# Any good on Legator guitars?



## hanachanmaru (Jan 31, 2017)

Hey guys and gals.. wonder has anybody played or owned a legator guitar? 

I kinda fancy their headless design... but have no idea how well made they are and rivaling with their master strandberg and kiesel... do they use good tone wood thats not impregnated ? Ie kiesel ? How about their neck and tone? Natural warm enough?

https://legator.guitars/products/ghost/


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## takotakumi (Jan 31, 2017)

Stay away from legator. Lately there's a lot of bad reviews and feedback.


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## hanachanmaru (Jan 31, 2017)

takotakumi said:


> Stay away from legator. Lately there's a lot of bad reviews and feedback.



Ohhh.... i wonder what keeping these new coy a bad repo.... they accepting preorders thou.... thanks for your info by the way


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## bpprox22 (Jan 31, 2017)

I've always been curious.

Anytime I think about getting near one, there is usually a brick wall of advice (with proof) to stay far away -- which is why I will probably never own a Legator.


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## KnightBrolaire (Jan 31, 2017)

For the price of a legator headless you could get an ormsby headless (should be some extras from run 4), one of the lower end strandbergs or a barebones kiesel. Kiesel and strandberg are both great, and i heard good things about the ormsby headless from people who played it at namm. I'd look into any of those instead


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## hanachanmaru (Jan 31, 2017)

KnightBrolaire said:


> For the price of a legator headless you could get an ormsby headless (should be some extras from run 4), one of the lower end strandbergs or a barebones kiesel. Kiesel and strandberg are both great, and i heard good things about the ormsby headless from people who played it at namm. I'd look into any of those instead



Mmmm thanks for the inputs... but arent ormsby from australia ? I heard they taken a lower price point guitars to have them made in korea... ? Wonder how they play and sounds like....


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## diagrammatiks (Jan 31, 2017)

Haven't heard anything bad about Ormsby. 
The difference is that ormsby is a successful custom builder who has made sure the guitars he has wmi make are high quality.


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## DjentleVibes (Jan 31, 2017)

I own a Ninja 200 7 string and a Ninja 300 pro 6 string and they are both phenomenal guitars. I got the 7 as a B-stock for a good discount and I bought the 6 used for a steal. Great guitars with fast necks and slim bodies.


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## WhiskeyPickleJake (Jan 31, 2017)

I took a leap of faith on a fanned fret Ninja last year. Quality was good, but I was having trouble getting it set up proper. Legator sent me a shipping label for that one and shipped me a new one, checked and set up by them with string and tuning preference. 

Can't think of anything bad to say.


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## oracles (Jan 31, 2017)

Legator are absolute garbage and I can't stress enough to stay far, far away from them.


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## KnightBrolaire (Jan 31, 2017)

DjentleVibes said:


> I own a Ninja 200 7 string and a Ninja 300 pro 6 string and they are both phenomenal guitars. I got the 7 as a B-stock for a good discount and I bought the 6 used for a steal. Great guitars with fast necks and slim bodies.



:cough: shill :cough:


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## bpprox22 (Jan 31, 2017)

I didn't want to be the one to post the video of that mess lol


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## nistley (Jan 31, 2017)

https://legator.guitars/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/GH-300-SCRB_MAPLE-6.jpg

Anyone else is extremely pained with alignment of the string holder(s)? Especially in a so well lit photo. Feels like taking a file to the teeth.


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## oracles (Jan 31, 2017)

DjentleVibes said:


> I own a Ninja 200 7 string and a Ninja 300 pro 6 string and they are both phenomenal guitars. I got the 7 as a B-stock for a good discount and I bought the 6 used for a steal. Great guitars with fast necks and slim bodies.



> 8 posts
> Djent in username
> Leaves positive review for product with questionable reputation

Good thing we've never seen that before...


