Yamaha ERG-121

I have here, a yamaha ERG 121. Not a very well known guitar perhaps but decent..Strat type, 22 frets, black gloss finish (without pickguard), trem unit. Made in Indonesia (not Japan as you may expect) and with a choice of three pickups - H S H, most likely generic Yahama made pickups. In so far as I know, the Fretboard is made of some wood which I have never heard of - not Maple or Rosewood and I'm not sure what the body is made of either. The Neck is some odd scale and the guitar came in a beginner's pack with a book and a tacky amp and lead.

I have played many styles as I learned (I am a fairly new guitarist) - but around 15 months of play have lent me some experience. Personally I lean towards the Indie style, and this guitar, although it does not suit it immensely, it is a fairly flexible instrument especially with the three pickups availiable. Now I'm not a tone hound but it is apparent with this guitar that the difference between each pickup is not.. huge and none of the sounds are spectacular. Its all you may expect from an inexpensive starter guitar. Mainly I play it using the amp supplied on the clean setting (I have pedals for effects) and the guitar is decent in most respects. The sound it makes when played clean is not bright and cutting, nor is it exceptionally rich or deep, and on gain settings the neck pickup - although it can produce nice sounds, muddies up... A LOT and the middle pickup has quite alot of noise. The bridge pickup however rings fairly clear. The 5 that I have given it reflects that it is a solid instrument.

SO far as my - not very expert eye can tell, the guitar is easily of merchantable quality, with my main faults being that the low E string buzzes against the fingerboard when played open, and also now my G string has an annoying habit of popping out of the nut when strummed hard enough. The finish gets scratched very easily. As is well known, nowdays even cheap Guitars made in indonesia and CHina can be made to a very high quality once only availiable in expensive instruments with the main difference between a nice Gibson Les Paul and an Epiphone example being probably the woods used (solid mahogany), the carved flame maple top rather than laminate and electronics.

AS yet I do not perform live, although I hope to, however I would probably buy a new guitar for performing. The guitar occassionally goes out of tune while you play, and must be retuned frequently, and at current my machineheads are becoming loose rather than feeling solid and well made. The strap has a tendancy of coming off on occasion meaning that I have nearly dropped my guitar several times.

Never dealt with the company. But I personally trust Yamaha

To be honest although I know enough abot guitars, in terms of playing many different guitars I havent experienced much. I must say that out of all the guitars I've played I like this one the least, but then thats because all the other guitars I've played are mid price ones. I've only been playing a short while and this guitar has been my faithful companion for the whole time so I do not own any other guitars. The main reason I bought this guitar is because it was under 200 Pounds and I did not want to buy the Squier Strat - to be different and because the Yamaha included a tutor book. If it were stolen or lost, I would simply buy a new guitar, not the same. Not because I dont like it but because it is simple a reliable staple guitar to get started; you grow out of it as you get better. A few other things to bring up about the guitar are that The 5 way selector switch is dodgy - if I wish to for example select the neck pickup, if I move the switch to the extreme, the guitar will cut out so to use the neck pickup I must make sure I havent pushed the 5 way selector switch too far. In addition.. I HATE THE BRIDGE, of all the birgdes I have played it id the least comfortable. The screws on the top scratch you palm when you mute and the whole bridge is not comfortable to rest your palm on while you play. one last qualm is the Jack plug, which is also a bit dodgy, however this could have been due to the cable which was supplied with it. however I have now bought a new cable and have nmot yet experienced the same problems. Over all Verdict - a decent guitar to startwith and one I would recommend to any starting guitarist - low price and decent quality and a range of sounds - single coil to humbucker, but the guitar wont take you far. BUY LEARN IMPROVE ENJOY REPLACE!

I've already posted a review of this guitar down below somewhere.
So this is an update.

I'm only going to say what has happened in the meantime.
I've had this guitar for about 16 months now I think.

