OLP Mcswain Tintop

Low-buck version of a McSwain custom. Two humbuckers, metal top, supposedly basswood body but it's damned heavy and the grain had me saying ash...in any case one should know that with a good setup these guitars can be made to play f-n great. I ended up trading an amp towards this with a c-note thrown in. Great sustain - lots of body mass and the extra little bit provided by the metal top is noticeable.

The guitar would be a solid pick for the money based on it's sound and playability alone, but the looks are simply what sets it apart. It's a new-ish body shape that isn't awkward or trying to be some old guitar design with a patent lawyer approved 'tweak', and I've always loved the looks of Trussart and Fouke Industrial guitars, both of which are waaaay out of my price range. The top even has a little surface rust - too Fouke-in' cool. The Gauge might be too much for some but I dig it and it'll look cool on stage, I'm sure. It's kind of like a styling scoop on a car - just shaddup and smile.

My guitar has a modded tone control, different capacitor and I haven't had time to dissect it yet but it's done by a local LA guitar shop. Showed it to me on a variety of guitars around the shop - he'll just get bored and do it to whatever's lying around - and it turned an old Tele's twang into a smoky jazzbox. I haven't gotten to truly put it through the paces but I think even without that option there's plenty of tones here, the pickups are supposedly PAF copies (or as close as OLP could source) and like someone mentioned there's shavings on the pole pieces, but I thought it looked kind of cool myself...

I mostly play heavy rock, and I confess that I didn't put this through my usual Marshall torture test; however going in cleaner modes this guitar has a good range of thick tones available. No excess noise or anything that screams 'run away and hide your wallet'. Solid feeling guitar and I was mostly impressed by the way it played and felt unplugged - ****** pickups won't stand between me and a good guitar. The last guitar I bought like this went around the country with me and I still have it - because I knew I'd end up putting a different pickup in it. Always play the guitar unplugged so you really know what you're getting.

This guitar would easily be worth upgrading with a set of Grovers/Sperzels, pickups du jour and a set of straplocks.

The shop I acquired this from set it up and they did a really good job - good intonation, no fretting out, chords ring out loud and clear. God knows what it came like from the factory - no comment here, but if you're going to get a po boy special like this you should be able to work on your own guitar at least as far as a setup goes anyway.

The fit and finish were designed to look worn so I'd say they did a good job; maybe the guitar would have flaws if it was supposed to be polished to a high gloss, but as it has what I look for; tight neck joint, no big gaps anywhere, no obvious flaws.

This guitar would, in all seriousness, likely stop a bullet.

The hardware seemed to be of the 'ok' variety. The tuners might need to be swapped out later but it held tuning good in the three hours I spent with it.

No one gigs without a backup because they want to, or because their guitar is so magic it's without possibility of failure.

OLP is no more, so no CS.

Now that I know these guitars exist (I think I might have seen it in a catalog sometime or another but it seemed like a 'wall decoration' more than a guitar I'd be looking for) I'd likely buy another should it be lost or stolen. Not an expensive guitar and not for the faint of heart in terms of style so if there's one available it'll likely be in the hands of a shop willing to part with it for cheap. (Me, I swear, I think I'm going to get some blues chops together just to bring it to a jam - I think it'd be hilarious.)

If you happen to dig the McSwain style and don't purchase instruments as portfolio type investments, I'd say you could easily do worse. Fouke is a relative bargain at 5-6x the price of this copy new, and I've only seen one used (and with guitars like that, it's never when you have the dough). Now that I know these things play, it's a hard guitar to turn down, especially because it's fairly unique. Aggressive, yet not cock-rocky or simply yet another spin on a design from the 50's. Not for everyone, but not everyone likes Telecasters, either.

I bought this from Musicians Friend on a close out - $150 brand new. This model is made in China. It has 22 frets, a 3 way pickup selector, and two pickups that can be switched between single coil and double (humbucker) coils. It has a funky non-functioning Vu meter, copying the original McSwain Tin top. When you pull up on the tone knob, a little red light turns on in the meter - pulling up on the tone knob also selects the single coil configuration.

