Here's a quickie cell phone photo. Got home after good usable lighting



Anyway, there's not much I can say about this guitar that hasn't already been said since its introduction in '08. It's a very well built instrument - the body is entirely vintage spec so anything that will fit a 52RI will fit this guitar without modification. The neck is great. I had mine cherry picked for me so I got a bit of flame on the back and sides of the neck. I also asked for a fairly light one and I got just that. The fit and finish were flawless. The frets were dressed very well and no jaggies. It was almost in tune when I took it out of the box and the intonation was DEAD ON. The action is puuuurfect. I am amazed at this product not just from a $$$ standpoint but just overall. I have quite a collection of instruments and some very expensive pieces but I will say this in all truthfulness - if someone changed the headstock decal and loaned me this I would have had no problem believing it was a much more expensive guitar.

So. I will play it as is for a bit, changing to 10s of course. Then I will decide on ditching the neck pup and begin the Esquire transformation. The lead pickup might just be my favorite thing about the whole guitar. It's great! Nice bite.

Oh, by the way, the pickguard and knobs are not stock. I got them from stewmac.