R-458 BK Progressiv Series : When considering the price, this is unbeatable

This guitar came to me with one of the best setups I've ever seen, the strings were almost uncomfortably low, with no fret buzz. Was a little insane to be honest.

Overall, the guitar is pretty light, especially for an 8 string which does make it feel just a bit cheap, but after some TLC it plays perfectly, and most times I reach for this over my many $1,000 guitar options. Most of the "light" feeling is in the neck, the body feels fine and sturdy, just a little light. The neck however does feel like if I ever drop the guitar it will break in half.

The neck radius is very flat, so it takes some getting used to, but it helps with an insanely low action, and easy maintenance.

The passive pickups are just a touch quiet, but that's not an issue as they sound completely fine. They're not as high output as something like EMG's, but they do the job. I actually prefer them over EMG's for the music that I play.

The tuners are nothing special, but they do the job very well. To the touch they do have a "cheap" feeling to them, but I've had no functional issues with them, they work great.

Overall:

PROS

- Great Price

- Great sound for passive pickups

- Setup / Maintenance is easy

- After some TLC, the guitar plays just as good as guitars 3x the price

CONS

- The guitar FEELS cheaply light

- most of the components are made from cheap material: the nut, the tuners, the bridge etc...

- Needs TLC when first delivered. Neck wood is dry and frets need polished