I wanted to play it before buying it, and the first place to get one in Manchester was PMT. Thet got them in, but only CAR and SG. They said they had 3 white ones in Leeds, and would happily fire one over for me to try. I was kind of worried they'd send the pig, and leave the good ones on the floor in Leeds. This is pretty much what they did. The guitar played nice, but the neck was ugly as sin. Loads of weird discolouration, flame and knots. The headstock was just as bad. I played a CAR one, which was nice, and the neck was absolutely fine on it. One neck swap later, and we were good to go.
Some observations so far
Build quality and finish are nowhere near as good as the jmjm. The paint (on mine anyway) isn't superb. There's a couple of points where I can see the undercoat, where it must have been over buffed. There are some of those little black dirt specs. The pocket fits nice, but is a bit untidy. It's hard to say, but it just feels less well put together.
The neck is the exception though (and the most important thing to me). It's got a great finish, is a perfect shape and size, and the frets are almost as good as any new guitar I've played.
Sounds are hard for me to gauge really. I've never had a jag before, and when I got it home, it kinda sounded pretty shrill to me. I've been mostly playing with the tone knob backed off a quarter. I'm getting used to the pick ups now, and have dialled in my pedals to suit. I'm starting to really like the sounds. It's very different, but that's good. I may swap the pickups out at some point. I've never done that before, so this may be my learn to do things guitar.
Setup was OK I suppose. The tech at the shop tweaked the neck and set the saddle height as he was putting it back together. Once I got it home, I noticed how much the stock bridge was rattling (so fucking bad). Wrapping the bridge screws and posts in PTFE has completely solved this
Tuning isn't as solid as the jmjm, and trem use seems to put it out quicker. the trem rattles a bit with abuse, so maybe a fender one will solve that.Overall, really starting to love playing this. Which is good, because I hated it for the first two days
