[Christopher]

Man guitars with upscale features like a maple top or an archtop at this price point scare the hell out of me. The simple economics of it are that they had to cut corners somewhere to get those available at that price. Even if you have them built overseas in a sweatshop (I'm not claiming these were btw) the parts alone cost money. So the more upscale features you have before crossing the $500 barrier means that something else had to go. Granted the maple top is most likely a verneer (SP?) but still. You wonder where they went super cheap. The electronics? Fretwire? The wood? Gasp, it lloks great...

[Jason]

Originally Posted by Christopher

Man guitars with upscale features like a maple top or an archtop at this price point scare the hell out of me. The simple economics of it are that they had to cut corners somewhere to get those available at that price. Even if you have them built overseas in a sweatshop (I'm not claiming these were btw) the parts alone cost money. So the more upscale features you have before crossing the $500 barrier means that something else had to go. Granted the maple top is most likely a verneer (SP?) but still. You wonder where they went super cheap. The electronics? Fretwire? The wood? Gasp, it lloks great...

i can vouch for there quality.I own three of there instruments.two basses and one guitar.and i pretty sure that they build them in china on machines.and that is a maple cap im pretty sure of that.i have not seen any cut corners on any of the ones i have bought.

[Allen Garrow]

It's like a RG archtop! Love it!

~A

[XIEmperorIX]

Originally Posted by HateBreeder

the guy who started the thread about 7 string wishlist, and who coincidentally, runs Rondo Music.

I think my brown stoptail one should be here either saturady, monday or tues.

Hey let me know how it plays when you get it! I know you're getting a different one but for that price maybe I'll go for this instead of the RG 1527 on drumcity..it has what I want on it anyway.

But either way that is a sweet guitar Kinda reminds me of a caparison crossed with an RG (i'm probably the crazy one )

[Leon]

that headstock might be a tad pointier than on the Ibanez RG

[XIEmperorIX]

Originally Posted by Leon

that headstock might be a tad pointier than on the Ibanez RG

The body kinda reminds of an RG..the headstock looks like a bigger less pointy caparison..but like I said i'm probably the only crazy one who thinks that

[Shannon]

Originally Posted by Christopher

Man guitars with upscale features like a maple top or an archtop at this price point scare the hell out of me. The simple economics of it are that they had to cut corners somewhere to get those available at that price. Even if you have them built overseas in a sweatshop (I'm not claiming these were btw) the parts alone cost money. So the more upscale features you have before crossing the $500 barrier means that something else had to go. Granted the maple top is most likely a verneer (SP?) but still. You wonder where they went super cheap. The electronics? Fretwire? The wood? Gasp, it lloks great...

But here's another way of looking at it.

Check the reviews. Rondo has a long history of providing great quality instruments at affordable prices. There's got to be a reason for that. I've seen numerous times where customer reviews say the guitar they purchased is the best "bang for the buck" out there. Companies get huge discount on parts because they buy in bulk.

I don't think it's a case of Rondo cutting massive corners (albeit, maybe a few here and there). I think larger corporations (i.e. Ibanez, Fender, Gibson) mark up their instrument prices significantly higher because of the name on the headstock. Think about it.

2 examples...
1) How else can Nike charge $150 for a pair of shoes, whereas, Brand X can make an identical shoe and charge only $30? Simple. The NAME, Nike, is something people will pay for. This is the case with Rondo's instruments vs. major corporations.
2) Listen to the reviews of the Behringer 4x12 cab. Everyone loves them & they're cheap as hell. It's a case of keeping the sales price low, establishing a quality product & selling high volumes of it. People know a good deal when they see it.

Rondo's a small fish in a big corporate pond. They know they can't charge the prices of the major competitors. They make money by buying & selling in bulk, but at a fraction of the cost. This passes on the savings to the customer & isn't that something we all want?

[Skeksis]

Ebony fretboard? DiMarzio pups? Flame top? 400?!?!

That's an incredible deal, I'm strongly considering this.

[jufob]

Count me in...I will make one modification...install an egg-shield because there may some jealous "ozzmob" lurking around somewhere!!

[nyck]

omg this looks like an incredible guitar! what are the advantages of having a +2" scale?