The Agile Goldtop Blues

[Nelskie]

Well, the Agile P-90 Goldtop arrived via FedEdx courier this morning. With high expectations, I wasted no time in unpacking my new axe. The unit was satisfactorily double-boxed, with styrofoam inserts to keep the guitar from moving within the box. A styrofoam circle protected the toggle switch, and the whole guitar was nicely wrapped in a protective styrofoam sheath. All was well in the packaging dept. I explored further . . .

Unwrapping the guitar from its sheath, I beheld the lustrous Gold finish and clean lines of the Agile. Cosmetically, its a very nice-looking guitar, and indeed a very close approximation of a Les Paul. While giving it the once-over, however, I noted something very odd about the nut. It was kind of "sloped" from the high E to the low E string - like a "wedge" (*see photo attachments below.) Wheter this was a QC issue, or a part of the design, I did not know. All of my other guitars have nuts that are "flush" across the top, so again, out of the ordinary. (*P.S. - I e-mailed Rondo, and here is their response to the nut issue: The nut slope is normal as you generally want lower action on the high e then on the low E.) The rosewood on the neck looked extremely dry, but the pearloid inlays were neat, and the frets were nicely finished. Grover tuners and chrome hardware looked nice against the gold top and dark-stained underside of the mahogany body / neck. Enough of the details, now it was time for the real test.

I plugged it into to my awaiting Classic 30, dimed the tone / volume controls for the bridge pick-up, and waited for the amp to warm up. I was greeted to the sound of nothing. Nada. I toggled to the full up position to see if the neck p'up was working, and it was. I played on that setting for a few minutes, noting somewhat of a "boomy" character to the tone. Not very defined, and in some cases, a bit "muffled". After a few minutes, back to the bridge - and again nothing. Turning the vol / tone off of the "10" pos., suddenly, the guitar came to life. After noodling around a little with the controls, I found that the vol / tone contols cut out just past the "9" pos., but if set at a lesser point, worked fine, although a bit scratchy. Bummer.

Well, after finally getting around to playing on the bridge pos., I was able to coax some O.K. tones out of the guitar. The action was set way high for me, so I was probably not able to give it a real "go", but did like a bit of what I heard. The guitar was not quite as responsive when played through my Valve Jr., and that I found surprising. Again, the note and tone definition seemed to be lacking, and for P-90's, I found that odd.

After a short playing, I decided to e-mail Rondo Music regarding my problems. My e-mail was returned promptly. At first, they offered to send out a new switch and pot controls. Since my guitar mechanical skills are on the light side (way light side, actually), I said that would be fine, but that I would have to have someone else put them in. I then inquired on whether or not I would be compensated for those costs. The reply was "no", and at that point, a return was the suggested course of action. However, due to the warehouse closing on 4/10/06 (moving to a new location), there would be a (3) week delay in getting a replacement unit out. Since I did not want to incur out-of-pocket costs for return shipping, and certainly did not want to have to wait (3) more weeks for a replacment, I decided that the P-90 endeavor was not meant to be. I filled out the return form, and packed her back up for the return trip back to Jersey. *sigh*

Good things: Well, there aren't a lot to report on the guitar itself. It sounded O.K. in the very limited amount of time I played it. The tone, however, did not jump out at me, as it did when I played the Epiphone GT P-90 model out in Mpls. The Agile's p'ups seemed kind of boomy, and bit inarticulate - not the raging tone beast that the Epi was. The more I think about it, it wasn't even close. Quality-wise, not considering the weird nut, and the non-functional tone & volume controls for the neck pick-up - not bad. Fit and finish seemed to be pretty good. But hey, at this price range, it's hard to complain. I liked that it had Grover tuners. The newer Squiers I've had have all sported the absolute worst stock tuners I've ever had the misfortune of playing. Again, that's just my opinion (I definitely don't want any back-lash from the throngs of Squier players who frequent this forum!) Packaging for shipping was good, and the service was prompt and friendly in all of the e-mails received. The gutiar arrived as scheduled, and in good shape.

Not-so-good things: Well, the warehouse-closing thing certainly turned out to be a huge bummer. Probably the deciding factor to me returning the guitar. The set-up out of the box seeemed rather marginal, as were the factory-supplied strings, which refused to stay in tune for more than a few minutes. There was a lot of flash on the plastic pick-guard, which is again a minor issue. Lastly, the pick-ups, at least to my ear, were a bit disappointing. True, they could be changed out. If you were to go with something decent, like Seymour Duncans, there's another $150. The P-90's on the Epi model were far superior tonally, but they should be a lot better for a $600 axe!

Overall, I think that the Agile is a decent guitar for the $$. For a beginning player, they're the cat's pajamas. A discriminating player, however, may not be fully satisfied with some of the spec components, and seek to upgrade. And that being said, you've basically pushed that budget axe into a different tax bracket. Again, just my opinion. I probably didn't spend enought time with the guitar to really get a feel for it.

If I were to live the P-90 dream, and the good Lord willin', I will one of these days, I'd probably just bite the bullet, and mate my Epi stallion with gold-topped filly of the same Epi bloodlines. But that may require that I let one of my lesser-played axes go, which with the Agile, wouldn't have needed to happen. *sigh*

Just wished that things could have turned out differently.