A Guitar And Gear Support Forum

Hello

I am new here and live in the mountains of East Tennessee. I am an older dude and did not pick up guitar until I turned 50. I have played for about five years now and try to do at least a little every day. I am looking at purchasing an Agile 3100 model directly from Rondo and would like your thoughts on the good and the bad.

I currently own a Jay Turser 220 (Les Paul copy) that I learned to play on, a Gretsch Jim Dandy (acoustic parlor), and an Eastman TB 486 (335 copy). The reason that I am interested in the 3100 is that I have read and seen pretty positive reviews. The downsides that I hear are that they are heavy and some do not like the pickups. This guitar would likely replace my Jay Turser as it needs probably some substantial fret work and some upgrades that would probably cost as much as what the Agile 3100 price is by the time that you did all of that. There was nothing wrong with the guitar but I have played it a lot and the fret wires are pitting and the wood is wearing in places. My Eastman guitar is a great instrument and I play it probably more than the Jay Turser today.

I am a hobby player and mostly play at home with a Fender GT 40 amp. I like to try to learn how to play songs, learn riffs, and play with backing tracks. I occasionally play for family or friends and sometimes like to jam with a friend. I like blues, jazz, and classic rock.

Anyway, I really like Les Paul guitars but do not want to pay the prices that a Gibson would run and have not found an Epiphone that I really like for the price. It just looks to me like you get a lot more guitar with Agile. In particular I like the specs for the ebony fretboard, mahogany neck and body, and the 3/4 maple cap.

Also, if you ordered directly from Rondo, I would like to hear how your experience went.

Thank you and I look forward to whatever wisdom you might be able to share.

I had an AL-3100 but it was too heavy for an old fart like me, so I sold it to a guy in Knoxville.
Agiles are really nice guitars, I've seen plenty of Gibsons built to a lower standard.
Pickups? Meh (to quote David Crosby. ) Pickups are a matter of choice people replace pickups to get some their ear likes.
And ears a rather like belly buttons (and opinions) everyone has at least one.
If it doesn't meet with your expectations you can return it for a refund.
If it comes damaged you can return it and they (Rondo) will even pay the shipping when you retutn it.

Where are the Tennessee mountains? I ask because I graduated high school in Ducktown, TN.

I've probably had a couple dozen direct from Rondo up and down the product line. Only one ever arrived too damaged to play.

They made it right very quickly.

Small business level customer service with big business quality gear. They were basically a stand in for the local guitar shop for me being a lefty. Not the selection they used to have, but the product is still great.

The newer AL3k guitars with the coil split are not terrible pickups especially for a little more heavy classic rock to modern rock sound, better than a lot of stock import sets.

They sound excellent through my cheap modded Marshall AVT20 pushing the clean channel to breakup.

I have owned several 2000 and 3000 series AL's over the years, both new ones ordered from Rondo directly, and also used ones. Overall I think they are some of the best LP clones you can find, and they 've been making them for a very long time. Especially the 3000 series with the ebony board and other specs you mentioned - hard to beat the specs for the dollar. I did upgrade the pickups in a 3110, but other than that i never swapped out the stock pickups nor did i really feel the need or want to.

I totally get your sentiment about epiphone too - they have good specs but i simply hate the flat D neck profile. Having said that, they have some pretty interesting models in the 2020 line, i have not had a chance to see any in person though.

The bad with Rondo is that they put their resources into getting consistent/good value instruments imported here. They don't spend much on marketing, their website or of course retail stores as they only sell direct from one source. But i've always been happy with my purchases.

mickey wrote: ↑Wed Oct 14, 2020 2:42 pm I had an AL-3100 but it was too heavy for an old fart like me, so I sold it to a guy in Knoxville.
Agiles are really nice guitars, I've seen plenty of Gibsons built to a lower standard.
Pickups? Meh (to quote David Crosby. ) Pickups are a matter of choice people replace pickups to get some their ear likes.
And ears a rather like belly buttons (and opinions) everyone has at least one.
If it doesn't meet with your expectations you can return it for a refund.
If it comes damaged you can return it and they (Rondo) will even pay the shipping when you retutn it.

