RS Guitars Customer Reviews
RS Guitars December 5, 2005
This is a complete review of the RS Classic I received in November:
Having always been a big fan of the unique "Brian May" sound, I purchased a Burns signature edition early this year. Although it was close in sound and looks to what I was hoping for, a few things seriously disappointed me. The tremolo, for one, was all wrong and the sound, although close, did not have the sustain or power I expected. It was a good value, but did not meet my needs. It did, however, spur my curiosity about how to get a quality RS style guitar without spending 8-10 thousand dollars or building one myself. This led me to the RS Guitars web site. After reading reviews and viewing the photographs, I took the plunge and ordered an RS Classic in the original red finish and standard specs. This was back in April.
After an anxious wait, the guitar arrived safely to my address in November. Having had some painful experiences ordering guitars online (damaged on arrival, etc.) I opened the well packed box with my fingers crossed. The case was sturdy and very handsome. I immediately felt that this was something of high quality, which gave me a big smile as I opened the latches.
Upon opening the case, the only word I can truly think of to describe what I felt was "WOW". Absolutely stunning. The "original red" color was much closer to its namesake than the photographs I saw. Depending on the light, the color has hints of brown, orange, and red just like the guitar it was patterned after. The grain of the mahogany shows through beautifully. Comparing the first impression looks of the RS to the Burns was like comparing a Rolls Royce to a Chevy. The workmanship and quality just leaps out at you.
In picking it up and playing a few chords I immediately noticed two things. 1.) This is the biggest neck I have ever felt and 2.) The guitar was in tune. As for the first, I couldn't believe the girth of this neck, or how and easy it was to play. It's a strange but yet comfortable feeling that's hard to explain. Bends are so much easier than I've been used to and there is no "buzz" or dead spots anywhere on the neck. As for the second, the guitar arrived on the coldest day we'd had so far so the fact that it held its standard tuning throughout the long and "climate changing" journey from Tucson to Chicago is a real testament to this guitar's tuning stability. I checked the entire guitar for imperfections in finish, binding, straightness of the neck, and set-up but could find none (and I'm EXTREMELY picky). My only "non-perfect" discovery was that the volume and tone knobs have a "warble" to them when turned. Not a big deal though. All other hardware (pickups, bridge, switches, etc.) was perfect. Now to plug it in….
Plugged the RS into a hand-wired Vox AC30 (with treble booster, of course), turned the guitar volume all the way down and turned the amp volume to 10 (max). I slowly raised the guitar volume and was amazed at the clear, chimey, tone. I wasn't expecting the tone to be that far from the Burns I own but I was surprised at the improvement. The individual notes within a chord are clear and articulate, while, even at relatively low volume, the pickups project power and sustain. I continued to raise the guitar volume until I achieved a crunchy rhythm tone a la "Tie Your Mother Down". Absolutely brilliant. The guitar has a rich balanced tone that sounds very "3-D" if that makes any sense. The rich harmonics provide the texture that I was sorely missing with the other guitar. It wasn't thin or tinny (as I had been accustomed to) but very full and textured. The next thing to do was to run it wide open, which I normally cannot do because when I have tried that in the past, the squeal was intolerable no matter where I was standing. Well, I was pleasantly surprised that, with all volume full up, no feedback was present (and I was standing approx. 2 ft. from the amp). Again, all I can say is "amazing". A little bit of "We Will Rock You" confirmed that THIS was THE sound. The smooth violin-like saturated sound I always wanted. The sustain lasts FOREVER. Not feedback, not noise, but sustain. It goes on until you stop it. However the body cavities are positioned, it nails the tone and sustain spot on. The tremolo works as it should. Performed a few "dive bombs" and it returned to pitch perfectly.
The last test was to try all the different pickup positions in a variety of ways. In every case, the tone was far superior to what I was used to. The out-of-phase settings in particular, are far more usable on this guitar because of the fullness and sustain. In the past I found these settings to be tinny and lack the body you hear in say, Bohemian Rhapsody, but with the RS it screams without sounding limp.
I'm sure it's obvious by now that I am extremely impressed with this guitar. The feel, finish, and overall build quality demonstrates the best workmanship I've seen in a long time. Much better than Gibsons or Fenders at the same price point and better than many guitars I have played from "custom shops" costing far more. The sound was better than I had prepared myself for. For anyone thinking they have the Brian May sound duplicated with lesser equipment, this guitar will tell you what you've been missing. For other sounds, the RS is so unique and versatile due to its plethora of pickup combinations that it makes it very easy to dial in blues, jazz, classic rock, and even country. Steve Turpin and RS Guitars were very responsive to my questions and very patient when I couldn't stand the wait. I was a bit nervous about buying a guitar I'd never seen or held, but I couldn't be happier with this purchase.
