Swing Guitar Technology Rookie Hardtail

Strat style Alder Body with Blue Metallic finish. White pearloid pickguard with S/S/H and a 5 Way Switch. Nice hardware, Wilk Spezel etc. Not a traditional strat look and feel, would have liked that better and given a higher score based on that alone.

At first it didn't sound to shabby. Pickups are Swings own singles and Hum. Sounds like every other Korean guitar i.e. Schecter, Ibanez etc. with a budget pickup. I say at first for a reason.

Fit and finish seemed normal, then after 4-5 months the neck started shifting. I tried adjusting the bow out, it worked for about two weeks, until the neck began twisting. I tried to re-adjust the truss rod, but no amount of tweaking was going to correct a severe shift to the left. bad enough that it's now now playable. It was left in the case in a room standing upright. Didn't play it everyday, so other than it being wood that was never dried properly I have no explanation why it shifted so badly.

With the neck issues I and now it's unplayable with this neck I guess the reliability is going to score a 1.

E-mailed the only link I could find for Swing in Korea. I received an e-mail stating this Rooke is out of production and therefore they couldn't offer a replacement regardless of if I wanted to buy one or not. I suggested a similar neck from a similar model. I was told this wouldn't work. So at this point I have a body that I need to find a neck for.

I guess overall you get what you pay for. I bought this at the NAMM show in Anaheim in 2005. The list price was $899 they sold it to me for $200. I guess at that price they may have know this was a blem or potentially a problem guitar for this price. But, with that being said the body, Sperzels and Wilk bridge should be worth the $200 so I don't consider it a financial loss, just a disappointment of a guitar.

This is a basically a Korean Strat. Before any opinions are formulated I need to say how great this guitar is. It reminds of the late 80's early 90's ESP Strat's from Japan. Where it offered a different feel than Fender but didn't stray too far from the original idea. The guitar has an Ash Body with a really nice trans red finish. The neck is maple with a Rosewood fingerboard. The neck feels really good on this guitar, and one of the coolest features is the neck pocket. It doesn't have the typical 4-screw neck plate. It doesn't have a neck plate, just the nice flushed/recessed screws/inserts. The inside of the lower horn is scooped away so upper fret access is really easy. They refer to it as a spoon cut. Nice touch ! Hardware is all quality parts. They use Gotoh tuners as well as the Fixed bridge, hence the name Rookie (Hardtail). It's has a White Pearloid pickguard loaded with 3 single Swing Blues Breaker pickups, and a 5-way switch.

As for sound the guitar really shines here. The sustain is excellent. Acoustically the neck/body are a perfect match. Some guitars sound terrible unless they are plugged in. This one sounds nice either way. The pickups have a really nice 60's tone, with slightly higher output than an old strat. The neck pickup really nails the bluesy tones. The bridge is bright without being too brittle.

I have always judged a guitar by how the fretwork is. Most Korean, Japanese guitars have poor fret dress work from the factory unless your paying top dollar for the high end Japanese guitars. Swing does a great job on the frets. Has alomst a worn-in feeling like a guitar that's been played a while. Fit & finish no problems. In fact the finish rivals many US models I have played. They even shielded the control cavity with Copper shielding tape, not just the paint most companies use. Classy !

The guitar is new, but it looks like a guitar that's built to last. Swing must have had this in mind, as you can tell by the quality of the parts/hardware they use. This is a great choice for someone who likes Strats, but needs a little more technolgy and player appeal. These guys are doing great stuff, I would recommend their guitars without any hesitation. You won't be disappointed if you buy one.

Haven't had to use this yet.

I'd give this guitar easily a 9 or 10. If stolen it would be replaced with the same model right away.