it enough to really tell, but my guess is that the hardware wil start to require replacements in 5-7 years of active playing. Of more concern: If you don't finish the neck, make sure your hands are clean and you wipe the neck down after playing. An unfinished neck will accumulate gobs of crap along the frets and board. It will look like a computer keyboard in a factory in 6 months. Solid wood parts and great fit. I would use this on a gig without backup before I'd use my original MM Axis because of the original's string-replacement hassles due to the the Floyd Rose.

I'm an old fart with a dozen guitars, including a vintage 335, Ibanez Satch-style and Taylor acoustic. Been playing for 40 years, and currently play in a big horn band doing Steely Dan, classic soul and sophisticated blues. Also play rock, blues, jazz and I jam a lot. I have a large pedal board with a lot of effects, but I mainly use chorus with the MM and OLP. No need for compression, overdrive or distorion if you play it right through a good amp. I love the OLP price and build quality. I hate the unfinished fretboard (easy fix) and "quilted" photo finish. Now that I see how good these cheap-ass Chinese knock-offs are, I'm going to try a few others.

RED FAUX QUILTED TOP SPECS SAME AS OTHER REVIEWS

I AM A EVH MUSIC MAN OWNER, AND LOVER SO I HAVE BEEN INTRIGUED ABOUT THIS GUITAR(OLP MM1)SINCE I FIRST HERD ABOUT THEM.
FIRST THINGS FIRST I PLAY CLASSIC ROCK TO METAL AND PROGRESSIVE AND THIS MM1 SUITS MY STYLE TO A T.
I RUN THIS INTO A JCM900 ON THE CLEAN CHANNEL INTO A BOSS METALZONE PEDAL, BOSS DD3 DELAY , BOSS CHORUS,IBANEZ PHASER.THIS GUITAR IS NOT NOISY,CLEAN IT HAS A GREAT TONE NECK AND MIDDLE P/UPS WORK GREAT FOR STOCK DIMARZIO RIP OFFS, BRIDGE A BIT THIN FOR CLEAN WORK.
NOW FLIP ON THE EFFECTS AND THIS BABY SCREAMS MOANS AND DOES IT ALL.
THE BRIDGE BUCKER IS LETHAL I LOVE IT, NECK IS WARM AND HAS GREAT DEFINISION.
SO I WOULD SAY IT HAS PLENTY OF VARIETY MORE THAN YOU WOULD THINK ON A GUITAR WITH MINIMUL FEATURES.
STOCK BRIDGE WORKS OK NO EDDIE ANTICS HERE THOUGH,BUT THATS TO BE EXPECTED.
P/UPS I THINK SOUND FINE, I MAY CHANGE THEM OUT DOWN THE TRACK BUT I WANT TO PLAY THIS FOR A WHILE BEFORE I DO.(THEY SOUND GREAT SO FAR?)
STRAP BUTTONS I WILL REPLACE,SAME WITH INPUT JACK.(JUST A PERSONAL THING)

THE GUITAR WAS PRETTY ROUGH OUT OF THE BOX, BUT QUICKLY SET UP BY THE STORE OWNER/ LUTHIER PHIL HAWORTH.
P/UPS WERE PROPERLY ADJUSTED.THE PHOTO FLAME FINISH LOOKS GREAT I CAN,T SEE ANY OBVIOUS FLOORS.

THIS GUITAR WILL HOLD UP LIVE , NO WORRIES.
THE HARDWARE IS FINE BUT WHERE NOT TALKING ABOUT A 4000.00 PRS HERE.
HOW LONG WILL THE FINISH LAST, WELL ONLY TIME WILL TELL I WILL LET YOU NO IN 12 MONTHS.
I THINK YOU CAN DEPEND ON THIS GUITAR, I T PLAYS AND FEELS WAY BETTER THAN A LOT MORE EXPENSIVE GUITARS I HAVE OWNED OVER THE LAST 15 YEARS.
I WILL USE IT AT A GIG, BUT I ALWAYS HAVE A B/UP NO MATTER WHAT GUITAR I AM USING AT THE TIME.

HAVE NOT HAD TO DEAL WITH THEM SO FAR.
12 MONTHS WARRANTY I BELIEVE.

I HAVE BEEN PLAYING OVER 20 YEARS, ALSO OWN EVH E/BALL M/MAN AND THE GEAR DESCRIBED ABOVE.
IF STOLEN I WOULD BUY AGAIN, IN FACT I,M THINK I MAY GET MY WIFE AND DAUGHTER TO BUY ME ANOTHER ONE FOR MY B/DAY THIS YEAR.
I WILL MAYBE PUT A FLOYD ON IT , BUT THATS ABOUT ALL IF THE P/UPS WORK LIKE THEY ARE NOW I WON,T EVEN CHANGE THEM.
I TRADED A 2 MONTH OLD CORT M700 FOR THIS THE CORT WAS GREAT AND A LOT MORE EXPENSIVE, BUT THIS LITTLE BABY SLAYED IT AND MY GODIN SOLIDAC.
WITH OUR EYES CLOSED IN THE SHOP NONE OF US COULD HARDLY PICK THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN MY M/MAN AND THE MM1.
I HAVE BEEN PLAYING A LONG TIME AND WISH I HAD BOUGHT ONE OF THESE SOONER, I THINK ITS AMAZING THE QUALITY THAT IS CIMING OUT OF CHINA E.C.T. THESE DAYS.
IF YOU BUY ONE YOU WILL NOT BE DISSAPOINTED,THIS IS NOW MY MAIN AXE AND I,M PROUD TO SAY SO.

2003 China made. 22 frets. Top is a photocopy of a flametop which looks good from far and far from good. Joking. It looks very nice. Even has binding on the body - unusual at this price. Three way switch. Volume control. No tone knob. two humbuckers.One piece maple neck. Useless trem. Tuners work well. Great feel and weight. Much more comfortable than my Gibson or Fender. A player designed this.

Great for rock or blues. Sounds good on mu Marshall 8080 Valvestate or direct to the board. Surprisingly quiet. Best with distortion or fuzz.

No complaints. Plays better than guitars I paid four times as much for. No obvious flaws. Looks like an expensive guitar.

Seems solid but you never know until you drop a guitar whether it's made of solid stuff. I'm not planning to test it that way.

I've been banging away for about 20 years. This has become my main axe. Does anyone want to buy a red Les Paul Junior or a sickly caramel Telecaster. The oriental guitars are way better than people give them credit for. The myth that a guitar needs to be made in North America to be good needs to die. It's frankly racist.

The frets are not as finished as a Fender but hey this is 1/7th the price of my Fender too. They through in an extra spring for the bridge for those who like 10 gauge strings. One thing that only time will tell is how the one piece maple neck will react to the weather changes since it is unfinished. Because it is smaller that makes it easier to play while on the computer. Volume control, basswood body with maple neck and workable tuners.

Sound, at first I didn?t care that much for it at all but I think that?s because I like to spin the tone and play with the settings, knob envy? But it grows on you or it did me anyway you just have to play with the volume and use the right PU selector too tweak the tone. I know it will sound better when I cut away the factory strings but the body has a nice ring to it and the neck feels great. Sounds a little more like an axe with p-90s then Les Paul like. The bridge pickup almost sound like a Telecaster type bridge pickup to me which isn?t bad. That could be the setting I?m using on my Cyber twin too. But I play most of my guitars using the same settings. The way it?s built it would be good for going experimental on but it sounds good right out of the box.

Fit is pretty good. The neck was straight and didn?t buzz out anywhere which surprised me. Mine is the red and has a nice look to it, don?t see any runs in the paint or anything like that. The frets are not as finished as a Fender but hey this is 1/7th the price of my Fender too

If I were to play at a biker bar this would be a great axe for the gig. Built real solid and if you had to use to swing your way out you could replace it without taking out a loan. It should hold up but something about the neck being one piece of wood that I will have to watch, think pool stick leaning against the wall for a long period of time. No rattles buzzes or extra pieces and the paint was dry, what more do you need?

Musicains Friend has a great rep, no worries here.

It was in the scratch and dent bin not a bad little axe for the bucks didn?t need another guitar but what the heck. When I travel I like bring alone a Guitar and this will be perfect for that, it looks good too. Would I buy another one? Sure why not, it should hold up well if you take care of it and the wife thinks it cute too. For the price and what you get in the way of sound and that's what should count the most I rate this a

I own 2 of these , one is from when they first came out
in late 2001 and one I just bought in Oct 03.

2001 has the photo quilt top that has black in it - not a good looking top at all
2003 has a photo top that has no black in it - this top looks great!

2001 I have is

I added a tone knob to both of these , pups have a full dark tone that I like

The 2001 was setup great right out of the box. I think the very early models were done right since they were just entering the market.

I did notice that QC seemed to go down during 2002 and right up to the new color quilt top of OCT 03 , saw many bad examples of this guitar , bad frets , bad alignment on the bridge . Seeing the
new color top made me get one of the newer 2003 models but I had to look through 3 boxes of them . One had a neck with dark mineral deposits on it which looked like wood I would have burned .
Another thing bad on the new necks, the fingerboard seems to be almost raw wood . Heres the reply about it from Customer service for OLP
"The fingerboard is finished but the finish has been thinned out a bit to give it more of a natural feel. Murphy's Oil Soap does a great job cleaning it up.

Tim Keyes
Customer Service/Warranty Claims
B.C.Rich Guitars / OLP Guitars "

Great , thats what I want to do is clean my fingerboard all the time .

I give the 2001 OLPS a 9 and the 2003 a 4 - nicer top , but fingeboard gets dirty after playing 1 hour with no finish .

Granted EB Axis have unfinished back of the necks but you dont use an unfinished fingerboard , its not right .

Will this guitar withstand live playing?
Yes
Does the hardware seem like it will last?
I would change out the bridge and saddles and pots
Is the finish good enough to last, or does it seem thin and easy to wear off with lots of playing?

On the 2001 model , yes finish is fine. However on the 2003 on the fingerboard WHAT FINISH?

Are the strap buttons solid?
Yes
Can you depend on it?
Would you use it on a gig without a backup? Nope, thats why I bought 2

I have emailed 2 xs to OLP and I get answers back from

Tim Keyes
Customer Service/Warranty Claims
B.C.Rich Guitars / OLP Guitars

His answers are short and he does not elaborate on issues such as
no finish on the fingerboards .

Im also wondering when did B C Rich get involved with OLP ?

I like my EB Axis SS and I like these things they have a great neck to them , not a neck like the Axis at all but nice on their own.

For the money its a good buy.

brand new 2003 made in china, trans red,MM1 aixs copy.
all the features are the same as others. since the company that makes these do not offer a floyd rose model,i give this one a 6,because of the lack of a locking trem which ANY EBMM axis copy should have!

sounds suprisingly good! i like many others heard about the hype,comapring them to the USA EBMM axis models,so i ordered one for the hell of it! when doing a A/B with my EBMM,the axis has a sweeter,more high quality tone,gee i wonder why? could it be the price difference?($189 vs $1600!) well to be fair,this $189 axe is very good for the bucks,it mimics sound wise/playablity the much more expensive axis good enough to satisfy any one wanting a usa EBMM axis.
I gave it a 10 for the simple fact that it sounds very good!

I will not even go into this,the so called set up was horrid!

finish is not real durable,other aspects like the neck,bridge,tuners ,etc are good enough to play a show or go into the studio.
once a proper set up is done this is gig worthy

?

Overall,this is a guitar that i would have killed to have back in my beginning days(30 years ago!)i really dont like to use it up agianst the superior EBMM axis that cost me so much,but when comparing to other $200
guitars out there this thing is the reigning champ! it wasted the $200 squiers,jacksons,ibanez's,LTD's in all aspects.
I highly recomnnd them for those who crave a axis but dont have the pocket!

Tranparent Purple laminated finish (grape), uncovered dual humbuckers, front body binding, single volume knob with 3 way switch ( neck/both/bridge),bolt-on maple neck, 22 frets, THIS DOES NOT HAVE JUMBO FRETS LIKE THE PROMOS SAY - they are medium, string-through body and 6 piece adjustable bridge, non-locking grover-type tuners.
Made in China probably @2002. comes with a cable and a non-locking tremolo ( that you won't want to use if your wise).

It sounds good for an inexpensive guitar - plays like and Ernie Ball Axis, which it is a knockoff of. For those that don't know, OLP stands for "Officially Licensed Product", licensed by Ernie Ball to essentially build the Axis oversees at EB specs for $200 versus $1200 for the American made Axis.

I usually play jazz/blues/fusion, use everything from no pedals to a Roland GR33.
For just having a volume and three way switch, it has a wide range of sound. If you want changes, all you have to do is some EQ on the amp, or raise/lower the pickups during setup. I know I have had multiple knobs and switches on a number of guitars. When I play a certain guitar, I usually use only one setting that I use most of the time. This guitar sounds good just as it is ( I may adjust pickup height after I use it for a while).