Where are the Tennessee mountains? I ask because I graduated high school in Ducktown, TN.

Townsend, TN for the mountains (the peaceful side of the Smokies). I am about ten minutes from the park entrance. I did drive through Ducktown once many years ago. The weight part of it is not a huge deal as I play sitting down most of the time.

Stoli wrote: ↑Wed Oct 14, 2020 4:33 pm
Townsend, TN for the mountains (the peaceful side of the Smokies). I am about ten minutes from the park entrance. I did drive through Ducktown once many years ago. The weight part of it is not a huge deal as I play sitting down most of the time.

I'm rather sure I've driven thru Townsend upon occasion myself. But I don't specifically remember it.
Luck has it that I left the Ducktown area before they uglified it. When the mines closed it became a
"Superfund Site" and looks nothing at all like it did in the 1960's.

I'm down to about three Agiles today. The Harm (my favorite), an AS-1000 which is rather like a Gretsch Electromatic double cut
(except cheaper) and an old Valk before they got the Salvadore Dali treatment. At one time or another I have owned virtually all
the Agiles that were made available to leftys.

Before anyone panics, I still have several SX & Douglas guitars because I've always preferred their models to the Agile selection.
(The guitar in my avatar is an SX GG7.)

The 3100 is a great Les Paul copy for its price range and beyond. If you can swing it though, I think the neck through 3200 is worth the up charge.

Feels like old times again, us all talking about the Agile 3100 and Rondo.

What you should expect to get with an Agile 3100 is a quality South Korean made guitar, something on par with other name brand instruments you may have heard of, like Chapman, Eastwood, LTD, PRS, and Schecter, amongst many others.

There are a few differences however:

* The Agile will cost you about half the price.
* There will be less quality control with the Agile as compared with these other brands. The upshot is that Rondo has a very accommodating return policy.

My personal opinion of the Agile brand is that while the guitars have impressive specs on paper, and do look nice, and do have that "wow" factor for the money spent . . . they nevertheless seem to lack a certain soulfulness. There's something plastic about them, in the same way I find many PRS SE guitars I have played similarly lacking.

Go ahead, feel free to unload on me guys. The truth is, I have Agiles, and I have Epiphones, and I have PRS SEs. When the chips are down I grab first my Gibson, second a favorite modded PRS SE, third a favorite modded Harley Benton, fourth an Epi, and lastly one of my Agiles.

mickey wrote: ↑Wed Oct 14, 2020 5:12 pm

Stoli wrote: ↑Wed Oct 14, 2020 4:33 pm
Townsend, TN for the mountains (the peaceful side of the Smokies). I am about ten minutes from the park entrance. I did drive through Ducktown once many years ago. The weight part of it is not a huge deal as I play sitting down most of the time.

I'm rather sure I've driven thru Townsend upon occasion myself. But I don't specifically remember it.
Luck has it that I left the Ducktown area before they uglified it. When the mines closed it became a
"Superfund Site" and looks nothing at all like it did in the 1960's.

I'm down to about three Agiles today. The Harm (my favorite), an AS-1000 which is rather like a Gretsch Electromatic double cut
(except cheaper) and an old Valk before they got the Salvadore Dali treatment. At one time or another I have owned virtually all
the Agiles that were made available to leftys.

Before anyone panics, I still have several SX & Douglas guitars because I've always preferred their models to the Agile selection.
(The guitar in my avatar is an SX GG7.)

There is not a whole lot of town here. We have an IGA, a Dollar store, a few gas stations, a few restaurants, a few old motels, a dulcimer shop (have no idea how to play one of those things), and several campgrounds. If you come here it is to enjoy the outdoors and hike, camp, trout fish, photography, float the river in warm weather, play golf, or sight see. We do have a music place that now offers two kinds of music with both country and western .

