Dean 8 String Guitar For Sale (2024 Update)

If you like to play Metal or Punk this Dean Exile select is an excellent choice and it looks sick in matte black with the gloss black hardware. The build quality is second to none has a premium feel and playability.Dave

I would have liked a color more appealing than the same old satin black, but that is all that's offered on that model. My first Dean, and I mainly bought it for the Fishman Fluence pickups. Heard so much hype about em. They are definitely quiet as advertised, but I wouldn't say they are my favorite set of actives. All in all, it plays pretty well. It is being set up right now by my guitar tech, and I should have it back in a week or so to give further opinions on that. My only real issue is that the neck is a little too fat for my liking. I am more a fan of the Ibanez Wizard style, and my ESP guitars. (EC1000, Viper, and Mh-103) My short stubby fingers being the reason. I do like the body style though. Pretty aggressive looking take on a traditional shape.Sean

It has a cool design and plays pretty smooth (after setting it up myself.) The main issue I have with this guitar its particularly at the 1st fret high E. When playing I keep slamming my finger into the sharp corner of the bone nut. That is really the kicker of it all. The pick ups are pretty good and have a pretty balanced sound that let you play clean cleans and dirty articulated lows. Holds tune pretty well. The feel of the neck is pretty smooth and doesn't feel like a 2×4 with strings on it..3-alch3mist-3

I've played a six string for 22 years and this is my first foray into the world of seven string guitars. I was a little intimidated thinking it would feel completely alien to me. I was also worried about the multiscale neck, for not having ever played one before. Taking all of that into consideration, this guitar feels fantastic. The tone is excellent and it feels great in my hands. I was able to learn a lot of new songs in no time. I would recommend this guitar to anyone thinking about switching over to a seven string.JOHN

Overall: This guitar is ideal for tunning under drop A, I play it in drop G and it is just made for great range. You can chug all day and solo like a shredder on the top. The tension on all the strings is great. You will need to get it set up so if you can do set ups yourself that is great, will not take long at all. The rail pickups are new to me but they cut the muddy freqs quite well! they are hot and clear. The pictures also do not do this guitar justice! In person the fretboard looks amazing and the finish is a nice dark red. Its a metal machine and the rounding of the neck joint is very nice to have!Vaughn

This Acoustic guitar feels amazing and the sound is crystal clear. I would definitely recommend this awesome guitar! Light weight and stays in tune for a long time.Morey X

best guitar I've ever had. takes time to adjust to the body style but after you have any other guitar than this style it feels insufficient. the strings are close to the fret which is great if you slide up an down between frets a lot, the strings are d'addario which are kinda cheaply, but they last long and are great after you break them in a bit. I prefer playing this guitar over any epiphone or whatever. might wanna get a hardshell case if travelling, probably find a bass case cheaper than the actually case which is kinda costly.Oxide

First about the EMGS. The bridge is not a 81. The old 81 had almost no dynamic elements and the bone breaker does. 2nd the neck pickup is the smoothest I ever played and pick attack is my favorite element of this thing. The finish is excellent. Mirror finish every time I polish it. Neck is more like a compound which I like better than the thin U . This the only ESP that felt compound thank you Guitar Center Nashville and the General Manager he is a great 👍🏻 guy!!!James

Just picked up the new KH-3 today from a special order and to my knowledge ended up getting it a BIT earlier than expected, out of box the action is set-up SUPER well. Pickups are nice and aggressive with the bridge, as you would expect from an EMG. Neck position is crisp and beautiful on cleans. Scalloped frets are very fun as well (cant think of many guitars with scallops for the price range either)…Floyd Rose per usual on KH's! This LTD feels like a solid and superior guitar right out the box with very good build quality and parts, literally a Kirk Hammett fans dream come to reality and a guitar that will stay with me forever.USE-ESP

