# NGD! Solar V2.6



## RLG167 (Mar 19, 2018)

So I've been wanting to try a Solar for a while and finally talked myself into trying one after hearing all the good things about them. I want to try to be as informative as possible with this NGD thread to help others who were curious about these guitars.
So last Tuesday after deciding to get one (before I had ordered it) I was doing research because I was concerned about importing it and having to deal with customs and import tax. I called UPS international (who Solar uses) and they said anything under $800 there's no import tax or fees, and since after shipping it came to $784 I was in the clear. I pressed the order button and 6 days later it's here. So anyone concerned about it being held up with customs mine wasn't and I know someone else whose Solars weren't either so you should be okay there. The guitar arrived in perfect condition, I couldn't find a blemish anywhere on the finish and the satin coat they used feels very good. This feels like a very high quality instrument straight out of the box. The guitar came double boxed and inside a soft case, which also feels very high quality (as far as I know only the Vs come in the soft cases). The fretwork is outstanding, not a single dead spot and buffed to a mirror finish. I was actually very surprised by this, the frets feel equal to my ESPs, there's no friction on them at all. Now the neck profile is interesting, I had heard Ola modeled it after a Wizard profile with a more rounded back and very slightly thicker which is exactly what it feels like. Very comfortable, in terms of playability I may actually prefer it to my ESP MK1. The guitar came stock with Grover mini Rotomatic tuners which I was skeptical of at first but they hold tune great and feel very smooth. So after I restrung it with heavier strings (comes stock with 9s) I played it for a bit and I can't decide if I like the pickups or not. These are the "Duncan Solar" pickups, pretty much Duncan Designed pickups made to Ola's specs. They're very clear and have a super tight low end, but they're lower output than I was expecting. Once I dialed in my Engl to a better tone I did start to enjoy them, but in the future I may throw in something else.
All in all this is an amazing guitar that feels great and is an absolute joy to play. I would absolutely say this could hold it's own against any Japanese or American guitar, and I'm almost mad at myself for spending twice the price of this on an ESP last month. It's still a great guitar, but man does this Solar feel great!
I'll attach some pictures in the next post down, including profiles of this neck compared to a few others.


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## RLG167 (Mar 19, 2018)

Pictures, including neck profile comparison between 4 comparable guitars, Solar V2.6, ESP MK1, Ibanez XPT700 and 2008 Custom Shop Dean using a neck contour gauge

https://flic.kr/p/25k4LDp
https://flic.kr/p/25gjYsQ
https://flic.kr/p/22z8eHC
https://flic.kr/p/22z8eEw
https://flic.kr/p/22z8en7
https://flic.kr/p/22z8dfN
https://flic.kr/p/FENQmK
https://flic.kr/p/22z8chq
https://flic.kr/p/22z8cf1
https://flic.kr/p/HcjYVS
https://flic.kr/p/HcjYLU


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## Wolfos (Mar 19, 2018)

Hey Man, congrats on the Solar. I myself have been tempted to get one of these to tryout. I'm glad it's as good as the hype is suggesting, that's a cool diagram of the neck profiles. How did you manage to draw them out, it's a good way of comparing new necks to familiar ones.


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## RLG167 (Mar 19, 2018)

Wolfos said:


> Hey Man, congrats on the Solar. I myself have been tempted to get one of these to tryout. I'm glad it's as good as the hype is suggesting, that's a cool diagram of the neck profiles. How did you manage to draw them out, it's a good way of comparing new necks to familiar ones.


Hey man, I have a contour gauge, carpenters use it for stuff like finding the shape of molding but they're also awesome for comparing necks. You put it on the neck and it has lots of very fine pins that form into the shape, then you just trace around it.


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## Tisca (Mar 20, 2018)

Cool, now I'm GASing for a contour gauge. Wonder if those 7€ Chinese ones are good enough.


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## Power2theMetal (Mar 20, 2018)

That's a nice looking guitar! I wonder what the customs fees would be on the 1000$ ones... was UPS International informative and easy to deal with when you called? Either way, HNGD!!!! Best of luck with it moving forward.


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## bostjan (Mar 20, 2018)

Happy NGD!

So... What is the difference in width all about? It looks quite pronounced.


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## RLG167 (Mar 20, 2018)

Tisca said:


> Cool, now I'm GASing for a contour gauge. Wonder if those 7€ Chinese ones are good enough.


I got mine at the hardware store for $10 and it's worked fine for years


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## RLG167 (Mar 20, 2018)

Power2theMetal said:


> That's a nice looking guitar! I wonder what the customs fees would be on the 1000$ ones... was UPS International informative and easy to deal with when you called? Either way, HNGD!!!! Best of luck with it moving forward.