The bridge is similar to a Fender, with individual adjustable saddles for both string height and intonation. The neck has an adjustable truss rod. Wrenches are included for bridge and truss rod adjustment.

I don't know what kind of tuners are used - they seem to be okay, but certainly are not of the highest quality.

This guitar is very heavy - it's even heavier than a Les Paul, so I suspect the wood must be cheap, combined with the fact it is a large solid body. It has a nice distressed finish, with lots of screws - scrws are used for the markers on the rosewood fingerboard.

One disadvantage of the body style, aside from the fact that it's larger than most bodies, is that access to the higher frets is limited.

Surprisingly, the humbucker pickups are quite good. For blues, they are ideal - deep and dark. Running the pickups as single coils won't get you a Strat or Tele sound, but they do offer a nice contrast to the humbucker sound. And in this regard, this cheap guitar has a surprising amount of tonal flexibility. I should mention that these humbuckers are very hot - as hot as the ones on my 2007 Gibson Flying V!

Like many inexpensive production guitars, the strings were set too high to prevent buzz. But lowering them greatly improved the action. it does not play as easily as some of my other guitars, but comes close. The neck is very straight. Overall finish isn't too bad. The edges of the frets are a bit rough. Again, this is a cheap imitation of the real thing, so you get what you pay for.

Since the finish is a distressed finish, I doubt if any wear and tear will show. It's a lot like buying a junker car - predented, etc. I can't foresee anything going wrong with this guitar, and I would gig with it wothout a backupo.

Have had no problems so have not had to use customer support.

I bought this guitar as a sort of joke. It looked really different, and for $150, what could I lose? I figured that it would be the sacrificial guitar - you know, the one you let your friends bang on, etc. For months it just sat. Then one day I started playing it. And soon discovered the single/dual coil switching capability (I don't recall ever reading about this). Then I adjusted the action. I found my self really liking it, especially the ability to go from humbucker to single coils. And it stacks up well to my other, more expensive guitars (Strat, Tele, Flying V, Epiphone Dot). So in retrospect, I am very glad I bought it, and may think twice before letting someone else bang away on it!

This is one of the beautiful creations of Mc Swain "The sculpted Flame". The body is beatiful to see and is made of baswood. The neck is maple with inlay of sculpted flames. Is has 22 jumbo frets and 2 open OLP humbuckers. Te neck is wider than orginial OLP's like the MM. There is a 3 position switch, volume en tone.

This guitar has a smoother sound than the MM, wich is much more sharpen. Somtimes is seems a little jazzy. But it can also produce very good rock. There is no noise at all.

The guitar is set in the factory. My dealer has adjusted the guitar to my wishes. The quality of the finish is good.

I think this guitar is made of quality like the design,

The warranty is 2 years.

I played one month with the guitar and it is still a joy to play.

nice desstressed finish,
light up gauge
3 way switiching
string through body
black hardware
H/H pick up configuartion
"philip" skrew head inlays
"phillip"skrew head all around guitar
22 frets
not sure on neck....custom made high-plastic neck
double cut-awya shape body

the basss pickups sounds better than the bridge...but once i make this ametal gitar..im totally swaping the brige and putting a floyd rose and some active EMG's

im not sure on this..i bought it off ebay and the guy put it TOO low and you cant eve nplay the fist fret at all and lots of fret buzz........but im pretty sure it was at one time set at a good feel

yes! i'd take this in the studio, on tour, or even for my freidns and family's entertainment

i up graded to some "zepplin" strap but the stock buttons well just do

not sure...their sight takes about an hour to load or so

i own a 2005 washburn dime v in camo (seymour and bill lawrence pick ups) a 2004 blue godin..... a 2002/2006 fender CD60 acoustic in sunburst and i..well...kinda own a rare 60's made EL DEGAS bass

i own 1 marshall, 1.randall, 1 fender mini amp and a 100$ pockit rockit amp

and only at the age of 15 half

for whats worth? i would suggest this mayhem guitar to anyone that wants to shred or swing with the jazz..great guitar..thaks OLP!