Agile ST1000

[guitaro]

Hey folks, first just wanted to say hello and that it’s good to see so many of the old forum members posting here. Some of you may remember me from a lot of NGD posts. I actually signed up for this new forum way back when they gave us the axe (pun intended) at the old place but honestly there were so few posts I was just bummed out and moved on. Anyway I’ve been reading some threads here recently and brought back a lot of the old memories seeing a bunch of familiar names. Still wish there was more posting activity but it is what it is and definitely appreciated TJ keeping this going.

Okay, so as to the guitar, as I typically do, I had to grab some stuff at the GC 10% off used and 10% in gear card rewards Memorial Day weekend sale and had to get at least 499.00 to qualify. I recently was at the last day of a closing Sam Ash store to see what they had. No guitars, mostly wireless microphones and odd components, cheap headphones, etc. I was checking out with a 5 dollar set of headphones when I saw a cool looking Roland box for 15 bucks. Turns out it was a boutique series 25 key synth keyboard. They are 120 everywhere and my son likes to play around with keyboards. I figured at almost free it was a no brainer. But now I needed the Roland synth module to go with it so back to Guitar Center. I found the cheapest module made to work with this keyboard, JU-6 which emulates and then some a classic Roland Juno. It was 250 so with 10% off 225. I think my son will dig it. But I still needed another 250 used purchase to get the discount. Looked around long and hard and was mostly only finding more expensive stuff that would have been good value but I didn’t want to spend the money considering I had bought a bunch of guitars lately. Finally after searching for a couple days, several hours a day several days of the weekend I finally got smart and figured out I wanted to spend as little as possible so I needed to search right at the 250 dollar mark. Once I did that one of the first few pages saw this Agile Stratocaster pop up. I was like, a blast from the past! I hadn’t bought an Agile in years and never heard of this model. The specs from the Rondo archive page sounded damn good with 2 piece alder, Wilkinson 2 point trem, solid steel block, alnico pups with staggered pole pieces, braided cloth wire, etc and the GC description sounded promising stating “listed as excellent condition, no signs of playware” or something.

Anyway it won’t be here until Tuesday so this is probably the longest shipping from GC I’ve seen. My brother ordered a guitar the same day and got it a couple days ago.

Okay, here are my questions, anyone familiar with this model? The online reviews seem to be pretty universally positive. And then one odd thing about the photos. The picture showed a reversed headstock obviously being a Hendrix strat look with a white strat with white pickguard and reversed headstock but from all my searches I haven’t found any like this. They all seem to have standard right hand oriented headstock although some are a less desirable (for me) triangular shape like some SX models and some like the one I ordered more Fender like but with an extra point but none reversed that I can find. I’m thinking it’s probably just a different model number and I’m just not searching correctly but thought maybe it might be a special order so that’s why I can’t find a archived Rondo page for it.

Any input appreciated and hello again. Good to be back.

[tobijohn]

Welcome back! I can't help you with info on the ST1000, I've actually been looking for a used left-handed one for years

Also, while I appreciate credit for keeping things going, my contribution has been almost trivial compared to Patrick (@LightWingStudios ) who has been the man behind the curtain as well as @mickey ...

[guitaro]

Welcome back! I can't help you with info on the ST1000, I've actually been looking for a used left-handed one for years

Also, while I appreciate credit for keeping things going, my contribution has been almost trivial compared to Patrick (@LightWingStudios ) who has been the man behind the curtain as well as @mickey ...

Thanks for the welcome and the information on who we also need to thank for this place. Yeah, I’m pretty excited to get this guitar. It’s funny you mentioning searching for a left handed version. It’s crossed my mind a few times that I hope I didn’t mistake a lefty for a right hand guitar with a reversed headstock lol. My eyes were pretty blurry from searching hundreds of GC pages on my phone. I’m almost certain I looked closely enough to make sure it was a right handed guitar but the fact that I can’t find a single one with the reversed head does have me a little concerned. And I can’t even find a picture of the guitar I ordered. GC takes the pictures down right away but I can usually find a copy of the ad on google.

If I ordered a lefty while in a cyber-daze it will be coming your way lol.

[guitaro]

Found a picture and it’s definitely a right hand guitar. Seems like no one is too familiar with this model. Maybe I need to ask the source. Is Kurt pretty responsive to model questions or not so much?

[tobijohn]

Found a picture and it’s definitely a right hand guitar. Seems like no one is too familiar with this model. Maybe I need to ask the source. Is Kurt pretty responsive to model questions or not so much?

He is normally

[andrewsrea]

Welcome back!

[guitaro]

Welcome back!

Thanks!

I sent a message to Rondo. See if I get a reply. By the way does this guitar look like it doesn’t have strap buttons?

[andrewsrea]

Welcome back!

Thanks!

By the way does this guitar look like it doesn’t have strap buttons?

Strangely, it looks void of strap buttons.

[guitaro]

Okay, I got the reply from Rondo and on a Sunday of all days which is pretty cool.

Here’s what they said:

“It was almost certainly a custom order (or modified by the customer) - is the serial number still on the back of the headstock?
As you say, the standard models had a standard facing headstock.”

https://www.rondomusic.com/ST1000mnvwh.html

I don’t see how it could have been customer modification because you can see the agile logo on the headstock and Agile shape. The only way someone could have done it would have been to switch necks with a lefty model which seems really unlikely. Seems like it was a custom order that also included not strap buttons for some odd reason.