I have a buddy who imported two Solars at the same time (an $800 model and an $1100 model) and he said customs was $26 and he paid the UPS driver when they got to him. If you Google it, the customs agency has a chart that says electric guitars over $800 are up to 6% of the value. And yeah, there was no hold time when I called, someone picked up immediately and was very friendly and informative.


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## RLG167 (Mar 20, 2018)

bostjan said:


> Happy NGD!
> 
> So... What is the difference in width all about? It looks quite pronounced.


You'd think that but it's actually very comfortable. I would honestly say it feels like a slightly thicker and rounder Wizard profile, which is what Ola was going for so I think he nailed it.


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## Tisca (Mar 20, 2018)

RLG167 said:


> I got mine at the hardware store for $10 and it's worked fine for years


Ordered a gauge but now I'm GASing for a V also. Is this Solar body on the smaller side or does it only appear to be?


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## RLG167 (Mar 21, 2018)

Tisca said:


> Ordered a gauge but now I'm GASing for a V also. Is this Solar body on the smaller side or does it only appear to be?


It feels similar to a Jackson King V. In the picture it may look smaller because my ESP (the green one) is gigantic, I'd say bigger than a Double Rhoads. So if you're used to King V's, you should feel plenty comfortable on it.


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## RLG167 (Mar 21, 2018)

So I decided while the Duncans sound decent enough, but they just weren't for me. So I swapped them out for a set of DiMarzios, Crunch Lab bridge and a 36th Anniversary PAF neck. I usually got for the Transition set, but I've been wanting to try a Crunch Lab for a while now and a buddy of mine swears by the 36th Anniversary PAF, claims it's the best neck pickups he's ever heard. It's 1:30am here in NY so I can't turn my amp on now (unless I want the cops called on me lol) but tomorrow I'll try it through my Engl and hopefully get a video or two if I remember.


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## Wolfos (Mar 21, 2018)

RLG167 said:


> So I decided while the Duncans sound decent enough, but they just weren't for me. So I swapped them out for a set of DiMarzios, Crunch Lab bridge and a 36th Anniversary PAF neck. I usually got for the Transition set, but I've been wanting to try a Crunch Lab for a while now and a buddy of mine swears by the 36th Anniversary PAF, claims it's the best neck pickups he's ever heard. It's 1:30am here in NY so I can't turn my amp on now (unless I want the cops called on me lol) but tomorrow I'll try it through my Engl and hopefully get a video or two if I remember.



I had the crunchlab / liquifire set about 10 years ago (big dream theater fan) really didnt care for them. I did however, switch to the Illuminator set (because of dream theater) and absolutely loved them. Both the neck and bridge pickup were very dynamic covered all the bases for me.

I realize you already put a new set in your guitar but if you don't get along with them I always enjoy peer pressuring the Illuminator set on anyone who will listen.


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## RLG167 (Mar 21, 2018)

Wolfos said:


> I had the crunchlab / liquifire set about 10 years ago (big dream theater fan) really didnt care for them. I did however, switch to the Illuminator set (because of dream theater) and absolutely loved them. Both the neck and bridge pickup were very dynamic covered all the bases for me.
> 
> I realize you already put a new set in your guitar but if you don't get along with them I always enjoy peer pressuring the Illuminator set on anyone who will listen.


Thanks but I'm liking the Crunch Lab, pairs surprisingly well with my Engl Inferno. Here's a video I took today while just noodling a bit, the phone mic absolutely kills the tone (makes it sound more treble-y than it really is) but it should give you an idea

https://www.instagram.com/p/BgmwS-kBMpk/


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## Wolfos (Mar 21, 2018)

RLG167 said:


> Thanks but I'm liking the Crunch Lab, pairs surprisingly well with my Engl Inferno. Here's a video I took today while just noodling a bit, the phone mic absolutely kills the tone (makes it sound more treble-y than it really is) but it should give you an idea
> 
> https://www.instagram.com/p/BgmwS-kBMpk/



Sweet man sounds good with your set-up. I had mine with a old S-series 7 string ibanez and didn't get along with it.

Congrats again with the guitar!


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## MAJ Meadows SF (Mar 22, 2018)

Sweetness! The world needs more flying V’s. HNGD!


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## RLG167 (Mar 22, 2018)

MAJ Meadows SF said:


> Sweetness! The world needs more flying V’s. HNGD!