This is where I have to laugh. This guitar must have been strung and set up by a Panda. When I took it out of the box, all the strings were very loose ( no neck tension ), the B actually FELL OFF the tuning peg ( I salvaged it), E (1st) nearly fell off but I grabbed it and tightened it. Although the neck is maple/flat fretboard, the Panda had the bridge set for an oval-top neck, low at the sides, high in the middle. Further more, even after tightening the strings to check the bridge, every string BUZZED AT ALMOST EVERY FRET - WAY TOO LOW ACTION. Needless to say, this was the most pathetic set up I have ever seen.

THe bridge pickup looks a little high. After the bridge set up, I need to take a look at the neck pickup and decide.

The Finish is very nice, front binding is a nice touch. The best part of this this guitar is the neck - and I usually don't much care for maple necks.

I have to give a lower score here because of the lousy string and bridge setup.

Hardware and every thing seems good, strap buttons solid, finish looks good. It would play it live, but ALWAYS have a backup.

I think, like any other musical instument, if you don't misuse or mistreat it, it would be relatively durable.

Don't know anything about 'em, but I know their website www.olpguitars.com.

Been playing Jazz/Blues/Rock/Fusion for about 35 years. This guitar caught my eye because of the Ernie Ball licensing and the low price, so I gambled. It's a nice little ax for the price - and I also wanted one more maple neck ( the only other one I have is a Yamaha Mike Stern). A well made maple neck is a nice occasional departure from rosewood.

This guitar is really similar to the Axis, carries like a lighter telecaster. I may buy another one with different finish now that I've played it, and especially considering the price.

Reminds me also of a story about Jeff 'Skunk' Baxter, lead guitarist for Doobie Bros and Steely Dan - He made it a point to play cheaper guitars because he thought high end guitars were overrated. His main point was a very good guitarist can make a cheap guitar sound expensive - a hack guitarist can play a $5000 custom model, but he still sounds like a hack.

2002 trans purple,one volume knob,fender type trem,maple neck/fingerboard, direct mount humbucking pickups, med. frets,
3 way gibson type switch,fake quilt photo top,basswood body,22 frets,
4+2 tuners at headstock also matching the color of the body which looks really nice.

Pickups are fairly hot. No problems getting vanhalen tone out of this. However pickups are a little muddy when played clean through my amp. I had to back the neck pickup away to getting better clean tone.
I heard the pickups are actully based on the same specs as the ones on the axis, but made cheaply. I run it through a Zoom Fire 15 amp at home and a Marshall JCM900 at practice. Sounds good either way, I' have guitars that are over twice this price and honestly don't sound as good or as full, great tones from rock,to blues, to metal.It gets a 10 for sound at $200

Action, fit, and, finish are Excellent for the price. Fake top looks great. Forget using the trem for dives and all that, won't stay in tune like a locking floyd rose system but neither will a Fender strat. I just tightened the trem springs to bring the bridge flush with the body with no movemnet up or down and don't bother with the bar. That's when I get out an ibanez with an edge trem. Only problem I noticed was intonation was out pretty bad. I restrung it got the intonation in and it sings now.

should hold up fine live, hardware passable, time will tell, finish ok,guitar is very solid, not thin or cheap looking or feeling at all. I would use this as a backup guitar live.

no idea, if it breaks buy another one

I've been playing 15 years and have a lot of expensive guitars and some cheap ones. This is the absoulute best guitar you'll find for around $200. Only thing that compares might be an Esp Ltd,but those usually are more.

2003 trans purple,one volume knob,fender type trem,maple neck/fingerboard
3 way gibson type switch,fake quilt photo top,basswood body,22 frets
4+2 tuners at headstock, gloss black back.
if it has a floyd type trem i would have gave it a 10.

Best i heard at the music store,for this price range! sound resembles the much higher priced ernie ball/music man axis.

the one i tried at guitar center was set up good. can be fine tuned with little effort

excellent for a inexpensive guitar

never had to deal with them?

I walked away very impressed! i own 2 music mans a red axis(quilt top) and a blue one(flame top) this is a god send for those who want a axis guitar but are a bit lacking in the pocket! I would buy one!
I cant beleive the guitars you can get these days for cheap!

all the same features are previously mentined in other reviews.

for the money it is a good guitar sound wise,but does not compare to the EBMM axis or peavey wolfgangs USA models.
on its own without trying to A/B it to those other guitars,it is real good much better than any other $189 guitar out there new!

sub par parts,tuners dont hold well,switch is cheap,nut slots not cut at the right height,bridge is a cheap copy of a fender vintage trem.
the action supplied from the factory is fair,can be set much lower with good results. frets are OK,but could use a dress/crowning, ugly feeling finish on back of the neck and fingerboard that gives the guitar a "toyish cheap" feel! took the finish off and used gun stock oil,feels great!
I am basing my rating on the fact this is a $189 guitar so i gave it a 7 for it's potential

after hot rodding it i would play it live,stock no way!

in stock form the OLP MM1 is not a junk heap,but it could be a lot better which is why i put in a few extra bucks to make it a 10.
for a beginner this thing is the deal of a lifetime,damn i started out on a real POS that made the OLP look like a vintage les paul!
for the intermediate to advanced players,who dont want to shell out $1500 for a axis or wolfgang,it can be brought up to par for much less.
I personally recomend a die hard fan of the wolf or axis to get either a used wolf special(USA) or go here for a much better copy of the axis. www.meanstreetguitars.com

See the other reviews. This one is the transparent gold color.

The sounds is not like any other guitars I have owned. It is very mid range heavy to my ears. This is a good thing, but it doesn't get the clean sounds I like. The hi gain sounds are better than average. This guitar likes to be played with lots of gain. When most guitars "mush out" from too much boost,this guitar still sounds clear and articulate. I like it.

Excellent neck. The action could go lower, but I won't bother. It's good enough for me. I like medium action anyway.

No flaws I can see. The unfinished neck is fun to play on. The fingerboard gets grungy looking, but that's OK. This is a stripped down workhorse guitar, not a feature-laden girly-man's guitar.

The fake top looks horrid from 5 feet or closer. After awhile, it grows on you. I wish they put binding on the solid color models.

Seems to be very durable. It's a little small feeling. It's built pretty solid, though. I like it.

N/A

Been playing longer than most here have been alive. I have owned a lot of gear. I have problems with playing this guitar live or at home. I am not a gear snob. I like my Parker and PRS, but this guitar can hang with them in my opinion. It's another sound to work with. I'll get another.

I don't really care for the clean sounds, but this is a great rock guitar. The neck is the greatest thing about this guitar. Oh yeah, and the price. I would have killed for a $200 guitar this good when I started. $200 guitars sucked back then. This is better than most of the MID-priced guitars out there, let alone the low-priced ones.

I'll add a bright cap to the volume knob to help it clean up a little.

Transparent Black fake flametop, looks nice but not fantastic (could be a lot better). Read other features elsewhere.

After I sold my Peavey EVH Wolfgang (I was broke and broken), all the
positive hype about this copy of a Music Man made me buy it, when I
finally got some cash. What a disappointment this is!

Not to say it's bad, but the Wolfgang's resonance and acoustic power isn't there. And that's that. Even the good pickups on this guitar cannot make up for the loss of acoustic power.

The body does not resonate nearly as well as the original. And that is the reason why this OLP MM1 is A LOT weaker, colder and more sterile than the Peavey Wolfgang.

If anyone dares to compare this to the original, he/she must be tone deaf. This OLP sound is a bad joke.

Action and playability is excellent, though. This is what I want in a guitar (in addition to the sound, which is no. 1)

Probably lasts and works as well as any average electric guitar.
I will not keep this, however, because of the horrendeous sound.
So I won't have to rely on it.

N/A

What can I say? The playability and part of the "Wolfgang feel" are there, but I still don't like it. There is but one serious fault in this otherwise better than average copy guitar. It's not even close to the Peavey Wolfgang sound-wise.

This guitar is not my thing. Really. Although I'm a lousy player, I
will stop playing if I can't play with a better sounding instrument than this.

If it were stolen or lost, I'd be sorry I lost the chance to sell it to someone who is willing to pay me at least 300 euros for it
(I could spend the money on beer or something more fun..)

The features are very simple just a volume control, a toggle switch, two humbuckers, body is basswood, neck not sure but it seems maple, body style similar to EVH, very light, bridge is like old fenders, frets they say they are jumbo, they dont look like jumbo to me but they are not thin either, just like medium size frets. Hope it only came with a tone control, but playing with your volume control can get some tone changes too!!!!! not much but are there.

I play mostly blues, some hard rock and heavy metal latetly so I guess it covers them all. The clean sound is not that clean you have to tweak your rig to get an acceptable clean sound, but its ok. I have a old ('80) Fender 30 and a Fender Blues Jr., for effects I have a ProCo Rat a TS-09 and a 2000 Expandora. This guitar works best with the Expandora and the TS-09 than with the ProCo and when use with both turned on (expandora and the TS-09) it sounds amazing. Belive mw I have a Fender Fat Lone Star that has a Duncan Humbucker on the bribge and this 200.00 dollar guitar get really close, really close. The only thing I dont like is the Neck Pickup, fo my taste its too muddy but can be tweak with the tones control from the amp and effect. Ahh One thing, change the strings to 10's Thats when the guitar start to sound really great, dont use the 09.

I only made a few adjustments not that much, it was well set-up from factory. The action is low, but the finish is not that good looking, you see I bought the Gold Transparent and it looks like hell :-) but I like it cause it sound very well.

I dont play with any band so Im not the right person to talk about the live playing or be in the road with this guitar, I just play with some friends at our homes.

Nothing in here too, happy to be sorry on this matter.

Ive been playing for about 12 years I have owned some good Fenders like the lone star and the 1986 American Standard and some cheap Fender and a Ephiphone Les Pauls. The Only thing that I miss is a tone control, if someone stole this guitar Ill buy another one, as a mmater of fact I will buy another one for christmas, hey for 200 dollars!!!! but this time it will be a solid black color.

First a little about the company, this may seem off-topic for a product review, but in this case it isn't please bear with me and I will get to a point. OLP "Officially Licensed Products" is a US based company, their guitars are designed in the US then built in China to keep cost down (just like in many other industries). I know there is a lot of negative talk about China and Koren built instruments, but most of this talk originates from dealers who have a higher mark up on USA built instruments, or they are set in their ways and refuse to see quality when it's right in front of them. The OLP MM1 is a fine example of a case where you could spend $500-$1000 for an all American made counterpart and actually end up with a lesser quality instrument. The OLP MM1 "Axis" is a replica of the Ernie Ball (American Made) Music Man Axis guitar (formerly the Eddie Van Halen Music Man). If you're looking for this kind of guitar you've probably already looked at the high-end Ernie Ball Music Man Axis and possibly at the Peavey Wolfgang guitars. The Wolfgang guitars and the Ernie Balls are 100% American built, but that doesn't say a whole lot these days. The fact is that any brand name guitar that is mass produced (be it a Fender, Peavey, Ernie Ball or OLP) It either is an assembly line constructed instrument or it isn't. If its assembly line construted (again, this includes the $1200 Ernie Ball Axis and the $700 American Standard Fender Strat) then it's all about the quality control standards on the floor of the planet. OLP's may be built in China, but they do an outstanding job of quality control. Peavey does a horrible job, so when you shell out $700 for a US made Wolfgang are you really getting a better deal? No, you're paying more for American labor. Now, back to the OLP MM1 and Music Man Axis comparisons, aside from where the guitars are assembled there are quite a few differences (but do not effect the sound or playability). The differences are as follows: The OLP MM1 is made in China, the Music Man Axis is American made. The MM1 has a four bolt-on maple neck and shaped heal, the Ernie Ball Axis has a five bolt on maple neck. Both guitars have the same neck design, head stock and radius (OLP licensed this from Ernie Ball so they could keep it the same), but the Ernie Ball Axis usually features "birds-eye maple" as apposed to natural maple. This is purely a cosmetic feature. The Ernie Ball Axis features schaler tuners, the OLP MM1 features generic Schaler tuner clones (they look the same, and they have held up extreemly well on my OLP). Both guitars feature a solid basswood body (this is a rare find in a inexpensive guitar), some higher-end Ernie Balls Axis models offer a maple top (the price on these start around $1200), some MM1 models offer a "photo-maple top" (the body is 100% solid basswood, but a foil photo of a maple top is laid down before the clear coat is sprayed on, then a plastic creame binding is set in, it's essentially a fake maple top and fake binding added for cosmetic reasons... a real maple top would effect the tone a bit, a fake top does not) there is no extra charge for the fake maple top on the OLP MM1. Both the Ernie Ball Music Man and the OLP MM1 feature two humbucker pickups in the front and bridge positions. The Ernie Ball Music Man model uses custom DiMarzio pickups (or DiMarzio PAF in neck and Tone Zone in bridge), the OLP MM1 uses generic "DiMarzio clone pickups".

