Optek 400 Series Fretlight

Low quality strat copy with optek neck. I returned mine because the neck was severly warped. I'll agree with the last poster that the guitar is simply over priced considering the low quality. It is a clever learning tool, but is not a quality instrument. I'd also agree that the software is the best part of the system. I did mess around a bit with the guitar (buzzing frets and all) before I returned it, and I would caution that having a full scale (or fragment) light up on the neck will not work miracles for your playing. I thought instant access to every note in a scale would suddenly make me sound different, but it doesn't (after all it's more of the same 7 notes). Great soloing comes from the sence of melody, the licks, and the phrasing more than anything else, and the Optek won't help you with that. I have friends that can squeeze amazing solo's out of one position in the pentatonic minor and sound different each time they do it. Save yourself $599 and buy some DVD's on the playing style of your favorite players. Learn some of their licks and phrasing (good phrasing and a great vibrato is really the key to sounding like a pro). That will do more for you in terms of sounding like your inner guitar hero than the Optek.

Severly warped neck that couldn't be corrected with a truss rod adjustment. I returned the guitar.

This is where I really have a problem. It took 4 phone calls and 1 month (after they recieved my defective guitar) to get my refund. Each time I called I got a different answer, which the guy seemed to make up on the fly. I have never dealt with a company that had worse customer service.

Been playing for just over 15 years. I play in an actively gigging cover band. Have 2 Ernie Ball Axis guitars (great guitars!!) and use a Marshall JCM 2000 amp. I was dissapointed with the Optek Guitar. In practice I don't think it offers as much as a learning tool as one might initially think, especially given the price.

I'll give it a 5 for features. The neck is nice but the rest of the guitar (bridge, tuners, pickups, controls) is pretty low quality. Almost exactly the same as a $150.00 Squire Strat. Bottom line is that $599 is just too expensive given the quality. I feel I get AT LEAST 85% of the benefit of the learning tool, from the Guitarz 6.5 software alone, which you can buy directly from Aphasia Software for $40. You bring up the scale, arpeggio, tab file etc. on you computer screen and the software displays it very well (nice and big)and that's really all you need. It's actually pretty easy to translate from the screen to a normal guitar with the great scale graphics on the software. So if you are unsure if you want spend $599 (I was, but did it anyway)when you can get almost all the benefit with the software alone, I would guess you will be unhappy with this guitar. If you have endless money, it's a cool learning tool. But if money is any issue at all, you're likely to find you could learn the same stuff "almost" as easily using the $40 software while playing your favorite good quality guitar.

Set up was poor with buzzing frets. Overall quality is low. You are paying for the electronics alone and the benefit is not as great as I thought it would be (I'm a reasonably good guitarist and perform on a regular basis). The Guitarz software is great.

I can't recommend this guitar for $599. For $300 it would be worth it, a $150 guitar and $150 for the electronics. But the benefit is not worth the $599 cost. The software on the other hand is worth $40. A great learning tool.

This is a brand new Fretlight 400. S/S/H pickups, 5 way selector switch, and black in color.

The neck is pretty cool. It's got the light system but it's not like the old Fretlight's, that had plastic caps inside the LED holes. This neck completely hides the lights. It feels great and sounds nice as well

It sounds nice, I'll probably retrofit some DiMarzio's or something....I like playing it so it will be worth it.

Like I said, it plays really smoothly and is pretty fast as far as necks go. No flaws when I receved it, it was well packed. I understand they can't set them upp for everyone, so I will get a set-up done, bu then I do that to all the guitars I buy.

Not sure about reliability, don't see whay it wouldn't play great for years. Certainly the polymer fretboard won't wear like a wood fretboard.

I've been on the Forum and they seem to respond quickly. They also seem to have the other software companies on board with the overall progrqam so there's lots of help...if you need it. Really though, I just plugged this guitar into my USB port, fired up a cool scale and started jaming...very cool.

I really like it. And obviously the company has brought it back the right way. Simple interface, looks like any other guitar, and the neck plays great.

I got the black Fretlight and i am very pleased with its construction. It's well made, solid, and the neck is everything they claim it to be. It's amazing.

Pickups are okay, though they are very if good if they're simply the stock ones, sustain is improved as well, must be because of the polymer neck. Guitar is noisy when it's near the computer monitor, but then i guess all guitars are.

Neck plays wonderfully. I don't know what they did but this is the neck to beat now!

I would gig with this any day, it's very cool. All of the hardware seems fine, finish is nice too.