I think the time that I went through Ducktown was in the early 90s in the Winter. I remember it spitting snow and there looked to be a lot of things abandoned around Duck Town as I recall but my memory is a bit fuzzy. The wife and I were going to Helen, GA for the weekend and ended up getting a huge snow and we had to basically detour through Georgia and into North Carolina to finally get back home as I-75 was closed. I think I drove on wet, icy, or snowy roads for about 10 hours that day when we came back home. It was so bad that when we got back to Knoxville that a Krystal was the only thing open and we were starving and had no vittles to speak of at home.

Seems like Rondo used to offer a lot more models than what they do today and seem to sell a lot of those shredder guitars with extra strings or the slanted frets. Not knocking on them as if you have the skills to play those things then I am not worthy. I have looked at their site for several years as I get an email from every couple of weeks. Those Harm guitars looked cool and I like the axe in your avatar. I like the looks of those ash telecasters too.

Stoli wrote: ↑Wed Oct 14, 2020 6:17 pm Seems like Rondo used to offer a lot more models than what they do today and seem to sell a lot of those shredder guitars with extra strings or the slanted frets. Not knocking on them as if you have the skills to play those things then I am not worthy. I have looked at their site for several years as I get an email from every couple of weeks. Those Harm guitars looked cool and I like the axe in your avatar. I like the looks of those ash telecasters too.

They did used to have a lot more offerings, but right now every manufacturer is dealing with shortages of materials, parts, labor and increasing shipping costs. Additionally, whatever they are getting in stock is selling quickly.

Even pre COVID shortages though, Rondo's inventory is very cyclical - and when new things come in there are sometimes a LOT of offerings all at once. And yes, the multi-string/ERG/fan fret business is very good for them so they do have a lot of offerings there.

Bottom line though, that's just the way his business works. If he were to attmept to keep higher levels of inventory in stock all the time, he'd have to raise prices. And to be honest, sometimes the wait/search is half the fun. You will find b-stocks occasionally too, so keep an eye open as they don't last long. And there are generally not too many announcements other than his emails so stuff will just suddently show up. Again - low ( no? ) marketing budget helps keep the costs down.

Stoli wrote: ↑Wed Oct 14, 2020 6:17 pm

There is not a whole lot of town here. We have an IGA, a Dollar store, a few gas stations, a few restaurants, a few old motels, a dulcimer shop (have no idea how to play one of those things), and several campgrounds. If you come here it is to enjoy the outdoors and hike, camp, trout fish, photography, float the river in warm weather, play golf, or sight see. We do have a music place that now offers two kinds of music with both country and western .

I think the time that I went through Ducktown was in the early 90s in the Winter. I remember it spitting snow and there looked to be a lot of things abandoned around Duck Town as I recall but my memory is a bit fuzzy. The wife and I were going to Helen, GA for the weekend and ended up getting a huge snow and we had to basically detour through Georgia and into North Carolina to finally get back home as I-75 was closed. I think I drove on wet, icy, or snowy roads for about 10 hours that day when we came back home. It was so bad that when we got back to Knoxville that a Krystal was the only thing open and we were starving and had no vittles to speak of at home.

Seems like Rondo used to offer a lot more models than what they do today and seem to sell a lot of those shredder guitars with extra strings or the slanted frets. Not knocking on them as if you have the skills to play those things then I am not worthy. I have looked at their site for several years as I get an email from every couple of weeks. Those Harm guitars looked cool and I like the axe in your avatar. I like the looks of those ash telecasters too.

I feel for you! Helen is NOT a place I would like to visit during a blizzard (or any other time for that matter.) My father & I used to go to Helen in late summer/early fall every year
because Dad knew a farmer over there who grew sorghum cane and made sorghum syrup on his farm. Nobody liked fresh, homemade sorghum syrup better than my dad did.
Got to admit I sorta like it myself on a hot biscuit slathered with real butter.

The reason I say I'm sure I've been thru Townsend is because in the 1950's & 60's (and probably later decades) we had huge family reunions every summer. My great-great grandfather
and his twin brother married twin sisters & each couple went on to have no fewer than a dozen kids. The reunions were of the offspring of those two couples. They rotated between
Maryville, TN, Blue Ridge, GA & Gainesville, GA because literally hundreds of people showed up every year (and there were family in those three places with home/farm/estate large
enough to host a gathering like that. My father never liked to drive somewhere and return by the same route. Thus I am certain we either went to or returned from Maryville thru Townsend.