Thanks! Loving this guitar so far! Nothing beats my ESPs but it does feel great and is tons of fun to play


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## Wolfos (Mar 22, 2018)

RLG167 said:


> Hey man, I have a contour gauge, carpenters use it for stuff like finding the shape of molding but they're also awesome for comparing necks. You put it on the neck and it has lots of very fine pins that form into the shape, then you just trace around it.


Hey so after seeing your sketches of neck profiles I had a look at the new skervesen I just got and was a bit surprised by mine. 

The side of the neck my palm rests on is very flat gradual curve which is very comfortable for my palm, the other side is a more exaggerated 'C' shaped arc that fits the curl of my fingers very well. I'm super impressed with the neck profile. I drew a very crude sketch to help show what I described. I don't think I've seen a guitar with this type of curve before.


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## RLG167 (Mar 22, 2018)

Wolfos said:


> Hey so after seeing your sketches of neck profiles I had a look at the new skervesen I just got and was a bit surprised by mine.
> 
> The side of the neck my palm rests on is very flat gradual curve which is very comfortable for my palm, the other side is a more exaggerated 'C' shaped arc that fits the curl of my fingers very well. I'm super impressed with the neck profile. I drew a very crude sketch to help show what I described. I don't think I've seen a guitar with this type of curve before.


Yeah man, I love those asymmetrical profiles, I know Gibson used to do that and a lot of the higher end builders like Skervasen, Blackmachine, Mayones etc do them sometimes too. Glad the gauge is working out for you, they're a lot of fun


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## Cray1988 (Jul 12, 2018)

RLG167 said:


> So I've been wanting to try a Solar for a while and finally talked myself into trying one after hearing all the good things about them. I want to try to be as informative as possible with this NGD thread to help others who were curious about these guitars.
> So last Tuesday after deciding to get one (before I had ordered it) I was doing research because I was concerned about importing it and having to deal with customs and import tax. I called UPS international (who Solar uses) and they said anything under $800 there's no import tax or fees, and since after shipping it came to $784 I was in the clear. I pressed the order button and 6 days later it's here. So anyone concerned about it being held up with customs mine wasn't and I know someone else whose Solars weren't either so you should be okay there. The guitar arrived in perfect condition, I couldn't find a blemish anywhere on the finish and the satin coat they used feels very good. This feels like a very high quality instrument straight out of the box. The guitar came double boxed and inside a soft case, which also feels very high quality (as far as I know only the Vs come in the soft cases). The fretwork is outstanding, not a single dead spot and buffed to a mirror finish. I was actually very surprised by this, the frets feel equal to my ESPs, there's no friction on them at all. Now the neck profile is interesting, I had heard Ola modeled it after a Wizard profile with a more rounded back and very slightly thicker which is exactly what it feels like. Very comfortable, in terms of playability I may actually prefer it to my ESP MK1. The guitar came stock with Grover mini Rotomatic tuners which I was skeptical of at first but they hold tune great and feel very smooth. So after I restrung it with heavier strings (comes stock with 9s) I played it for a bit and I can't decide if I like the pickups or not. These are the "Duncan Solar" pickups, pretty much Duncan Designed pickups made to Ola's specs. They're very clear and have a super tight low end, but they're lower output than I was expecting. Once I dialed in my Engl to a better tone I did start to enjoy them, but in the future I may throw in something else.
> All in all this is an amazing guitar that feels great and is an absolute joy to play. I would absolutely say this could hold it's own against any Japanese or American guitar, and I'm almost mad at myself for spending twice the price of this on an ESP last month. It's still a great guitar, but man does this Solar feel great!
> I'll attach some pictures in the next post down, including profiles of this neck compared to a few others.



I got my solar about a week and a half ago and I love this guitar sooo much lol it’s seriously an incredible beast and covers a lot of ground musically here’s my latest video that I did check it out and tell me what you think?


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## lewis (Jul 12, 2018)

RLG167 said:


> So I decided while the Duncans sound decent enough, but they just weren't for me. So I swapped them out for a set of DiMarzios, Crunch Lab bridge and a 36th Anniversary PAF neck. I usually got for the Transition set, but I've been wanting to try a Crunch Lab for a while now and a buddy of mine swears by the 36th Anniversary PAF, claims it's the best neck pickups he's ever heard. It's 1:30am here in NY so I can't turn my amp on now (unless I want the cops called on me lol) but tomorrow I'll try it through my Engl and hopefully get a video or two if I remember.


please tell me they are white?....


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## AkiraSpectrum (Jul 12, 2018)

Happy to hear that you're loving the guitar, I've heard great things!


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## Cray1988 (Aug 8, 2018)

Here’s my latest video with my solar A2.6 this guitar is seriously killer


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