NGD: 2018 AL-3100MCC Oceanburst Flame MN

[Lacking Talent]

Click to embiggen!

[BatUtilityBelt]

Nice looking flame!

[AnotherJim]

Sweet looking. Brand new or new “used”?

[thepezident]

Click to embiggen!

[Lacking Talent]

Sweet looking. Brand new or new “used”?

It's a one-owner 2018 that was ordered direct from Rondo (with case), and is being described as "never gigged, never left the house, lives in its case, and still Like New." We shall see!

[jam]

Absolutely Love That!

[Lacking Talent]

Thanks, I'm super excited about it -- been looking for a maple 'board Oceanburst Flame for years now, but never really expected to find an AL-3100MCC Oceanburst Flame MN with a full thickness (and no veneer) flametop that gorgeous, with pickguard, its hardware and (supposedly) spotless case included, for such a nice price that it'd be impolite of me to disclose it. Can only hope the 'burst looks in person like it does in the photo, the claimed 8.13 pounds (sans pickguard and mounting bracket) is accurate, and that this one's a player and not a clunker.

[Gergo]

Thanks, I'm super excited about it -- been looking for a maple 'board Oceanburst Flame for years now, but never really expected to find an AL-3100MCC MN with a full thickness (and no veneer) flametop that gorgeous, with pickguard, its hardware and (supposedly) spotless case included, for such a nice price that it'd be impolite of me to disclose it. Can only hope the 'burst looks in person like it does in the photo, the claimed 8 pounds 1.3 ounces weight (sans pickguard and mounting bracket) is accurate, and that this one's a player and not a clunker.

That's a nice guitar and great score! I do need to mention thought that it does have a veneer top. That is not a solid flame maple cap. It's a solid plain maple cap with a flame maple veneer. Just to let you know. But the important thing is that it does have a maple cap

[Lacking Talent]

Well, the seller remains adamant that there's no veneer on the maple cap of this 2018 example and I haven't taken delivery of the guitar yet, so, given how surprisingly variable Rondo's (advertised versus IRL) specs can be on occasion -- as I'd imagine many of us have experienced (I know I certainly have) -- I guess I'll have to give the fella the benefit of the doubt until I ever get around to maybe pulling the neck pickup and having a little look see. I'm not worried about it, to tell you the truth -- AFAIC, if it sounds good, it is good.

[Lacking Talent]

Finally arrived, here are some outdoor pics...















Weighs in at an actual 9.2 lb on my digital home scale (which matches that of a nearby The UPS Store, so I know it's accurate), as opposed to the seller's claimed 8.13 lb. As a result, a photographed and then texted experiment was conducted this afternoon involving the seller's scale and some fixed-weight dumbbells and a varied poundage of weight plates this afternoon, which quickly proved that his scale can no longer be accurately zeroed and needs to be tossed into the trash ASAP. Anyway, still manageable at this weight, but not what I was expecting, nor my personal preference of under 8.5 lb, so a bit of a bummer.

On the plus side? Insanely playable "slim taper" style neckage with very low, buzz free action over the welcomingly smooth maple 'board (not sure if those are nines or tens on it right now, but they're clearly new, so I'll play them till they dull and then see what or how or even if anything changes once I get my regular set strung up). Big, warm, 3-D LP tone from the two (I presume Artec) humbuckers, and rather spanky -- even credibly twangy -- tones on their coil split settings. Also a big plus: well, I mean, not to be too shallow, but, c'mon, just look at the thing. Oh, and the case is in great shape, and its internal "velvet" shroud is super-thick, which was a nice surprise.

May swap the GraphTech saddles out for aluminum as an overall brightener (unless I install the Schaller Les Paul Tremolo that I recently acquired, in which case I'll probably need the self-lubing slidyness of the stock saddles), and I think I've got some cream colored barrel shaped speed knobs around here somewhere to replace the awful dark amber top hat stockers. If this one ends up being a keeper (again, the weight), I'll have to give some thought about whether to do away with the black headstock paint, which really kills the whole "MN" vibe; maybe a black pickguard with multi-ply cream and black binding to balance things out visually in the meantime'd be worth a try.

Anyway, great guitar, bit physically (not tonally) bottom heavy (granted, for me), am still super stoked with the results of the transaction given the cost and the impossibility of tryin' before buyin'. Hope y'all enjoy the pix.

[Razzle]

I almost pulled the trigger on a ocean 3200 maple neck with a Floyd, MAN I wish I would have!!!

[tobijohn]

Gorgeous guitar, I still need an Agile with that finish. As for specs, I think all the MCCs have a slightly thinner body and the pickups are most likely G&Bs. Also, don't be surprised if all four pots are linear too (as opposed to audio for tone and linear for volume). I'd be interested to know if in fact it was a solid maple cap. There were definitely exceptions to that in the mid and late 2000s when I heard even a few AL-2000s had maple caps but I suspect @Gergo is correct. Anyway, it really doesn't matter as you get the same tonal effect with a maple veneer over a a maple cap anyway...

[Lacking Talent]

Gorgeous guitar, I still need an Agile with that finish. As for specs, I think all the MCCs have a slightly thinner body and the pickups are most likely G&Bs. Also, don't be surprised if all four pots are linear too (as opposed to audio for tone and linear for volume). I'd be interested to know if in fact it was a solid maple cap. There were definitely exceptions to that in the mid and late 2000s when I heard even a few AL-2000s had maple caps but I suspect @Gergo is correct. Anyway, it really doesn't matter as you get the same tonal effect with a maple veneer over a a maple cap anyway...

