Product: Telestar Mona
Price Paid: US $189.00
Submitted
08/16/2001
at
07:30am
by
Anonymous
Features
:
9
2000 model, not sure where it was made. Guessing Korea. This was an offshoot company started by J.T Riboloff, the head designer at Gibson for 12 years. It's a Tonium composite top and back (think Danelectro) type body with 2 wicked slidebar (lipstick)single coil pickups. One volume, one tone and 3 way toggle switch. String through body construction. Finish is white with gold sparkle over entire body and back of neck. It's a bolt on style hardrock maple neck, 22 fret, with an Indian rosewood fretboard. It has 3 ply pickguard. Kind of strat style body with the double horns and a hardtail style bridge. I beleive the tuners are 15:1 Gotohs. Seems to be very well designed.
Sound
:
9
I've only been playing a few months, but the action on this guitar is low and sweet and the neck is thin enough that I can make most of the chords I know. It's got that kind of twangy surf sound, but I really can't comment much on that since I haven't played long. The 2 pickups give a fair range of tones.
Action, Fit, & Finish
:
9
The guitar seemed to be setup very well from the factory. Apparently the place I bought it (Guitars and More) in Indianapolis, had them brought in by Riboloff himself. The neck was straight as an arrow and sounded great right off the stand. Riboloff obviously knows what he's doing and those pickups are his design.
Reliability/Durability
:
No Opinion
I have no desire to play live, so I have no idea whether this guitar would stand up to stage use. I would have to assume it would. It seems like a very solid guitar. But, it certainly is a lot easier to buy them than to learn to play them.
Customer Support
:
No Opinion
I can't get the website to respond (www.telestarguitars.com), so I have no idea if they are even still in business.
Overall Rating
:
10
Only been playing a few months, but I have several other, mostly Fender guitars. Yeah, I'd buy this guitar again, because it's very light, and very well designed, and very well put together. I was wanting a Danelectro, but decided on this because of the presence of a truss rod, playability, and price. I'm obviously not the kind of person you would use as a basis for buying this guitar because of my lack of experience, but maybe it will give you an idea of what you might be looking for.