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## capoeiraesp (Jan 31, 2017)

Take my advice with a pinch of salt/bias, as I work for Ormsby, but spend the extra bit of cash and go with reputable stuff like Strandberg, Kiesel, and Ormsby.
edit: also take a good look at each company's offerings for features and looks. Do your homework and make a worthwhile decision


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## Masoo2 (Jan 31, 2017)

I love my Ninja 200 SE 7 string, but I bought it in 2014 on Reverb for a pretty decent price.

Great neck profile, excellent upper fret access, and solid stock pickups.

HOWEVER, I would honestly not recommend one unless you want a very specific model that no one else/only a handful of companies produce. These include 27 inch 7 strings, 8 strings with trems, 9 strings, 7/8 string teles, and fanned fret guitars/basses.

With most cases though, it would be safer to go with a company like ESP LTD, Ormsby, Ibanez, Kiesel, Jackson, Schecter, etc... over Legator. Especially in the case of the fanned MIK guitars, those prices are pretty steep. The normal 100s/200s/300s are not that badly priced, but could at least feature some upgraded hardware/pickups.

Will I ever sell mine? Probably not in the near future. I LOVE how it plays, but that doesn't take away from the shoddy guitars they have been sending out.

A handful of mid-high level endorsements (for a company of their size, of course) have recently left, including Reflections' Patrick Somoulay and Invent, Animate's Keaton and Caleb. Patty went to Kiesel and the guys from IA moved on over to Ibanez.

Don't be afraid to pick one up on Reverb or ebay from a store that allows for returns though, but make sure the price is right.

_

tl;dr: as capoeiraesp said, do your homework. find out what you need, who offers it, and what people are saying about the company.


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## KnightBrolaire (Jan 31, 2017)

hanachanmaru said:


> Mmmm thanks for the inputs... but arent ormsby from australia ? I heard they taken a lower price point guitars to have them made in korea... ? Wonder how they play and sounds like....



based off the last couple of ormsby runs they should be pretty good for the money, though we'll have to see. The ormsby headless is made in korea.


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## zeropoint (Jan 31, 2017)

The Legator's I've played felt like the frets were made out of coathanger and there were some absolutely massive bubbles in the "finish" / binding / whatever they'd dare to call it on the sides of the neck near the body. The 7 string played OK but felt lifeless in comparison to almost every other 7 I've played (including Jackson's cheapo MIC model) and their 8 was a definite no, tone-wise.

Now, that could have been partly on the shop selling them failing to do a good setup, and they may have been B-stock models for all I know.

But I went there WANTING to like them with money burning a hole in my pocket and I left empty handed.


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## Hollowway (Feb 1, 2017)

Good god, that review video! Holy crap, that's some shoddy work, and worse customer service. The fact that the second guitar they sent was the best they could muster says volumes.


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## theicon2125 (Feb 1, 2017)

I love that he holds his Ormsby to comfort himself. I wonder if the dude ever got his money back.


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## Jeffbro (Feb 1, 2017)

I have no idea how they are still in business, much less actually making a name


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## zeropoint (Feb 1, 2017)

Probably because for every 1 person that knows what to look for to spot flaws there are 50 people who don't, who want a budget not-just-black-and-shiny guitar.


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## Hollowway (Feb 2, 2017)

zeropoint said:


> Probably because for every 1 person that knows what to look for to spot flaws there are 50 people who don't, who want a budget not-just-black-and-shiny guitar.



That's very true, but Legator couldn't even get a close paint match for that touch up on the horn for the replacement guitar. Major flaws like that are just head scratchers, because cosmetic flaws like that are noticeable to everyone. But I agree - ignorance is what is keeping them afloat.


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## FrznTek (Feb 6, 2017)

theicon2125 said:


> I love that he holds his Ormsby to comfort himself. I wonder if the dude ever got his money back.



I can't remember where I saw him post it, but he said he did after driving a few hours one way to hand it to them in person.


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## couverdure (Feb 10, 2017)

Jeffbro said:


> I have no idea how they are still in business, much less actually making a name



They have Jon Donais from Shadows Fall and Anthrax, but he's notorious for constantly switching brands even after releasing signatures with them (ESP, Washburn, BC Rich). I wouldn't be surprised if his next move would be Jackson.