Okay, on to sound. This guitar has endless sustain (usually one of my top benchmark for a quality instrument). All three pickup positions are useful. They don't seem to have as much output as the Ernie Ball Music Man, but they have been carefully balanced to sound very similar. That is, you can switch between front and back and middle positions without having to touch the amp. This was one of the best features of the Ernie Ball Eddie Van Halen model that Eddie really pushed for and it's amazing to see that it was retained in the OLP MM1. The front pickup is really a warm glassy clean, the middle pickup makes almost an electric acoustic type sound and the rear pickup is solo heaven (plug into a Marshall JCM800 and pick your favorite 80's guitar solo, perferably something by Van Halen). For it's limited configuration, the guitar has amazing flexibility, I've played everything from hard rock to jazz and even a little finger pick'n country on it.

From the factory the guitar was a bit rough. I've owned many guitars the only negative thing I have to say about the OLP MM1 is that it was built perfect, but it really needed a break-in period (many reputable US made guitars require this also), also the factory set action was way too high for my taste. Pick up a Ernie Ball Axis and you'll notice a really low action (and still it has great sustain), I was afraid when I lowered the action it would effect the sustain on the OLP, but it did not. It just made it a lot easier to play. I took the new OLP MM1 into a trusted local chain guitar shop (who happend to sell Ernie Ball Music Mans) and ask the guy to lower set it up as close to a Ernie Ball Music Man as he could. When I got it back I was blown away! So much so that I had a buddy of mine go back down to the guitar store with me and had him swap off my guitar with a high-end Ernie Ball Music Man (plugged into a Fender Twin, then a Peavey 5150 combo) while my eyes were closed. Although I could hear a difference I couldn't tell which one sounded better, and they both felt fantasic to play on. My friend tried and couldn't tell which was the higher-end guitar, both store owner and the clerk tried to guess, the owner was able to pick out the higher-end guitar but after he did he admited that he wasn't 100% sure, and he went on to say he felt the OLP MM1 was probably the best value guitar on the market (this guy has built custom guitars for Billy Gibbons of ZZ Top and for many other famous guys, he knows his stuff).

I leave mine laying around all the time, I rarely have to tune it (the tuners have proven themselfs), I dropped it once, it's a well constructed instrument, not sure what else to say.

Only contacted them to compliment them and to recommend that they add a new model with a real qualited or curly maple top and one with a Floyd Rose licensed tremolo unit for a hundred more or whatever... they said they would consider it

Fantastic, I've said enough already.

made in china, licensed by ernie ball. got the trans purple one (its the only colour they had at music live at the NEC!!!), some people say it looks gay, but on my video of eruption Eddie is playing a purple axis so thats cool :).
2 humbuckers, 3-way pickup switch, volume nob, and a strat-type trem.

I play with a very high gain setting, and lots of reverb, and the pickups on this guitar seem to absolutely love that setting!.
I play everything from metallica, to led zep, and this guitar does them all.
through my zoom505 and crappy kustom 10watt amp the neck pickup sounds almost like a les paul, and the bridge just kicks ass.
Clean tone at the neck pickup is really nice, warm. But at the bridge it sounds scratchy and needs the volume to be turned down to get it totally clean (that could be because i'm going through the pedal though).
The guitar is alot quieter than my epiphone SG, but i guess thats a good thing (no *SQUEEEEEEEEEEEL* when you take hands off the neck)
Volume knob is really poor though, between 10 and 6 there is hardly any difference, and the sound disappears below about 1.5

Action was very high and the neck was way out when i got it straight away. Took it back to the store and he messed with the truss rod for me (great thing, truss rod is easily accessed, no need to remove covers).
Got the action how i like it now, wouldn't mind it a bit lower but there are a couple of dodgy frets.
Nut is a bit naff.

I've played this thing for hours every single day since i got it last october, and i haven't broken a single string!!
Nothing has broken yet, and i think its got another couple of years in it (or until i can afford the cheap version of the peavey wolfgang)

haven't dealt with OLP, but the shop i bought it from offered support.

Have been playing for almost 3 years, this is my 3rd guitar and by far the best (had an encore les paul *yuck*, and an epiphone SG before).
I love the fact its different to every guitar my mates own, and it sounds better and plays better.
I wish it had a floyd though :)
Overall a great guitar, and worth more than the #200 i paid for it.

2002 - see other comments - black sparkle

I play straight ahead rock, and this thing gets the job done. Makes me sick that I can get this good of sound out of a $150 entry-level guitar. I was going to swap out the pickups, but these are pretty decent. Clean sound is tolerable.

SUPER-friendly neck. Fits like a comfy t-shirt. Very very very easy to play.

Has performed great onstage, have not shot out of tune or anything, but strap lock popped off in the middle of a gig. Get locks. It's a beast, and it's lightweight, I'm one of those guys who bitch about having a heavy guitar strapped around your neck for 2 hours.

haven't called them, but hey buddy...this is a cheap guitar.

I've been playing 20 years, I have an old-school loaded Ibanez RG540 that I adore, and it got bumped to my #2 axe by this one. I'm mind-boggled by this.

If it were stolen, I'd go get another easily. Hell, I could swap my beloved Ibanez and get 4 of them.

Great starter for the kids, great knockaround for the more experienced player, and most of all, the first guitar in a long time that is actually worth MORE than you pay for it. Two thumbs up.

2002 or 2003 Made in China. But well made. I checked out the inside too - nice clean work, solder, etc. Got the gold one 'cause purple was even uglier. Comes in black, too, but haven't seen one anywhwere. Plays nice - killer neck. I swear it plays itself. Sounds full, too. Not too boomy on the bottom end. (It's probably got super slinkys on it or something) My observation is that the G string doesn't sustain as much as the others because of the way it's designed - tuner is high up on headstock. I'm curious if it's possible or advisable to put on a string tree - maybe like the metal one that's on the real MM Axis. The fretboard was totally heavily grimy, so I had 'em clean it for me. I expect it to grime up easily. Oh, well - it plays like a dream. And for a deuce - it's a stinkin' great buy! And, get this - it has a volume knob AND a switch, beeeeeatch! BUT it also has a tremolo, suckaaaaaaah!

I play guitar - mainly music. It's good for that. ROCK!

I put in an extra spring to fix the "tremolo problem." Most guitars have this problem - a tremolo. They are definitely for pussies.

I gig with it every night - NO BACKUP - IN FRONT OF THE THOUSANDS OF IMAGINARY FANS IN MY LIVING ROOM.

I talked directly to Olp about the tremolo. (Well, I call him Olpie) He was helpful and friendly. He agreed that the "tremolo" was for pussies, but said that a lot of pussies buy guitars and that I was no excep....... wait a minute!!!

Playing bout ten years and still suck even though I'm more gifted than anyone reading this. I wish this guitar had a Floyd Rose - NOT!!! Tremolos are for pussies - ESPECIALLY Floyd Rose. What a gay name!

The other reviewers summed it up pretty well. Basswood body, photo-quilt top, maple neck/fingerboard, 6-screw Strat style tremolo, 2 humbuckers, 1 volume control, 3-way switch. Came with a cheap instrument cable and a truss rod tool. Not much to this guitar. Wish it had a tone control.

I play a little bit of everything - rock, metal, blues, jazz, etc. I bought this guitar to use strictly as a rock guitar, because I can hide the lack of tone with lots of gain. The stock pickups were ok at best. The neck pickup sounded pretty decent, and the in-between position sounded pretty good, but the bridge pickup was pure mud. It had no bass or articulation at all. I replaced the stock pickups with a Duncan '59 (neck) and Custom 5 (bridge). The '59 sounds awesome, the Custom 5 just doesn't sound right. It's supposed to have a good bottom end, yet it sounds thin in this guitar (like the stock pickup). May be just cheap body wood, I don't know. I also replaced the 3-way switch and the volume pot with a volume/tone concentric pot so now I have a working tone control. Overall, this guitar sounds decent, but I wasn't expecting much for a $150 guitar.

There are no obvious flaws in the body or neck like you would expect on a guitar this cheap. The fingerboard is a little rough in some places, and the frets needed dressing, but otherwise it's a nicely built guitar. Much nicer than some $500-range guitars I've seen. The photo quilt top looks like it was printed on a cheap ink jet printer. You won't fool anyone with it. The clear coat on the top was pretty thick, but it is real think on the sides and back. Plus there are a lot of swirl marks on the back. A good coat of wax will help. I didn't have any problems with sharp edges on the frets.

Most of the electronics are real cheap, and will need to be replaced eventually. I went ahead and did that just for peace of mind. The neck looks solid, and the body should hold up pretty well, but basswood is soft and will ding easily. The stock trem looks ok, but will probably have to be replaced with something better. I bought it to use for every day playing, and it should hold up. If it breaks, I'm only out $150.

Never had to contact them

When I bought this guitar, I had a preconceived notion that I would modify it and at least get close to a real Axis and still save a few hundred bucks in the process. When I first got it, I thought it was a real cool guitar and a good basis for modifications. Now that I've done some work on it, I'm not as impressed as I was hoping to be. It's still a good guitar, and sounds/functions a lot better than when I first got it, but there's still something missing from it. It's got no "mojo", something my PRS and Hamer guitars have a lot of. Even my Jackson Soloist has got it! This guitar will most likely be used at scummy bars/clubs so I can leave my good guitars at home. Aside from my personal expectations not being met, it's a great guitar for the price, and would make a great first guitar or backup guitar for most guitarists.

Stats as set out below in other posts.

Gold flame "photo" finish, pretty enough if you like that sort of thing.

Very simple - no tone control - but phenomenal neck bumps the rating way up.

I'd like to pretend to be a clever jazz/fusion/funk/rock genius. I'm not, I'm a sad heavy metaller. I do Sabbath to Slayer via Alice in Chains, Monster Magnet, Warrior Soul, Vast and so on...

...and this guitar does aggressive rock tones very very well. Cheap Chinese p/us? Well well well... the bridge is bright, lots of good mids and quite a woody tone (it's all the maple), full of harmonics. The neck p/u is smooth but powerful. It's a great mix.

Clean sounds are fine but not extraordinary. Hey, go buy a 50s Relic Strat or whatever if you want to sound like Hank Marvin, or more seriously, if you want a funk/rock guitar, I don't really think this is the one - you can't be Mr Frusciante with this axe. Sorry. A touch of chorus and the clean sounds are fine for rock use. Add the dirt, and this little thing starts to sing. And "sing" is the right word - I've acquired quite a few guitars over the years (lol), some of which are not too bad (Ibanez RG550, 80s Epi Black Beauty loaded with Seymours and so on). None of them come alive in my hands like this one. And it cost #200! How cool is that?

Currently I play through a floorboard-equipped POD, into the effects loop of a Laney combo for live. For studio work, great. Live, of course, my band mate's Marshall TSL does the mashed potatoes all over me, but that's the POD's fault. Digital modelling sucks live, children, go buy a valve amp.

This guitar sounds very very good for the money. You can pay a lot more and get something which sounds a lot worse. If someone had given me these Chinese zebras telling me they were DiMarzios, would I have been able to tell? Maybe not.

Bad news - the three way toggle was pants and stopped working in about three hours. Rokas replaced it there and then when I took it back.

The vibrato is stiff as heck, great - cheap vibratos are generally a nightmare, this is almost like a stop-tail that you can waggle every now and then. Used sparingly, it'll go back into tune. Rather this vibrato than some ghastly spongy licensed Floyd that you can't tune up.

Good part: the neck. Is the best neck I've ever played, full stop. I have small hands, and my other previous "best" necks were shallow/wide(ish) things like the Ibanez Wizard or Kramer Pacer necks. This thing is the opposite, deepish but narrow. It's amazing.
Over the years I have played a lot of guitars - and the usual "my guitar is the best in the world so there" culprits don't do it for me (Strats, PRS, Gibson - no thanks, with my hands they play like baseball bats). THe neck on my Epi Black Beauty is almost like the neck on this MM1, but not quite - and that is a freakishly small Epiphone neck, I've never played an Epi or Gibson which was as comfortable.

And it's more than a comfort thing. With this guitar, I play better. Example: maybe everyone else in the world can do those Gilmour "bend a tone and a half, vibrato, then let off a semitone and put more vibrato on" moves. On my other guitars, it would be choke/strangled cat city for me. With this guitar... it just kinda happens. I suddenly know with my fingers where the notes are going to be. It's been a revelation.

It's strange to be using superlatives like these about a cheap Chinese guitar, but there you are. It's a good sign for the future, and for all guitarists, if the Far East carries on improving (compare the PRS Tremonti SE with some of the tat which is being pumped out by Gibson USA at the moment at five times the price (lol).)

Tuners are fine. It holds its tuning. Don't go mad with the wang bar, it's not a locking nut.

Pretty solid, apart from the crummy 3 way.

I'd never gig without a backup or two. That's asking for trouble. I'd be no more worried about this guitar packing up than anything else I own.