Thanks to the RS Guitars Team and Steve Turpin,
Sincerely,
Steve Woods
Illinois
December 5, 2005
RS Classic
Hi, my name is Alex Bolte; I'm from Germany and received my RS classic a couple weeks ago. Here is a review of my thoughts about it.
First I have to say that I was insecure to order a custom made guitar from overseas. But friends took my doubts away as they knew about the high quality of the RS guitars and one of them knows the people from RS very well and owns a RS Custom. (Thanks Mark and Peter). So I ordered.
First impressions
6 months later my RS classic arrived safely here, finally! I opened the case and was really amazed at the beauty of the guitar. It came in a black leather case of high quality. I stared at it from all sides. The first thing I noticed was that this is really a high class instrument. Everything is very well made. The finish is plain as glass and absolutely flawless. The front of the headstock bears the unassuming and nice RS Guitars logo in gold letters. The new bridge is a lot better than the previous. Very stable, more solid and straight (The previous was a slanted). The whole setup was fantastic right out the case. It was not even out of tune!! Such a high quality that I've only seen on guitars that are at least double the price. A real jewel.
The tremolo arm is not fixed to avoid damages during the overseas delivery. It's well described in the manual how to mount the tremolo arm. If this isn't enough there's also a drawing of it included.
Also the pickup surrounds are not mounted, as the pickup height has to be adjusted to personal preferences first. After this the pickup surrounds will cover the screwholes. It has to be mentioned that you have to be a little bit handy to make the pickup surrounds fit around the pickups. Some careful sandpaper work is required here. But this all is quite easy to do.
Sound
I played the first chords unplugged to hear the sustain and sound character. I was strumming a G chord. Amazing! The whole guitar seemed to vibrate from the body to the headstock. Also the acoustic sound is a lot louder compared to my Burns BM. Yes, this is the sustain that I missed in many guitars I owned before. The neck profile is quite fat as the authentic one. It takes you a while to get used to it and it really feels comfortable but after this you'll not look back. It's smooth to bend the strings. The left hand is filled with the neck and feels great. On the belt over the shoulder you notice that the RS Classic is a quite heavy guitar. Around 3.8 kg.
I play over a Vox AC-30 TB and a Vox Valvetronix AD120 with the Fryer Treble Booster. Here the real thing starts! Plugged in it sounds very powerful. The sustain seems never ending. The sound is very well balanced, absolutely clear and sweet. Playing chords above the 12th fret intonates perfectly. All pickup combinations have their own character. The volume pot works fantastic by rolling back. No loss of treble or dynamic at all. The tremolo allows you to divebomb and returns to pitch perfectly. Really no comparison to any Red special copies I played before.
Conclusion
Yes folks, I found what I was looking for. This is "THE" sound. The waiting was worth it.
Not just about the sound (I can say only good things) but also it's looks; so beautiful.
Jeez, I always get gooseflesh when I look at it on the guitar stand in my living room.
The e-mail contact to RS Guitars during the whole time of production was always nice and working well. Steve Turpin was always nice and responded to all my e-mails immediately. He kept me well informed about every building stage. I just can state all the best.
Thanks to everyone at RS Guitars.
If you have any questions, please feel free to e-mail me.
Alex Bolte
Germany
RS Classic
I just received my long-awaited Red Special Classic guitar from RS Guitars! Being that mine is the first production RS Classic ever produced, I thought that you might benefit from a review of this beautiful instrument.
Since I was about 15 years old (many years ago) I have always wanted a replica of Brian May's guitar. When I finally decided to pursue the Brian May tone I thought that buying a Guild from someone on Ebay was my only option. I was not too eager to take this path, as Guild BM models usually sell for about $3,000, far too much for me to pay for a guitar that may have had more hands on it than Pamela Anderson. Thankfully, I stumbled upon the RS web site in December 2000 and another option presented itself. After trading emails with Steve Turpin (RS Guitars' brainchild) for about 3 hours I placed an order for the Classic; without even seeing pictures of the prototype! Why did I do this? I did it because after speaking with Steve (via email), I was absolutely convinced that RS Guitars were devoted to creating a great replica of the original Red Special. Imagine my excitement when I saw the pictures of the prototype when they were posted in late February. I knew I made the right decision and I was so happy that I placed my order.
