The Official Agile ERG Thread

[Nik]

Originally Posted by darren

Okay, time to put this in a little perspective:

We are consumers. We are in NO POSITION to make demands of a retailer or manufacturer with regard to their product plans. We've all expressed an interest, which is fine. But if you're saying, "If they don't bring this out by summer, i'm buying something else," then that's certainly your perogative. It's not like you've put down a deposit on an instrument that has an announced release date. If you're growing disinterested and would rather put your money toward a Schecter 7-string, then so be it. Nobody here, not me, not Kurt, has made any promises at all about when this product may be available, if it even makes it to production.

I floated an idea to Kurt, and he's responded favourably, but he's a business man, and running his day-to-day business of managing the manufacture and sales of volume instruments will no doubt take priority over one request for a very niche product.

And as much positive response as this project has received on this board, ss.org members also have a relatively poor money-to-mouth ratio. If 1/4 of the people who have said "i'll buy one" actually put their money on the table, i'd be surprised. And i don't mean that as a slag of anyone... we all make lofty statements, yet most of us are also perpetually broke (or have more pressing commitments for our money).

So i'm not about to start hassling Kurt, asking him when we're going to see the 8-string. But i will send him a message just to inquire if it's made it any further down the development path.

Be patient.

Or i'll kick your ass.

Please re-read my post with care.

1. I am not hassling Kurt.

2. I am not trying to force anybody into doing anything.

3. You just wasted your time writing that long post. If you read my post carefully, you'll note that I don't say anything like "OMG Kurt hurry up lolZz!!". I was merely making amends to my earlier statement that I'll buy one for sure, and I was merely making a statement that I'm slowly starting to lose interest. That's fact, and I don't see the tiniest hint of me implying that someone has broken a promise to me or whatever. I realize this takes time, but another thing to remember is that people's tastes change with time Read it as you will.

[axechain]

very interested in the project, it looks very nice (better then others i saw)
and i think it will be a blast in the market because of the price...
whaiting for it to come out

[Justin Bailey]

I hope this happens, damn.

[darren]

I did email Kurt a few weeks ago just to keep it top-of-mind, but haven't received a reply from him, so i currently don't know the status of the project or even if it's in his product plans for this year.

I'll keep you posted if i hear anything further.

[axechain]

so nothing for now?

[Cancer]

Originally Posted by darren

Okay, time to put this in a little perspective:

We are consumers. We are in NO POSITION to make demands of a retailer or manufacturer with regard to their product plans.

Not trying to augumentative, but as consumers we are DEFINITELY in a position to make demands. After all, they want our money, RIGHT???? Products are made for the sole purpose (ultimately) of being sold to us, when a manufacturer makes, or a retailer finds, something they think we will buy, we definitely have a say, and we speak in a language called money. I know we live in culture right now that is desperately trying to pervert this, but that's the truth. If one feels that a manufacturer, or a retailer, doesn't "do right by them" is our responsibility to take our money elsewhere.

I bring this up only because, lately, it seems like I've been seeing alot we this "we serve the corporations" mentality around this board, and as guitar players, or musicians, or artists it seems to be a dangerous place to me, especially since we're supposed to be "enlightening the masses" so to speak.

[skinhead]

Originally Posted by psyphre

Not trying to augumentative, but as consumers we are DEFINITELY in a position to make demands. After all, they want our money, RIGHT???? Products are made for the sole purpose (ultimately) of being sold to us, when a manufacturer makes, or a retailer finds, something they think we will buy, we definitely have a say, and we speak in a language called money. I know we live in culture right now that is desperately trying to pervert this, but that's the truth. If one feels that a manufacturer, or a retailer, doesn't "do right by them" is our responsibility to take our money elsewhere.

I bring this up only because, lately, it seems like I've been seeing alot we this "we serve the corporations" mentality around this board, and as guitar players, or musicians, or artists it seems to be a dangerous place to me, especially since we're supposed to be "enlightening the masses" so to speak.

Yeah, you'r right on what you are saying about that we are consumers and they the producers, but think that we are not in an = position, they decide what the .... they want to sell and what it's going to have exit, so they have to think clearly and don't do the thing that only 1 customer it's saying.

But if here the people start sending mails, calling, etc, they really are going to start thinking about it.

[Ishan]

Anything new on this? I'm still hoping

[Eddie Loves You]

I recently emailed Rondo about the status of the 8 string and was told:

Thanks Eddie
Production has stalled due to lack of available parts

Kurt

[Ishan]

too bad

[GiantBaba]

Bummer. I'm still looking forward to these being available someday

Maybe we could do the legwork and find a parts/hardware supplier for Kurt to get this done. Perhaps someone could ask him exactly what he needs

[Ishan]

I guess he need a cheap 8 string bridge. Everything else should be easy to find.

[slake moth]

8 String Fixed .125 Guitar Bridge Chrome

too expensive?