In the meantime I've modified the guitar in both serious and not-so-serious ways.

Firstly, I've scalloped the neck.
If you don't know what a scalloped neck is - think of there being like a gouge, a valley, between each fret, so that your fingers never actually touch the wood. Great for vibrato and bending, because there's no friction to stop you. I did this with one of those Dremel things, you know, like a drill with a sanding bit on the end. It only took a day, and the results are marvellous, if only I didn't accidentally eat into some of the frets slightly.

I've also done miscellaneous other things, like replace the knobs with white ones (more interesting than stock black) as well as the pickup switch.

I think that's all I've changed.

Thing is, I'm still playing this guitar through the original ten watt Yamaha GA-10 amplifier. Now, I really like this guitar, and it annoys the hell out of me that Yamaha could do this to me, but the amp is nothing short of...think of a really antisocial word and then combine it with useless.
Yes, this is supposed to be about the guitar, I'm just saying that I can't comment because since my last review I have grown in my musical appreciation and no realise just how bad the amp is. It has never heard of high frequencies. So I can't comment on the guitar's sound.

By the way, the scalloping of the neck did not affect the sound in any way that I've noticed.

I can't remember how the guitar was set up originally, but it was basically fine. I think I currently have the action set higher than it was originally because I went the Malmsteen route (did you know he uses sky-high action?) and I've found I like it for bending and vibrato.

I don't know of any flaws that came with the guitar.

Here comes the reason for the review.

The bridge, which is similar to a standard fender "tremolo", seems to have very little range. Even if I push the bar all the way down to the paint the strings still have a lot of tension in them. I've seen other people with other guitars pushing the bar down and the strings actually go slack - they droop. This strikes me as either really cack-handed design or...no, that's all it could be.

But that is not what caused me to write this review.
This is:

I have just broken the whammy bar off.
Through only the occasional heavy use (I hardly even touched the thing for maybe 14 of those 16 months) the arm has just snapped off, leaving the remains of the screw thread in the bridge, which I guess I cannot now get out. So I need a new bridge. Which means I need a new guitar, because there's no point in spending that much money on this one.

I wish this hadn't happened, because otherwise I really like this guitar. I like Yamaha in general, but the revelation that the amp is ridiculous and the bridge was designed badly and didn't work ideally and the whammy bar just broke off kind of leaves me feeling a bit sour, you know?

I would love to recommend this guitar to people, because it plays really well and through a good amp might even sound very good. But if other people have the same trouble with the bridge, it's not worth it.

The bridge is a vital part of the guitar, however, it IS the only thing that has gone wrong. No, it's not, the pickup switch is crackly and somewhat dodgy as well. Otherwise everything is pretty good.

I haven't dealt with the company, and I'm not going to bother either. I've modified the guitar, which is probably not covered by warranty, if the warranty is even still valid, and besides that, I don't think I even have whatever it is I need to claim the warranty.

I've been playing altogether for nearly two years now, had this guitar about 16 months.
I wish to hell I could have tried the amplifier that came with it with someone who really knew what they were talking about so that I would have been told that it was rubbish.
In my other review I said that I tried other amps and guitars which didn't sound any better. I now know that the problem was my treatment of those amps - I didn't understand how they might be better, so it didn't occur to me what was better about them.

If it were stolen now, I'd buy a new, better guitar and amp because my skill has improved.
Damn the bridge. Damn it to hell.

But that's really the one thing I've been disappointed with. If Yamaha announced they had improved the bridge radically, it would be a fabulous guitar.

It's a 'Strat Copy' but with HSH pickups and only 1 volume and 1 tone control. It was made in Indonesia and not Japan. The reason I mention this is because I was extremely impressed at its build quality and craftsmanship; as good as anything in this price range from Japan.

I think there are 2 types you can buy, one comes with 10w amp, lead, gig bag, cd+book and the other also includes a tuner, strap and picks. I got the former, which was a bit naff to start with.

