Between running out of gas and dealing with a stubborn lawn tractor, I didn't get done with the yard until almost 9
0. I didn't have much time to mess with the Garage Master, but here's my quick first impression.
Specs:
Material Poplar
Neck Satin finished maple
Fretboard Rosewood
Fret count 22
Scale length 25 in.
Nut width 1 11/16 in.
Pickup configuration 2 Alnico V humbuckers
Weight 7lbs.
Overall Length 38 in.
Width 12 3/4 in.
Electronics Volume control, tone control, 9-volt amp-modeling circuit, master volume control, distortion/clean switch, high boost/cut switch, preamp on/off switch, three-way pickup selector toggle switch
The Good: I believe that she never took this thing out of the gig bag. It looks brand new. No dings or scratches, not so much as a fingerprint/smudge on the pick guard. The pickups are Alinco V and are quite articulate. They sound really nice with a clean/slight OD amp setting. These guitars came with an onboard pre-amp which is powered by a 9V battery accessed by a little door on the back. The controls for this are On/Off with an output volume knob, a mid-cut switch and a OD/Distortion On/Off switch. When the pre-amp is on, there's a little blue LED in the pickguard that illuminates to let you know it's on. The distortion function sounded a bit fizzy to me, but I really didn't mess with it too much. I believe this was included so that you could plug the guitar into your new VW's radio aux port and rock out. I wonder how many folks actually did that.
In clean mode, it gave just a hint of gain, which I liked better. As good as the pickups sound by themselves, I have a feeling I won't use the preamp much, but we'll see.
The neck is supposed to be two piece maple from online descriptions. I'll be damned if I can find a seam in it anywhere. It even has a little flame in it. Unfortunately it doesn't show up in the crappy basement cell phone pics.
A few years ago I bought one of the Sheenas from First Act when they decided to get out of the mid-level instrument (~$300-$400 range) business and focus only on mass producing beginner/Walmart and high end custom shop items. They blew them, along with Delias and Lolas for $100. I wish I'd have gotten one of each back then. I only mention this because there are similarities between the two. I think the pickups are of the same vintage along with the string-thru tailpiece and TOM bridge design. The bridge is clever in that the adjustment screws are offset from the strings, making it very easy to adjust with the strings in place.
The Bad:
The fretboard is
very dry. I'll have to get some oil on it pronto. There are a few frets that could use some TLC...not sure if they're just sharp or if there's a little sprout going on. The latter wouldn't surprise me as dry as the board is. Intonation is just a tad off, but sounded pretty close and would be hard to detect without a tuner. That's easily remedied as is the slightly high action. The VW control knobs look like metal, but are plastic and don't feel very durable. I might replace them with some speed knobs.
Overall, I'm happy with it, especially for $60. My original intention was to get a beater to set up for slide, but I'm thinking I might give it a proper setup and see how it plays first.
Here ya go, some fuzzy cell phone pics.
With the preamp on and the blue light.
The First Act sisters.
