Raven West Guitar Co. RG6900

Bought my RG6900 Bubinga Lefty 24 fret straight thru neck from RavenWestguitar.com April 2008 thru ebay brand new, it shipped from the USA to the UK, tracking it it took 1 week delivery to arrive here and spent 3 weeks in British Customs, I believe it was built in the Far East. Looking for a replacement to match my ??2,500 custom Warmoth Strat since it got nicked from my van this baby does it standing on its head, a great feel neck as good a feel as my 3 grand Collins acoustic the notes are a doddle to reach right up to the 24th fret the way the neck is shaped at the body - 30 years of gigging round the planet with Bands duos or solo I have had many fine axes and this is the first time Ive clocked myself air guitaring in the mirror with it - Looks and feels the poodles plums - I did fit it with a Bareknuckle Nailbomb PU on the neck but the original wilkinson blades are nothing to complain about now I am used to them. Ive given it a slight rub all over with 1000g wet and dry and a brasso up which has given the original finish a more shinier surface as it did seen a bit dull and I fitted mine with a graphite nut and Sperzel locking tuners ( never been one to get on with the metal bit at the headstock ) 50 gigs with it now and the gold chrome has worn off a bit but no probs aint one to be flash - this axe is worth ever one of the 666 dollars ( 296 quid ) I paid for it - with the shipping number also including 666 I can only say yow 11 outta 10 to Ravenwest for this great low priced axe - A bit more cash in the coffers I'll be having another un - Eric Berguist still answers my emails and I even got a dollar back from them just to save any bad luck that might come my way !!! - check out their site www.ravenwestguitar.com it has also got to be the coolest on the web. ( another biker guitarist )

Playing a wide range of Rock n Blues this axe does it for me in every way

The pot needed rewired to a left handed - easy - swapped the wires round - A user of 9.5 diadarrios pink band pack I had to reset it but nothing wrong when I took it out the packing case

Looks sturdy enough to last 250 gigs a year - havent picked up my spare Ibanez since I got this axe over 20 gigs now since new - fitted it with strap locks

eric always answers emails

Aged 54 now first guitar when 12 - soz I cant count
no
yes
love ease at the top of neck - the look of it - hate nothing about it
just feels good to play

Im not sure what year or model. I bought it in 2007 and it resembles a flat top mahogany les paul with a satin natural finish, rosewood fretboard with scorpion inlays, and cream coloured raven west humbuckers. I purchased the guitar on e-bay as a factory blem on the finish. The finish turned out to be the least of the guitars problems. My first and probably last e-bay purchase.

Very dull and muddy.

The finish had some factory blem,s, which were easy to repair. I had to file some of the frets which were extending well beyond the width of the neck. The worst part of this guitar, was the ugly patchwork on the back of the neck which looks to be knot hole which was filled. The neck humbucker never has worked at all and all the wiring looks to be conected as it should be. The body and neck wood are of poor quality. The only finishing touchs I did like were the abalone scorpion fretboard and headstock inlays.

This guitar was and is a piece of crap.

I have not contacted Raven West for any type of warranty on the guitar, so I can not really comment on their customer support, but what I can say is that they were dishonest with their e-bay listing in showing the guitar as a factory blem on the finish only. Obviously there were greater blem's than the finish.

I would not recommend Raven West Guitars to anyone. There are far better guitars out there for a lesser price. Don't let the nice look of the guitars fool you. Underneath, it's still a piece of crap.

2008 Asian manufacture, but not tagged or listed. 24 medium jumbo frets well dressed with ivory neck binding and black side dots. Top and bottom of body are bird's eye burl bubinga wood 1/4" each. 5 way switch black tipped, knurled gold knob vol and tone/coil tap pull. HSH pickup configuration. Pickups made by G&B, power rails type. Bridge 17.39 Ohms(black surround), middle single coil 8.76 Ohms(body mount), and neck 16.86 Ohms(black surround)--Hot and well balanced passive. Sandwiched between the 1/4" bubinga birds eye burl extreme hardwood is 1 1/4" alder, in wings of a neck through. The neck is shaped from 5/32" walnut, 7/8"maple(hard rock), 5/32"walnut, 9/16"maple, 5/32"walnut, 7/8"maple, 5/32"walnut. Natural oil finish. Body is S-style RG type. Bridge is gold licensed by Floyd Rose with locking nut. Tuners are Gold Wilkinson Deluxe. Neck is 25 1/2" scale and fretboard is Macassar Ebony with single Abalone Raven inlay at the 12th fret. Headstock is laminated with 1/8" bird's eye burl bubinga and has abalone Raven Head and RWG logo inlays, 3 maple and two walnut stripes under and on tuner side walnut becomes brown 1/2" thick approx. 1 13/16" wide at nut to 2 1/4" wide at 24th fret. 13/16" thick at 1st fret and 7/8" at 14th fret, tapering to smooth heel body with full 24 fret access playability. Beefier than the Ibanez RG, but fast for a person with big hands like me. Came with three hex keys, warranty, Gold Floyd whammy bar, Raven West Guitar sticker, and 5 free patch cables.

I play Blues/Rock/Metal and put it through an Orange Tiny Terror, and a Behringer V-Tone, and Carvin SX300 full stack. V-tone on echo 22 and Flange 69 tweed clean and high gain and British high gain. Carvin clean and hi gain chorus, and semi-dirty echo with reverb. No noise and sounded best on the Carvin for some reason. Rich and full sounding with slight muddiness at highest gain levels. Single coil mode sounded crisp, so it could go twangy if desired. A little heavier than the Ibanez RG, and tends to sit with the highest frets over your body. The sound is good but not in the tone heaven category.

The guitar was intonated well and almost in tune, but I loosened the nut screws, put the fine tuners at 1/8" thread showing and retuned and adjusted the level of the bridge as it was slightly tail low. When checking the Ohms I noticed the compartment was paint shielded but the cover was not, so added copper adhesive foil. I straightened the slightly over tightened and bent hold down bar. The whammy bar knurl had scarring so Eric is replacing it. So not perfectly flawless, but close. They also used wood screws without countersink on the 5 way which was an easy fix. I have to remember that I am a luthier along with being a player, so my idea of perfection is skewed toward being more critical.

This guitar will be perfectly fine by itself playing hard. It is good and solid with a lot of tonal variety built in. Of course, if you wanted a sound that could only come from an acoustic or acoustic pickup, or from a semi- or full hollow, you would have to bring them along. It will do just about anything a strat, tele, RG or Les Paul would do. The finish may eventually get dented, but it is natural so won't look bad. All it needs is occasional waxing and red oil on the fretboard, the usual guitar maintenance.

Eric of Raven West Guitars was a pleasure to deal with by sending out a new Gold Floyd bar to replace the one someone marred the knurl on and got missed, which is easy enough to do with a high sales rate. The sticker(it is on my truck now) and patch cords bonus was a treat.

I started in 1965 when the Stones came out with "Satisfaction" and I used my fingernail on the bass string to get the buzz on an acoustic. The description on ebay is quite detailed and with some great sound clips using the guitars. I have lusted for this birds eye burl one for months and finally won one! If someone stole it, I would track them down and peel their skin off slowly. I wish it had the OFR and speed loader, a little more edge rounding and little smaller neck. It compares favorably to my Douglas neck through mahogany WRL590 LFR, and slightly to my Antoniotsai neck through SG Rosewood/mahogany/ash sandwich with inlay heaven. Much better than my old Ibby RG HSH Deluxe a ways back. This guitar is in the highest end category.