Actually has a 1-3/4" edge depth all the way around (i.e., thicker than the 1-1/2" advertised on the Rondo site's product page), linear volume pots (as you surmised) which I'm going to play with as is for a while before deciding whether to do anything about or not, will peek into the pickup cavity when I next put on new strings and see if I can determine whether the tippy top is a veneer. Meantime, enjoy the new knobs...!

[Lacking Talent]

A few finishing touches. Can anyone spot them after embiggening this pic to its max size in a new tab...?

[artandsoul]

how did you get the headstock to match the neck?! looks so nice!

[Partscaster]

That new headstock finish looks very professional.
Nice trussrod cover. wow.

[tobijohn]

Yes, nice headstock treatment. How exactly did you do that?

[nomadh]

Finally arrived, here are some outdoor pics...















Weighs in at an actual 9.2 lb on my digital home scale (which matches that of a nearby The UPS Store, so I know it's accurate), as opposed to the seller's claimed 8.13 lb. As a result, a photographed and then texted experiment was conducted this afternoon involving the seller's scale and some fixed-weight dumbbells and a varied poundage of weight plates this afternoon, which quickly proved that his scale can no longer be accurately zeroed and needs to be tossed into the trash ASAP. Anyway, still manageable at this weight, but not what I was expecting, nor my personal preference of under 8.5 lb, so a bit of a bummer.

On the plus side? Insanely playable "slim taper" style neckage with very low, buzz free action over the welcomingly smooth maple 'board (not sure if those are nines or tens on it right now, but they're clearly new, so I'll play them till they dull and then see what or how or even if anything changes once I get my regular set strung up). Big, warm, 3-D LP tone from the two (I presume Artec) humbuckers, and rather spanky -- even credibly twangy -- tones on their coil split settings. Also a big plus: well, I mean, not to be too shallow, but, c'mon, just look at the thing. Oh, and the case is in great shape, and its internal "velvet" shroud is super-thick, which was a nice surprise.

May swap the GraphTech saddles out for aluminum as an overall brightener (unless I install the Schaller Les Paul Tremolo that I recently acquired, in which case I'll probably need the self-lubing slidyness of the stock saddles), and I think I've got some cream colored barrel shaped speed knobs around here somewhere to replace the awful dark amber top hat stockers. If this one ends up being a keeper (again, the weight), I'll have to give some thought about whether to do away with the black headstock paint, which really kills the whole "MN" vibe; maybe a black pickguard with multi-ply cream and black binding to balance things out visually in the meantime'd be worth a try.

Anyway, great guitar, bit physically (not tonally) bottom heavy (granted, for me), am still super stoked with the results of the transaction given the cost and the impossibility of tryin' before buyin'. Hope y'all enjoy the pix.

8.1 lb would make it sort of a miracle agile. 9.2 is still great. My agile and My gibson are both 9.5
I so absolutely don't want another lp but I love that look and if it's near the price I expect even I would have snapped it.

[redman]

Beautiful guitar I had a AL3200 I totally regret selling.

[Lacking Talent]

how did you get the headstock to match the neck?! looks so nice!

Yes, nice headstock treatment. How exactly did you do that?

Sandpaper (to remove the horrendous black finish), bleach (to lighten the mahogany neck wood), inexpensive inlay-matching press-on vinyl decals (made as copies of Agile brand logo and fleur-de-lis images available for free online), a little translucent paint (to get a nice color match up with the guitar's nut, binding and other plastics), and a glossy coat of clear poly (for protection and to match the sheen of the guitar's top, back and neck). Ninety clams for my guy to do it (as I don't have the time, skill, or patience for this kind of work -- only the eye and the aesthetic).

Long story short? This is how I think maple 'board LP-style guitars (which I love) should come from the factory, because an ocean of black paint above the nut looks awful to me -- unless the nut, binding, and all the other plastics are black, as well, what you end up with is just a big blob of unharmonious visual discontinuity that essentially "cuts the guitar's head off," if you will. Plus, I was lucky enough to have bought the guitar for so (relatively) little that, even with this additional cosmetic expense, the thing still feels like it was a bargain buy!

[Lacking Talent]

That new headstock finish looks very professional.
Nice trussrod cover. wow.

Thanks! Here are closeups of both in case you're interested...





BTW, for anyone looking to replace their AL-series' TRC, the only correct size and shape I found to be a match was those made for ESP / Horizon guitars, so, I guess we know at least a couple of the other product lines made in the Korean facility where this era of AL was built.

[dabbler]

...
Long story short? This is how I think maple 'board LP-style guitars (which I love) should come from the factory, because an ocean of black paint above the nut looks awful to me -- unless the nut, binding, and all the other plastics are black, as well, what you end up with is just a big blob of unharmonious visual discontinuity that essentially "cuts the guitar's head off," if you will. ...

I tend to agree:

but I like matched headstocks better:

[Partscaster]

Great job.

[Lacking Talent]

...
Long story short? This is how I think maple 'board LP-style guitars (which I love) should come from the factory, because an ocean of black paint above the nut looks awful to me -- unless the nut, binding, and all the other plastics are black, as well, what you end up with is just a big blob of unharmonious visual discontinuity that essentially "cuts the guitar's head off," if you will. ...

I tend to agree:

IMGP0240.JPG

but I like matched headstocks better:

IMGP0814.JPG

IMGP0815.JPG

I'm totally with you on the matching headstock thing...























...But for a guitar of such humble provenance as this bought-Used-Like-New AL-3100MCC of mine, though, I felt the expense of the materials and labor costs for a similarly-figured flame maple veneer, and the color dyes required to match the top's 'burst, were just a bridge too far.

[tobijohn]

@Lacking Talent , what is that double cutaway, triple toaster semi-hollow? I've never seen one of those before, TIA...