Great craftsmanship!

Great craftsmanship!  Read Less

I'm afraid to write a good review because I'm worried once these start selling, they will raise the prices! I've been playing g...  Read More

I'm afraid to write a good review because I'm worried once these start selling, they will raise the prices! I've been playing guitar for about 35 years and mostly on only the best guitars, I have a 40th anniversary 57' VOS Gibson LP Goldtop, and more than handful of various American Strats and Teles along with some high end Ibanez and other guitars. I came across IVY purely by chance browsing through eBay. ALLINONEguitars had purchased some custom ones made for the 2018 NAMM show, so I purchased one. It was so nice, that I purchased another of the custom ones. The 2nd one played like a dream but sounded very thin and tinny but it sounded and resonated good unplugged so I'll be replacing the pickups. I bought this guitar because of how playable the other two were.My custom IVY guitars were set up by ALLINONEguitars so they played nearly perfect. This guitar that I purchased here was not. There was alot of bow in the neck so it took about an hour to straighten the neck and adjust the height on the saddles to the best height for action VS fret buzz. Now that it is set, there are NO dead spots and only slight but barely noticeable unplugged, not not even noticeable plugged in on the 2nd and 3rd frets of the D and G strings. In any case, it does not affect the tone or sustain of the note you are holding. To be honest EVERY fender I ever played before I found the right guitar tech who knew how to send up a fender type guitar has some degree of fret buzz so this is not uncommon. The action is as good if not better than my G&L Tele and most of my American and MIM Strats.Heavy gain/distortion adds a lot to the sustain and bending of a note but with this guitar I can bend the 21st fret a whole step and the note rings throughout, up and down the bend. I'll post some audio clips if I can either to this one if they allow me to edit or a new one since I did buy two of these so you can hear what I'm talking about. If they will allow it, I'll post up a side by side comparison to my LP and one of my American Strats so you can also hear the sound tone and quality and difference of each, Hum vs P90 vs Single.PROS in the order of what I liked most - There aren't really any CONS other than initial setup but you should set up most new guitars anyway1) The neck is what makes this company stand above everyone else in the $200 and under range, even over the Squires and Mitchell guitars. The fret edges on my custom guitars were close to what Fender calls rolled edges, but you only get that in the higher end American strats, not even the standards. The fret edges on this guitar is equal to what a high end MIM or a lower end American strat has minus the glue. In other words, it's neatly cut and filed down just a bit not to cut through your hand as you play. Fender adds glue over the edges so your hand slides even smoother across them but if it ever gets too cold or old, the glue eventually will fall off. I've had to file a few of my Fenders frets down after that happens.2) The pickups are phenomenal! In my arsenal of probably 20 - 30 guitars, I do not have a P90 guitar in the lot. I've played it side by side with my Les Paul and a few of my Strats and other guitars. The volume is right on par it is not as loud as a true humbucker but louder than or at least as loud as my high end fenders with Gold Lace and SCN noiseless pickups. The tone is not as rich/thick/loud as a humbucker but it is warm and punchy and has that nice semi hollow sound. It is noticeably warmer and thicker sounding than a single coil but still retains that wide open sound that they say humbuckers are missing. The pickups are responsive and articulate and the balance is pretty good. The volume doesn't drop alot from the bass strings to the high strings, they are fairly well balanced. Of course, you can raise the pickups just a tad on the high strings if that is a problem for you though.3) The hardware is also very good. The metal is thick, shiny, and feels like quality. The bridge is not as nice as my other two IVY custom guitars but excellent for only costing me $114. Guitar jack seems solid, it does not appear to be loose or that it will become loose any time soon. Nearly all guitars you will have to tighten that jack every now and again anyway so just keep that in mind. I can see inside the hollow cavity they sprayed electrical shielding paint where the electronics sit but not all the way through so near the neck it is not shielded. The pots and wiring all work well, the pots are very good, they do not crackle when turning them at all. The tone pot is nice and even. The bridge is nice and even as well, it does something nice that I notice really in Gibsons, Washburns, and Ibanez, you can turn down the volume knob and it backs off the drive/distortion/tone but you get to keep the volume until close to the end. That allows for a wider range of tones and sounds when you are playing. On many of my Fenders, once I start rolling back the volume knob I am also losing too much volume so I can't back them down that far. The bridge and neck are centered it appears on the guitar but there is just a slight lip where the neck meets the heel where the neck sticks out just a bit. I don't even notice it when I play but at least for this guitar it is there. I did not open my 2nd guitar like this as it is a gift for someone.4) Build and workmanship. The curly maple top is beautiful, not a flaw. The mahogany (I think it is, it's stained too dark to really tell) is also very nice, mine is at least two pieces of wood though. The build itself is very good, top notch I'd say especially for a guitar under $200. The F holes are cut smooth and has a plastic over the edges so it is nice and smooth. Fender leaves their Squires wood exposed and unsanded really so it's a bit rough to the touch. I haven't played a 72 Fender Thinline yet so I can't say for the actual Fender model.CONCLUSIONIn my opinion, this could be a great starter guitar but the features on it make it more for a moderate to professional player if they don't mind that it is not a name brand guitar. What I mean is that it is a semi hollow guitar with not a true rock or country sound so it wouldn't be the best choice for a new player who does not quite know what style the want to play yet. It has a nice sound for jazz and blues or even some classic rock because it has a very warm sound. I haven't turned of the volume on my amp to max but I have played it at a decent level on distortion and clean and I did not get any feedback which semi hollows are known for. So what that means is that the guitar is fairly well shielded even though they didn't coat the entire inside of the guitar.This next message is for the truly new guitar players or parents looking to purchase this guitar, it is well worth the money. I haven't played the other ones they have for sale here on Amazon but all of my IVY guitars are well worth the money and very nice guitars so I can only assume that they are as well. The reviews for those guitars also state that they are good guitars. If you want a nice guitar that you can learn and play on, this is the one. But keep in mind as your style develops, you will likely change to something else like an Ibanez/Jackson for rock/metal, a tele/strat for country, or a SG/LP for classic rock, but $150 is a GREAT price for this guitar and for playability you can't beat it. If you keep playing, you will have them all like me =)  Read Less