Don’t let the title scare you from this guitar! It is a well-made, great playing guitar, however, I also own. (and bought from AMS) the ‘original’ variation of the Silver Mountain and that guitar is much lighter than the Toxic Venom model. Other than the perceived weight difference, I recommend this guitar! Much like the Original Silver Mountain, it will take some time adjusting to the multi scale but your hands will feel ‘right’ as you adjust.Larry

I have two of these,regular silver mountain 8 and this one, and imo they play very well. I know this, when i got my first one, i couldnt put it down, i may have even stayed up all night just riffing.Jeff

This is a gorgeous instrument, hands down. I love the Burled Top, I love the Satin finish, I love the shape and feel of the body. The cut-away on the lower horn is MASSIVE, and on top of that, the backside of the cut-away is rounded off so you can reach even higher. Absolutely no trouble reaching the highest frets on any string. I was pleased to find that the Floyd Rose tremolo felt exactly the same as a 6-string Floyd Rose would feel. Not overly stiff and flutters just how I wanted it to. For $1300-1400 it's not a bad instrument, but it's pretty low tech compared to the other stuff you could be getting with these features. No Luminlay Side Dots, no locking strap buttons, a slightly lower end Floyd Rose tremolo. I have returned this instrument, as much as it pains me, it didn't have a place in my collection of guitars. It would have just been a glorified wall ornament for me. Here are a couple of issues that I had with it, and some of these may be a problem for me but not anyone else. The higher string tuners often seemed completely unresponsive, requiring a 1/4 turn before they even start registering a pitch change. This may not be a big issue considering it has a locking nut and micro-tuners on the Floyd. In the end, it's not a big deal, but I felt it should be pointed out. Whenever I flutter the tremolo, the Tremolo Arm rattles in its socket, no matter how tightly I secure it. There's always a little bit of play in it. The tremolo flutters perfectly, but if you're playing unplugged, the rattle gets to be very annoying. Not to mention, the rattle is close enough to the pickups, that you may actually be able to hear it through your amplifier/speakers. I'm assuming this is an issue with this particular Floyd Rose 1000 series and not the guitar or manufacturer. I'm out of room for comments. Ok, shorter version: Apparently I don't like EMG's that much, the neck is noticeably square and wide, but perfectly playable, the thing is heavy.HotRodasaurus

Decent hard ware. Having tension issues on top Heavy B string. Guitar is bolt on neck, so pictures appear to intentionally not show that. While I do feel a bit deceived dean does make good products.FamousLlama-7987

I purchased this Dean ML based on my appreciation for Dime and simply because teenage me committed to owning one someday. I found a pic that I took with Dime which reminded me of being in the front row watching him jam away on his Dime Slime years ago. For me, this purchase was primarily motivated by nostalgia, expecting build quality to be sort of, ok. I have to say, this guitar exceeded my expectations. Slight disclaimer: I purchased this item knowing I would immediately upgrade most of the hardware and adjust things to make it more comfortable for my playing. 1) It is a fantastic base instrument. It plays fairly well as sold. This was my first experience with a Floyd Rose Special. Also, it will definitely be my last. I played it stock for about 2 weeks to get a good feel for it before changing anything. It’s a great playing guitar. 2) Every review I saw said that the finish was amazing and pictures just couldn’t do it justice. I agree. They did a great job on the neck and body of this guitar. It’s flawless. 3) Everything was to spec on mine. Action, truss rod, intonation, fret, bridge and pickup height, all perfect. My fretboard had a somewhat excessive amount of dye on it but nothing too crazy. The nut on mine was clearly cut too deep leaving the high e in permanent sitar mode with fret buzz. So, quality control could be an issue. For my needs this wasn’t a problem as I had already decided on replacing virtually all hardware with new parts that I had on hand from a project that I decided not to restore. 4) The pickups sound great. The Dime Slime nailed the Pantera tones, not surprising. I was surprised by the classic/southern rock and soloist tones I was able to get with minor eq adjustments. Clear and warm through the drive/distortion. It does jazz and country pretty well too. It has a very balanced sound to it which I was not expecting. I’ve played it on three different amps with the same results. Great. This is a great buy. A solid guitar as is. However, in my case, this guitar didn’t really come to life until I did what I did: OFR Hot Rod, brass block,springs, some shielding, etc. Now, what really irritates me is that it plays a lot better than a few of my guitars that were either at or almost double the cost of the Dime Slime. Get One!SantaRosaJoe

