The design is reminiscent of a “retro” Les Paul. Cherry Sunburst finish with mahogany-veneered Alder body. Maple bolt on neck with Rosewood fretboard and 22 medium jumbo sized frets. Chrome hardware and string through body design with six individual tailpieces mounted in the body. The tuners are nice and smooth. Tune-O-Matic Bridge. The very best feature on the AES800 is the massive-sounding pick-ups: 2 DiMarzio Q-100 hum cancelling soap bar style humbuckers.

The control knobs are: 5-way pickup selector, master volume, master tone and a realtime phase control knob. In position #2 only, the inside coils are hot and the phase knob brings the outer bridge coil in and out of phase. What exactly this “in and out of phase” feature does to your sound will also vary depending on the type of amp you are using. As I have discovered, position #2 on the pick up selector is very useful both on a clean and dirty channel of all amps. On the clean channel I prefer setting the phase knob at 1 on most amps while my daughter prefers position 10 always. With distortion, we both prefer position 10. Setting the knob somewhere in between does not appear to be a very practical option, perhaps an on/off switch would have been a better design solution for this in and out of phase feature? Also, others may prefer setting the knob somewhere in between for both clean and dirty channels, this is a matter of personal preference in sound and tone.

Sound

The Q100's are very quiet. They have been compared to P90's. The switch/knob design allows you to probe a wide variety of captivating sounds. You will find some excellent tones no matter what style of music you play. This is a great “can do it all” type of guitar with very useful sounds through every amp I experimented on - Fenders, Marshals, Tech 21.

Action/Fit

Had to replace the strings (old and used) - guitar must have been on display for years, I’m sure the people who tried it appreciated the sounds (even if the strings were all played out) but probably preferred the look of a Gibson Les Paul or a Fender Strat. I was originally tempted to get the Epiphone Les Paul Custom and probably never would have found this gem had I not been patient. I’m glad that I was still looking and experimenting with everything and had the opportunity to compare both models side by side and through several different amps. Both guitars were listed below the $900 dollar range and I ended up saving $400 and got the better axe! The factory set up was bang on. Plays and feels great although the fret ends could have been slightly smoother.

Overall rating

I love the way the guitar looks and the neck feels awesome, very comfortable to me. Before buying this guitar I tried many Strats, Les Pauls, Teles and others. I did find several guitars in the $1200 range that really impressed me but they did not sufficiently sway me otherwise when the AES800 had the look, feel, and sound I was looking for at less than half the price.

I am most happy with this guitar. It was an incredible deal! I can’t say anything bad about the overall quality of this guitar. It really does have it's own captivating sound.

Recommended: Yes