The production of my guitar took a bit longer than I originally expected (about 14 weeks in total), but there were good reasons for the extended production time: the original headstock design (similar to the Guild) was scrapped in exchange for a more accurate headstock design, as was the original neck joint. In addition, the Mustang style trem (which is on the prototype) was retired in favor of a beautiful replica of Brian's original trem. The white switches were also difficult to obtain, but worth the wait, as many replicas use black switches, which didn't really appeal to me. The end result is that I have a guitar that is, by far, the best replica (except for Greg Fryer's replicas, which would sell for much more) of the original Red Special.
Fit & Finish
This guitar is breathtaking. The finish is absolutely flawless and the entire guitar oozes quality. From the binding to the tuners to the pickup surrounds, each piece has been crafted/installed with care; and it really shows. I can't really say enough about the high quality craftsmanship. The switches are nice and tight, the tuners are fantastic, and the knobs have a great feel to them. This is guitar making at its best (in my opinion).
Neck/Fingerboard
This is one thick neck. I was curious as to how it would feel and how long it would take to get used to the fatter neck. In fact, I was considering changing the neck to make it more like that of a Gibson Les Paul. Thankfully, Mark Reynolds urged me to go with the original neck dimensions and I am glad that I took his advice.
Right out of the box it was obvious that the neck is quite different from the Gibson and Strat necks that I normally play. It is a handful and has a bit of a slippery feel, but the shorter scale and wide nut make it really easy to bend the strings. After about 10 minutes I was blazing all over the neck and loving it. The craftsmanship of the neck and fingerboard will blow your mind.
Tremolo
The trem is a thing of beauty. It is well crafted and faithfully recreates the look of the original. The tension is quite different from that of a traditional Strat trem or a Floyd Rose. As expected, I was able to drop down really, really low to produce a nice growl…very nice indeed. I am still experimenting with the nut and zero fret to ensure that the strings don't bind. I applied a bit of Silicon spray which seemed to do the trick. After the strings were well stretched I was amazed at how the trem stayed in tune.
Tone
After staring at and holding my guitar for about ½ hour, I finally plugged it in to my new rig, which is as follows: Fryer Brian May Treble Booster > Fryer Brian May Mayhem Distortion > Boss CE 1 Chorus > H & K Replex Delay > Vox AC30 TBX.
The array of tones that one can coax out of this guitar is amazing. From slightly overdriven to over-the-top saturation; it's all in here. The body cavities contribute to a nice round, full-bodied sound. With the distortion set low, I was able to dial in a nice, mid-range tone similar to that used on the "You're My Best Friend" solo. I was also able to get a fierce overdrive that is reminiscent of the intro lead to "Death On Two Legs". During my tests, the Tri-Sonics did not produce any microphonic squeal or buzzing at all. I had my amp really cranked (about 1/3 volume- which is very loud on a Vox!) and the notes launched into a nice feedback tone with little effort. I was also having fun with the "cello" sound that can be produced with some heavy saturation and the neck pickup.
The real test for me was the light "tinkling" sound. It was a breeze to hit that sound, which was treated with a bit of the CE 1 chorus. I think a tear came to my eye when I heard it.
Summary
I don't know what else to say about this guitar (I've run out of adjectives). It is everything that I expected and really takes the Red Special to a new level. The only problem that I see with this guitar is that I may never put it down!
I hope that this review helps you decide if the RS Classic is the guitar for you. I'm sorry for the long review, but I felt that I should cover all of the bases for those of you who may be interested in RS Guitars. I also wanted to detail my experiences with RS Guitars because the service that I received was a very important part of the whole buying process. A great guitar with bad service always leaves me cold and I have received enough bad service in my life to really appreciate when someone goes the extra distance to please a customer.
Also, please know that I am not affiliated with RS Guitars in any way. I am simply a very satisfied customer who will be ordering another guitar from RS as soon as my budget allows (maybe a solid body version of the RS Classic).
Thanks to Steve Turpin and RS Guitars for a great experience and a great guitar.
Joe Millo
Connecticut, USA
jmillo@optonline.net
RS Custom
Features: 10
2002, USA.
24 Frets, Solid Swamp Ash body.
Two Di-Marzio Humbuckers, Coil tap for each Humbucker, three way toggle and phase reversal switch.
Swamp Ash body, Maple neck and Ebony fingerboard
Transparent Blue finish showing Swamp Ash grain.
Wilkinson tremolo with locking Sperzel tuners.
All hardware is black.
Custom neck size.
Hard case and allen wrenches.
Sound: 10
The guitar gives a great Les Paul feel to it. I play with an AC30TBX and a Marshall Valvestate 8080 and both amps work really well with the guitar.