This is a beginners guitar set. However, beware. Keep the CD for the backing tracks and throw away the book immediately, along with the cheap unscreened lead. Buy a professional 20' lead (#6-10). The book merely tries to teach power chords ONLY. On learning the guitar, all beginners must start the same way as all players, with true open chords, using three chord theory and then progress to moveable (barre) chords once proficient. ONLY THEN can you afford to start playing power chords. Fact: You ain't going to learn overnight and it ain't as easy as you thought it would be.

A little note for beginners. If, when practicing, the lesson is beginning to get boring through repetition, it is at this point that you begin to actually build skill, finger memory and your own expressive style. The 'bored' point is in fact the start of the lesson you are on. Don't try too hard to understand, just trust me. To replace the book, go online and download some FREE lessons or just buy a good 'Rythme Guitar book'. You can only truely play lead guitar, with a firm understanding of Rythme. Oh, always, always, always practice with a metronome or beat machine, also downloadable.

I've rated the guitar and amp 6 only because they have basic features and not because they are poor in any way.

I play rock, ballads and blues and this guitar handles each of them very well indeed. At the time of writing this, I was playing AC/DC and White Stripes (WS)and this 'Yammi' performs excellently with the Bridge HB selected. The neck HB is great for the rythme sections of WS although it could have been a tad more powerful. I don't use the 10w amp it came with but instead bought a Peavey 15w Rage III transtube, which really does this axe justice. That said, the 10w amp is perfectly suited for learning on. I just don't like the distortion setting.

It was set up OK, straight out of the box. However, I need fast low action to pull of lead work, runs and improvisation. So I got it set up at my local shop - they did it for nothing (bonus).

I can tell you that, for the beginner, the initial set up will do and your learning will not be hindered, even with the cheap stock strings, until you get to the higher positions. Here, you might want to change to different, quality strings and lower the action (dependant on style).

Note to beginners on strings: if you change the strings to a different guage, you will effect the alround playability of the guitar due to the different tension. This will mean that you may (will) need to alter the action. Once you have settled on your type of string and have set up the guitar how you like, stick to the same guage and brand (I use Gibson strings and buy in bulk - 5 or 10 packs a time because it is cheaper and they are airlocked and so store for ages).

The rest of the guitar is excellent. All hardware is stable and does its job. I don't really use the tremolo arm. The only critical point I have for the hardware is that the single coil pick up is very noisy.

The finish is superb and I like the fact that it has no pick guard; gives it a 'raw' appeal.

I have only owned this guitar for 2 months and don't gig. I'm a house player only (hobbyist). Because of this, I cannot really comment on it's gigging reliability or whether the finish will last with lots of play.

That said, The finish does dent easily if you are not careful. I will also be changing the strap buttons to lockable ones as it has fallen off a couple of times.

The score I have given is reflective of the performance of this guitar for the actual time I have had it and my comments previously.

Never needed to call on them.

Overall, this is a great guitar for both biginner and player on a budget. It is solid enough, has good pickups and can play straight out of the box. There are minimal controls, which is good and you get all you need to start.

The centre single coil pick up is too noisy and the book should be destroyed as it gives the beginner a false understanding of guitar.

This guitar can handle all styles from metallica ballad to AC/DC within the confines of your own home.

If your max budget is less than twice the cost of this set, buy this guitar, and spend some of your considerable change on the recommendations in my review.

I have been playing for 11 years on and off. I have had the following guitars:

1993 - Spanish nylon string - Learnt classical on this.
1994 - Squire sunburst Strat - Japanese.
1996 - Yamaha FG413S - Lovely, bright tone.
1998 - Squire Black Strat - Japanese - sold it for the Aria.
1998 - Aria Pro 2 w/FRT - a very nice beast.
1999 - Squire White Strat - Chinese (Crap) - Bought it and sold it.
1999 - gave it all up and sold all equipment to concentrate on work.
2004 - Yamaha FG413S - Separated from wife and so..... what the hell.
2005 - Yamaha ERG 121 - really getting back into it.
2005 - Korg AX100g multi effects + Peavey Rage III amp.
Future: Take apart ERG 121 and replace pickups with Epiphone LPs.
Save for a Gibson SG - ala AC/DC.

