R-458MN WH Progressive Series : good starting point for more adventurous players

This is my first experience with the 8 string, so I can't compare it to others, but then again, at this price point, there are no others, so you can't really judge it too hard...

Cons: frets are unpolished. Which is something that's really disappointing at any price point, as it interferes with your playing. Minor cosmetic flaws are present in form of bad paint job around the screws that hold the neck, but as it is on the back of the guitar, it will remain unnoticed pretty much all the time..

Pros: holds tuning very well, overall quality of everything seems to be far better then expected at this price range.

Looks very nice, especially since there aren't many color variations on the (cheap) 8 string guitars,

Pickups are not great, but not bad either. For my ears they sound great for the bass register, but lack at higher notes. Clean it can sound very good. Distortion is not my cup of tea on this one, but then again, that's just me.

It can be a great instrument if you put a little bit of work in polishing the frets.