Rokas were great, they repaired the three-way straight away. I don't plan to deal with OLP.

It's a great guitar. As a beginner guitar, it's a ridiculous bargain. For someone who already has a more expensive instrument but is looking for a great rock back-up, its a ridiculous bargain. For me, it's a godsend. If the whole shebang packs up, pickups fuse, tuners fall apart and so on - I'll just replace all the hardware and keep it alive. The neck is just too good to leave alone. I fully intend to buy at least one more.

If you're at all interested, then try one. You may hate it - after all, if it suits my small hands, so if you have bigger hands you may think it feels too cramped.

The big question is whether these OLP guitars are eating into MusicMan's Axis sales, because for a fraction of the price you're getting a lot more than a fraction of that guitar. A lot more.

I'll give it an 9 because of all the guitars I own, this is the only one that drives me to write a review. It's not a ten - of course it isn't - but then until they start attaching PRS Singlecut bodies to OLP MM1 necks and selling 'em for peanuts, no guitar will be a ten.

This guitar was made in 2003 (probably) in China. It is a solid basswood officially-licensed knock off of Ernie Ball's (MM) Axis guitar. It's got a foto-flame top and looks ok (from 10 feet or more). The guitar had two reasonable sounding humbuckers which I replaced with two Dimarzios for about $35 each. The neck is kind of chunky, but still pretty easy to play. It's only got one knob, but 3 pickup settings so that's not too bad. I plan to add a tone knob to it because I keep reaching for one and it ain't there!

The sound is pretty darn good. Before I changed the pickups, I was impressed with the sound from the cheap humbucker knockoffs. They actually have some meat to them and the neck+bridge combination has some real chime and sparkle. The neck alone is pretty good clean and is better than the bridge clean which isn't that bad. With distortion the pickups tend to lose focus and get annoying. That's the main reason I swapped out the pickups for a Dimarzion DP103 (paf) in the neck and a super distortion for the bridge. Now the guitar sounds quite good on clean and distortion settings.

The finish is very good for a $159 guitar. The hardware is cheap but it doesn't look that bad and I noticed no major flubs in the finish department. I changed the relief on the neck right away (easy to do with the exposed nut by the neck pickup) and lowered the saddles and now it plays as well as my other (expensive) guitars.

I have no idea about this, but I expect it should last reasonably well. One thing that's against it is the wood is really soft and might not stand up to lots of screwing (literally) around. I took off the backplate to look at the springs for the tremelo and when I went to put the screws back in, some of the holes were already stripped! They're still holding, but I'm not holding my breath that they will -- not a biggie, really.

No idea...

I've been playing for 27 years. I own 9 other guitars, some of them kind of expensive. I really like this guitar and it's doing just what I wanted it to. I bought it to hot-rod it and to feel good about taking to jams and stuff (where I don't have to care too much about it) and it'll probably do fine. It's really amazing to me that such a good guitar can be had for so cheap. It's solid wood and that alone means it will withstand some upgrades to make it a really nice guitar.

This is a review update. See my earlier review, dated 4/8/2003...

Still sounds great. I have'nt picked up my Les Paul since I got this OLP. Unbelievable! My band, Dred (www.geocities.com/dred_music/), is going into the studio May 21st, and I will be using the OLP on all songs except for one. I need a bit more sustain on some clean parts of the song, so I gonna' use the Les Paul for that...

This is a review update. See my earlier review, dated 4/8/2003...

Alas, I must break out my wallet and get some strap locks. My strap came loose a few times, but not many, and it's always while I'm adjusting the strap. It's not a major problem, but I'm still gonna' replace them.

Also, my selector switch seems to have forgotton how to switch to the neck pickup. Again, no biggie, 'cause I don't use that one much, but I'm switching it out anyway.

Because of these two points, I must regretfully lower my reliability rating from an 8 to a 7. Still, a really good guitar for the paltry sum of money...

See my earlier review, dated 4/8/2003...

Gotta' lower it one notch here too, from a 9 to an 8. All in all, still a kickin' slab of wood and paint for the money. Would but another in a heartbeat, and I just might. I don't like the color selection, though.

Black Sparkle(boooring!)
Gold quilt (seems almost everybody has that one)
Purple quilt (Is Prince going to buy this?)
Candy Red (The best, by far)

2003 OLP mm1,made in china,other than it being in trans-blue color all the other specs are the same as others.

Sounds suprisingly good for a cheap guitar,much beeter than others in it's price range.
the two buckers each have their own tones,the bridge one is bitey,but full and has a good midrangey toothy-ness that makes it preety balanced.
the neck one is brighter than a PAF,kind of like a hot P-90
better than a lot of other stock pu's out there.

set up was disgraceful at the store,but after getting it home and tweaking what needed to be tweaked, very nice!

It has a "toyish" feel to it compared to the ernie ball/music man's
It is not that it does not play or feel good,but has a "cheap toyish feel" to it,which i guess is to be expected for the money it cost's.
harware is acceptable,but i would change the tuners,bridge,pot,switch anyway to much higher quality parts.

?

Overall i like it much better than the squiers,the cheaper import jacksons,ibanez rg 120 series,and all the other guitars in the $200 price range.
I will be learning guitar repair on this one,things like fret dressing,installing a floyd rose,etc If i mess up i will just simply get another! cant say that about my other much more expensive guitars!
I would recomend one to anybody who has little cash to spend and still needs a better than average inexpensive guitar that will do the job,like holding the tuning,no excessive fret buzzing,decent tone stock,etc

This your basic OLP Music Man clone with two humbuckers.I was going to replace the pick ups,but the stock ones sound very good.The selecter switch is going out so I will replace that.I hate the fake finish,but who cares.From a distance it looks fine.

I am wondering if I have gone tone deaf or does this guitar really sound this good.I have owned way to many guitars over the past 25 years and it almost makes me sick that this OLP sounds about as good as most of those expensive guitars I've owned.It took a while to get the intonation and set up right.I keep waiting for something to go wrong.There is no way this guitar can be this good.The bridge pick up is hot and gives plenty of bite and sustain.The neck pick up reminds me of a P-90.Check one of these out.

Every thing except the intonation seems fine.I did install .10's and this helps the guitar hold tune.I just can not seem to make myself replace these pick ups.They sound great.I am a little worried about the tuners,but so far so good.

Only time will tell.

Who needs it.

I have been playing and collecting guitars for over 25 years.If I could find replacement locking tuners I would replace the stock tuners.I know this guitar is just plywood but it rocks.I will get several more if this one holds up.

Same features as everybody else. Nice Candy Red finish that could have used a little more buffing, but it's not a problem. Headstock was painted to match the body. Nice touch in an inexpensive guitar. No tone knob. I wish they offered a Floyd Rose for another $100 bucks or so...

I play classic rock, hard rock & metal. Anything from Bad Company, to Van Halen, to Judas Priest and some Metallica. I use it through a Korg Ax100G, into a Peavey Express 112S. I love the twin hummers. They don't sound like they're in a $160 guitar. The bridge pickup is great for crankin' it out, and the neck p/u is a bit more subdued, good for a bluesy sound. Pretty comparable to my Les Paul Studio. Actually, the OLP's may sound better, but I've only had the OLP for a few days, so I'll need a little more time to compare them.

Those bozo's that compared this to the $1,300 Axis, or even the $800 Wolfgang, are complete idiots. THE OLP IS LESS THEN $200, YOU DOPE!!! That's like saying my Pinto isen't as fast as my Corvette. Stupid...

I took it out of the box, tuned it up (it was pretty much in tune anyway), plugged it in, and went right at it. The factory set-up was pretty good. I had to lower the action, but everybody has thier own preferences. Pickups were not in straight, though.

Everything worked quietly & properly. I read reviews where the pickup selector arrived broken, but I bought mine from Music123 (great service), and the selector had a piece of foam protecting it.

Neck is nice & fast. I like the unfinished maple look. Quite a departure from my Black L.P. with a rosewood fretboard. Me like it!

It seems like a quality axe, and should withstand live playing. Then again, I take really good care of all my equipment. Finish is really nice, except for the afore-mentioned buffing issues.

I did not expect much out of the non-locking tremolo, but I can do some slight dive-bombs with this, and it stays in tune. Don't go crazy, though. It ain't a Floyd Rose, which I'm going to install at a later date.

Strap buttons are solid. As a matter of fact, thier so solid that I may not install strap locks like I originally planned on, although a lot of other reviewers suggest doing so. I'll have to wait & see. Hey, if I can save myself $13.00, why not? I'm cheap. It seems very dependable, but I would not gig without a backup, even if I had a $2,500 Les Paul Custom

Did'nt deal with OLP directly. Thier web site is slightly lame. Check out Music123. Great people! I ordered mine @8:30 a.m., and they said it would go out the next day. So I called thier customer support, and they told me they would put in a request to ship it out that day, which they did. Sweeeeet!!!

I've been playing on & off for 15 years, serious for the last two. I have owned an early-80's Kramer Baretta (i think it was a Baretta) (OK), Fender Squire Strat (crap), and my Les Paul Studio (excellent). I would DEFINATLY buy another OLP if it were lost or stolen, no doubt.

This has been a pretty good review indeed, so here are some thing not so great. Since I lowered the action on the bridge, the 12 little allen screws are sticking up a bit, and give me these little cuts on my picking hand. This could be attributed to my playing style. I also wish the pickup selector was in a better spot, say, where Les Pauls have it? It also needs a string tree, since the headstock is not angled back, it's just offset back a little.

I compared this to the Kramer Focus Fat Boy ($100 new--it also got great reviews here), the Epiphone Les Paul Special ($100-$125 used), another Squire Strat ($165 new), the Ibanez Gio series ($150 new), and some no-name stuff. This won out because:
(A) It has twin hummers, compared to the Kramer with a S-S-H setup
(B) It got great reviews here & at Music123(would they put up bad reviews about something thier trying to sell?)
(C) Ernie Ball backed it up
(D) Cool looks! Although I'm partial to the Les Paul shape, the Epi Special just looked cheap. The OLP MM1 looks just like the Eddie Van Halen Wolfgang. I just may put the "Frankenstrat" stripes on it, in honer of EVH. It may sound corny, but he made me want to PLAY music, not just listen to it.
(E) free shipping at Music123.com with a 45 day money-back guarentee. If I don't like it, I can just pay $12 bucks to ship it back for a full refund. Can't beat that!

BEWARE!!!! Music123 is selling them on eBay for $155, but they'll charge you $18 shipping. Very sneaky....

Candy red MusicMan copy made in China. The red one does not have the binding that the photoflame ones have. I would have bought the red photoflame, but the don't sell it in the U.S. for some reason. The feature that I like the most on this guitar is the unfinished neck. I'm blown away by how much faster you can play with these kinds of necks (no sticky finish to slow you down!).

I've been playing a Strat for about 8 years and always wondering if I should make the switch to a humbucking guitar. The OLP sounds great. The humbuckers have a *much* higher output than the pickups on my strat (which are very expensive custom wound "hot" VanZandts), making the guitar much easier to play fast since you don't have to use tons of gain to get notes to ring out loudly. Plus, the pickups sustain like crazy and have a great rock tone through my marshall. I haven't picked up my strat since because it just doesn't have the rock "balls" that these humbuckers do.

I've read tons of posts by the no-life gear snob trolls out there who claim they've seen bridges mounted on headstocks, strings mounted with nails, frets that can cut diamonds, etc. I ordered mine from a big mail order company with basically no high expectations considering what I was paying. When I took it out of the box, I was fairly impressed. The fretboard on mine is a gorgeous piece of maple with some nice looking woodgrain. The fretwork on mine is near perfect. I think I spotted a microscopic amount of extra glue behind one fret that I scraped off, but other than that, they're glued, set, and filed perfectly. The tuners work fine and seem solid. The finish is "ok." There is a small flaw in mine that looks like a little run in the finish in a very small section (smaller than a square 1/2 inch) that you can only see if you hold the guitar up to the light and angle it so. Other than that, the finish looks like it was buffed a little too harshly, but really is okay and looks decent. (keep in mind that I'm being really picky for a guitar that cost me less than $170)

This thing seems solid as a rock. Period. Anyone who thinks the body will disintegrate is just being a troll or is planning on smashing it against the sidewalk. I don't care how many "alleged" pieces of wood they used in the body, it's still solid as a rock and sustains like hell. I have no idea how the finish will hold up since I've only had the guitar for about 2 weeks but it seems like it will last well enough and I wouldn't worry about it. The strap buttons are solid as a rock (unlike those on my strat which pulled out after I had the guitar for two days).

No idea, but don't really care since this thing was so freakin' cheap.

