Epiphone vs Agile vs other?

Harry · Post by **Harry** » Thu Dec 17, 2009 7:01 am

I played a Agile "Goldtop" the other night and I have to say it was a damn good guitar!!!

I'm thinking of getting one but for the sake of research I thought I would try and see what else was out there in this class.

I've never heard of Agile before now. Are there any other companies out there I don't know about?

Thanks

jgimbel · Post by **jgimbel** » Thu Dec 17, 2009 10:20 am

I had an Epiphone Les Paul that I loved for a long time. Sold it because I wasn't using it much with the kind of music I've been making for the past year or two. I loved that thing though, and I can pretty much guarantee I'll get another one (MAYBE a Gibson but I kind of doubt it) at some point. A friend of mine has the exact same model Les Paul as I did, I played it when I broke a string at a show last week, and his felt horrible to me. Much wider neck, just chunkier feeling, not in a good way.

I've borrowed my brother's Epi LP Junior (the $100 ones) indefinitely. He got it for $80 at guitar center because it has a big dent in the top. It's an amazing guitar. The P90-style pickup sounds amazing through my Reverberocket. I've also had my eye on the Epiphone Sheraton IIs for a while now, I fell in love with them after trying them out a few times. Beautiful guitars.

A few months ago I went to check out a MIJ Tele that a guy from Craigslist had. He also had an Agile Les Paul that had the same finish as my Epi did. I had seen the site with all their models before but I assumed they were crap because they were so cheap, and I've always kind of leaned away from copies. But oh man, this thing was awesome. It wasn't all that different from my Epi was. A little different feeling, but different in the way that different individual guitars within one line often are (play 10 strats and they all may be different). The finish was beautiful, actually better than my Epi was. My Epi had the standard heritage cherry burst, but the red didn't fade too smoothly into the gold/yellow. On the Agile it did. Got home, started looking through the Agile guitars, bookmarked the site.

I don't know any other similar companies, but I've loved many Epiphones I've played, hated a couple, and LOVED the one Agile I played. I don't know if that helps you at all, but it's at least someone else's experience for you.

Harry · Post by **Harry** » Thu Dec 17, 2009 10:56 am

Thanks!
So that's 2 Agiles that are Loved!
Not much to go on but I'm about to pull the trigger on this baby.
Just look at it! under 3bills

http://www.rondomusic.com/al2500gold3p90.html

Plays and sounds as good as it looks:)

bipedal · Post by **bipedal** » Thu Dec 17, 2009 12:17 pm

Have you stumbled across the Xaviere guitars sold by GFS?

Definitely budget price range, but I recently purchased one of the Jazzmaster-ish offsets (JM40), and I'm pretty impressed with the instrument I got for the $. Nice job on finish and fret work, setup was decent out of the box.

I'm a tinkerer, so I bought mine as a project guitar for modding/upgrading, but it's solid as-is. If my guitar is representative the quality of their other instruments, you might want to take a look at some of their offerings.

jgimbel · Post by **jgimbel** » Thu Dec 17, 2009 12:34 pm

Man I'm hogging this thread! I haven't played any Xaviere guitars, but when I went to the guy's house who had the Agile, the MIJ Tele I was going there to look at had a GFS Retrotron Gold Memphis in the neck, and oh man was that thing sweet. If GFS' great pickups are any guideline, I'd bet that bipedal didn't just find a rare good one. Quality stuff.

daveg62 · Post by **daveg62** » Thu Dec 17, 2009 7:42 pm

I like Agile guitars. I have an Agile E1. Not my main axe but i like it and play it quite a bit. Pretty hard to beat for the money.

Brett Siler · Post by **Brett Siler** » Fri Dec 18, 2009 4:21 pm

I have an Agile AL-3100. Its a Les Paul copy and a damn good one. It sounds and plays really well, guaranteed to slay an Epiphone

thegeek · Post by **thegeek** » Sat Dec 19, 2009 11:09 pm

Agile guitars are surprisingly good.

Also take a look at Raven West guitars. Those have a nice bang for the buck as well.

Harry · Post by **Harry** » Sun Dec 20, 2009 6:09 am

The Raven West and the Xaviere both look beautiful.

I pulled the trigger on the Agile Goldtop with 3 P90s!

It's hard to buy a guitar online...even the biggest POS can look great in a stock pic.

I would have never thought about buying this Agile if I didn't happen to get to play one. I hope the one I get is as nice.

I'll post an update after I burn it in for a few weeks..

Thanks for the input

CraigS63 · Post by **CraigS63** » Sat Dec 26, 2009 8:54 am

The picture of my avatar is my Agile Harm 12 string, I am pretty happy with it. The neck is wider than a Rick 12 string, and the action is nice and low. I will probably get around to putting some kind of coil-tap switch on it, the pickups are 3 mini humbuckers, I think having single coils would give me better sounds.

Jeff White · Post by **Jeff White** » Sat Dec 26, 2009 2:16 pm

My friend has an Agile Gold Top Les Paul that I paid like $200 for a couple of years ago. He put a pair of GFS humbuckers in it and it plays and sounds great. He plays in a power pop band and a Beatles tribute band and the guitar gets used a bunch. We recorded it for their next record back in March and I was shocked at how great it sounded.

Jeff

Harry · Post by **Harry** » Sun Dec 27, 2009 7:34 am

CraigS63 wrote:The picture of my avatar is my Agile Harm 12 string, I am pretty happy with it. The neck is wider than a Rick 12 string, and the action is nice and low. I will probably get around to putting some kind of coil-tap switch on it, the pickups are 3 mini humbuckers, I think having single coils would give me better sounds.

I kind of feel like I found a way to afford getting my hands on some guitars that would fill some holes in my collection.
Like an electric 12 string
a baratone....or even a fretless baratone(interesting!)
a Tele.... I already have a real 335 or I would be checking those out.

I'm really really happy with the goldtop.... I know it's not the real thing but I feel inspired when I play it and for under $300 it's a great deal.

Bad news is I now have a song idea in my head that only a fretless baratone will cover:)

thegeek · Post by **thegeek** » Sun Dec 27, 2009 12:33 pm

hey, I'm in Elkhart for a few days and would like to check those guitars out sometime... PM me and let me know if that is possible.

Thanks!
Nate

jgimbel · Post by **jgimbel** » Sun Dec 27, 2009 6:29 pm

CraigS63 wrote:The picture of my avatar is my Agile Harm 12 string, I am pretty happy with it. The neck is wider than a Rick 12 string, and the action is nice and low. I will probably get around to putting some kind of coil-tap switch on it, the pickups are 3 mini humbuckers, I think having single coils would give me better sounds.

That looks awesome, are they still making them? I did some searching but couldn't find them anywhere. I'd love a 12-string electric, the two times I've played some I LOVED the sound. I agree about single coils, I like them a lot better for 12-strings. I looked on Agile's site, they have a couple 12-string Les Paul copies and one other 12-string, but I didn't see any like that (though I don't know that that's even the place they were sold). I'd love a reasonable 12-string electric!

route-electrique · Post by **route-electrique** » Mon Dec 28, 2009 12:58 am

I just ordered Epiphone Swingster for myself. Got recommended by friend of mine who has played too long (over 30 years).

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Epiphone vs Agile vs other?

Epiphone vs Agile vs other?

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