My late wife's family were from the wrong side of the mountains. We buried her father in the family cemetery in Pigeon Forge back in 1984.

Anyway, you never saw the Ducktown I remember. The following picture was taken part way along the driveway between the main road (in the upper right of the pic)
and the high school I attended. It was taken in the 1960's.
There were somewhere between 50 & 60 square miles like that.

You will notice a lot of lefty's on this forum which is because Rondo used to keep a better inventory of left handed guitars in stock than anyone.
Then he discovered those EGR things with too many strings, fan frets and just generally dumb looking and forgot all about leftys. Bummer.

The one time to expect something to come into stock tomorrow is when Kurt at Rondo tells you there will never be any more of them.

My Harm & AS-1000's, both goldtops.

mickey wrote: ↑Wed Oct 14, 2020 7:09 pm

Stoli wrote: ↑Wed Oct 14, 2020 6:17 pm

There is not a whole lot of town here. We have an IGA, a Dollar store, a few gas stations, a few restaurants, a few old motels, a dulcimer shop (have no idea how to play one of those things), and several campgrounds. If you come here it is to enjoy the outdoors and hike, camp, trout fish, photography, float the river in warm weather, play golf, or sight see. We do have a music place that now offers two kinds of music with both country and western .

I think the time that I went through Ducktown was in the early 90s in the Winter. I remember it spitting snow and there looked to be a lot of things abandoned around Duck Town as I recall but my memory is a bit fuzzy. The wife and I were going to Helen, GA for the weekend and ended up getting a huge snow and we had to basically detour through Georgia and into North Carolina to finally get back home as I-75 was closed. I think I drove on wet, icy, or snowy roads for about 10 hours that day when we came back home. It was so bad that when we got back to Knoxville that a Krystal was the only thing open and we were starving and had no vittles to speak of at home.

Seems like Rondo used to offer a lot more models than what they do today and seem to sell a lot of those shredder guitars with extra strings or the slanted frets. Not knocking on them as if you have the skills to play those things then I am not worthy. I have looked at their site for several years as I get an email from every couple of weeks. Those Harm guitars looked cool and I like the axe in your avatar. I like the looks of those ash telecasters too.

I feel for you! Helen is NOT a place I would like to visit during a blizzard (or any other time for that matter.) My father & I used to go to Helen in late summer/early fall every year
because Dad knew a farmer over there who grew sorghum cane and made sorghum syrup on his farm. Nobody liked fresh, homemade sorghum syrup better than my dad did.
Got to admit I sorta like it myself on a hot biscuit slathered with real butter.

The reason I say I'm sure I've been thru Townsend is because in the 1950's & 60's (and probably later decades) we had huge family reunions every summer. My great-great grandfather
and his twin brother married twin sisters & each couple went on to have no fewer than a dozen kids. The reunions were of the offspring of those two couples. They rotated between
Maryville, TN, Blue Ridge, GA & Gainesville, GA because literally hundreds of people showed up every year (and there were family in those three places with home/farm/estate large
enough to host a gathering like that. My father never liked to drive somewhere and return by the same route. Thus I am certain we either went to or returned from Maryville thru Townsend.

My late wife's family were from the wrong side of the mountains. We buried her father in the family cemetery in Pigeon Forge back in 1984.

Anyway, you never saw the Ducktown I remember. The following picture was taken part way along the driveway between the main road (in the upper right of the pic)
and the high school I attended. It was taken in the 1960's.

copperhill3.jpg

There were somewhere between 50 & 60 square miles like that.

You will notice a lot of lefty's on this forum which is because Rondo used to keep a better inventory of left handed guitars in stock than anyone.
Then he discovered those EGR things with too many strings, fan frets and just generally dumb looking and forgot all about leftys. Bummer.

The one time to expect something to come into stock tomorrow is when Kurt at Rondo tells you there will never be any more of them.

My Harm & AS-1000's, both goldtops.