I've been playing for about 9 years. Own a Strat, an Ovation, a classical, a Marshall, and a multitude of effects. The funny thing is that I was never really happy with the tone I got with my Strat even after changing pickups (have another set on the way), trying every gauge of string, every effect under the sun, etc. I'm really digging this OLP though. The humbuckers have this sweet, sustaining, ballsy rock tone that I can't get enough of. The thing I love about this guitar is the neck. It's soooo much easier to play fast that I feel as if my Strat was really holding me back. I recently had set aside two grand in cash and was going to buy a new guitar. I started hearing all of these folks on here raving about these guitars and now I know why. I don't think you can really beat out this guitar for the price at all. I've been playing for at least two-three hours a day since I got this thing and I know I like it when I only put it down after my hands are too tired to play anymore. It may not have the fit and finish of the American guitars that it was cloned from, but I'm not into polishing my guitars and posing with them, I just want to play and have fun and this thing definitely delivers that. Folks, don't listen to the forum trolls trying to spread rumors. Play one yourself and decide.

same as the other reviews have stated,mine is a trans-purple

Both unplgged and plugged into a high quality amp,resulted in some great tones.Unplugged it had a bright,vibrant,ringing tone, and plugged in it was very suprisingly good. The stock pu's are much better than any other $200 guitar out there. I plugged a $200 squier fat strat as a comparison as well as a $300 jackson JS-30 model and the OLP stock destroyed them both!
The i plugged in a real music man axis,now the first thing to keep in mind is that i was A/Bing a guitar that was $1600 and one that is $189.
Now with that now stated,the OLP was damn good compared to the $1600 axis. the tone is very similar with only minimal differences.

set up at the store was what i expected,not very good,after buying it with the stores 30 money back guarantee,i had NOTHING to lose!
set up properly this is a great guitar for the money!

very reliable!i am giving it less than a 10 because unlike some i realize that the switch,volume pot,tuners,bridge are sub par to the superior high quality versions,like schaller tuners,CTS pots,switchcraft 3 way toggles and stew-mac strat bridges.
so since i insist on replacing these items i give it a 6

very good! answered all my questions!

Been playing for 31 years and am very impressed with the guitar. I own a fender strat,wolfgang,jackson soloist and they were all very expensive compared to this OLP mm1,is the OLP a better guitar? NO but it is a better value a thousand time over!
there is one review here i read and the guy MUST be smoking crack,he was comparing the OLP to andersons and PRS's! no wonder he hated the OLP!
he gave everything a 1 just becuase he formed a opinion at the store.
he name is DARIAL,and he job is being a JERK! he is over at the forums all the time insulting any guitar HE DOES NOT LIKE! what a PUTZ!

Features at www.olpguitars.com, or in myriad other reviews above...

My band RANDOMBLIND plays heavy alternative rock, this guitar fit right in... I was looking to spend up to $800 on a guitar when I picked this up... Tried the DeArmonds, Santana SEs, Epiphones, Mexican Strats and Teles, and they were all set up poorly... The guys at West Coast get kinda bored and set up every guitar by hand, eventually... I lucked out and got one they'd just finished tweaking... The acoustic tone of the beast is surprisingly good, the guitar is far heavier than I expected a basswood instrument to be, the pickups scream, are super quiet, and the switch and volume knob are still holding up... My co-guitarist has had to replace the jack and switch on his Epiphone Les Paul in less time than I've owned the MM1 (about 10 months)... Playing through my Marshall JCM 2000 DSL, this guitar is a total winner.. I haven't tried it through a lesser amp, maybe it would suck...

Action was pretty good, I tightened the truss rod and dropped the action another mm or so, the frets are pretty good, but I'm wearing them out a little and will need to have them polished soon... The pickups were a little low and were a little bass-heavy, I raised them a little and messed with the pole pieces a bit to get them to my liking... The lame foto-quilt finish just started to piss me off, so i sanded the bastard down and painted it silver... i think i'll like it much better now...

The guitar has made it through 6 gigs and 10 months of twice-weekly rehearsals without a backup... I just picked up a Godin Solidac, so the MM1 will become the backup guitar... The finish was pretty solid, it survived a few good bails... The strap buttons were ass, I put on straplocks... The guitar is really a fantastic buy, it's a totally solid, working musician's guitar... I really can't believe the quality of it... after having taken it all apart, it's far better than guitars i have owned that i spent triple on...

Never dealt with OLP, but West Coast Music kicks ass... they get a 10

I've been playing for 15 years, gigging for 11... I own some amps, effects, and a Godin Solidac that I just bought... I compared this guitar with every other guitar that I kinda liked under $800 CDN... If you like your tone loud, clear, tight, and focused and you don't wan't to spend all the money you received dontating your left testicle to "science," this guitar is a great purchase... I'd buy a new one in an instant if i lost it... It's really so much better than anything else in it's price range and even most that are double...

same as other reviewers mentioned.the features are too few to be good,so it's a 1.

the sound sucks.nothing close to real guitars such as my PRS and tom anderson.it can't even compare with a real musicman axis or a peavey worfgang.even if you replace the cheap pickups with branded ones,the sound still sucks due to the crappy 7 piece plywood body..

very poor fretwork.plays poorly,string action is very high off the fretboard and there is alot of buzzing.

the guitar looks like it will crumble,due to the crappy 7 piece plywood body.it seems very unreliable and i will not use it for gigs.i will not even use this piece of china made crap as backup..i have my PRS and tom anderson for all purposes.

OLP is not an american company,so what customer support are you talking about?

i don't own this guitar nor do i plan on buying it.i just tried it out of curiousity as some people told me that these OLPS are the best guitars on earth.i'm sorry to these people but eyes and ears don't lie.the OLPS are complete pieces of JUNK.i recommend you guys to save up more money to buy real quality guitars such as PRS or tom anderson which i own.

the morons who sing the praises of OLPS don't know what's a real good guitar,or simply can't afford the good stuff.

not going into detail on this....read others. Mine is trans-purple included truss tool , allen wrench , tremolo bar , and a cheap chord.
rate it average , as it is really as basic a set-up as you can get (would have gotten higher if they would have invested in a tool holder instead of the cheap chord)

I play Christian music....Praise & Worship. Use a Digitech rp100 straight into a Mackie board......no amps & mics.
It takes some getting used to controlling tone with the volume....the pickups , though they may not be Dimarzios or Duncans , get really HOT after 8 or so on the volume.......sound was FULL....on clean channels , it fills a room. On high gain/distorted , it sounds like Godzilla....tons of crunch. Coment was made that this guitar really shows how thin my Stratocaster sound was.

guitar setup from Musicians Friend was HORRIBLE !!!! I adjusted the truss rod , lowered the strings , set the intonation , and added a fourth (4th) spring to the tremolo unit , just to solidify it and stabilize it for tuning. It's smaller than I'm used to , but heavy.....BONUS ! Adds sustain being so dense ,yet compact.
frets were finished nice...as was the pretty (albeit fake) purple top. The binding on it really makes it look like a high dollar instrument. The electronics were flawless.....I'm really impressed

Feels like a sherman tank.....yeah , I'm gigging with it now , with my old strat as a backup. replaced the strap buttons with Straplocks.(A must on this instrument...trust me)yeah...I'd gig it without a backup.....really solid lil guitar

not sure if OLP has customer Support stateside , but Musicians Friend has a 45 day return policy , and I added the 12 month GOLD coverage , just in case

been playing 16 years...own a strat and above mentioned gear. If it were lost or stolen , I'd buy another.
Love the appearance and the sound this thing makes , hate it didn't come with a stop bar or through the body non-trem model.....would sustain for a week with a tele-style bridge !

If OLP put out even a stop-bar type MM1 , I'd buy it in a heart beat. I really dig this guitar...IT IS NOT AN ENTRY-LEVEL GUITAR.....buy a Squier for that....this thing is excellant for the working musician on a budget. Need to know a little more than basics to set it up , but once you do , it's awsome.

PSALMS 33:3

Same Features as listed below. Supposedly a 3-piece basswood body w/ thin laminated top, an HC forumite stripped their paint and lam top off. Which was the reason I decided to try one out.

Good features w/ obvious room for improvements so a 7.

The tone is not that bad. The stock PUs are not weak and not muddy. I think they are a little on the bright side and loose definetion when picking individual notes in a chord. The G-string sounds exceptionally loud compared to all others when playing clean. Both the B and G strings have quite a few "dead" spots, it maybe a problem w/ poor fret level (more on frets later).

Overall I was impressed w/ the sound 8.

The pluses: The setup was fairly good. the action is a bit high, I tried to lower it some and got some problems w/ fretting out. Intonation was close, nothing was so far out that only picky people would be able to tell. The Laminate top looks good as well as the finish and binding. The neck wood itself feels wonderful, very smooth w/ no drags (except for the frets-later). The wrining and switches are not the greatest but there are no loose connections and the pot is not scratchy.

The minuses: The frets have too much over-hang. The cut up my hand pretty good, not to the point of bleeding but the next day (after about an hours worth of playing) the skin was roughed up and felt like "fish scales". The routing work looked a little rough but nothing was gouged badly. The neck pocked is a little off but the neck is perfectly aligned w/ the strings. I just can't get used to the flat top, I need a forearm bevel. The volume pot goes dead below 1-1/2 so doing volume swells is impossible (No Cathedral!). Had trouble getting the trem bar installed, don't know if the bar was the wrong thread pitch or baddly machined block, I didn't try to hard to get it in either, I maybe spent a minute trying.

The only REAL negatives are the volume pot (minor) and the frets (major) 4.

I really don't know just how reliable the GTR will be, I can't amagine the electronics lasting too long but otherwise everything looks VERY solid.

No contact, No comment

Again, I like getting fairly cheap GTRs and hotrodding them. I've gotten used to having the controls in a particular layout that nobady really makes so I buy cheap GTRs and start drilling. I have every intentions of modifing this GTR alot. On the second day I fixed the fret overhang problem w/ a bevel file, 2 minutes of work and I would now give the fit&finish a 8 rating. I plan on learning a lot w/ this GTR, Install OFR flush then recessed, Route neck for locknut, route the neck-joint heel. Route new control cavity. Add a Forearm contour. Possible add a thin 1/8" top. and of course refinish.


This would be a great GTR for beginners and intermediate players, just make sure the frets aren't sticking out. The bad fret ends would probably discourage begginers, which would be a BAD thing. There for an overall of 6, but it is easily fixed if you get a bad one.

Last May, I submitted a first-time review of this guitar and was pleased as pie to get a solid, off-the-rack model instrument that was acceptable to me. I'm the queen of cheapie guitars, be they new or used or yard sale condition. In the last few months and for minimal dollars, I have transformed this $200 clone into a quality, battle-ready main guitar. But, in order to do that...you have to be 100% aware of what NOT to expect and transforming it into a realistic goal. The first thing I changed was the tuners, then...

...came the pickups. I wasn't going to change them at first, but I found that equalizing during soundcheck took more time than I wanted to spend (it could be better spent enjoying the two-drink minimum). So, I dumped a Duncan SH-PG1 in the bridge and an SH-4 JB in the neck position. The Pearly Gates pickup seems like it was made with this guitar in mind, it's so versatile. I can do anything with it and I get good feedback control. The JB model is chock full o' beef and is great for slide blues. To their credit, OLP gives good wood.

Next came the nut and bridge. Although I got lucky with the original factory setup, I replaced the el cheapo brigde with a standard six-point Fender vibrato. I set it up so that the action is only a pubic hair off the deck so my scales are more precise. The neck is absolutely lovely maple and I love the unfinished look and feel. Only one of my guitars has a rosewood board. I pirated the finish...it's bare wood now and stained to perfection by local luthier, Jimmy Bryght. The other MM1 has the trans-purple finish. I'll be getting a trans-blue pretty soon.

Lately, I've been using three guitars at any given gig and two are MM1s (the other is my 1984 Telecaster). They are as durable and dependable as anything else I've got. To be honest, I've made neck/truss adjustments to the Telecaster twice before I had to even touch the OLPs.

A real bonafide system is active at OLP! I have had good contact on several occasions when it comes to service questions. e-mail is probably the best way to accomplish contact with the company.

You can literally do anything you want to this guitar and it'll still love you back. If I ever get signed (dream on, bitch), I plan on endorsing this company because there's no way I'd play anything else. The length is great, it fits my body well, the neck is exactly what I look for in a guitar and it's easy to modify. What more can you ask for?

this is the standard OPL MM-1. H-H, 3-way selector, 1 vol., 22 frets, 6-screw fender-style trem.(with molded block-style saddles), and a plastic nut. it has tuners (4 on top, 2 on bottom, of unknown manufacture) and came with strings. the body looked very "plywoody" from the inside of the electronics area, but the neck is maple and satin finished. my favorite feature is the "OLP". it's like this guitar is proud of it's generic heritage. it knows it was born in china. it knows it was in the "beginer"/under$300 catagory. the striped down basic configuration (thank you EVH), is it's strongsuit. at guitar center it came as is, with nothing.

oddly enough, it sounds ok... i went to every guitar store in the okc area and tried everything under $250. this was the only thing i would even try to take home. the guitar (unplugged) is very loud and rings well. the acoustic sound is lacking the focus on the bottom end but is well rounded. when i plug it into my new Vox pathfinder 15R it has a sharp overpowering focused sound. i know it is much more focused than any LP or generic LP. but this is completely the scale leingth's fault. it has a 25.5" scale like most fenders. that is the good news. any pickup mod should keep that in mind. as far as the p-u's themselves, they are HOT. they balance well. they have the volume to make the amp overdrive quick. i actually keep the vol on about 5 for clean sounds. the neck pu is focused and never gets muddy, it only thumps. the bridge pu is great at high gain. the middle is cool and choppy but will never quack. this thing loves gain but the trick is the vol knob. turn the amp about half way distorted, make it loud and then turn the vol down and it makes a LP type sound but with some focus. i must give it a 7 with the stock pu's, just for the quality in the price range....

