Raven RP-350

This is a followup to an earlier contribution. This is the PRS shaped Raven solid mahogany body and neck with a truly beautiful flamed maple top (not a picture). I took this guitar to a professional who has done work on my other guitars. He set the action and the intonation for me. I also had him install an Ibanez v7 humbucker in the neck position and an Ibanez v8 humbucker in the bridge position replacing the chrome covered stock pickups that cam with the Raven. He blessed the tuners (after tightening them) and said they were fine. The action is so low and fast now its incredible and the harmonics now jump off the guitar (they were non-existant before).

With the Ibanez high end pickups this guitar has an unreal range of sounds. Clean is incredible in the neck position, overdrive with the bridge pickup is downright nasty. Both have sustain forever, the mahogany set neck and mahogany body contribute to this mightily. I can't believe that for $230 and $46 for the ibanez pickups(got em on ebay) plus the cost of setup ($63) I now have an incredible looking AND sounding guitar.

As far as the setup from the factory I found it to be unsatisfactory. the pickups were loose and muddy sounding and the neck needed alignment, the tuners were loose. However all of these problems are easily overcome. This guitar after a 5 hour visit to the guitar shop is now incredible. Granted it did cost $63 (due in part to my changing the pickups). As far as the things that cannot be fixed like finish, and construction these were all excellent. My score will be reflected on what the CAN be, not how it comes in the box.

This guitar comes with a lifetime warranty which I now have voided since I modifyed it. Maybe they will still honor neck or other non-electronic issues since all I did was eliminate the muddy sounding stock pickups.

The only other thing I would like to add is that I bought a SBK Freedom hardshell case that has a molded interior that looks like a strat. This case cost me 65 bucks with tax included and fits the RP350 like a friggin glove! Total cost for this rig is $374.00!!! I'm going to factor in the price in my overall rating based on current sound, looks and feel and give it a 10! With a little effort and some extra cash you simply can't lose!

I'm guessing its a 2001 or 2002 guitar made in Korea.
24 frets
Mahogony body and neck with a flamed cherry burst top.Sort of PRS looking solid body.
One volume, one tone, 3-way pickups selector LP style.
Two Korean alnico style humbuckers with shiny chrome covers.
Tune-O-Matic style bridge in the Les Paul style.
regular Gotoh looking tuners,
Neck is in between a strat a LP, rosewood fretboard, diamong shapes inlays.
Came with a cable, and a tool for the truss rod.

I'm a shredder but also play classic rock, I played Always with you, Always with me by Satriani and Wait by White Lion on this. It did fine on both. I ran it straight into my GK 250ML in the overdrive channel, with chorus a reverb and without. It sounded better with no effects. I had trouble finding the pick harmonics that jump off my Custom LP amd Ibanex RG760 but this is probably because the intonatiojn needs to be set. More on that later.
I am tempted to put Ibanez v7 and v8 pickups, we'll see....

Action was a mile high. I got a nosebleed it was so high. I took the Raven out of the box , and set the action as low as I could without fretting out or buzzing. It sounded terrible. I Tweaked the truss rod and it sounded terrible. I raised the pickups and it sounded terrible. I tweaked the truss rod and sounded terrible. I was about to smash the Raven when I decided to change the strings to my usual Ernie Ball Super Slinkys. The Guitar came to life!!!! The strings thjat came with this guitar were awful. You must change the strings before you even plug it in. Now it has killer sustain, as much as my Les Paul, and way more than my Ibanez.
As far as looks, this is one pretty guitar! It has the flame maple top which makes it look like Tiger Stripes!!! Awesome. I fell in love with it immediately. Now mind you I bought this guitar on Ebay sight unseen ans sound unheard. I figured worse comes to worse I throw everything away start with the body. But the neck is smooth and fast, frets are fine. No flaws anywhere there as far as finish is concerned. The binding around the body is perfect, no binding on the neck and this is a first for me, as I have always played very high end guitars. But its fine especially for under $250!
The volume control doesn't sit exactly level and has a merry-go roung look to it when you turn it. No biggie. I might replace them I might not. they are the bell style.
The pickups move around and I can't make them sit still. I will ask someone to help me with that.I like the neck, had no trouble feeling at home on it. After playing the guitar I noticed my fingertips where my callouses are had turned black. No idea what this is, maybe oil they used to treat the rosewood. I wiped the guitar off with my guitar cloth, washed my hands and played again. I had to was two more times. I hoipe this stops soon. I'm going to give the looks a 10, and the hardware a 4. this averages out to 7