Agile-Harm-2JPG.jpg

I do remember seeing a piece of wasteland that looked something like the picture you show and then driving through some little town that seemed to be closed and I guess I thought that was Duck Town. It looked like a nuclear bomb had went off in the area where all you saw was dirt and erosion. That was a long time ago and a shame to see land left like that.

If you were in Maryville (the locals pronounce it something like "Murville)" then you likely came through Townsend if you came or went from the park. There is no wrong side of the mountains in my view. It is all good. Traffic and commercialism is just not as bad here and if you have kids that like to play in an amusement park and wives that like to shop then the Pigeon Forge thing is fine. I do remember when there was hardly anything there. Dolly Parton is a big thing over in Pigeon Forge.

I sort of get the lefty thing to as I am sort of odd in that I do some things left and some things right. When I was a child I threw a ball right handed but could not hit one right handed. Eventually my father figured out that I was a lefty with a bat and a righty throwing. I thought I was a really weird kid until I read about a few MLB players that were like me where they threw right and batted left. I play golf with left hand clubs and eventually found a set of Ping lefties that work for me. With guitar I was not sure which way to try to learn until someone told me more or less that it didn't matter as you would have to build muscle memory either way and it probably made more sense to learn righty as most equipment was made that way so that is what I did. I do understand from golf though how hard it can be to find things for lefties. Although, I got my Ping clubs for next to nothing because the lefty market is limited.

I am thinking about ordering that lemon drop LP but am going to sleep on it.

mickey wrote: ↑Wed Oct 14, 2020 7:09 pm

Stoli wrote: ↑Wed Oct 14, 2020 6:17 pm

There is not a whole lot of town here. We have an IGA, a Dollar store, a few gas stations, a few restaurants, a few old motels, a dulcimer shop (have no idea how to play one of those things), and several campgrounds. If you come here it is to enjoy the outdoors and hike, camp, trout fish, photography, float the river in warm weather, play golf, or sight see. We do have a music place that now offers two kinds of music with both country and western .

I think the time that I went through Ducktown was in the early 90s in the Winter. I remember it spitting snow and there looked to be a lot of things abandoned around Duck Town as I recall but my memory is a bit fuzzy. The wife and I were going to Helen, GA for the weekend and ended up getting a huge snow and we had to basically detour through Georgia and into North Carolina to finally get back home as I-75 was closed. I think I drove on wet, icy, or snowy roads for about 10 hours that day when we came back home. It was so bad that when we got back to Knoxville that a Krystal was the only thing open and we were starving and had no vittles to speak of at home.

Seems like Rondo used to offer a lot more models than what they do today and seem to sell a lot of those shredder guitars with extra strings or the slanted frets. Not knocking on them as if you have the skills to play those things then I am not worthy. I have looked at their site for several years as I get an email from every couple of weeks. Those Harm guitars looked cool and I like the axe in your avatar. I like the looks of those ash telecasters too.

I feel for you! Helen is NOT a place I would like to visit during a blizzard (or any other time for that matter.) My father & I used to go to Helen in late summer/early fall every year
because Dad knew a farmer over there who grew sorghum cane and made sorghum syrup on his farm. Nobody liked fresh, homemade sorghum syrup better than my dad did.
Got to admit I sorta like it myself on a hot biscuit slathered with real butter.

The reason I say I'm sure I've been thru Townsend is because in the 1950's & 60's (and probably later decades) we had huge family reunions every summer. My great-great grandfather
and his twin brother married twin sisters & each couple went on to have no fewer than a dozen kids. The reunions were of the offspring of those two couples. They rotated between
Maryville, TN, Blue Ridge, GA & Gainesville, GA because literally hundreds of people showed up every year (and there were family in those three places with home/farm/estate large
enough to host a gathering like that. My father never liked to drive somewhere and return by the same route. Thus I am certain we either went to or returned from Maryville thru Townsend.

My late wife's family were from the wrong side of the mountains. We buried her father in the family cemetery in Pigeon Forge back in 1984.

Anyway, you never saw the Ducktown I remember. The following picture was taken part way along the driveway between the main road (in the upper right of the pic)
and the high school I attended. It was taken in the 1960's.

copperhill3.jpg

There were somewhere between 50 & 60 square miles like that.

