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Hey everyone I’m back from the NAMM show in California and I have to tell you about a new guitar company that is making some very cool guitars for not a whole lot of money. You might remember me telling you about these guys at the last summer NAMM, well since then they sent me a very cool guitar to review, and I can’t wait to show you.
It’s the ISG Extreme from Indie Guitars. The guitar showed up in a very nice hard-shell case and supports a translucent black finish with chrome hardware. The guitar is well balanced and not neck heavy like some other guitars with this shape. The neck has a nice “C” shape to it and should be very comfortable for most guitarists.
The fret work is very clean and the set-up was good right out of the case. This guitar came with D’Addario strings and it tuned right up. The tuners are smooth and I didn’t notice any slipping of the strings and the intonation was dead on. The pick-ups were adjusted properly and allowed the correct amount of space under the strings.
The reason I bring this up is that the set-up of the guitar is very important in how a guitar is built and assembled. If the company spends a good amount of time setting up their instruments then there is a good chance that it’s made well. As consumers we should expect to get the most out of every dollar we spend no matter the price, and I can tell you that they are offering one hell of a deal with the ISG Extreme. This guitar retails for: $949.99 and streets for: $749.99 this is a very good deal.
Indie added a couple of features that I feel are very cool and different from anything in this price range. First they added the Maple veneer top a very cool upgrade that made the guitar a little brighter than an all Mahogany body would. Second they added an active pre-amp so you can switch from active electronics to passive. This alone makes the guitar twice as versatile for any style of music.
The other thing I wanted to mention about the ISG Extreme is that the pitch of the neck is like the old SGs. This might seem like a small thing to mention but to us players it’s huge. The old SGs had a straighter neck pitch, different from the Les Paul. Gibson changed this spec on the SGs so they all were the same. The problem with this is that the tailpiece on a new SG sits very high off the body and so does the bridge pick-up. This makes the guitar thinner sounding with less sustain. Not very characteristic of an SG; Gibson does fix this however with their reissue models etc… But those guitars are in a completely different price range.
The stock DV8 pick-ups sound full and are a bit hotter than PAF style Humbuckers and the active electronics gives you tone from the metal gods... You can split the coils and have some fun with single-coil sounds; again I said this guitar is versatile…
If you are in the market for a classic styled guitar but want to make sure every dollar you spend is worth it? Then buy the Indie ISG Extreme. This guitar comes with “No buyer’s remorse”; in fact you’ll wonder how they were able to give you so much for so little.
Check them out at: www.indieguitars.com
It’s the ISG Extreme from Indie Guitars. The guitar showed up in a very nice hard-shell case and supports a translucent black finish with chrome hardware. The guitar is well balanced and not neck heavy like some other guitars with this shape. The neck has a nice “C” shape to it and should be very comfortable for most guitarists.
The fret work is very clean and the set-up was good right out of the case. This guitar came with D’Addario strings and it tuned right up. The tuners are smooth and I didn’t notice any slipping of the strings and the intonation was dead on. The pick-ups were adjusted properly and allowed the correct amount of space under the strings.
The reason I bring this up is that the set-up of the guitar is very important in how a guitar is built and assembled. If the company spends a good amount of time setting up their instruments then there is a good chance that it’s made well. As consumers we should expect to get the most out of every dollar we spend no matter the price, and I can tell you that they are offering one hell of a deal with the ISG Extreme. This guitar retails for: $949.99 and streets for: $749.99 this is a very good deal.
Indie added a couple of features that I feel are very cool and different from anything in this price range. First they added the Maple veneer top a very cool upgrade that made the guitar a little brighter than an all Mahogany body would. Second they added an active pre-amp so you can switch from active electronics to passive. This alone makes the guitar twice as versatile for any style of music.
The other thing I wanted to mention about the ISG Extreme is that the pitch of the neck is like the old SGs. This might seem like a small thing to mention but to us players it’s huge. The old SGs had a straighter neck pitch, different from the Les Paul. Gibson changed this spec on the SGs so they all were the same. The problem with this is that the tailpiece on a new SG sits very high off the body and so does the bridge pick-up. This makes the guitar thinner sounding with less sustain. Not very characteristic of an SG; Gibson does fix this however with their reissue models etc… But those guitars are in a completely different price range.
The stock DV8 pick-ups sound full and are a bit hotter than PAF style Humbuckers and the active electronics gives you tone from the metal gods... You can split the coils and have some fun with single-coil sounds; again I said this guitar is versatile…
If you are in the market for a classic styled guitar but want to make sure every dollar you spend is worth it? Then buy the Indie ISG Extreme. This guitar comes with “No buyer’s remorse”; in fact you’ll wonder how they were able to give you so much for so little.
Check them out at: www.indieguitars.com
Retail: $949.99
Features
- Body: Solid Mahogany/ Quilted Maple Top
- Neck: Mahogany Set Neck
- Fingerboard: : Rosewood , 22 Fret, Scale: Length 24.3/4”
- Headstock: Black, w/ Grover Machine Heads
- Hardware: Chrome, Tune-O-Matic Stop tail
- Pickups: Neck Active DV8, Bridge Active DV8
- Controls: 2 Volume, 2 Tone, 3 Way Toggle Switch 1 Passive Switch 1 Coil-Tap Switch
- Truss Rod: 2-Way Dual Action
- Finish: Black Flamed Top
Cheers,
Tony J. Pasko
Tony J. Pasko