OLP... as a chinese guitar that must have had a long boat ride to make it to oklahoma, it's finish is ok... the fake quilt brout me back to my 90's tele deluxe "foto flame"(see review). the amber finish seems very thick and the quilting seeems very fake up close. but who really cares what a $200 guitar looks like? are you hoping, that in a cow's lifetime, it will be a sought after vintage rellic? i actually chose the one with the most finish defects and got a discount.

the action was very bad. reminded me of a generic acoustic with the 1/4" action. the neck was floppy... not the neck pocket (where the body and neck are scred together), but the truss rod had just been hand tightened, never tightened to a corect relief.

after i got it home a quick change to .011"s and lower the action. i tightened the truss rod and now it's playable.

there are no dead spots on the neck. this guitar was able to handle the ajustments just fine. it never complained. it does stay in tune well but the trem is not the most stable.

as far as all that goes, it is as relibale as any other $700 guitar. the electronics seem stable, and the wood is solid. the trem or the tuners will break first. (guitars decay at the rate you abuse them)

as standard with guitar center this purchase was too weird. they said that OLP has no waranty, but "gave" me a 24-month service plan... i hate guitar center...i almost walked out with one of those short scale jhon lennon ricks once in my pants....OLP seems way cool, flaunting their generic-ness and such, but no waranty.....

the only reason i have this guitar is that one night while i was locked away for 14 hours all my guitar stuff was stolen (90's tele deluxe, fender blues deluxe, headrush, q-tron, pod ...). i had $400 to try to recover my losses, after exaustive searching i overlooked the OLP. why would i want a van halen guitar? then as a last resort, i tried it out in the store with a vox pathfinder 15R. the combonation sounded cool and was under budget. so, the only way i bought this guitar was out of necesity and cheepness. when i had made my adjustments i started to be more and more impressed. i don't think i would buy the real axis, but at the price it is a great riff machine. and if this get's stolen i will go on a killing spree....

Mine is a trans-red one i got from a canadian distributor. all the other features are the same as any other MM-1 listed in all the previous reviews.

Sound is suprisingly above average! i really expected to hear some "cheap tones" from this $200 guitar? I do not hear "cheap" but a strong,vibrant,sustaining tone? big suprise here! I am very impressed!
These stock pu's are a lot like my pu's in my music man EVH's,they are obviously voiced and built that way,because side by side with one of my M/M EVH's you have to be tone deaf to say they dont sound very simular.
The black/cream humbuckers(zebra) are very rich and clear(like the EVH dimarzio's),nothing at all like i would expect from any inexpensive guitar. All you guys that always wanted a music man evh or axis and could not afford the $1600 are now in luck.
I can coax a lot of different styles out of these from AC/DC to zepplin to van halen to jazz!

I did not care for the factory set-up(action,bridge tension) but i am not disapointed,this is to be expected from a mass produced $200 axe. I gave it a 10 because even though the action was too high(this is a personal preference anyway) and the vibrato had to be adjusted for proper tension to stay in tune(no big deal) when using the bar, all the other things on this MM-1 were perfect.
finish is a trans-red and looks very convincing for a photo top much nicer than trans-gold which as you may know is not the right tint of amber(gold) it is too dark on that one.This trans-red would fool even the experts.
binding and body shape are cut perfect.The nut was cut a little high and this is proper so the owner can have it cut to thier preference. the pickup routes are clean and precise. very good craftsmanship for the money!I have seen very expensive guitars with flaws that should not have been looked over?

Solid as they come,has a light in weight basswood body and is prone to dings as is any softer wood body,but has a great balanced tone so the tradeoff is worth it. basswood has a nice "ringing" tone that is a bit on the bright side but it helps keep things from getting muddy or blurred in tone
all harware is average,the tuners do thier job and hold tuning great the bridge is a fender knock off(vintage vibrato) and is good and will stay in tune IF it is set right. I dont plan on gettin a floyd put on this guitar because i dont need one.
I use fender bullets(strings) and set the bridge so that the outer two screws are flush to the bridge plate and the others are above the plate,so the bridge is on two fulcrum points.I also set it to rest against the body,not floating. i lubricate the guitars nut with grease and the bridge saddles and the thing wont go out of tune!many strat players use a standard bridge and also stay in tune,if you want to use the whammy bar and stay in tune, you have to learn to set them right!

Excelent,i emailed them with a few tech questions and got a reply within 24 hours,more than i can say for a few other guitar companies i wont name

I own 3 Music man EVH guitars i got when they first were available(trans-gold,trans-blue,trans-purple) and all of those are INCREDIBLE guitars,cost my a lot of money and i love them,but i have to say to get even some of those qualities from a $200 guitar,normally would be asking a bit much! well it is not,the OLP mm-1 is a above average copy of those and the AXIS model,which is the same as the EVH anyway.
No it is not as great as a music man axis or evh,but hold it's own for the money. why did i buy one? after hearing and reading about them i just had to! The great things you hear about these OLP's are very true.
I think that for the $$$ these cant be beat! Oh yeah i am a profesional full time guitarist that has been playing for 28 years.

2 humbuckers no tone knob 1 volume Knob Basswood body satin finish maple neck. A little low on features but not bad

I am very impressed with the sound and versatility of this guitar. I have had it 3 weeks and it has seen 7 gigs. I have played this guitar all night(5 hours plus) sounded great through 1971 marshall super lead (most guitars do) also used it with a POD and a sovtek mig50. My main concern with a "cheap guitar" was volume pot noise through my wireless system, A normally quiet guitar can be noisey and offeding through a wireless system. I tend to use my volume and tone knobs alot to change my tone on the fly. I had no problems with this guitar.I got a lot of different tones with just the 3-way switch and the volume knob. The pickups are much better than I would expect. Some say the bridge pickup is a little bright. I agree but I think it is a good match for the neck pickup since there is no tone knob

The set up was very middle of the road average. A good job for the average buyer. I played about an hour on the original set up at home then put a set of 10's on it. Itonation was perfect. Finish looked OK I couldn't find any major flaws. There were some light marks from the buffing wheel still visable near the neck joint. No orange peel. I have had some minor tuning problems. I think the guitar just need to settle in a little. stays in as well as my paul. The trem seems very stable for a no locking system. I worked for a "the" major guitar manufaturer and in a repair shop for a long time. Over all I am Impressed with the quality of this instrument.

Seems like a well mad instrument. I believe the finish may be a little on the thin side. I played another that had some premature wear around the strap buttons and input jack. I used it the second week I owned it with out a backup. I usually always carry two guitars at least. But it was a short gig ans space was limited so I brought just this guitar(It was still a new toy)Did well

I have been playing for 25 years. I own many vintage fender and gibson guitars vox, marshall, sovtek and fender amps. This is not the typical guitar for me. I hate to sound old but it's nice to get such a big full tone out of such a light guitar.(Hey last week I got carded for smokes) The one thing that bothers me is, I wish it had a tone knob. I will probably add one later. I think even without the tone knob you can still get a surprising amount of different tones straight into a very basic setup. The other thing I like is that this guitar doesn't sound like any of my other guitars. It sounds Les Paul-esc but with a different kind of mid range. I would buy another.

I have never played anything that I couldn't find something it did well. This is a cheap "asian" guitar. I play from Merle Haggard to Metallica some times in the same set. This guitar surpised me.

Standard two hums w/a vintage vibrato instead of the original Floyd Rose on the genuine article, I got this one in sparkle black. Basswood body, maple neck bolt-on witha satin finish. Medium jumbo frets, 22 of 'em. Korean made. One volume, which is fine by me.

I'm using my Marshall 50DFX and a Morley Classic Wah in front. Like all basswood rich and bright, suits the crunch of a Marshall, but I can't seem to mellow the overdrive even on low gain settings, so I might put in some DiMarzio Virtual PAF pickups to get a more all-rounder tone. As I play everything from blues to hard rock, there not bad for the price but I want a little more control over overdrive.

I would reccomend you get this guitar set up for you preferred gauge of string, as I preffer 010s, it makes a real difference, as this guitar out of the shop is setup for 009s, whic is fine if you like 'em but I prefer 010s.

N\A

Haven't dealt with them yet

I've been playing for nearly 4 years now and my technique is getting up to scratch. If it were stolen, I wouldn't be too bothered 'cos there's always the used market, but for a guitar at this price it's a gem

2002 Music Man Axis knock off, purple quilt "foto" top, standard trem, two humbuckers, you know the rest ...

OK, I like the sound for what it is...a $200 guitar. I also own an original Music man EVH model, an Axis and a wolfgang and like many OLP buyers I was looking to satisfy my GAS for another Music Man without dropping $1500. mission accomplished? I think so. First off, I have been playing this through my main rig which is a 5150 head and cab, and at first the pickups seemed a little colder than the real deals. They have that woody, bassy, not too distorted feel that I noticed when I first played my original EVH back in 93. Its almost as if they sound like they arent hot enough, but it takes a bit of getting used to and you realize they are, but just have a lot of clartiy. The neck pickup isnt as thick sounding as the real ones, and the bridge is not a full bodied and has a bit less sustain...BUT, for $200 getting about 80% there is pretty darn impressive

The set up sucked and this thing was going out of tune like crazy, intonation was off, etc, but, I was absolutely stunned at how real the fake purple quilt top looked! I had seen other OLPs, the gold color in particular, that looked like that fake wood wallpaper Kramer had in his apt on Seinfeld, but I swear when that putting this OLP side by side to my "real" maple topped Music Men I cant tell that its fake. Maybe I got an exceptional one, but its true. also, the neck is really nice, the fretwork was clean, and once set up properly it now holds its tune and plays like butter. I'll give an 8 on looks alone

seems solid enough, I plan to take it to gigs as a backup, we will see

I have been playing for 21 years, own an original music man EVH, Axis, and a Wolfgang as well as two Les pauls and and an old Kramer and for $200 this is simply awesome. If it were $800 I might say different, but its not. If OLP comes out with a floyd equipped model fro lest say, $400-450, I would thik that music Man axis sales would go way down, they are just too close in tone and feel

2002 made in china,22 frets,simulated quilt top,one volume knob,gibson style toggle swtich,two zebra korean made humbucking Vanhalen speced pu's,all maple neck and fingerboard,film trans purple top,les paul meets a tele body shape,6 screw fender strat type vibrato bridge,schaller style tuners,smallish, round neck shape,medium jumbo frets

This guitar does not sound like a $200 import guitar at all,the stock import humbuckers are way above average and can be compared to duncans or dimarzio's(my other guitars have duncans and these stock pu's sound as good plugged into a old 1972 super lead marshall. They are voiced to van halens specs,the bridge pu has good bite along with a round, fat tone without mud and they have a lot of harmonics and overtones,those players on these reviews that say these humbuckers are not good, do not know too much about pu's or they are not into the EVH tones.
the neck model has a warm fat tone with a good amount of cut and again with no muddiness. these are the best stock import pu's i have ever heard. for me there is NO REASON to change them and this is a big plus!
the guitar itself has a vibrant strong tone that is on the bright side and the guitar has great resonance which adds to the sustain and a full tone from the MM1. Tonally this is a GREAT sounding guitar!

stock the guitar was set up correctly,action was a touch higher than i normally play it,but very easy to adjust. no fret problems at all,running your hand along the fingerboards edge there are no sharp points and the frets are seated correctly.neck joint is tight and correct,bridge is aligned properly. and all the routes are done above average!the e,electronics are of good quality and suprisingly the tuners are very good for no names.
The guitar with the action brought down and new strings put on is a real player! fast and comfortable!
My only real gripe is the film top which is a not so great simulation of a quilt maple top,but that is purely cosmetic and is not a big deal.
a real quilt top would have brought the cost up considerable!
I think they should have a locking trem model for a few more dollars also.but the stock fender type does stay in tune if set up right. I use the vibrato bar and it stays in tune as goos as my $900 usa fender lone star strat.

This guitar is built very solid. it will withstand anything another much more expensive guitar will. this guitar stays in tune better than my gibson Les paul!

Have not had a need to use this.