Not a V type of player. I like Wilco, the Pixies, the Smiths, Stone Roses, Courtney Barnett, etc. So when I saw Ryan Adams rocking a V by that other manufacturer that starts with G, I started thinking about the V body style. I liked this model because it was at the right price point and had the tradition V body style, if you don't think too much about the headstock. This guitar probably hasn't gotten any love because I don't see it as your typical Dime type guitar, and its not your typical vintage Flying V. The pickups are not high enough gain to get love from the shredders and the Headstock probably turns some people off. What I found is a pretty great guitar with some help. First, the action was high. I lowered the bridge significantly. The good news is that the frets are good I didn't run into any buzziness after lowering the action a little lower than I thought I could get away with. Next, the pickups needed adjustment. They were pretty low. I brought them up a little and found that the sound filled out and got chimey like it should. I adjusted the pole pieces to match the fretboard radius and viola! Most of these guitars have good pickups and don't need an immediate change. Folks, you need to learn how to properly adjust your guitar pickups! Then figure out if you need something different. PS adjust these pickups on a clean channel, you need to hear the guitar not distortion. Long story short, this is a great guitar. It shouldn't be your main axe, but its a great conversation piece that sounds better than it should. I feel like I discovered a diamond in the rough. P.S. The guitar is really light and comfortable to play with a strap.Fred

I purchased this Dean ML based on my appreciation for Dime and simply because teenage me committed to owning one someday. I found a pic that I took with Dime which reminded me of being in the front row watching him jam away on his Dime Slime years ago. For me, this purchase was primarily motivated by nostalgia, expecting build quality to be sort of, ok. I have to say, this guitar exceeded my expectations. Slight disclaimer: I purchased this item knowing I would immediately upgrade most of the hardware and adjust things to make it more comfortable for my playing. 1) It is a fantastic base instrument. It plays fairly well as sold. This was my first experience with a Floyd Rose Special. Also, it will definitely be my last. I played it stock for about 2 weeks to get a good feel for it before changing anything. It’s a great playing guitar. 2) Every review I saw said that the finish was amazing and pictures just couldn’t do it justice. I agree. They did a great job on the neck and body of this guitar. It’s flawless. 3) Everything was to spec on mine. Action, truss rod, intonation, fret, bridge and pickup height, all perfect. My fretboard had a somewhat excessive amount of dye on it but nothing too crazy. The nut on mine was clearly cut too deep leaving the high e in permanent sitar mode with fret buzz. So, quality control could be an issue. For my needs this wasn’t a problem as I had already decided on replacing virtually all hardware with new parts that I had on hand from a project that I decided not to restore. 4) The pickups sound great. The Dime Slime nailed the Pantera tones, not surprising. I was surprised by the classic/southern rock and soloist tones I was able to get with minor eq adjustments. Clear and warm through the drive/distortion. It does jazz and country pretty well too. It has a very balanced sound to it which I was not expecting. I’ve played it on three different amps with the same results. Great. This is a great buy. A solid guitar as is. However, in my case, this guitar didn’t really come to life until I did what I did: OFR Hot Rod, brass block,springs, some shielding, etc. Now, what really irritates me is that it plays a lot better than a few of my guitars that were either at or almost double the cost of the Dime Slime. Get One!SantaRosaJoe