Allparts has monorails, but they're $25 each.

[forelander]

I think I'd buy one if the price was right, as the Ibanez rg2228 has made me curious and I don't have $3000 AUS to buy one with.

[darren]

I'm sure there are cheaper mono-rail bridges avaialble in Asia.

[Eddie Loves You]

I would definitely buy one. If everyone would keep emailing Kurt maybe he'd see that there is a lot of interest in such a guitar and it would sell well.

[darren]

At this point, i think that's probably a good idea. I've been acting as a middleman to try and get this process rolling, and Kurt has visited here a few times to get input, but maybe it's time to have everyone interested contact him directly just to express interest.

I think there has been a huge upswing in interest in 8s now that the RG2228s are showing up and people are seeing and hearing them. But their high price and constrained availability could be an opportunity for companies like Halo and Rondo.

Originally Posted by darren

At this point, i think that's probably a good idea. I've been acting as a middleman to try and get this process rolling, and Kurt has visited here a few times to get input, but maybe it's time to have everyone interested contact him directly just to express interest.

I think there has been a huge upswing in interest in 8s now that the RG2228s are showing up and people are seeing and hearing them. But their high price and constrained availability could be an opportunity for companies like Halo and Rondo.

e-mail address ?

[Jason]

service@rondomusic.net

I really think If alot of guys email kurt we can get this done. We got a 7 right?

[Justin Bailey]

I emailed him last night, about producing a very, very simple eight string. Just on pickup and one volume, some type of oil finish. I said that maybe the pickup could be an 808... anyways this was his reply...

I don't think EMG would approve selling a lower priced 8 String like that, so the problem remains finding pickups and also an 8 string bridge at a reasonable price.

kurt

so we need to find him bridge and pickup suppliers... lets get on this shit.

[NegaTiveXero]

Tell him to get two six-string bridges and cut the ....ers up into 4 each and bolt them together, boom.

As for pickups, wasn't Halo dealing with Tesla before EMG? Call them up. Either way, has he even talked with EMG, I mean, he has them on some of his Agile 7s.

[Justin Bailey]

Originally Posted by NegaTiveXero

Tell him to get two six-string bridges and cut the ....ers up into 4 each and bolt them together, boom.

As for pickups, wasn't Halo dealing with Tesla before EMG? Call them up. Either way, has he even talked with EMG, I mean, he has them on some of his Agile 7s.

basically what I was thinking. I mean he already has emgs on some of the agiles. Not only that but I dont think EMG gives a rats ass what guitar their pickups are going into, I mean look at all the kirk hammet signatures, they just want the coin. .... they could just ship them without pickups, I betcha they'd sell the same.

[TomAwesome]

Well, he's probably figuring that they might have that opinion if he makes the super stripped down barebones guitar that was suggested, which they might. Didn't he have a similar issue with DiMarzio a while back that caused him to switch the pickups in the formerly DiMarzio equipped guitars?

Originally Posted by Justin Bailey

.... they could just ship them without pickups, I betcha they'd sell the same.

Would that be an option? I don't think he'd go for it, but I'd probably buy a barebones 8 with no pickups if it was still routed for 808's... Or even if it just had some crappy pickup in there that took up the same amount of space so I could switch it out.

[Justin Bailey]

Originally Posted by TomAwesome

Well, he's probably figuring that they might have that opinion if he makes the super stripped down barebones guitar that was suggested, which they might. Didn't he have a similar issue with DiMarzio a while back that caused him to switch the pickups in the formerly DiMarzio equipped guitars?




Would that be an option? I don't think he'd go for it, but I'd probably buy a barebones 8 with no pickups if it was still routed for 808's... Or even if it just had some crappy pickup in there that took up the same amount of space so I could switch it out.

I'm not sure about the dimarzios. That could be the case. I understand what he was saying, but I think emg would be fine with it, I mean its another platform to market their 808.

Yeah I dont think he'd go for that. I'd be satisfied with some cheap pick up, as people would probably swap pick ups around no matter what he puts in it.

[bostjan]

Who's making all of this cheap eight-string hardware? I don't think anyone is.

Buying two six string bridges and cutting them to be machined together is not really any more economical than buying decent hardware to begin with. They'd be better off to machine their own bridges. You can buy individual saddles, so you'd just have to punch out the plates to house them together. That'd be expensive for just one guitar, but it'd still be better than chopping up a bunch of six string bridges.

How many of these do you think would be made in a batch? I'd imagine several dozen would be made in a single run. The economics of making special pieces of hardware for a single run of low-cost highly specialized guitars is just really iffy right now.

It's the world's most depressing paradox. No one will make eight string guitars until everyone else is. We're really lucky to have Ibanez and Halo trying to make some. I think the incredible demand for Ibanez RG2228's and Halo Octavias will be the start of everything, but I highly doubt we'll see anyone rushing to the factory to produce these instruments and selling them for no profit.