As to when this guitar was made i dont know, but being a yamaha i can tell you it was produced in Japan. The ERG 121 has 5 pic-ups. i think im right in saying it has one humbucker for a neck pic-up. The pic-ups i use mainly are the central and saddle pic-up (the one nearest the saddles). It features a laminated top and has a typical fender shaped body. The strings thread through the body for easy re-stringing and there are no annoying locking tuners. (i say annoying because it takes time to tune with locking. even if it is worth it. they wear down over time). I bought this asian babe from a shop called Jail House Rock which is located in Tenterden, Kent about 4 years ago. It came with a venom lead and squire amp all for the price of #160. It has, obviously, a pic up selector. This let me down about two years ago and since then has had a tendencie to crackle when changing pic up. I sorted this out with some WD 40 but the problem still persists today.

This guitar has a very nice sound and because of its many pic ups can alter to suit many different sounds. I prodominately play rock/grunge(yes, still) and a little of everything else so it goes down a treat. Im currently using a Line 6 Spider 2. The two arnt best suited for each other, and i am currently looking to up-grade to a nicer guitar make. But because the two are so versatile in their sound output i can usually muck around with dials and get a great tone. The pic ups are now giving out alot and feed back is a major problem for me. To fight this i usually turn the master volume down on the guitar to about 7 or 8. this usually solves the problem.

When i first got this guitar (about 4 years ago) it was a fantastically made product. They did it justice in the factory for sure. Everything was where it sould be on fist purchase and as i look at it now i can see how well it has done after what ive put it through. The only flaw i can think of has to be the pic up selector. it didnt last that long. (2 years) considering when i first got the guitar i was just starting out playing. As i said a bit of WD 40 did the trick but it must have been a loose wire connection that made it crackle.

I should think the guitar would at first be great for live performances. now i would be a little cautious because after all the wear and tear the saddles have developed a bough (sharp point) and this cuts the strings right in half. i solved this with a file and just lightly sanded down the saddles but i would definately be worried about it happening live. then, me being only with one electric would have to call the gig off. ouch.

the strap buttons become loose over time but you can fix this just by screwing them on harder. One thing i can say about the finish is that it is as strong as a bull! it hasnt worn down at all! there is no scratch plate so the body is a mess but because it is black you would have to look real close to make out anything.

I have never needed to return this instrument as it has never broken down on me. I have no experience with warrenty or custtomer services.

I have been playing for about 4 years now. I own a great little 75 watt Line 6 amp (spider 2). If it was stolen or lost then i wouldnt get another one, id upgrade to something more in the standard of my playing. i love its durabilty and sound. it was either that or a squire. I had no real experience at the time. but my school had a squire that was all beaten up. i went with the yamaha.

22 frets.
Volume, Tone, 5 way switch for HSH pickups.
"Tremolo" device with string-through. (Non-locking, I guess).
What I'd call a "Yamaha" body style, appropriately. Like a Strat only with deeper cutaways I think.
Comes with 10 Watt Yamaha GA 10 amp, probably about a 3 metre cable, gig bag, some not-so-great learn to play guitar booklet (with cd).