Not a V type of player. I like Wilco, the Pixies, the Smiths, Stone Roses, Courtney Barnett, etc. So when I saw Ryan Adams rocking a V by that other manufacturer that starts with G, I started thinking about the V body style. I liked this model because it was at the right price point and had the tradition V body style, if you don't think too much about the headstock. This guitar probably hasn't gotten any love because I don't see it as your typical Dime type guitar, and its not your typical vintage Flying V. The pickups are not high enough gain to get love from the shredders and the Headstock probably turns some people off. What I found is a pretty great guitar with some help. First, the action was high. I lowered the bridge significantly. The good news is that the frets are good I didn't run into any buzziness after lowering the action a little lower than I thought I could get away with. Next, the pickups needed adjustment. They were pretty low. I brought them up a little and found that the sound filled out and got chimey like it should. I adjusted the pole pieces to match the fretboard radius and viola! Most of these guitars have good pickups and don't need an immediate change. Folks, you need to learn how to properly adjust your guitar pickups! Then figure out if you need something different. PS adjust these pickups on a clean channel, you need to hear the guitar not distortion. Long story short, this is a great guitar. It shouldn't be your main axe, but its a great conversation piece that sounds better than it should. I feel like I discovered a diamond in the rough. P.S. The guitar is really light and comfortable to play with a strap.Fred

It's beautiful, it's loud, it reflects light all over the place. Easy access to all frets. Bridge pickup is very powerful. Neck pickup has a warm, classic rock sound. Mirror pick-guard is incredibly cool.Chad s

I bought this guitar for my 6 year old daughter for her first guitar. I got the pink version, and it is VERY pink – brighter than it looks in the pictures. It's quite striking, and I kind of want to play it on stage just for aesthetic effect. It's a solid starter guitar. Nothing fancy sound-wise. Playability is good with a comfortable neck that plays smoothly. The sound is what you should expect in a low-cost guitar. Out of the box there was quite a bit of fret buzz, and even with some set-up, there is flat, buzzy sound to the guitar when not plugged in that makes it sound "cheapis." Plugged in, again, it sounds like what you should expect out of a starter electric. There is very little sustain – I'd say around 4 seconds of sustain, which might be a big deal if you want to play lead on this using it as performance guitar. I'm not using it for that, nor will my daughter. For a starter guitar, it's good. She's already learned a few chords. Her hands and arms are still far too small too really put this guitar to use, but I can see her growing nicely into the smaller scale neck, which should work well for her small frame. In other words, the fact that my daughter is too small is more a reflection of my daughter, rather than of the guitar. The guitar is a good size for a young learner. She squeeled when she opened it! She really loves the guitar and has played it every day since Christmas. If you're in the market for a starter guitar either for a child or adult, you won't go wrong with this. If you're an experienced or professional musician who's looking to perform on stage, I'd say this guitar doesn't really fit the bill, but then again, no guitar in this price range is really going to do that. For comparison, I played an Epiphone Les Paul for years that I liked better both feel and sound-wise, but an Epiphone is a little more expensive and certainly not as visually striking. So, in sum, for what it's worth, for me the guitar is "good enough," and my daughter LOVES itJason

Guitar is bright and the color is amazing! People love it, plays great on a clean/muff tone, but too much distortion is a bit much for either the strings, or the pickups themselves. Other than that I highly recommend for the price you can't go wrong. I couldn't stop looking at it the first couple days lolSlappyWhite

I picked this up on Veterans day for the great price!!! Its nuclear green is great, and it has a nice feel to the fret board. I'm using it with Rocksmith and for jamming!!! I like it, it tuned up quickly and held it very well even after a couple of days of temperature swings in the house.Dude

