R-457MN WH Fanfret : Fan fret for fun

Bought this to dip my toes into the 7 string and fan fret world.

Pickups: can be muddy, especially with the tone knob rolled down. Other than that they are fine. These will be the second thing to be changed once I decide where I want to go with the guitar.

Tuning machines: Basic, simple. They semi worked but I swapped them for some locking machines. This solved the tuning stability on the G and high B strings

Neck and fretboard: Straight and clean, fret ends are good, no snags or poky bits. The frets are scratchy, but it's to be expected. neck is smooth and fast and not nearly as wide as I had anticipated. Truss rod needed a quarter turn to fix some fret buzz.

Strings.....were swapped to a new set. Note: nut needed to filed a tad, especially when adding higher gauge strings. But that's only a few moments of work, and they did slot the nut properly for the gauges they send from the factory. I swapped to a light top and heavy bottom set (9-60) after which and a truss rod adjustment I was able to lower the action some and got rid of nearly all the buzz, especially on the low B which initially sounded like an actual bee.

Paint and Body: no blemishes to be found. Routed electronics area is a little rough, only the plate was shielded, with a single stripe of non-conductive paint in one corner of the electronics rout.

Small pots but the actual soldering is good and sturdy and wiring management was actually done better than some name brands I have seen.

Out of the box it needed some care (but don't we all), I am enjoying the fanned frets, swapping the pickups should be simple at which point I'll also swap out pots and rewire as well.

For the price I paid I can easily recommend the guitar, with the caveat that you/a tech will likely have to do some setup and modification to make it 'yours'.

So other than a good setup being needed, there isn't really a reason at this price point to not try it out.