I believe you could play this axe out and get alot admiration from the crowd. It now stays in tune as well. I might for 50 bucks put in some grover tuning machines though. If you are playing out you can't afford to go out of tune in mid-song. The Chrome will wear off in time the same way the gold wore off my Gibson LP and the black wore off my Floyd Rose on the Ibanez. The paint job is rock solid though and I expect that to age beautifully. I don't trust any strap buttons, though these seem as good as any. Taking one guitar to gig is like playing golf with one club. I don't do it, and never will. I need different sounds as well as well as different tuning, plain and simple.

Eric at Raven West answered all my emails in a timely fashion and the thing comes with lifetime warranty. This will be null and void if I change ANYTHING on the guitar. And I will.

I have been playing since I was 12 or 13, suffice it to say that I'm a grownup!
I wish I would have asked about a case or bag.
If it got stolen I would assume that this relationship was not meant to be. But I would be both sad and angry.
I wanted a guitar that was less valuable than my now "vintage" Les Paul, plus it's not as heavy. This also fills a niche in between my Ibanez and my Gibson. I also have an Ovation acoustic. I have the usual assortment of racks and pedals, and if you get addicted to them it doesn't matter what your guitar sounds like I think.

For a Korean made guitar, this thing smokes. Carved mahogany body with a set mahogany neck. I bought mine as a blem, so the finish kinda sucks-but hey, ya don't play the finish....right? The tunomatic bridge seems very solid and secure- I had no problem intonating it

I read reviews on this guitar before mine arrived and the consensus seamed to be that pickups sucked as far playing distorted.When I plugged mine in - it sounded very Les Paulish, thick and woody. It was a difficult decision for me to pull them out and put in my EMG's.I think the EMG's sound better, but they better sound good - I paid more for the EMG's than I did for the guitar.

The guitar was setup very well when it arrived.The pickups were a little loose and floppy,nothing a slight adjustmentwouldn't take care of.The guitar is actually very well balanced and HEAVY.Heavy is good, mucho sustain. Like I mentioned before, I purchased mine as a blem because of the finish. So I cant really comment on the finish except for what I've seen on other Raven's.I can't wait to get another one

This guitar is rock solid and I have no fear in using this as my main guitar,backup guitar,whatever!For the price, it stomps the dogshit out of my Paul

Never had to deal with em'

This is a great guitar and I'd cry like friggin' baby if it got ripped off.I would definitely buy another one and will probably get a couple more of em' anyway. I've been playing it thru a Marshall MG100 head and a Boogie 2x12 cab with a whole buttload of effects. his guitar plays better than my any of my Fernandes and Ibanez guitars.I play mostly heavy, industrial thrash and this guitar does just fine

No unusual functional features here - two humbuckers and a Tune-O-Matic style bridge. Fortunately, that's all I want from a guitar (whammy bars seem to leave something to be desired in the tuning.)

It's a thick (1 1/2 to 2") solid body (mahogany). I'm sure someone feels they designed it, but it has a PRS look to me. The Koreans made it for me in 2001.

For those who haven't held one, this is a fairly heavy guitar.

The neck is medium thickness with thin-to-medium frets.

Allen wrenches and a cheap cord were included.

I currently have a Peavey Transfex.

The original strings had a very thick, smooth low end (muck like flat wound strings). As it came set up, it had little volume.

OK, if you're thinking about buying one here's the key to it all: DON'T BE AFRAID TO ADJUST!. Out of the box, the action was stiff. I cut down the relief. It now plays better than my SG and doesn't fret out. The pickups come set very low. Raise one side or both and you can accentuate high or low end tones. It also has screw adjustments if you think one or two strings, probably mid-range, need increased.

After the first time I tried it, I thought I'd change the pickups. After playing with it a while, I've found that they're capable of quite a bit. They just don't come from the factory that way.

As I said above, the action was too high when it arrived, but it adjusts down to better than a $300 guitar deserves to be. I've seen $500 Epiphones that couldn't compare. Heck, my Gibson doesn't have this good an action.