This was my first electric guitar, chosen because it was cheaper than the common opposition. This is worth noting because this is very much a beginner's guitar. I had a good laugh when someone mentioned a vintage Les Paul in the same breath. Yeah, man, because there's not going to be much difference between a 300 euro guitar and a 2,000 euro one! Can't you feeeeel the sarcasm.
So anyway, because this is a beginner's guitar, it is almost perfect, in my opinion. It can provide almost any sound you like, but you might call it jack of all trades, master of none. It can make any sound, just none absolutely brilliantly. If you're a beginner you probably won't know what you're missing, so it doesn't matter. I play a lot of Led Zeppelin stuff, and dear Mr. Jimmy Page has a Les Paul, and I still feel comfortable playing everything of his on this guitar. The neck humbucker makes a great deep, bassy tone that reminds me of a Les Paul. If I come over a bit gentle Mark Knopfler-ish, the centre single coil pickup is fine. For the harder Led Zep stuff and all metal, in fact, the bridge pickup is called for, and it really works for me.
I tend to have the tone control up nearly full all of the time, somewhat negating its value, and now that I have progressed from a pure beginner, only having one volume knob can be frustrating, but you should learn to work around it.
The amp, in my opinion, is pretty good, although I admit that I only really play it in small places (like my bedroom) so it might very well get drowned in a much larger room, but this is a practise amp, after all. It only has master volume, treble and bass knobs, but to me they work brilliantly, providing massive variations in sound. Think of the clean/drive button as being like a limiter. With it in clean mode, you can turn everything up full without distortion, but it might not even be half as loud as maximum on the drive setting. In drive mode you can play clean too, of course, but start turning up the volume on the guitar and with the excessive volume you get distortion. This probably sounds obvious but to a complete beginner (like I was) it's valuable information, methinks. So an 8 for being able to provide masses of variation in sound, without quite being able to make the best of anything. Ask this guitar to sound like Carlos Santana's PRS and it'll look at you blankly. But then, that's a PRS. Loads of variation, but a bit "thin" perhaps.

I didn't adjust anything after getting this guitar, I just went with the flow. Moving to this from a spanish acoustic was incredible, because the neck feels like it's about half as wide on this, which made it much easier for me. Now that I'm more experienced, and my fingers are more used to contorting in strange ways, I find it doesn't matter as much, but it was useful for me as a beginner and I still love it.
Frankly I don't like the tremolo device much, but I don't know whether that's just this one or all trem devices.
The main problem is tuning. Beginners beware, because the strings are connected to springs in the back of the guitar, the tension across all six strings always stays the same. So if the guitar is out of tune, and you "sharpen" one string up to the proper pitch, all the others go flat. Repeat to fade. This is the same, to a greater or lesses extent, with all trem devices, so the question really is whether you want to use it. I'm half thinking of sticking something under the device to lock it in place. This might affect the sound though. My ears might not notice. So a 7 because it's really easy to play, everything's great in that respect, but I personally don't like the trem.

The one thing that appears to have gone wrong is that the pickup selector switch sometimes denies knowledge of the bridge pickup, which would make me a little wary of using it in front of a crowd, but since i don't do that, it doesn't really bother me. A few seconds with a screwdriver in the back of the guitar cured that problem anyway. I just bent the connector plate slightly so that it presses harder against the connectors. It always worked if I jiggled the switch anyway.
I can't say I mistreat this guitar, rather it recieves the utmost caution not to bang it against things, so I don't know whether it'd have any complaint about that, and I'm giving it the benefit of the doubt, so to speak. An 8 because the pickup switch is the only little thing that went wrong and can be cured easily enough, but it's such a simple thing you'd think they'd have made it better.

Never dealt with them. Never had any need to.