[tobijohn]

Also, if it was a standard lefty neck, then the headstock logo would be upside down, and it isn't...

[guitaro]

Also, if it was a standard lefty neck, then the headstock logo would be upside down, and it isn't...

Excellent point! This is a bit of a mystery. The other thing that’s odd is the guitar and synth module not surprisingly are coming from different stores and initially it showed the synth shipped and the guitar not shipped yet. So I called GC and the guy on the phone said they were both shipped and he saw 2 tracking numbers. But then when GC updated the order it showed both shipped but only one tracking number. I suppose it’s possible they shipped one of the items to the other store in order to ship them together which might explain why the shipping is so long but I’m not overly confident I’m actually going to receive 2 items on Tuesday because a single tracking number seems wrong. I half expect to receive only the synth and have them tell me the guitar is misplaced and they are sending me a refund. I’m going to be unhappy if that happens.

[jimbocaster]

So I owned one of these for a bit...nice guitar but I sold or traded it at some point...it has the reverse headstock
https://www.rondomusic.com/stvmnvwh.html

This looks like the one in the picture with rosewood
https://www.rondomusic.com/stvrnvwh.html

[guitaro]

So I owned one of these for a bit...nice guitar but I sold or traded it at some point...it has the reverse headstock
https://www.rondomusic.com/stvmnvwh.html

This looks like the one in the picture with rosewood
https://www.rondomusic.com/stvrnvwh.html

Thanks a bunch for tracking this down. It’s funny that Kurt didn’t recognize it. Maybe when I gave him the serial number he would have figured out that it’s not the same model as the ST1000. It also seems to have been misrepresented by GC and doesn’t have as good of components as the ST1000. Specifically the pickups, the tremolo, maybe different pots, cloth wiring, and so on. Now I will have to decide if I’m going to keep it or not. If I return it I will try to insist on getting the shipping back since they misrepresented as a higher model. There’s also the issue of it dropping me below the minimum amount to qualify for the 10% off on the synth. Kind of a mess actually.

[guitaro]

Got the guitar today and I have to say, it’s quite nice. Pretty much mint condition as GC stated, chrome parts look untouched. No pick scratches on the pickguard etc. In fact the only damage I can detect is where the strap button was placed in the upper horn and it has some chipped paint around it. The buttons are unmatched and didn’t appear to be present in the GC photos so I’m thinking maybe GC put a set on and caused the chips. Oh well. The finish is really nice and actually trans off white and you can see the nicely grained 2 piece alder body underneath on close inspection.

There doesn’t seem to be a lot of difference between this and the ST1000 other than obviously the reverse headstock, a 6 point Wilkinson bridge with steel block vs 2 point on the 1000, and the 3 ply plain white pickguard vs 2 ply pearloid on the 1000. The pickups seem to be the same alnico with staggered pole pieces described for the 1000 but no cloth wires. The tuners are the Wilkinson ez-loc ones that are on the 1000, not the Wilkinson vintage style that the rondo link stated came on it. It seems to be setup pretty well although I didn’t check the intonation and it is typical Agile Korea quality QC. Plays really nicely. Nice enough in fact that I don’t really see any falloff compared to my USA strat so that one is going on the chopping block it looks like.

I’ll try to post some pics later. They need to be hosted somewhere else, is that correct?

[jimbocaster]

I’ll try to post some pics later. They need to be hosted somewhere else, is that correct?

I think you can upload right to this forum...click on the attachments tab and upload

[guitaro]

I’ll try to post some pics later. They need to be hosted somewhere else, is that correct?

I think you can upload right to this forum...click on the attachments tab and upload

Really? Let me try. Whenever I click the “image” tab it asks for a URL.

Right again! Looks like I can. For some reason I only have pictures of the dissembled guitar lol. Forgot to take some regular shots. The only identifying thing I found was what appears to be some Korean writing in the pickup cavity.

[jimbocaster]

IIRC...the neck on this was pretty chunky and had a nice unfinished feel to it. It was a quality guitar for the price.

[LightWingStudios]

Welcome back! I can't help you with info on the ST1000, I've actually been looking for a used left-handed one for years

Also, while I appreciate credit for keeping things going, my contribution has been almost trivial compared to Patrick (@LightWingStudios ) who has been the man behind the curtain as well as @mickey ...

Aw Shucks.

[guitaro]

Kurt actually wrote me a few times on this. He said it was a 2006 model and a bargain with a 200 dollar price tag.

I need to put new strings but have been holding off because I’m toying with the idea of putting a string tree on the 5th and 6th strings. They haven’t slipped out of the nut or anything but the look of them so high as they enter the nut bothers me a little. Do you think there would be an issue with thicker wound strings in a butterfly string tree?

[nomadh]

Welcome back. Yes I drift away sometimes too.
I only played an agile strat once. It was a white one at the san diego gc. Maybe that's the same one but I dont recall a Rev head.

[guitaro]

Welcome back. Yes I drift away sometimes too.
I only played an agile strat once. It was a white one at the san diego gc. Maybe that's the same one but I dont recall a Rev head.

They all seemed to be this Alder body with trans off white finish. I think these reverse head models were older and cheaper than the later ST-1000 that had standard orientation headstock and some upgraded hardware although mostly the same. It’s a well made Strat.