Product: Subway Guitars Coral Longhorn Copy
Price Paid: US $350
Submitted
05/29/1999
at
06:31am
by
Larry Davis
Email: casavaca at mindspring<dot>com
Features
:
7
The guitar was built early in '99 from an NOS Coral Longhorn body, no-name neck, chrome humbuckers (instead of lipsticks). Set up with a three way switch, one tone and one volume, Kluson-type tuners, "tune-o-matic" bridge, trapeze tailpiece, short scale, 22 frets. Came with strap and cord.
Sound
:
7
Good sound, not noisy. Used primarily for in-home playing.
Action, Fit, & Finish
:
1
The guitar arrived in terrible shape. Loose neck, godawful strings, filthy, painted finish on the neck that my dog could have done better. Since it arrived in 1/99, I have reset the neck (held on originally by zinc-plated flathead screws, one of which was stripped in the neck) which required over-drilling the screw holes, plugging and re-drilling the holes and re-attaching the neck with proper oval head screws. I've also stripped the black paint from the neck and stained and refinished it. The frets arrived leveled, but not crowned, and the nut was not slotted properly. This too was redone. After having done all of this work, the guitar is very playable.
Reliability/Durability
:
5
The overall quality of the parts is adequate. The pickups are not the best quality, but adequate. Tuners are reasonably good. Body finish is excellent, nice flame on the back.
Customer Support
:
1
Godawful. I ordered the guitar in early 11/98, with it not arriving for 4 months. During that time I spoke with the owner (Fat Dog) several times, each time being put off for a number of different reasons. He has a very cavalier attitude about "customer service".
Overall Rating
:
No Opinion
* Been playing off and on for 35+ years. I currently own two Rickenbackers (6 & 12), Martin SPD-16R, Alvarez acoustic, Jerry Jones Guitarlin, Stella Tenor (my first guitar), Warmoth Tele * No amount of asking could have prepared me for the experience of dealing with Fat Dog. * No way would I buy the same, or any other, guitar from Subway. * What I like about it and my favorite feature is the uniqueness. Not much to hate after having cleaned it up. * Not easy to compare with others -- no comparable others out there. * I wish its controls were set up differently.
Caveat emptor with Subway. He may have some good stuff, but the experience is "unique".