I've been playing the guitar altogether for a bit over a year now, I've had this one for about ten months I think. The previous guitar was an acoustic. I still use the original GA 10 amp, which serves me well. Interestingly, the set of strings that came with the guitar lasted me nine months or so. The next set of Ernie Balls lasted two weeks. Strange. I still use Ernie Balls by the way. If they're good enough for Jimmy Page, they're good enough for me.
If this guitar were stolen I dunno what I'd do, considering that I can't afford a new one now. But if I were to get a new one, I'd probably get a different, more expensive one, because this is my beginner's axe. Time to move up to something more expensive. But if I had to make the same decision I did months ago, then yes, I'd most definitely buy this guitar again. It's brilliant for a beginner. I cannot think of anything really that makes it unsuitable.
I've played a few guitars now, one an Epiphone SG and I think (it was a while ago when I didn't know anything about guitars) an Epiphone Les Paul, the latter through a Peavey fairly-decent-sized amp, not sure about the former. Frankly, I though both sounded rubbish compared to the Yamaha, but I didn't have much time with either, I'll admit. Another thing I should tell you is that I rarely have the amp at full volume in clean mode, and I would worry for my ears' safety at anything above halfway on the drive channel with the guitar volume turned up full. It really seems monstrously loud for such a little thing. Oh, one thing. I've tried this amp with a few different sets of headphones and a gold plated adaptor plug and all sound rubbish. I haven't tried this with any other amp, so I don't know whether all amps sound crap through headphones, but this one really doesn't do much justice to itself through them. It's fine for hearing yourself play, in that you can hear notes fine, obviously, but if you want to hear a nice sound, plug out the headphones.
This guitar can go from what I think are beautfiful cleans to stun-gun distortion, although sometimes I do think it would be nice to have even more distortion than it provides. Compared to a Squier something something, also in the Argos catalogue, this is cheaper, comes with a gig bag (but no strap, annoyingly), and can probably make a larger variation in sounds, because the Squier only has single coil pickups. If you want the classic Strat sound, get the Squier, if you want a cheapy Les Paul or you just want to play the damned electric guitar and experiment, get this one. My only personal thing is that I'd prefer if it had a solid bridge instead of a trem.

Already been mentioned loads of times...
came with a Gig bag, and a few leads..

Neck is nice and fast - colour is black so it looks pretty decent.
2 humbuckers so good for metal/rock whatever...
also came with a tremelo which is always good i guess..

Sounds good/average for pretty much anything!
I used to play it thru a shittey amp, but now ive got a second hand Marshall Valvestat VS100 so it sounds fuckin good now..
i Play mostly Metal, rock n shit like that....an i can play all of that shit perfectly fine. Im also in a Band an my other guitarist has an ibanez, but seeeing as my guitar was half the fuckin price i rekon i got a beter deal!

Clean channel isnt the best, but good for metallica n shit like that - it sounds pretty good in general really.

Guitar was made fine!
neck is pretty fuckin fast, strings are kinda basic but what do u expect for the money!
Pickups arent really the best i guess but they are good enuf - put it into the humbucker an im good..
Everything else is good an reliable

never had any problems with this Guitar so far after 2 years...
id use it for a gig probably if my band ever gets good enuf...
The strap buttons arent as good as they could be - every so often the strap would fall off while im playing which fuckin sucks...

Other than that its fuckin awesome! no dents or chips or anything yet! an im always bangin it against stuff!

never had to deal with em, no problems so far....

ive been playing this Guitar for about 2 years, if it were stolen apart from being pretty pissed off - id buy a Jackson, maybe a Jackson Kelly or some sort of ESP (if i can ever get the money)..
This is a fuckin awesome first guitar! good value, youll be rockin in no time!

made in indonesia i believe, 22 frets, laminated top, volume, tone, 5-way selector controls, came with the weakest amp i've ever seen(ga-10), a tuner, cables that lasted about two months...

this is the first guitar i ever bought, so i didnt' really have a sound that i was looking for. everything sounded awful going through the ga-10. ( i later bought a better amp, it still didn't sound up to par.) this is a very weak guitar, it is good for punk, or maybe metal.. dont even think of playing this baby clean.

i'm glad the action is like is, you will become a fast player if you have this guitar. i believe it's only available in black, but it chips and dents easily, covered mine up in stickers.

this guitar did awesome for about a year, although i really wasnt playing it much. the high e tuning peg snapped, the pickup selector makes the most godawful noise when you change pickups. the neck pickup caved in after about a year, theres nothing holding it in but wire, and it would fall forward and hit the strings. i hold it fast with bandaids.