I've always wanted an ML and this one looked so beautiful online. It's even better when it's in your hand. Pickups are awesome, nice full tone and great crunch on the distortion side. Love the matte finish on the back of the neck. It has great sustain too, you can feel the tone through the whole guitar when you play a note and I prefer that solid feel when I play. My only two complaints is there are a couple fingerprints under the clear coat on the back. Obviously missed during the QC checks at the factory. But they're barely noticeable and they're on the back. Gives it character to have a workers fingerprints as part of my guitar. The other thing is the frets could've been polished a little better. But when I changed the strings, I took another 30 mins and polished them and that was that. This is my 10th guitar and it's tied for number one favorite. I play it every day and love it. I bought the case for it as well, it's enormous, but great fit and quality.Will

Overall: I have to be completly honest and say this guitar is probably the best sounding acoustic and electric I've ever played! I have spent years and money trying to find this one guitar. I absolutely love this guitar! For money and quality I would suggest it to all!Harlan

I bought this guitar after searching for one with a D shaped neck, like my Casino. I like D necks because they are slim front to back. I have a billion guitars and am finding that the larger round necks hurt my thumb (I'm old). I also liked that the body is slim. I was very surprised that the guitar has an ebony fingerboard-my fav. It sounds good both unplugged and plugged into an acoustic amp. I liked it so much after buying the black one that I bought the blue one, too.SMorris

I've always wanted an ML and this one looked so beautiful online. It's even better when it's in your hand. Pickups are awesome, nice full tone and great crunch on the distortion side. Love the matte finish on the back of the neck. It has great sustain too, you can feel the tone through the whole guitar when you play a note and I prefer that solid feel when I play. My only two complaints is there are a couple fingerprints under the clear coat on the back. Obviously missed during the QC checks at the factory. But they're barely noticeable and they're on the back. Gives it character to have a workers fingerprints as part of my guitar. The other thing is the frets could've been polished a little better. But when I changed the strings, I took another 30 mins and polished them and that was that. This is my 10th guitar and it's tied for number one favorite. I play it every day and love it. I bought the case for it as well, it's enormous, but great fit and quality.Will

I've been playing resonators for over 45 years and I've had everything from 50's Nationals, Dobros etc. The CE (same as the Rouge brand guitar only better) sounds good but not great, worthy of a resonator upgrade to a Beard maybe. I would describe the sound as a bit midrange but flat wound strings would help that a lot. It plays great right out of the box but remember it's a biscuit guitar so they never tune as accurate as a standard guitar. So why is this such a great value? An $800 Gretchen or Fender of the same style will sound better but nowhere close to $400 better and they lack some great features of the CE. It comes with much needed Grover tuners and NO slotted head, notorious for breaking, a pickup that sounds pretty good, surprisingly good workmanship (I'm being really hard on my review), a removable bridge cover which is a huge plus for bridge adjustments and the best feature is the neck configuration. Resonators always join the neck at the 12 fret which is a real PIA when hitting high notes for affect. Add to that a cutaway and you'll never have to flip your hand over the neck again to reach high notes. It also plays much better than any old resonator (tend to have necks that feel like Stella's and none of the rattle hassles with those old paper thin resonators. Buy it!!Jim

I will use this on select songs in my solo gigs. Finger picking (country, folk, Americana, blue grass) I play 6 & 12 string guitar and banjo though an acoustic amp and this resonator plays great and has a very nice mellow tone both plugged in and unplugged. I'm very happy with it and would defend buy it again. I played semi pro back in the 60's and took a fifty year break as life happened but am back with a passion.Cask Ale Brewmaster

I purchased this guitar based on other reviews I read on this website, and I have not been disappointed. As the other reviewers stated, this is a really sweet guitar for the price. I was very impressed with the workmanship: he binding is flawless, the fret ends are dressed well and smooth, the satin finish is beautiful, and the action is good. I was able to play it straight out of the box. I would highly recommend this to anyone looking for a good, but inexpensive resonator guitar!Rob

Getting used to the extra 2 strings, which is a little awkward. And the fanned frets is something new too. It's kind of like learning the basics of swimming, then decide to try the diving board. LOL. I'm cool with that, as it saves me from buying a bunch of guitars along the way to be comfortable with this concept. I really dig the guitar, has all the features I was shooting for at a really accessible price point. Well made, a keeper.Will R.