You will notice a lot of lefty's on this forum which is because Rondo used to keep a better inventory of left handed guitars in stock than anyone.
Then he discovered those EGR things with too many strings, fan frets and just generally dumb looking and forgot all about leftys. Bummer.

The one time to expect something to come into stock tomorrow is when Kurt at Rondo tells you there will never be any more of them.

My Harm & AS-1000's, both goldtops.



Agile-Harm-2JPG.jpg

I do remember seeing a piece of wasteland that looked something like the picture you show and then driving through some little town that seemed to be closed and I guess I thought that was Duck Town. It looked like a nuclear bomb had went off in the area where all you saw was dirt and erosion. That was a long time ago and a shame to see land left like that.

If you were in Maryville (the locals pronounce it something like "Murville)" then you likely came through Townsend if you came or went from the park. There is no wrong side of the mountains in my view. It is all good. Traffic and commercialism is just not as bad here and if you have kids that like to play in an amusement park and wives that like to shop then the Pigeon Forge thing is fine. I do remember when there was hardly anything there. Dolly Parton is a big thing over in Pigeon Forge.

I sort of get the lefty thing to as I am sort of odd in that I do some things left and some things right. When I was a child I threw a ball right handed but could not hit one right handed. Eventually my father figured out that I was a lefty with a bat and a righty throwing. I thought I was a really weird kid until I read about a few MLB players that were like me where they threw right and batted left. I play golf with left hand clubs and eventually found a set of Ping lefties that work for me. With guitar I was not sure which way to try to learn until someone told me more or less that it didn't matter as you would have to build muscle memory either way and it probably made more sense to learn righty as most equipment was made that way so that is what I did. I do understand from golf though how hard it can be to find things for lefties. Although, I got my Ping clubs for next to nothing because the lefty market is limited.

I am thinking about ordering that lemon drop LP but am going to sleep on it.

Thank all of you for your comments and perspective. I do not expect an Agile to be a high end Gibson. With most things you get what you pay for and if you research a little and so long as you understand what to expect then all parties are happy. I would buy a Gibson if I could find a walnut "The Paul", a Tribute, or a Special Pro at a good price that is not worn out or modified to where I did not know what I was getting. I am not finding much of interest on the used market on Reverb, Facebook Market Place, or Craigslist that is in my area. They will generally offer you a beat up guitar at more than the market price for a guitar that is in good shape.

uwmcscott-I get the supply chain issue and not to get off in the weeds but I deal with it all the time in the work that I do especially with the Covid issues in the industry that I work in. Things that you would never think of being in short supply either are or have been for several months and it points out a lot of things about economics, human nature, and logistics that you would not ordinarily think of.

honyock-Thank you for your insight. If you read one of my replies to Mickey I think you can sort of understand that I understand the struggles of lefties to some extent in that I do some things from the left and others from the right.

Chocol8-I have to admit that I am intrigued with the through neck. I would want to handle one and play it before going down that road as I have no experience with that type of LP copy. A lot of people seem to agree with you on the through necks and I might look at that someday.

toomanycats-I have two cats and sometimes I think they are two too many but they are mostly pretty good ole boys. I appreciate your frank comments. I have a neighbor that has a PRS SE green colored semi-hollow guitar and that thing smokes. I like PRS Korean guitars.

Mickey-Thank you for your comments and we probably bored the others to death talking about obscure towns in Tennessee. I like your guitars and stories.

If anyone else wants to chime in then please do so. I appreciate honest takes on things.

One other thing. I really like the neck on my Eastman with the ebony fretboard. It also has a slightly wider neck than what is on most Epiphones. Some say it is harder to play chords on but I do not find that to be the case for me. Also, another thing I like is that I can finger pick my Eastman pretty easily but find that somewhat harder with my Jay Turser. I know that finger picking is not usually associated with electric guitars but I like to dabble with it some.