I have played for 26 years now and owned many fine guitars and even though this is a $200 guitar it is up with my other favorites(les pauls,strats,etc)i bought the guitar becuase i kept hearing about how great they are for the money,and i can attest they are!
This to me is not a cheap guitar,it has a playability and tone like the much more expensive guitars out there! I was quite shocked at how good this guitar really is! IF you like the music man axis guitar and dont have then $1500 for one this is the next best thing! I am so impressed with them i am getting another!

this guitar is an awesome instrument, especially for a made in China guitar. It has as 25.5 inch scale and 22 frets. its a laminated top and has one volume and a three way toggle switch. it has two humbuckers that sound really fat and give your distortion an extra punch. the pickups are passive. the body is basswood which is not the best of quality but it is still pretty good. the finish is transparent gold quilted top. the body style is that of the musicman axis and has a fender strat style tremolo system. the tuners are some little cheap die cast but they are still pretty good. the neck is maple and it is one of the best playing necks i have ever felt. as soon as i picked this thing up i knew it was going to be a machien built for shredding. the only accessory included with this was the rench to adjust the trus rod and a whammy bar. but thats all you really need for this guitar.

it fits my music style perfect which guns n roses, metallica, bon jovi, and megadeth. you can play their solos with ease on this thing. i am using a Line 6 POD into a fender blues junior and it gives it an awesome sound. the pickups int he guitar are not noisy at all, no hum what so ever. the sound is kinda hard to describe but it gives a good punch to your distortion. sounds almost like the pickups in a real axis. this guitar is built for one purpose, to solo like crazy and it does it perfectly. although the pickups sound surprisingly good on clean at all three positions. there isn't anything i don't like about the sound.

the guitar was setup perfect at the factory, no fret buzz or anything. the only thing was that the action was to low for me but everyone has their personal taste. the pickups are fine and are at a very good height. the bridge is fine on this thing and it does its job. i looked over this guitar for about 30 minutes making sure there were no flaws since i have no past expierence with OLP and i couldn't find a single one.

this guitar would deffinitly withstand live playing. i bought it for a backup to my ESP and it might see just as much action as the ESP now. the finish is really good especially for such a cheap quilted top guitar. it looks just like the finishes i've seen on real axis'. the strap buttons are solid although i'll probably put strap locks in eventually. i could deffinitly depend on this thing. well this guitar is my backup so i can't really answer the "would you use it on a gig wihtout a backup" question.

N/A

I've been playing for close to two years now and i also own a ESP LTD KH-502, a Squire strat, and a Fender DG-9 acoustic. if it was stolen or lost i probably would buy another just because it was a great deal. i love just about everything on this guitar except for the fact that the tuners are cheap. i compaired this thing to a MIM telecaster and a used Epiphone SG. i chose this because the SG was not in that good of shape and the tele didn't fit my style as well. i just wish it had better quality tuners but i'll change those soon enough. i think that this guitar is the best guitar out there for only $200. its better than many above its price to.

brand new OLP MM-1,all the other features have been listed before. all of these are the same and since the MM-1 has the EXACT features i needed i gave it a 10!
I like it's simplicity meets excellence!

Is this $200 guitar for real? Sound is unbeleivable for a guitar in this price range! the previous reviewers were not kidding! Can do country to vanhalen and beyond with this guitar!
I am impressed with it's un-plugged tone also,it almost has a acoustic tone! sounds very vibrant and alive even un-plugged.
through my amp(old marshall) i get the Vanhalen tones with ease as well as others. the bridge pu' has a full but biting tone(as does eddie vanhalen's)and has a pretty high output but is still clean sounding? what i mean is that it has clarity so that you still can hear the notes in the chord with high gain. the front pu' is round and warm but also has some bite with NO MUD! big suprise here! because i have never played on any import front pu that was not MUDDY!

I looked over the guitar with a fine tooth comb before buying it,everything was done properly and above average.(neck joint,pu' routes'tremelo,etc)
all i did when i got it home was change the factory strings and brought the action down a hair,PERFECT!FAST! and very easy to BLAZE! on!

this guitar is not a toy it is more than able to withstand live or studio playing conditions! well contructed and SOLID!

dont know yet

I have been playing for 25 years and owned many fine electrics, and Overall this OLP mm-1 is a charmer,there in NOTHING i do not like about it. and there are not too many guitars i can say that about,especially in the $200-300 range! If you want a great guitar for not much cash,or are a VH fan(or like the M/M axis) this is the one!

this is a update to my original submission. I wanted to upgrade a few things becuase i knew that good can only get better. i changed these items,
tuners
pickups(this was really not a MUST,but i did want to hear real dimarzio's in these guitars)
switch
volume potentiameter
bridge

Ok, i changed the stock OLP dimarzio evh clone pickups to a set of usa dimarzio's(tone zone/air norton) I must confess the stock ones are very good,but the usa dimarzio set shames them! the guitar sounded great before,but now in a blindfold test you would NEVER know this was a $200 OLP you were hearing! The dimarzio's have a warmer,more organic tone than the korean made clone pups did. I am not dissapointed at all,becuase anyone who expects to get a $200 axe with stock pups that are better than real dimarzio's is asking a bit much! once again i will say that the stock ones are indeed very good,but they are not as good as dimarzio's

I changed the stock bridge to a higher quality fender usa 6 point strat one,the stock bridge is not made from the best metal so i did this out of choice not necessity! the stock one did hold the tuning and sounded very good.
I changed the switch to a usa gibson 3 way toggle and the volume pot to a full size 500K CTS brand push/pull for coil tapping which added quite a bit of tonal versitility to my clean tones,the stock electronics were kind of cheap looking and feeling so i would recomend changing them with quality parts.
I changed the tuners to locking schaller's with pearl buttons like the ones on the axis super sport. the guitar stayed in tune before with it's stock ones but not when using the trem ,with the schaller's the fender six point vintage trem stays in very well with whammy stunts.
I use graphit in the nut slots and the bridge saddles. stays in tune!

very reliable! very solid

?

After swapping out some of the stock items,the guitar got even better!
I loved it stock to be honest,but i know that being it is a $200 axe, they(OLP) did not use the most expensive parts in the world on it.
I made these changes for my own satifaction,not really out of any NEED.
the stock OLP mm-1 will go a long way on it's own!
Now there is NO DOUBT in my mind or ear that this OLP will rival guitars in the much higher price range.
In closing,the OLP stock is hard to beat and modded it is VERY hard to beat for the money!

2002 22 frets, Gold flametop, 2 humbuckers, 1 volume, 3 way switch, non locking tremolo, basswood body, sealed tuners.

Very versatile, sounds solid through a Marshall JCM 900. Sound is standard for a 2 humbucker type.

We had to go through 6 different MM1's at Guitar Center to find one that was set up right, but at this price $200 it was well worth it. Some of the problems we found on the one's we didn't pick were, dead frets, pickups misaligned, action too high or too low etc.

Solid guitar for the price, stays in tune well, I guess we picked the right one. Strap locks are a necessity on this guitar, kinda like a Explorer, or a Flying V.

Haven't tried it yet!

How can you beat this guitar for the price? Just be carefull when picking the one that is right for you, and you will be happy!

2002 model
made in china
laminated top
one single volume,one three way switch(gibson style toggle)
two very good dimarzio evh copy zebra humbucking pu's(made in korea,sound very simular to the usa custom dimarzio's)
basswood body with binding,all maple neck(appears to be very good quality hard rock maple!)
photo quilt gold trans top,(paper film not wood veneer!)single cutaway tele meets a les paul shape(great looker!)vintage or traditional strat style six point vibrato bridge.
die cast tuners(schaller copies)
very comfortable neck with a satin finish,rounded and kind of small scale(like the old usa kramers)

This is the area that almost shocked me as much as how the OLP MM-1 plays! I still cant beleieve this is a $200 guitar? It has a sound that rivals others costing much more! even unplugged,it is vibrant and alive with a clear brightish tone that i happen to really love about the USA axis or EVH signature models. plugged in it delivers the goods!
High output bridge pu delivers a tone that is very reminisant of the Vanhalen signature or axis model!And the neck pu's is round and beefy while having some "cut" to it! I test drove the OLP through a 1971 marshall super lead,a 5150II stack,and a soldano slo and was BLOWN AWAY considering it is a stock $200 instument???
I compared it to a USA axis,in tone and they are VERY SIMULAR with only a small fraction of difference!
Dimarzio's have a very "distinct tone character"( as does duncans) and that is what sets the two apart from one another.
I am considering trying a dimarzio tone zone/air norton set just to hear? I do however think these stock "clone" pu's are very good,they are way above average for guitars in this price range.many will probably leave them alone? it is not a MUST to replace these at all!

From the factory,the setup was average,i have played $1000 guitars that left the factory playing not so great! everyone likes a different action,neck straightness(relief)etc. so the real test came for me when i set it to MY specs,which is super straight neck(very little relief!)action to die for(about the thickness of a medium pick at the last fret!)this is usually way too much to ask from any $200 guitar,but not this time! it stayed clean and free from excessive buzzing,even with those settings! I still do not beleive it!
The finish was done immaculatly,as was the binding and neck joint.
the routes for the pu's is clean and precise. bridge was installed properly(i seen a squier strat that had a bridge that was put on wrong,it was uneven or slanted!) for those that care, the fender vintage style bridges have a better tone than the floyd rose systems that "float" on two studs. and they will stay in tune if they are set correctly.I am growing more found of it than my floyd on my other guitar.
tuners are a good quality and are schaller copies,i personally prefer locking tuners with a non-locking bridge, so they will be replaced with schallers.
nut was done properly and cut at the right angle and height.
all controls are smooth and work fine

This guitar is as dependable as any guitar costing much more! I personally would NEVER GIG without a backup axe even if my main one was a $5000 les paul!

never had to deal with them?

I have been playing for 22 years and have owned many fine guitars throughout the years,without going into a big story,i wanted a USA music man axis but could not afford it right at the moment,so i got this OLP mm1.
The funniest part,is that i bought this OLP as a JOKE! I really was convinced that the hype was just that, HYPE! and for $200 you get "what you pay for" needless to say the "joke" was on me,because i wound up with a great guitar after all!
If you check into these OLP reviews, most of them are very accurate.
it really is "ALL THAT"!

The features of this axe having been covered previously in some detail. I am reviewing the black sparkle finish model. It is my second OLP MM1. I reviewed the gold fotoflame model last time.

Since I installed the the DiMarzio pickups in my other OLP, I had a chance to make a direct comparison between the OLP factory pickups and the DiMarzios. While the OLP factory pickups are certainly impressive for the price of the instrument, there is there is really no comparison between them and the much more expensive DiMarzios. The clarity and definition of the DiMarzios makes them far superior. In fact, I am planning to install a set of DiMarzio Breed pickups in his guitar. If you can afford it, you may want to install a set of DiMarzios or Duncans.

The fit and finish of his guitar is exceptional for its price. In fact, you would be hard pressed to find a better guitar in its price range. I really like the black sparkle finish a lot better than the gold fotoflame. It reminds me of John Petrucci's black sparkle EB guitar.

I believe that this guitar is extremely reliable judging by its build quality. It is a really simple design. I would suggest changing out the selector switch and knob, though.

I have never had to deal with OLP. By the way, some people seem to believe that this guitar is manufactured by Ernie Ball. Actually, the neck design is licensed from Ernie Ball but the guitar is distributed by OLP, a division of HHI (Hanser Holdings, Inc), the company that distributes BC Rich guitars and Kustom amplifiers. http://olpguitars.com/ http://www.sayhhi.com/

I have been playing guitar for 30 years and own about 12 other guitars. I love the design of his guitar and the price. It is a phenomenal project guitar and I'm looking forward to rebuilding it. With a new set of pickups it will be a totally different instrument.

In terms of features, I give it a 9. The pickups are HOT, I like the bridge, and the neck really grew on me. I normally play a more narrow neck, but this has really turned out to be an asset for playing the faster stuff through a distortion channel. I got the translucent gold finish.....it's nice looking, but i've since seen the trans purple and red, and they are much nicer.
The body style is nearly identical to the Peavy Wolfgang, and honestly...the range of sounds you can get from this puppy is just as good.

I play heavy rock, and blues.....now for the blues, the clean channel was shockingly nice. normally for a clean bluesy sound I prefer the 3-single coil axes, but this one sounds nice, and gets a variety of tones. Through the heavy channel, it gets a TON of crunch. And i've experienced no noise. I play it through a Dunlop Cry-Baby Wah, and into a Peavy Heritage 350w Tube amp. Very full tone.

My only complaint in this department, was the action set from the factory.
But then i always lower the bridge heads to fit my tastes. The finish is perfect. I did lower the neck pickup. The bridge is routed perfectly, and the fit is wonderful. A very easy axe to play......for some reason, it just feels tight, and nice.

The guitar definately withstands live action.....and extensive jams. the hardware is great, and i must say, you'd need a damn sledgehammer to knock it out of tune!....Only complaint here.....I had a custom leather strap made for stage play, and when apon putting it away one night, the strap button screw on the bridge end, stripped out of the body.....however, it was easily replaced with a longer screw and has been fine ever since.
NEVER GIG WITHOUT A BACKUP!...but yes....it's very dependable.

