Right out of the box, the guitar needs a COMPLETE OVERALL SETUP, with the strings FLYING over 2mm above the 12th fret ... the guitar is totally unplayable "as is".
Once the neck finally gets a decent relief (just a very light bow), and the strings are back down to about 1mm above the 12th fret, you then find out that the frets have not been properly leveled, with a lot of BUZZ and DEAD NOTES all over the fretboard ... in my case the very 1st fret was just way too low and the notes were only starting to ring at the 2nd fret, and then a lot of HIGH FRET SPOTS and LOW FRET SPOTS most everywhere around the fretboard, and a total impossibility to bend the 3 treble strings (G, B and E) in most frets around the 12th fret.
In short, THAT GUITAR NEEDS TO HAVE ITS FRETS LEVELED AND POLISHED to become "playable", and for the moment the minimum action for a fetboard without "dead notes" is around 1.5mm <-> 1.7mm, which is just WAY TOO HIGH for any comfortable use.
If Thomann offers a leveling and polishing of the frets as part of the guaranty for that guitar, I'll send it back for a complete fret leveling and polishing after Christmas. If it's not the case, then it will have to be done by a luthier.
Conclusion :
If you really want to PLAY that guitar semi-professionally or for small gigs of just enjoy playing it, in the general condition it is shipped today, you need to add the costs of a complete setup and a fret leveling and polishing. And considering these facts, that guitar isn't really a bargain anymore.
Apart from that major fretting issue, the pickups sound decently good, the tremolo works rather fine (except for the tremolo bar which easily falls from the tremolo block when you bend over and lean towards the floor), the potentiometers controls are OK, and the coil split on the tone pot is a nice feature.