They seem very responsive to getting this Fretlight right and supporting it.

love it, glad i purchased it. I'm learnign stuff I never thought possible. I certainly am not wasting my time any more with books and charts.

This "company" is apparently one guy named Rusty Shaffer who doesn't understand customer service. Just be forewarned that if you buy this guitar and it doesn't perform as expected, you may not be able to get a refund or get the guitar fixed. I say this because this happened to me. I bought one of his guitars, one of the lights never worked, and he refused to give me a refund or repair it. He sent me a new LED light and expects me to fix it myself by doing soldering and digging into the neck! (I know nothing about guitar repair or electronics). In my opinion, you are taking a big risk to buy from this guy.

This "company" is apparently one guy named Rusty Shaffer who doesn't understand customer service. Just be forewarned that if you buy this guitar and it doesn't perform as expected, you may not be able to get a refund or get the guitar fixed. I say this because this happened to me. I bought one of his guitars, one of the lights never worked, and he refused to give me a refund or repair it. He sent me a new LED light and expects me to fix it myself by doing soldering and digging into the neck!(I know nothing about guitar repair or electronics). In my opinion, you are taking a big risk to buy from this guy.

Don't buy an electronic device from a company that won't give you a refund or fix it if it doesn't work.

Strat type, black with pearl scratch plate, two singles and a humbucker. Polymer neck, which I had never heard of, but feels extremely fast under the fingers. You cant see anything different about this guitar other than the extra jack for the PC lead.
No trem bar unfortunately. A PRS/Fender type trem would have been good.

Guitar came equipped with 9's. I dont know if Optek allow customers to choose string gauges but I cant play light strings. Anyway, the sound is very typical of this type of guitar. It isnt up to a new US built Gibson or Fender, but it does sound comparable to many other makes I have tried. Good thick crunch from the humbucker and the single coils responded very well. I detected no noise or buzz from the pickups through my JCM 800. Overall very adequate.

Guitar was rcvd in completely immaculate condition. My only criticism would be that the action was set too high for my tastes and I will have to use the bridge saddles to peg it down. I prefer the Gibson bridge set up to any other design, the Optek design looks fairly simple on this instrument but I'm loathe to wade in.

This is an entirely unique instrument in that it is primarily a learning tool, so I wont be using it live. But , I believe I would have no problem if I were to ever use it. The volume and tone pots feel good and resistant to accidental nudges (not too slack, which I hate on strats when playing live) The pick up selector also feels like it will stand up to some abuse (another of my strat bugbears). Its quite light and easy to play which is another plus for live work. But as stated I wont be using it.

Very good after sales, respond to emails quickly if you have a problem.

The most important thing about this guitar is the software that allows you to plug in and dial up any chord, scale, triad etc..on the guitar neck. It makes learning a whole new experience, a different universe opens up as soon as you see your first set of lights on the neck. Optek are also developing a seperate manual plug in that will do the job of the software. The software itself was easy to set up on the desktop, altho it takes up a fair bit of memory. It includes audio so you can hear chords and scales and also chord progressions that you can use to play along with. All in a unique and incredible tool. I look forward to seeing how much this will add to my playing. It wont change my phrasing, that is set in stone, no matter what scales etc I know. But it will defo increase my vocab and knowledge.

Strat style guitar. 2 single coils with Humbucker in bridge position.
5 position switch. Nice white tortise shell pickguard. Black body.
Headstock looks cool. Frets are a little small for my liking, but this guitar is a learning tool and should be playable for all abilities. Neck is slim, not chunky.

Sounds ok. Ive only had this guitar for a week. Still getting to know it. Its a little noisey, but expected I guess with all of the lighting going on in the neck. Typical single coil strat copy type sounds. Rich/bright sounding.

Wasnt too bad a set up. Saddles were too low. Intonation was close, had a some buzzing up and down the neck but cured most of it by raising the saddles.

Dont know yet. They seem excited about finaly getting this guitar back out after so many years.

This is an incredible learning tool. I've been playing for 20 years, off and on and have had a hard time getting very far into scales and new cords. Play blues/ rock and I have very good ability and coordination, but I'm stuck playing in the same places and the same notes. This guitar eliminates the frustration of going from Tab or music and then converting it on to the neck. For example, you can put on any music you want to play along with, set the lights to scales in the key of X and the whole neck lights up. You can play anywhere you want. Immediatly learning new places to play. Its seem like it will not only speed up the learning process but make it easier and more fun. I'm excited about it.