I've never had to deal with the company......and never needed a repairman to touch it.

I've played for about 12 years, and i enjoy this piece of gear. I have played through peavy amps for quite sometime, and this axe helps provide some of its own crunch with it's very hot pickups. And, if it were stolen....yes, I would buy another without doubt. I may buy another in a different color anyway! lol

What year was it made? 2002
How many frets? 22
Solid-Top? Laminated top? Solid
Which controls are given? One master volume, one three way selector switch (bridge, bridge/neck, neck)
Make and model of pickups? Two zebra humbuckers
Active or Passive electronics? passive
Body and neck woods? Basswood
Finish? Black sparkle
Body style? Tele style
Bridge style? Tele style tremolo
Tuners? Sealed
Neck/Scale? Thin, 25.5
Any included accessories? Nope

I gave this guitar a ten for features because it has almost exactly the features I want in a guitar. The only thing I would change if I was designing this guitar would be to remove the neck pickup and the three way switch. I only use the bridge pickup.

How does it suit your music style? Perfectly, I play classic rock and modern country in a band.
What amps and effects are you using it with? I plug it directly into a Marshall 100 watt tansistor amp. The amp has built in effects and I use a touch of reverb and a touch of chorus with the gain up fairly high on the dirty channel.
Is it noisy? No, quiet as a mouse.
Rich/Full sound? Bright sound? Yes, rich full and bright sound.
What kind of sounds can the guitar make? How much variety? Any sound I want it to make.
Likes and dislikes? I like the bridge pickup and I don't like the neck pickup. But then again I never like the neck pickup on any guitar.

How well was the guitar set-up at the factory? I always set up my guitars to play just the way I like them to play. No factory set up will cut it for me. I start by changing the strings to the ones I always use (D'Addarios 9-42) and then set the action, intonation and playablity to my taste.
How well were the pickups adjusted? They were ok, but I readjusted them to suit my taste.
Properly bookmatched top? Properly routed bridge? No bookmatch. The bridge is routed fine.
Did the guitar contain any flaws? The bridge pickup was not mounted properly and I had to take it off and remount it. One of the screws was not installed properly. About a five minute job to fix it, no big deal.

Will this guitar withstand live playing? Better than most other guitars. It is a simple guitar with two pickups, one volume, one switch, not a lot to go wrong there. Plus at $199 it is not going to be high on anyone's list to steal, and if it is stolen it is cheap to replace.
Does the hardware seem like it will last? Indefinitely.
Is the finish good enough to last, or does it seem thin and easy to wear off with lots of playing? I think you would need a chisel to deface the finish on this baby. The shine is a mile deep.
Are the strap buttons solid? The only mod I made to this guitar was to replace the strap buttons with strap locks.
Can you depend on it? So far so good.
Would you use it on a gig without a backup? Only an idiot would gig without a backup.

OLP is not a company, it is a line of guitars made by Ernie Ball. There is no OLP web site and Ernie Ball doesn't mention the OLP on their web site. I did have a problem with the first one I bought. I hated the color (trans gold) It looked nothing like the color on the web page they advertise it on. So I sent it back and got a black sparkle version. No problems making the exchange. There is no warranty information included with the guitar so I would assume there is no warranty. But I doubt I will need one. This is a rock solid guitar.

How long have you been playing? What other gear do you own? 40 years. I also own a Jay Turser Shark guitar (my backup) and a 73 Les Paul. I never play the LP since the OLP shits all over the LP. There are about 25 reasons why the OLP is such a better guitar than the LP. Sound, playablilty, upper fret access, price, quality, etc...
Is there something you wish you had asked before buying this guitar? Why is the trans gold so ugly?
If it were stolen or lost, would you buy it again or get something else? I would buy it again in a heartbeat.
What do you love about it? What do you hate? What is your favorite feature? I love everything and hate nothing. My favorite feature is the maple neck. Stunningly georgeous curly maple neck with superb access to the upper frets. Perfect size for my size hands (medium)
Did you compare it to other guitars? Which ones? Why did you choose this one? I played a lot of guitars prior to owning this one and I choose this one because I fell in love with it.
Anything you wish it had? A real nice looking blonde as a guitar tech would be nice :-)
Anything else you'd like to share? I probably sound like I work for Ernie Ball but I don't. In fact Ernie Ball doesn't want to sell these guitars at all. They don't have a web site, they don't do any advertising, and they don't have any celebrity endorsements. That is three of the main reasons this guitar is so cheap. This guitar is made and sold as a deterent to any other guitar company making an Axis clone. They sued the clone makers and forced them to take their Axis clones off the market (Jay Turser JT-72 is one example of a discontinued Axis clone). So now if someone wants to start manufacturing an Axis clone they will be sued and they have to compete with a dirt cheap excellently made real live Axis made in China. These guitars are not clones, they are not copies, they are the real thing. These guitars are made with the same blue prints and the same computer routing software and the same parts as the American made version. The only difference between the two is the country where they are routed and assembled and the tremolo unit.

Every one has pretty much commented on this. So we all know what hardware is installed on it.

The Sound is surprisingly good. I play instrumental rock as well as Christian Rock and it is very versitile, from very full lead tones to razor sharp rhythm as well as vintage like Gibson Les Paul Tones. I use it with a Boss GT3 and it sounds great. Some of the songs can be heard at http://enrique-romero-jr.tk

The guitar is really well built. Aside from having to adjust the intonation it is perfect. It stays in tune no matter how many times you dive bomb on the non-locking trem.

I think this guitar will last as long as it isn't abused. It isn't a top quality guitar but definately something to keep as a backup. The finish is nice, as long as you don't stare at it too long and realize that it is a "photo" finish and not the translucent paint you really like on the Ernie Ball Axis model.

Haven't had to deal with them yet.

I have been playing 15 years and this is a great add on to my rig.
I would definately buy another one. I hope they make it in translucent red or blue next year.
Great guitar hands down!

-Year 2002 model, http:\\olpguitars.com
-22-jumbo fret, maple neck, basswood body, solid-top (candy red)
-volume, 3-way selector, 2 zebra-style humbuckers, other hardware chrome
-came with cable

SIMPLE AND FEW PARTS TO BREAK
NOTHING UNECESSARY

-Big Eddie Van Halen fan as well as Joe Satriani, Vai, Vaughn, Metallica, and more. Big on riffs and soloing. Big fan of the Peavey Wolfgang, and Music Man Axis, but also on a budget.
-Using a Zoom-707 through Crate and Peavey amps.
-These pickups are not like other cheap guitar pickups. Very warm and full bodied sound like Les Paul. Tone is great with switch selection nearest tremelo. No need for a tone knob. (never really used it much anyway) Have played Music Man and Wolfgang and they sound very close to the original. OLP did great on recreating the pickups.
-Much of its capable sound depends on your effects processor. I can get it clean, fat, and mellow or screaming with hormonics and great sustain with my e/p
-Tremelo is standard, planning on replacing it with a Floyd-Rose anyway.

-Packaging kinda scared me at first, but it shipped okay and nothing was nicked, or broken.
-Action was fine for my taste, pretty low. Was in tune except for low E.
-Very well set up right out of the box.
-Strings arent the greatest, but those get replaced anyways.

No visible flaws that I could see. Very suprising for $200. Fretboard and body are excellent quality. Volume knob looks pretty cheap, but easy fix. Pickup selector is 100% quiet even with 100% overdrive. Volume knob little stiff. When you buy a $200 dollar guitar you shouldnt expect much, but this guitar breaks the mold. Well worth 2x-3x the money when compared with comparable Ibenez, Yamaha, models. OLP has really created a good guitar at a affordable price. Other companies better take note.

Guitar seems very durable. Joints are all well fit with no protrusion. The guitar has awesome sustain. The finish is not the greatest, but on par with a $600-1,000 guitar. Doesnt seem like it will wear or chip with medium usage and good care. Strap buttons are solid. Heavy users should always have a backup, but nothing has caused concern when using this guitar. Very sturdy. Very solid.

Havent had to deal with the company. All hardware parts pretty easy to replace.
The company does have a website, but doesnt come with any phone numbers or warranty information. May not be a warranty. But as always check with the company you are puchasing it from and find out the return policy.

Have been playing for over a decade and own thousands of dollars in equipment. 6 guitars including Alverez, Kramer, Yamaha. 12 string, 3 classical, generic Gibson.

If stolen or lost would definatley buy another. The quality is amazing for the price. Dont worry about this guitar. I was unsure until I read every existing review on this guitar. Payed my $200 and would have payed more. EXTREMELY PLEASED with this purchase.

Wish It had a Floyd Rose but for what I payed I can afford to buy one and install it. Went to the store and played simmilarly priced models; missaligned frets, twisted necks, cheap tuners, and awfull pickups. Totaly unlike this guitar.

Dont hesitate. I did my research and took a chance and it was a great move. Could not be more pleased. $200....chump-change

This has been covered in some detail previously. I bought the gold fotoflame model.

As provided by the factory, the sound is decent. The guitar I bought had a broken selector switch, so I replaced it and evaluated the supplied pickups. Better than average for this price range, but lacking depth and complexity. I bought it to gut it and rebuild the electronics. Besides the selector switch, I replaced the jack (installing a Switchcraft model) and pickups. The pot was decent so I left it alone. I installed a Air Norton up front and a Tone Zone down below (using regular rather than inverted orientation). Now it sings like a guitar costing 3-5X as much. Now, I would rate it a 10!

Factory setup was decent. The switch was broken and I heard that this is common. The switch and the volume knob had to go. I replaced the knob with a Gibson style speed knob. With the black pickups and a black switch cover, it looks like a totally different guitar. A better look IMHO. The neck and fretwork are great. The bridge is very good. The tuners are fine.

It seems like a sturdy guitar aside from the selector switch. I would depend on it, but would want a backup guitar on any gig...

No contact with the factory.

I have been playing off and on for 30+ years. I have a number of other guitars. I would buy it again in a heartbeat. It is the perfect project guitar.

I bought a brand new one (Chinese made) yesterday from Sam Ash for $200. It's the same configuration as everybody else's so I own't go into that. I got the amber maple photo-flame finish.

I bought it for the features, so I'll give it a good rating, however, let's face, it's 200, so some of the components are crappy.

I love the single volume knob, pickup selector location, and string-thu-bridge construction.

On the down side, the nut is plastic junk, the tuners are so-so at best,and the fretwork is pretty bad - althohg again, better than yo';d expect for a $200 guitar.

It sounds fine. It's a good enough sound, bright because of the neck and fingerboard, with fine sustain. It's quiet enough in all settings.

The pickups weren't as bad as I'dexcpected, but not great either. I bought this guitar for the body and neck, and plan to swap out everything else, though, so it doesn't matter that much.

It was set up fine out of the box. Not great, not awful. Again, it's better than you'd expect for $200.

The pickups were aligned correctly, but not even, if that nakes sense 0 easty enough to fix, though - just take out a screwdriver and give it four turns.

I think this guitar will fall apart. then again, my Wolfgang is constantly dying - I bught it for $600 and have spent that again fixing it, so I can't complain.

Haven't needed it.

You need to know what you're getting here - it's a $200 guitar with a stupid "photo flame" finish.

THat said it's a great value for the money. I never expected to get a guitar for this price that played so well. I bought it with expressed intention of sanding off that stupid finish, putting new pickiups, tuners, and and nut in, so there you go. A basswood body - without electronics, neck, or anything - in this style from Warmoth is 300, so from that perspective you can't really beat it.

Just don't buy it thinking you're getting a Wolfgang or Axis.

I wont cover this again..........although Ive already modded this guitar to the max:)

Original Floyd trem, R2 locknut, D-Tuna, and a push pull volume pot to switch from humbucker-both-humbucker to single coil-both-single coil. I use this guitar for recording so the coil taps are a must for flexibility. Just have to find a set of Schaller pearl tuners, and its as damn close to an Axis as you will get for a fifth of the money.

I mainly use this guitar in a home studio setup, and it suits my needs perfectly.
Played through my Johnson J Station, I can get just about all the tones I need with the pickup modification.
Bridge pickup is nice and bright/crunchy, neck is a little mellower as you would expect in humbucker mode. With the coil taps, it just sounds like your typical Strat.

Before the mods, I was very happy with the finish on the guitar.
Straight out of the box, it played well and was in tune although the action was a little too high for my liking. Intonation was also acceptable.
Fret work was also quite good for such a cheap (affordable) guitar.

Only complaint was the strings. 9's arent quite my cup of tea, but Im sure they suit others.

This is definately built to last. Finish seems quite tough. Strap buttons are OK for home use, but Id be using strap locks on stage.
Id never gig without a backup, Its good but no guitar is that good!!!!

Havent needed it.

Id buy another in a heart beat if it were stollen. Great guitar.