Other well-known artists who have signatures as well are Joe Cocchi (Within The Ruins) and Josh Travis (Glass Cloud/Emmure).


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## Spacestationfive (Feb 11, 2017)

I owned a 7 String ninja 200 and I was happier with it than my 7 Hellraiser. I traded it for an instrument I was less happy with (but flashier) and wish I didn't.

The 200 is obviously in their low end range, but it was a good guitar.


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## cmtd (Jul 15, 2017)

Bit of a necrobump, but I ran across this on the Ormsby facebook page, I'm sure it will get deleted from there. Sounds like they told the guy he could wait a month for a new one, with no guarantee the quality would be better, or he could pay $300 more (w/$50 discount) for the next "higher quality" model. Legator took all his posts down and blocked him as well.


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## Andromalia (Jul 16, 2017)

It's not even a QC issue at this point, you're pretty sure they don't have any.


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## USMarine75 (Jul 16, 2017)

WhiskeyPickleJake said:


> Quality was good, but I was having trouble getting it set up proper.


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## nistley (Jul 17, 2017)

Wow, I've never seen anything this bad...


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## Lorcan Ward (Jul 17, 2017)

That is painful to look at!


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## FILTHnFEAR (Jul 17, 2017)

I saw that posted on FB yesterday. Inexcusable. What a total shit bag of a company.


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## Mathemagician (Jul 17, 2017)

That's a "hold my beer" hack job. Wow that sucks. I remember getting chewed out by someone for sharing that the used legato I played felt enormous and weighed like 15 lbs.


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## Dyingsea (Jul 17, 2017)

What's strange to me is that they have been picked up by some pretty hefty retail shops.


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## oracles (Jul 17, 2017)

Dyingsea said:


> What's strange to me is that they have been picked up by some pretty hefty retail shops.


They've also been pulled by others. They didn't last six months at Axe Music in Edmonton. New instruments were showing up like they'd been dragged behind the truck the whole way there. They cancelled their orders and their dealer contract and sent them all back.


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## ImNotAhab (Jul 17, 2017)

Hmm, always wondered what happened there, good to know.


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## gunch (Jul 17, 2017)

Firewood.


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## KnightBrolaire (Jul 18, 2017)

david james (the admin for the EUGG groups) was talking shit about legator on their page and the eugg run page. Basically said their guitars were terrible quality and they were a huge pain to work with. Legator tried to claim the guy who bought the shit heap shown a couple of posts up above got irate/had unreasonable demands and that's why they blocked him. So now a bunch of people are spamming memes and screenshots of the owner's convo with legator where he was "irate". Haven't had this much fun reading comments since Arnold's legator vid.


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## Mathemagician (Jul 18, 2017)

Advertisements: Custom instruments with high-end features!

Customer service: Were not a full custom shop, and you should be happy to even have those features on a guitar. Hell, you owe US for selling you a guitar.


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## HeHasTheJazzHands (Jul 18, 2017)

KnightBrolaire said:


> david james (the admin for the EUGG groups) was talking shit about legator on their page and the eugg run page. Basically said their guitars were terrible quality and they were a huge pain to work with. Legator tried to claim the guy who bought the shit heap shown a couple of posts up above got irate/had unreasonable demands and that's why they blocked him. So now a bunch of people are spamming memes and screenshots of the owner's convo with legator where he was "irate". Haven't had this much fun reading comments since Arnold's legator vid.



Arnold's having the biggest "I FUCKING TOLD YOU SO!" moment ever. Dude's having a blast.


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## KnightBrolaire (Jul 18, 2017)

HeHasTheJazzHands said:


> Arnold's having the biggest "I FUCKING TOLD YOU SO!" moment ever. Dude's having a blast.


oh he was having a blast in the ERGN and ormsby groups too when it got posted there. Man my agile from 2009 wasn't anywhere near as bad as the garbage legator has been putting out recently. They officially take the cake as the only brand somehow worse than etherial or halo lol


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## The Hiryuu (Jul 24, 2017)

Oof. Worse than Etherial and Halo? That's bordering on DeVries territory.