Stoli wrote: ↑Wed Oct 14, 2020 9:35 pm One other thing. I really like the neck on my Eastman with the ebony fretboard. It also has a slightly wider neck than what is on most Epiphones. Some say it is harder to play chords on but I do not find that to be the case for me. Also, another thing I like is that I can finger pick my Eastman pretty easily but find that somewhat harder with my Jay Turser. I know that finger picking is not usually associated with electric guitars but I like to dabble with it some.

I've never heard anyone say that a wider neck made chords more difficult, as the opposite is in fact true.
You will find that people who play mostly using chords (finger pickers, chord melody pickers, rhythm guitarists, etc) tend to go for wider necks.
The reason being that you are less apt to inadvertently mute a string with a finger that is on the next string over with a wider neck.
My experience has always been it is people who play one string at a time like B.B. King or shredders that go for narrower necks.
Willie Nelson's famous "Trigger" has a 2 1/4" neck width (measured at the nut.) I had Martin make me a copy of that guitar back in 2002
but with a 1 7/8" neck because 2 1/4" is just too wide for me!

I ended up ordering the lemon burst 3100. I am excited to see what this guitar looks like, feels, and plays. I expect that it will deliver sometime next week as it is stock if I understand correctly. I really debated about buying a case but decided to mostly to help ensure that the guitar does not get wrecked in shipping. Also, I think I will likely own some sort of Les Paul style guitar that the case would likely fit.

Stoli wrote: ↑Thu Oct 15, 2020 3:35 pm I ended up ordering the lemon burst 3100. I am excited to see what this guitar looks like, feels, and plays. I expect that it will deliver sometime next week as it is stock if I understand correctly. I really debated about buying a case but decided to mostly to help ensure that the guitar does not get wrecked in shipping. Also, I think I will likely own some sort of Les Paul style guitar that the case would likely fit.

Congratulations! May you enjoy it in good health for years to come!

Er, uh, you do understand that everything here is just a rumor until we see pictures?

Sound like you know how poorly packed guitars are when they leave Rondo?
I have never ordered from them without a case except for those times when no case was available.

I thought the AD-3200 was boxed pretty well. Not like they used to be with a thin layer of paper.

Congratulations on getting the 3100mmc. I have one myself and think it's an exceptional guitar. It's amazing all features they come with for the money. Mine weighs in at just about 8lbs, so not too heavy. Can't wait to hear about yours (and see pictures).

mickey wrote: ↑Thu Oct 15, 2020 4:38 am

Stoli wrote: ↑Wed Oct 14, 2020 9:35 pm One other thing. I really like the neck on my Eastman with the ebony fretboard. It also has a slightly wider neck than what is on most Epiphones. Some say it is harder to play chords on but I do not find that to be the case for me. Also, another thing I like is that I can finger pick my Eastman pretty easily but find that somewhat harder with my Jay Turser. I know that finger picking is not usually associated with electric guitars but I like to dabble with it some.

I've never heard anyone say that a wider neck made chords more difficult, as the opposite is in fact true.
You will find that people who play mostly using chords (finger pickers, chord melody pickers, rhythm guitarists, etc) tend to go for wider necks.
The reason being that you are less apt to inadvertently mute a string with a finger that is on the next string over with a wider neck.
My experience has always been it is people who play one string at a time like B.B. King or shredders that go for narrower necks.
Willie Nelson's famous "Trigger" has a 2 1/4" neck width (measured at the nut.) I had Martin make me a copy of that guitar back in 2002
but with a 1 7/8" neck because 2 1/4" is just too wide for me!

I actually read that someplace on the internet . I think what you are saying is spot on from my perspective and I remember getting my fingers tangled up in strings trying to learn to play chords. Over time I adjusted but big chords are easier to play on my Eastman. The single note thing is probably about the same for me but I do not play that sort of thing fast enough to probably notice a difference. I practice and play rhythm much more than scales or noodling over things and I find my Eastman guitar the easiest to play with a wider neck/nut. My little parlor guitar has a short but chunky neck on it. It works well for finger picking. It sounds like the Agile neck will be slightly more narrow but a much more substantial neck compared to what is on my Jay Turser. The neck on my Jay Turser is very similar to the necks on the Epiphone SG guitars.

