CST-24T Paradise Flame : Beautiful but not without issues.

Out of the box the guitar looked stunning but the bridge saddles looked to be in a very high. I did expect to have to set this guitar up so I wasn't too perturbed. No sharp fret ends, the body is a single piece of mahogany which I was very surprised about, I was expecting 2 or 3 pieces glues together, so a pleasant surprise.

The setup is where the issues arose. The truss rod was loose so the neck had a good bow on it and the action was sky high and fret buzz and choking was a rendering the guitar unplayable as it was. I tightened the truss rod which improved things across the neck but there's still a light buzz. There is some uneveness with the frets which will need to be addressed at some point. I think there may be a slight dip in the neck where the truss rod ends, but the neck will probably take a couple of days to settle given the state that it was in when it arrived.

But on to the main issue with this guitar, and that's the bridge. The saddles need to be raised so high that they are well proud of the trem body, this not only looks strange it is extremely uncomfortable to play as the saddles are square with a sharp corner, it's actually unplayable. I think filing the corner off the low E saddle would help a lot, or swap them for rounded saddles or replace the bridge. Maybe the neck on my one is glued at a bad angle, but in the stock photos you can see the saddle height is high also (not as high as on my one). If I was buying this again I'd get the fixed bridge version.

The pickups sound OK, but I'll probably replace them if I get the neck/frets and bridge sorted so that the guitar is nice to play.

Update:

I've now leveled and dressed the frets and filed the corner of the E saddle so the corner is blunt. After a couple of months playing it I'm astonished every time I pick it up how nice it is to play. It is super comfortable. I have a 1980's RG550 that I've owned since new and love to bits, but I find myself picking up the Harley Benton and leaving the Ibanez sitting in its stand. My reservations about the trem are now redundant. The neck has settled beautifully, it looks great and plays great. If you know how to level and dress frets or are willing to pay the £80 or so for someone to do it get one of these. Out of the box it was terrible, but once the issues are sorted it's outstanding. The fretboard does feel a bit weird/dry though, but I suspect once my finger oil/dirt embeds itself in it it will improve.