Mike Perlowin
From:
Los Angeles CA
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Posted 26 Mar 2005 7:57 am |
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First, I must state that I am not an employee or associated with the Raven guitar company in any professional way, but I am a close personal friend of Eric Bergquist, owner of the company. I believe that despite my relationship with him I am being totally objective about the guitars, but you might want to bear this friendship in mind while you read this.
Eric invited me to come see all the new Ravens, which are actually called RWG now. This is my honest impression.
For starts, Eric decided to upgrade the new guitars. These new ones, which are still being made in Korea at the same factory that made the original ones, are even better than those were. For starts, they have bound fretboards, Grover tuning keys and real abalone inlay.
The first guitar I looked at was the Rickenbacher knock off, (called RM3000) and I was afraid that it would have that microscopic Ricky neck that so many (including me) find so uncomfortable, but to my relief, the neck was the standard size, 1 & 11/16 inch width at the nut.
The Ricky is only available with 6 strings. I hope they come out with a 12 string version.
Next I looked at the RG 660, which is designed for metal shredders and is not my kind of guitar. This guitar has a H-S-H configuration, with a coil tap, a 5 position switch, and a battery powered bright boost, together which gives 14 different positions and sounds, 8 humbucking and 6 single coil, without ever touching the tone control. This guitar comes with a whammy bar and a locking nut.
Like I said, this is not my kind of guitar, but I may pick up on one of these just for the sheer number of different tones it has.
Next I looked the RG 1000, another H-S-H guitar. This one doesn't have the active treble boost or the coil tap. But it does have a Floyd Rose tremolo. The entire body of this guitar is carved from a single piece of flamed alder. Again, this is a metal players guitar, and not my style.
Then I saw the new 350 and 450. These 24 fret dual humbucker set neck hard tail PRS copies, (the 350 is solid, the 450 is hollow) are in my opinion, the hottest guitars coming out of Korea today. I have 2 of the older 450s but I'm seriously considering selling one of them and getting one of these new ones. I'm also considering getting a new 350. The only reason I've not already done so is that I already have an RM 2000, (Les Paul Double cutaway.)
This guitar has been renamed the RG 2000, which is the next guitar I looked at. This is basically the same guitar as the 350, only a slightly different shape, and only has 22 frets. Like the 350 and 450, it is made of solid mahogany with a 3/16 inch maple cap. Not a veneer. The quality is the same as the 350, but personally I'd rather have the 2 extra frets.
Finally I saw the RM 465, which I think is based on Brian May's guitar. It's made of solid mahogany, with 3 single coil pickups like a strat, and a floating tremolo they call the VIBRO-T. The tremolo action reminds me of a Bigsby. Again, not my style, but the quality is there.
The one drawback of all these guitars is that the pickups are rather nondescript, They're not bad, but the guitars are improved immeasurably by replacing them, as I have done on all on mine.
For practical purposes, this is a brand new company, but they are off to a great start. These guitars are serious competition for companies like Agile and Dillion. I think that anybody looking to spend between $3 and 400 on a guitar ought to seriously consider getting one of these. I doubt that there is a better guitar available in that price range.
Check them out at the compny's web site:
http://www.ravenwestguitar.com/ravguitar/elguit.html
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So many guitars, so little time....
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