All the things I will say here are just my opinions, because everybody's hands and ears are different. But, having said that, I do feel qualified to give an insightful review having worked full time in a guitar repair shop through much of the 90's. I was originally just going to buy a backup guitar for my Ibanez 7-string that I use onstage. But then I thought, why not have a little fun and push myself out of my comfort zone? I can stiil play all the same songs I play on my 7-string. So why not? I could tell right away I liked the design of RG8 (from the strighter-string pull headstock to the flat-mount bridge) better than the Schecter8 in the same price point. The RG8 came with D'Addario .09-.64 strings on it, and it felt very similar to playing a .10-.46 set of strings on a standard scale length guitar, bends and slides were no problem (as well as slapping and popping the lower strings). But plan on putting a heavier strings on this axe if you want to go any lower than F#, a .10-.74 set works well for chords and rhythm riffing. the RG8 sounds and plays almost more like a short-scale bass in this configuration, and rings out better as well. Ibanez seems to know where to give you the biggest bang -for the-buck, and thankfully, it seems to be in the construction of the neck. I have never seen a guitar in this price range with a five piece neck, that's for sure. The neck seems very stable and is either unfinished or has a very light sealer on it, it feels nice and satin-y, but I'm unsure how well this neck would do in extreme temperature changes. But, having said that, mine hasn't moved at all, even after a string change with a different brand and gauge. Of course, that means they need to skimp a little in other areas on the guitar, and the most obvious of course, are the pickups and electrontics. The stock pickups have a fairly clear tone and are little lower output than I was expecting (when compared to my 7-string with a Dimarzio Evolution in the bridge position). Luckily, these are easily replaceble, and not difficult to find at all. Seymour Duncan and EMG make perfect retro-fits for this guitar. I did disconnected the tone control from the volume knob, and it does actually make a small diffence in clarity in the tone. The tuning keys are of the no-name variety, and seem to work well, but the heavier strings I installed just barely fit through the hole in the key, and I thought I detected a small amount binding in their rotation afterwards. The 27" scale works well for keeping those lower notes clear and is really not that noticable for me except maybe in the lower regions of the neck (This is another reason I like the Ibanez design…Schecter has a 26.5" and LTD has a 25.5").I'm sure I will upgrade the pickups and electronics in the future, but overall, I'm excited about playing this guitar and the additional creativity it will bring.Locknutmonster

This guitar made me not only hate extended range, but music as a whole for a while. Ibanez as a brand is absolutely phenomenal, and I have been a fanboy of them since the moment I picked up guitar. This guitar delivers virtually nothing I expect from Ibanez – even the gio line. The rg8 series is plagued with shoddy craftsmanship, atrocious fretwork, horrendous out-of-box playability, and they just FEEL disgusting in the hand. An unfinished neck =/= an utterly raw neck. Such has been the case with each of the 6 individual rg8s I have played – when porous, grimy feeling, roughly sanded, horribly profiled necks that seem to fight your fretting hand with a samurai's zeal meet mile-high action that can only be nominally corrected due to atrociously leveled frets, the experience of playing an Ibanez RG8 can be likened moreso to the experience of trying to play a fretted shamisen. If ungodly fit and finish, horrible feel, and the flat plate bridge haven't turned you completely off, the disgustingly poor pickup choice should seal the deal. There are many things that these pickups aren't – but I can confirm that they are without character, flat, unimpressive, and unbalanced. Their response to gain is practically null. I have never enjoyed a tone that has come out of an rg8. tl;dr? run for the hills. or buy the entry level Jackson 8.mamasrockstar