There was a small chip in the fretboard at the side of the second fret. Otherwise it's practically perfect. The finish is glossy and deep. After nine months, the chrome is still shiny. Everything fits together very well.

I'm pretty easy on guitars, I just play for fun.

This is a two-part answer.

The selector switch was broken when it arrived. I contacted the dealer (not Raven West) who said he talked to Raven and they would replace the switch. I never heard from either of them again and fixed it myself. Any score in this field is because Raven West is so good.

Part II: I bought another Raven later from Raven West Guitars. Raven West and Eric are the poster boys for how customer service should be. On a one to ten scale they deserve at least a ten. Eleven if bonus points are available.

I've been playing longer than I care to remember. You'd think I'd be better at it by now. I grew up with Gibson, Rickenbacker and Hagstrom guitars. I currently use mostly old Yamaha's (SG1500, SBG200, SHB400), but also have a Gibson SG. A Hagstrom project is in the basement.

The Raven may not be in the league of the SG1500. However, the Gibson is currently up for sale. I don't see that happening to the Raven soon. I prefer the Raven over the Gibson. The SG feels better to hold, the Raven plays better and has pretty good sustain.

If it were lost, would I buy another one? In a heartbeat. I've already purchased a 12-string Raven. If I could find another RP350 at the price I paid, I'd buy it and try Quad Rails on it. I haven't been able to bring myself to make serious changes to the one I have.

The one thing I'd change would be to put better strings on them. I've now had three Ravens. The 12-string was the only one to come with decent strings. Even those weren't on properly (the B was lighter guage than the E, the octave G was even higher).

Overall, this thing is a great guitar for the money. $1,000 might buy you a better one, but I don't think $500 will.

2002 model. Made in Korea. 24 frets. Beautiful ash top. 1 volume, 1 tone, and a 3 way selector. It has 2 stock chrome covered passive humbuckers. The body and neck are both mahogany. The finish is a stunning amber quilted ash top. The body style is a PRS single cut copy. It has a tune-o-matic bridge and stock chrome tuners. The neck has a rosewood fingerboard with star fret mark inlays. It came with a cord, warranty card and a smile on my face.

I had always been a strat man through and through but, had never really tried any mahogany bodied set neck guitars. This guitar has the tone I have been searching for since 1982 when I started playing. I am running this guitar from the amp: to a Line 6 DM-4 distortion modeler into a Fender CyberTwin amp. This guitar is quieter than any of my other guitars even at gig volume which is really,REALLY LOUD. The sound is like a dream as full and majestic as anything ever. On the rock side of things think Billy Gibbons, Slash,Randy Rhoads, and first album Eddie Van Halen minus the tremelo. On the clean side of things think Lynard Skynard, Mark Tremonti intros, Dobbie Brothers, and Steely Dan. I like everything about this guitar, it ain't going to do a strat inbetween the middle and the neck but, it does what it does better than I would have ever imagined.

When I opened the box was packed better than most with plenty of foam and bubble wrap. This is the kicker to me,and I read on another review the same thing, it was still in tune. It traveled from California to Arkansas and it was still in tune. The only thing I have done to this guitar is adjust the pickup height to more evenly match each other. This guitar is absolutely perfect no flaws, no overspray, no rough frets, no problems man.

I have already played it live and it did great. Everything seems solid as a rock. If the finish is going to last? I don't know but, I treat all of my guitars like babies so if it doesn't last it won't be my fault. The strap buttons are big enough and seem solid. Like I said I have already played it live and it did wonderfully I can depend on it and have. I never gig without a backup but, I haven't used my JEM or my STRAT since I got it.

I bought the guitar from Raven West Guitars and Eric Emailed answers to my questions and also answered them on the phone. He delivered what I wanted and was knowledgable about his product. The warranty is for the lifetime of the instrument as long as it is the original owner and the guitar hasn't been modified.

I have been playing guitar since I was 13 years old I am now 32. I own 10 guitars:83 American Fender Strat, Ibanez Jem, Ibanez S470, Yamaha Pacifica, Chiquita Travel guitar, Ovation Ultra GS, Fender Acoustic, a Rogue Bass, Rogue A/E, and a beautiful Raven RP350. I am completely satisfied with this guitar, if it were lost or stolen I would get another one shipped the same day. The tone from this guitar is amazing pure and simple. It is the first guitar I have ever bought without much knowledge of before the purchase. I am usually not that impetuous in this case I am glad I was. It is a beautiful instrument the website pictures make the color appear more orange than amber due to the bright lighting it is a much mellower color in person. A true bargain.