Maybe it depends on your hand size or strength. I remember it taking me months to learn to play barre chords and had to train my hand to do that. I probably have average size palms but fairly long and skinny fingers.

Welcome to AGF. I've got a few of both the JT-220 and AL-3100MCC (as well as other Agile models), the weights are close enough so that you wouldn't notice any difference, nut widths are the same (1 11/16") but the Agile neck profile is beefier. I'm not the biggest fan of the stock pickups in the AL-3100MCC but they're certainly more than serviceable and I'd be surprised if you had any issues with them. My JT-220s are built well and would say that they're at the top end of imports in that class. However, the Agile is a higher quality instrument and other than the pickups, on par with or better than any Gibson LPs that I have with list prices from $600-$6000...

mickey wrote: ↑Thu Oct 15, 2020 3:44 pm

Stoli wrote: ↑Thu Oct 15, 2020 3:35 pm I ended up ordering the lemon burst 3100. I am excited to see what this guitar looks like, feels, and plays. I expect that it will deliver sometime next week as it is stock if I understand correctly. I really debated about buying a case but decided to mostly to help ensure that the guitar does not get wrecked in shipping. Also, I think I will likely own some sort of Les Paul style guitar that the case would likely fit.

Congratulations! May you enjoy it in good health for years to come!

Er, uh, you do understand that everything here is just a rumor until we see pictures?

Sound like you know how poorly packed guitars are when they leave Rondo?
I have never ordered from them without a case except for those times when no case was available.

I hope to enjoy it for years to come and especially hope for good health. I will try to post some pictures when it arrives. I love looking at instruments that people buy or just looking at things on Reverb. Never know what you will see. Rondo pictures are not the greatest so I am not really sure what the guitar will actually look like but I am not overly particular with colors, grains, etc. Sweetwater seems to offer the best quality pictures that I have seen. Have never bought a guitar from them but I usually order strings from them and bought my amp from them.

On the shipping, the charge was $29.19. Unless they have some super deal negotiated with UPS or Fedex then that is very cheap to ship a guitar and case. I know from a job that I previously had that shipping large items like a guitar is expensive. I also know that things can get really torn up with all the logistics that go into shipping things. I would hope that Rondo has done this long enough to do their best on their side. I ordered my Eastman online from a dealer in New York and they packed the guitar really well in its case in a heavy cardboard box with a lot of bubble wrap and those foam peanuts. With that said, they cannot do anything about some heavy box falling on their package once it gets to a truck or distribution center.

tobijohn wrote: ↑Thu Oct 15, 2020 6:34 pm Welcome to AGF. I've got a few of both the JT-220 and AL-3100MCC (as well as other Agile models), the weights are close enough so that you wouldn't notice any difference, nut widths are the same (1 11/16") but the Agile neck profile is beefier. I'm not the biggest fan of the stock pickups in the AL-3100MCC but they're certainly more than serviceable and I'd be surprised if you had any issues with them. My JT-220s are built well and would say that they're at the top end of imports in that class. However, the Agile is a higher quality instrument and other than the pickups, on par with or better than any Gibson LPs that I have with list prices from $600-$6000...

That is very encouraging to hear from someone that owns the same instrument that I do at present as well as the one that I ordered. Will see, but I expect that the Agile will have better hardware than the JT. Other than some mud on the bridge pickup the pickups are fine on my JT but I do not have a great ear. I have found that you can work around pickups to some extent with the little modeling amp that I have. I love hearing a warm blues bend and slides. I have never weighed them but my JT feels lighter than my Eastman guitar. Not sure what woods it is made of but the Eastman is all solid maple and maple laminates except for the ebony fretboard.

In just looking around, I don't think that Jay Turser sells a Les Paul copy anymore or if they do I am not seeing them online. Could be a supply chain thing. It was a great instrument to learn with but the frets have really worn on mine but it has been played a lot.

I've got a 3100,ocean burst lefty. I picked up and I love the thing all 10 pounds of it. I will say that with the pickups spend the time to adjust and fiddle around if they seem a little off . I love mine after getting them set or consider a magnet swap.