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## Mathemagician (Jul 24, 2017)

Now I'm sad. I always feel about bad anytime I see someone has paid money for an Etherial.


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## nistley (Sep 7, 2017)

Guys, hate to bump this, but it's very hard... I want to try an 8, and I know I would hate anything not multiscale, so my options are:
https://legator.guitars/product/nrf...ish=neon-green&attribute_pa_orientation=right
https://legator.guitars/product/nrf8-200/

$In that 500 range, what else is there for multiscale?

The closest rondo is actually 699!
http://www.rondomusic.com/8StringGuitars.html

Jackson 8 fanned fret isn't going to be available for another month
http://www.zzounds.com/item--JAC2916183?siid=228434&-uAdXEAQYAyABEgKUNfD_BwE=

I can't imagine every legator is as bad as the terrible pic on the previous page. It's very tempting to get that nrf8-200.


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## Masoo2 (Sep 7, 2017)

Keep in mind that the 200 series you are looking at is B stock/Clearance with no returns.

Even with all of the negative press towards Legator, for that price you really don't have many options at all. As long as you can get one with a return policy, I'd say give it a shot.


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## KnightBrolaire (Sep 7, 2017)

nistley said:


> Guys, hate to bump this, but it's very hard... I want to try an 8, and I know I would hate anything not multiscale, so my options are:
> https://legator.guitars/product/nrf...ish=neon-green&attribute_pa_orientation=right
> https://legator.guitars/product/nrf8-200/
> 
> ...


you'd be better off finding a used agile multiscale or biting the bullet on a new one. I'd try and find one with a spread between scales around 2" or less, after that it gets a lot harder to use extended chords on the lower frets. 
The specs on that jackson seem great, I'd say wait for that or an agile.


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## nistley (Sep 7, 2017)

Yeah, that Jackson looks pretty sweet, but +200.


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## nistley (Sep 7, 2017)

Masoo2 said:


> Keep in mind that the 200 series you are looking at is B stock/Clearance with no returns.
> 
> Even with all of the negative press towards Legator, for that price you really don't have many options at all. As long as you can get one with a return policy, I'd say give it a shot.



Thats what I'm thinking, $500 does seem dirt cheap for the features, and I'd be going in with expectations that it's bound to fall apart, so if it doesn't, would be kind of a win, haha. So perhaps the 100 is worth a try. 

I don't really have a budget, I'm literally just looking for the cheapest playable 8 string, because I have no idea if I'll actually like the range, it might sit there, but it should actually be playable.


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## KnightBrolaire (Sep 7, 2017)

nistley said:


> Thats what I'm thinking, $500 does seem dirt cheap for the features, and I'd be going in with expectations that it's bound to fall apart, so if it doesn't, would be kind of a win, haha. So perhaps the 100 is worth a try.
> 
> I don't really have a budget, I'm literally just looking for the cheapest playable 8 string, because I have no idea if I'll actually like the range, it might sit there, but it should actually be playable.


if you could return the legator I'd say try that, but as it stands, agile is your best bet for the cheapest non-firewood multiscale. If we're talking just cheap 8 strings, then an rg8 or agile with a straight scale would be more than sufficient. those are like 300 bucks or less depending on where you look.


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## oracles (Sep 7, 2017)

Spend the extra and buy the better guitar. Stop giving shitty companies a chance to "get better" or the benefit of the doubt. They don't deserve it, and you as the consumer end up paying the price for the companies lack of care.


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## nistley (Sep 8, 2017)

Alright, thanks for keeping the universe just  I bit the bullet, and got a 27'' Agile. I hope it's a decent compromise, even though I dislike my non-multiscale 7 compared to strandies. Hope to see more legator reviews though, and really hope quality improves. Their website is miles better than rondomusic.com and prices seem ultra competitive.


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