This guitar is made in Korea, guitar has a green mahogany quilted slightly arched body. mahogany set neck, 2 LP 1V1T pickups,TUNE-O-MATIC/stopbar style bridge, rosewood finger board, 24 frets, 3-way toggle swich and crome hardware.

I bought this guitar becuase I was looking for more of a Les Paul sould to offset the strat sound I can already get with my G&L Legacy. The sound of this guitar was dissapointing. I really wanted to like this guitar because it looked so nice (copy of a PRS), but to be honest the sound was not up to par. The pickups sounded weak and were not punchy or warm. The overall sound of the guitar was unfocused and very poor. When plugged into my Mesa/Boogie mark III I noticed that the sound did not vary very much when the bridge or middle pickups were used. Unplugged the buzzing of the neck was even more noticable. After playing both, I would easly say that an Epiphone Les Paul sounds much better than this guitar hands down. I don't know if I just got a lemon as most people reviewing this guitar here seem to like the sound, but I can't say the same!

The factory setting were terrible. The neck of the guitar buzzed all over the place. The strings that were put on at the factory were real crap! I changed them right away hoping that it would sound better, and it did but not sound anywhere near what a good guitar should sould like! I tried to fix the buzz by ajusting the truss rod, but I needed to also raise the bridge quite a bit and still the buzzes were there! I also noticed that the bridge was installed reversed. What I mean is the screws to adjust the strings were facing the neck of the guitar and not the bottom. I don't know how that got by! The finish on this guitar was rather nice, but there were some blotches of finish that looked like they were not applied properly near the neck of the guitar. If you look closly at the back of the guitar you could quite easily make out the glue joints of the peices of wood used to make up the body of the guitar.

I don't honesly know how long this guitar would last because I shipped it back right away! I'll be nice and say that the finish on the body of the guitar did look durable, and the hardware looked decent except for the tuning pegs which were loose.

The customer support was good to me. They refuned my money right away. I asked them if they had another guitar which didn't have the above mentioned defects that they could ship to me as a replacement, and they were honest enough to tell me that all the models that they had were not up to snuff and I would do better by looking for another model or dealer!

I rate this guitar a 10 in the looks department, but 4 for everything else! If it were stolen or lost I would not replace it, because I would not keep it long enough to get stolen! I wish the Raven guitar company would get the sound of this guitar right to match the looks. If they could do that, they would have a very nice guitar. I can not compare this guitar to any other guitar, becuase I haven't tried any guitars that were this bad. Remember you get what you pay for! Good from far but far from good! I think I'll stick with my G&L. . .

I have the cherry sunburst bookmatched maple top model 350 This thing is beautiful The only drawback is the old style tune o matic stop tail This is the 21st century! HELLO !! It's time to do away with this type of setup Other than that ,feature-wise ,I am very please with the Raven

The sound of this guitar is up there with the best The maple top ads a bright touch to this mahogany guitar I have owned a 1968 Les Paul Deluxe for years This guitar outshines it tone wise dayin dayout, with or without an amp I dont need a Stat with this guitar around I do with the Les Paul Also be aware that there is a transparent film over the pickups and until this is removed you cannot judge the pickups The humbuckers sound better that the ones on my Heritage I love the high end on this guitar The bride is perfect for the funky Shaft tone Try and do that with a Les Paul

On action, I can not find fault with this instrument .however I did have to tweak the truss rod to get rid of a buzz here and there. This guitar is put together extremely well The finish on mine is perfection itself I am in love

No complaints here Guitars need proper care For starters if you love your guitar ,always transport it in a HARD CASE None of that gigbag crap here Gigbags are an accident waiting to happen You take care of it and your guitar should outlive you

Raymar is my guy and he takes good card of his customers This guitar come with a lifetime warranty

I have been playing for 32 years and have long searched for a cost effective Left handed solution Raven is it And at these prices will be ,for some time to come

Year (?) Raven RP-350 made in Korea PRS copy. Two piece Ash top (or I was told that) 3 piece Mohogany body, 3 piece set Mohogany neck, 24 Fret H/H 3 pos switch. Top is quilted. The color of mine is Amber. Nice color.