The guitar is very quiet, no buzzing. The out of phase sound and coil split creates some but that is expected when the pick-ups are not humbucking. Certainly nothing unuseable.
The guitar has a good bottom end and a clean top end. Nicely balanced.
The guitar has the traditional Les Paul three position toggle switch. Then you have a coil tap for each humbucker which gives real nice single coil sounds in the neck position and bridge position. Quite acoustic in some ways. Then you have a Phase reversal switch which will out of phase the humbuckers. That is real useful for a sort of Peter Green sound. Honky!
There is nothing I dislike about the sounds. It is very versatile and is exactly what I was looking for.
Action, Fit, & Finish: 10
The guitar was immediately playable. No setting up required. It had a nice medium-low action. The pick-ups had been set for a well balanced feel to them.
The intonation was smack on and there was no buzzing on the fretboard at all.
The frets were highly polished and having the locking tuners helped to maintain a stable tuning.
The guitar was flawless. The finish was like glass and the binding was absolutely perfect. I don't think I have seen binding done so well on a guitar before.
There were no scratches or dents. It was as new.
The guitar was well packaged and the headstock was wrapped in bubble wrap to prevent any knocks. The guitar survived shipping to the UK.
The guitar arrived in it's hardcase in a tough, thick cardboard box.
Reliability/Durability: 10
The guitar appears to be bulit like a house. It feels very solid. The finish will suffer in the future but that happens on any guitar that you use all the time! The hardware is all quality so it should last as long as any other quality instruments hardware. The only thing I can see will need replacing before anything else is the zero fret but I wanted that option and I have other guitars with a zero fret so it is nothing for me to worry about.
The strap buttons are quite wide and they are only as good as my strap. I always use some kind of strap lock on all my guitars. I would not trust ANY strap button. I always make sure the strap cannot come off.
The guitar is totally dependable. I have had no problems with it.
I would never gig without a back-up. You snap a string, you stop the show to re-string it! It's suicide! I always have a spare no matter how good the guitar is.
Customer Support: 10
I have had quite a lot of communication with RS Guitars and they have always been excellent. They reply to my E-mails promptly and they are always there to offer advice and information.
I have never had to contact them for a fault with the guitar but I have no doubt that they would help me in any way should I have problems.
Overall Rating: 10
I have been playing guitar for about 28 years. This guitar is as good as any other quality instrument but is better because it is a guitar suited to my style.
The guitar is a custom made model because it has what I asked for rather than a standard "this is what you get" type of guitar.
If it was stolen I would do my best to replace it but each guitar has differences so it would be hard to get an exact replacement but I am certain that I would have another to the same specs.
I wanted this guitar because I like Brian May's guitar but I wanted something that resembled it but had a more modern sound. I wanted some different switching options though.
It's a fabulaous guitar and worht every penny.
Mark Reynolds, Dec. 2002
I found RS Guitars while searching Gbase.com for Brian May style guitars. Choosing between the Classic and the Custom was a tough choice. I finally decided on the custom because I thought it would be nice to have something unique. If I was happy with the results I could always go back for a Classic model.
Deciding how to configure the Custom was also tough but I finally decided on the following:
Solid Swamp Ash body
Maple bolt-on neck
Ebony fingerboard
2 DiMarzio humbuckers direct mounted (standard with coil taps)
Phase switch (if you're a Brian May fan this is the whole point)
Wilkinson tremolo.
Original Red Finish
(I asked for the tone knob to be omitted since I always keep it wide open anyway.)
The first thing that struck me when I opened the box was the appearance. It was gorgeous; just the shade of red I had imagined. I was happy to notice that the neck and headstock had also been painted -- something I didn't think to ask about. When I actually picked it up my first thought was "This is solid." It immediately reminded me of a Les Paul I used to own. I inspected it closely for any defects but could find none. Frets, inlays, finish, etc. -- excellent attention to detail.
So it looked good and felt good but the only real test was the sound.
Using the humbuckers alone (without coil taps or phase switch) I was very much reminded again of my old Les Paul. The sustain was excellent and it was so easy to "pinch" those harmonics. When I started messing around with the switches I was able to coax just about any sound I wanted out of the guitar. A neat feature that was unexpected was the fact that when the bridge pickup is selected and tapped you can use the phase switch to actually pick which coil is active.
Overall I am extremely satisfied with this guitar. I would recommend it to anyone who wants a solid, unique, quality instrument whether or not they are a Queen or Brian May fan. I will be coming back for more as soon as my budget allows.
Thanks Guys,
John Esposito, PA USA