didnt even try.

this was my first guitar. i've been playing for 2 1/2 years. if it were stolen or lost, i would not get a new one. i am really past that stage in my playing. i bought this because the guitar looked good, and so did it's price. it's a great first guitar, but after you learn the basics, you really should look into getting something else. this is not a bad guitar at all, but take it for what it is: a starter. i'm getting a yamaha aes620 here in a few days. yamaha makes quality guitars. but again, this is a starter guitar and for chump change you get a chump guitar.

2 humbucking and 1 single pick-up
5 way sellector
BRILLIANT neck!
good sound
black finish

good sound for my style of music (nirvana, guns n roses, thin lizzy etc.)
i use a mini marshall amp what sucks cock so i need to get a 40watt plus
i like the wiry noise it makes

very well set up
quite small action
every thing in good condition

this guitar lasts for donkeys years, it fell down my stairs in the flat and lived to rock on
not very good original strings so i reccomend elixar coil-wound stings

i dunno

22 frets
1 volume 1 tone 5 way
bridge humbucker, mid single, neck humbucker
black finish

it's the only guitar i've really played so..... i play like grunge and stuff. I hit my guitar on something (i can't remember what, i think it was my head) and the neck pick up came loose on one side so now it just sort of falls into the guitar. No worries though, i never use that pickup

yah

i've had it for about 2 years ago and i've been pretty rough with it (i.e. hitting on verious objects, head butting it, punching it, hitting the strings with an open hand really hard) and it's still good

kah;ierhgn;arhng;adfg

For the specs see the other reviews :) No sence in repeating something already said

Comparing to the other guitars I've played, this one has the best possible sound- rich, wide ranged and clear. Although the single coil is a bit noisy, this guitar gives incredible power and accuracy(unlike some brands costing twice its price like fender). The fretboard is very strong and the frets dont wear out easily. I've had this guitar for an year and a half now and it still sounds as good as I first heard it in the store. I like the ERG a lot more than my Ibanez GSA20. I play the guitar for 14 years now and this is the best guitar I now have. The only exception is the best guitar I've ever had - BC Rich beast http://www.soundpad.co.uk/p_images/1751_photo_1.jpg

Although this black beaty really looks amazing, any kind of dust, fingerprints and so on is very noticible. Unfortunately I accidently hit it on a table and a very ugly scratch appeared, so I've done some artwork to cover it and now it's really cool and unique ;)

When you buy it you MUST correct its setup- you have to adjust the strings and the pickup heights and finely adjust the length of the strings and also the tension on the tremolo bridge in the back of the guitar. Said simply- you have to fit it for your needs and demands. No "fabrically adjusted" equipment should be used "as it is". At this point I have to mention that the single pickup sounds a bit quieter than the HBs, obviously, because its signal can't be as strong as the double pickups. So it should be a bit closer to the strings than the HBs in order to get equal output power.

The only disadvantage, which happens to every possible guitar I've had- including the Beast, ibanez and the stratocaster- the damn switch starts clicking if you push it during performance. It isn't noticible unless you play on a 600W amp system on a gig :) Believe me, don't play with switches on a gig when you're amplified, it could really mess up the fans' ears

The original strings that came with the guitar weren't as strong as I expected and the 1st string broke on a gig, but the guitar hasn't ever let me down. With the proper care it lasts many many years

Never dealt with the company, and I hope I won't need their help :)

As I play many styles- mainly death metal(Chuck Schuldiner is my favourite), melodic black(Dimmu Borgir for ex.), heavy and styles like Joe Satriani, Macalpine and Malmsteen, and very few times hard rock, this guitar has always sounded as I wanted it to sound- in my soloings and in the rhythm themes, I think it is very noticible in front of a whole lot of other brands- even some "most expensive" ones