I was looking for a left-handed guitar with humbucking pickups, without a high price. I go back and forth with guitars I buy. I've had cheap Tokai's and Epiphone's, to Gibson Les Pauls, and Fender Americans. As a matter of fact I got the Raven to balance out my American Telecaster. The sound is good, but NOT I repeat NOT as good as a Les Paul. There are a few who have posted here that said that it sounds as good as a LP. NO WAY. I put this guitar in the same class as an Epiphone LP. The plus side is that the Raven is cheaper then the Epi. The bad side is your stuck with the Raven. Chances are that you will never be able to sell it.

The sound on the guitar is rather dark and unfocused. I think the reason for that is because they use several pieces of wood in the construction of these guitars. Anywhere you have a glue joint tone is lost.

The pickups are very nice. Once again I fell to these reviews and listened to other people who said the pickups need to be replaced. Well..I did and it was not good. I put in a Duncan JB, and I actually liked the Raven better than the JB, so I took the JB back. I did, however, re-pot both pickups.

The binding on the guitar is bad. I can see the joints which looks bad.

Another thing with this guitar that nobody mentioned is the fact that the RP-350 is hardly arched top. It's very slight. Not as arched as a PRS.

The Fret job is great. I have never had a bad import fret job (personally) and I can get the action pretty low with no buzz at all.

I agree with some others that the nut is cut too low. I will replace that at some point.

The quilt is nice, but the grain gets stright towards the outer edge of the guitar on both sides. Import guitar makers (IMO) have ALWAYS sucked at exotic top guitars. I have never seen one that was really well done. My feeling is that if it looks half assed then don't even do it.

The tuning keys kinda look like the old Kluson's that Fender used in the early days. I did take the button off one of those and put one of my Fender buttons on it (to see if it would fit) and it fit. The reason I did that is because I want to get the vintage Gibson buttons to put on the Raven. I think it will work.

The pickup cavities and control cavity were well potted resulting in a real quite guitar.

I usually don't answer the section because I have never bought a guitar so cheap that I think it would break.

NA

I've been playing for 20yrs and have owned a great deal of equipment. I guess I'm an old gear head. My feeing on this guitar is that at good distance it looks real cool. It absolutly sounds as well as guitars costing twice as much, but not in the same league as a PRS, or Gibson LP. I don't care about comparing this guitar to $2000 instruments, but I don't want to give a false impression like some other tone deaf people have done. I would recommend this guitar to ANYONE on a tight budget. The reason is simple; it sounds as good as an Epi LP, LTD (ESP), Mexofender, lower end Ibanez, low end Jackson, or anything else in that price range. The truth is that it is every bit as good sounding as $600-$700 range guitars at half that price, so unless your bent on the name at the headstock or resale Rave is a good buy.

Keep in mind that it IS a $300 guitar and you will see evidence of that, unless you have little or no exposure to high end guitars.

2002 Korean made, 24 frets, mahogany body with mahogany set neck (!), see through REAL ash top (they also come with a REAL quilt top!!), 1 vol, 1 tone, 3-way switch, dual covered alnico humbuckers, very fair hardware, tune-o-matic bridge with stop tailpiece. Came with great quality (didn't expect that) well-padded gig bag.

THIS THING SURPRISED THE CRAP OUT OF ME!! When I read the other reviews, I figured "too good to be true", and I admit I was wrong. I am usually very skeptical, and I didn't expect the quality that this guitar really has. I have run it clean, straight through my mixer, and with my Digitech RP100, and it sounds great.

To tell you the truth, you just have to play one because I can't do it justice with words - heck, they're inexpensive enough right now, that it is possible to just do that. I swear (and I thought I wouldn't be one of these types of people) it will truly blow away someone who has a great ear and extensive playing experience.

The guitar was set up well. No problems or defects. Wiring and shielding looks great. Nice fretwork, BEAUTIFUL finish, blue-turquoise (it is darker than the pictures at the web site, and much more beautiful than the pictures). Great wood, really nice maple with ash top with an intricate grain. Off-white binding around the body. This guitar is flawless.

