TLDR: get this guitar, change the pickups and strings.
Relative to its price this guitar should be 5 stars across the board but if we put the price aside, then I do have a major complaint and a very small one:
- the pickups are high output which is ideal for metal but for some reason the chugachuga is not delivering as I imagined they would, perhaps it would be a good idea to swap em for some seymore Duncans or fishmans.
- the stock strings are a joke, change em right away
But when you add the price to the equation, well these 2 things are to be expected, all things being considered, this is a great instrument to get started into the 7 string world which was my intention and I would suppose your intention too.
A few positive surprises
- I would recommend getting this version over the cheaper matte black one, this one just looks much much prettier, for 50 $$ more you get a white neck binding and also the quilted maple top, I know it's looks but I'd say it's nice to have a guitar that looks somewhat nice, I think it motivates one to pick the instrument up and play.
Last minute edit: I noticed that the headstock had a small dent on one of the pointy parts on the white binding side, I had a close look and it seems like the QC peeps or perhaps somebody at Thomann added a bit of white paint to hide it :D Oh well. Will keep the guitar anyway.