I purchased this Dean ML based on my appreciation for Dime and simply because teenage me committed to owning one someday. I found a pic that I took with Dime which reminded me of being in the front row watching him jam away on his Dime Slime years ago. For me, this purchase was primarily motivated by nostalgia, expecting build quality to be sort of, ok. I have to say, this guitar exceeded my expectations. Slight disclaimer: I purchased this item knowing I would immediately upgrade most of the hardware and adjust things to make it more comfortable for my playing. 1) It is a fantastic base instrument. It plays fairly well as sold. This was my first experience with a Floyd Rose Special. Also, it will definitely be my last. I played it stock for about 2 weeks to get a good feel for it before changing anything. It’s a great playing guitar. 2) Every review I saw said that the finish was amazing and pictures just couldn’t do it justice. I agree. They did a great job on the neck and body of this guitar. It’s flawless. 3) Everything was to spec on mine. Action, truss rod, intonation, fret, bridge and pickup height, all perfect. My fretboard had a somewhat excessive amount of dye on it but nothing too crazy. The nut on mine was clearly cut too deep leaving the high e in permanent sitar mode with fret buzz. So, quality control could be an issue. For my needs this wasn’t a problem as I had already decided on replacing virtually all hardware with new parts that I had on hand from a project that I decided not to restore. 4) The pickups sound great. The Dime Slime nailed the Pantera tones, not surprising. I was surprised by the classic/southern rock and soloist tones I was able to get with minor eq adjustments. Clear and warm through the drive/distortion. It does jazz and country pretty well too. It has a very balanced sound to it which I was not expecting. I’ve played it on three different amps with the same results. Great. This is a great buy. A solid guitar as is. However, in my case, this guitar didn’t really come to life until I did what I did: OFR Hot Rod, brass block,springs, some shielding, etc. Now, what really irritates me is that it plays a lot better than a few of my guitars that were either at or almost double the cost of the Dime Slime. Get One!SantaRosaJoe

Not a V type of player. I like Wilco, the Pixies, the Smiths, Stone Roses, Courtney Barnett, etc. So when I saw Ryan Adams rocking a V by that other manufacturer that starts with G, I started thinking about the V body style. I liked this model because it was at the right price point and had the tradition V body style, if you don't think too much about the headstock. This guitar probably hasn't gotten any love because I don't see it as your typical Dime type guitar, and its not your typical vintage Flying V. The pickups are not high enough gain to get love from the shredders and the Headstock probably turns some people off. What I found is a pretty great guitar with some help. First, the action was high. I lowered the bridge significantly. The good news is that the frets are good I didn't run into any buzziness after lowering the action a little lower than I thought I could get away with. Next, the pickups needed adjustment. They were pretty low. I brought them up a little and found that the sound filled out and got chimey like it should. I adjusted the pole pieces to match the fretboard radius and viola! Most of these guitars have good pickups and don't need an immediate change. Folks, you need to learn how to properly adjust your guitar pickups! Then figure out if you need something different. PS adjust these pickups on a clean channel, you need to hear the guitar not distortion. Long story short, this is a great guitar. It shouldn't be your main axe, but its a great conversation piece that sounds better than it should. I feel like I discovered a diamond in the rough. P.S. The guitar is really light and comfortable to play with a strap.Fred

I've always wanted an ML and this one looked so beautiful online. It's even better when it's in your hand. Pickups are awesome, nice full tone and great crunch on the distortion side. Love the matte finish on the back of the neck. It has great sustain too, you can feel the tone through the whole guitar when you play a note and I prefer that solid feel when I play. My only two complaints is there are a couple fingerprints under the clear coat on the back. Obviously missed during the QC checks at the factory. But they're barely noticeable and they're on the back. Gives it character to have a workers fingerprints as part of my guitar. The other thing is the frets could've been polished a little better. But when I changed the strings, I took another 30 mins and polished them and that was that. This is my 10th guitar and it's tied for number one favorite. I play it every day and love it. I bought the case for it as well, it's enormous, but great fit and quality.Will