This guitar is built very solid. the finish looks like it would last for decades. I will probably eventually replace the tuners, although they are better than I expected. Funny thing, when I got the guitar, it was very near to being in tune! It hardly fell out of tune in shipping! if that isn't testament to this guitars heartiness, then I don't know what is. Everything is solid. I would have a backup guitar, but I probably wouldn't need it.

I am not used to paying such high praise to a product or company, but Eric at Raven West guitars also blew me away. The guitar I was first sent had a minor finish flaw on the headstock, and I mentioned it to Eric. He had me send it back, postage paid, and sent me a new guitar within THE SAME WEEK! I have never known of any company that gives the sort of prompt and friendly customer service RWG gave me. And I'm 39 years old. Also, this guitar has a limited lifetime warranty.

I've been playing 23 years. I own a 67 Gibson Les Paul Studio Custom, Dean EVO FT (another great guitar), Schecter S1, Ibanez AX120 (impulse buy), Fender jazz bass ('74 I think), Cort C4 bass, Korg D-16 digital studio, Korg Trinity & O1-W FD keyboards, Akai s-3000 sampler, Roland U-220 rack-mount synth, Zoom 234 drum machine and other assorted studio stuff.

The guitar came with more quality than I expected, and if it were lost or stolen I would definitely buy another. And another. They also have other excellent styles that I really like, but I made the hard choice to buy this one over the others. It has a great looking PRS shape that just grabbed me.

I have compared this guitar to my others, and you probably won't believe this, but it sounds all around better than my Schecter and hotter and fuller than my Dean (this thing screams!). It is equal in it's own right to my Gibson in sound, and I have an exceptional Gibson. I can only imagine that if I switched out the pickups on my RP350 it would match it note for note. I know how that sounds, but..

2001 Korean-made solid-body PRS-style,24-fret,double-humbucking,3-way selector, help me guys, I'm running out of hyphenated words to describe this thing. Oh yeah, mahogany-bodied with a flame-maple top. Mine has the blue finish with the black "shadow" at the edges, solid black on the back, sides, and neck. The hardware is typical decent Korean stuff, similar to my Ibanez. Overall, not a lot of features because it's a basic, PRS-style guitar.

I play everything from blues to vintage rock to jazz. If the music calls for a solid-body two-humbucker guitar, this guitar nails it. The pickups are fine, but at the price you pay for these guitars, go ahead and buy the pickups of your choice if you think you need to. I didn't.

I'd give it a "9". The setup was fine, but as everyone else says, the strings were awful. They were replaced with D'Addario .10's within about a half an hour. You would think that the factory would have caught on to this by now. It might add about 25 cents to their cost to use better strings. It's not really a big deal, though, because we all have personal preferences for strings, anyway.

The only flaw is a VERY slight imperfection in the black finish on the underside of the upper cutaway. There probably was a speck of dust in the finish. You can tell that they tried to polish it out at the factory because the surrounding finish isn't quite as glossy as the rest. I e-mailed Eric at Ravenwestguitars.com, and he offered to replace the guitar. I thought about it for a day and decided to keep this guitar because the flaw is SO minor. You'd never see it if I didn't point it out to you. By the way, I have occasionally thought about trading this guitar for another piece of gear, but my wife won't let me! She says that it is the prettiest of my ten guitars, and she'll buy it if I ever need to sell it, just so I won't get rid of it.

Absolutely durable. I don't anticipate any problems.

Again, Eric offered immediate replacement for just the tiniest flaw. I don't remember the length of the warranty, a year, maybe? It's not likely to be an issue. Any serious "manufacturer's defects" would have shown up by now. Any future problems would most likely be related to maintenance, which is my responsibility.

I have been playing for 35 years, and I own ten decent guitars. I have owned plenty of Fenders, Gibsons, Rickenbackers, etc. This guitar is NOT a hand-built work of art, but it is a very well-made instrument and an incredible value. If it were stolen, I might not replace it because I have another two-humbucker solid-body guitar, but don't think that means there is anything wrong with this guitar. It's too bad that Raven guitars aren't widely available at dealers so that players could compare them to other brands. If you could compare, you would find that some Raven models are the SAME guitars as certain imported Hamers and other guitars with better-known brand names, and the Ravens are always cheaper. Buy one, you'll be pleased.