Arbor Hollow Body Electric Guitar, AJ138

 Cheap Thrills
Features: 8
New 2004, made in China, Gretsch copy (sort of). RED! translucent finish, soon-to-be-worn-off gold hardware, Gibson style tone and volume setup, and a Bigsby style tailpiece. Case not included.

Sound: 8
I've never owned a real Gretsch, so I won't bother to compare the sound. I've been playing two Ibanez 'Lawsuit' copies from the '70's, an ES-335 and an ES-175. The Arbor is just a bit thinner than the 175, but otherwise feels about the same. I'me used to playing fat guitars, and this one is very comfortable. I playing mostly Reggae on it. I run it through a DigiTech RP100 pedal into a GK bass head and an old Fender BassMan cab with two 12's. I also play bass and Hammond clone through the same setup in other bands. I play it through a Tube Works Real Tube II at home.


The Arbor has a nice fat sound with both pickups on, and the bridge pickup screams nicely, especially through the Tube Works.


The pickups don't have the punch, clarity, or drive of my old Ibanez pickups, but then again, I think those old Super 70's were the best pickups I've ever heard.


Action, Fit, & Finish: 6
The guitar was unplayable out of the box. The strings were set way too low, but easily adjusted. At about normal string height, I discovered a high 8th fret that caused quite a buzz. I raised the strings a bit more, to slightly high, and the buzz is almost gone. I like high action, and I can live with it until I have time to get it fixed. I use to know how to do fret dressings, but that was over 20 years ago, and I don't have the tools anymore.


The next thing I did was remove the pickguard. I ugliest, cheesiest, fake metal piece o' crap I've ever seen. The guitar looks waaay better without it.


(...)

The electronics are cheap. The pickup toggle feels cheesy, and one of the volume pots was loose. A small cresent wrench fixed that.


Some other reviewers have mentiond the pole pieces on the pickups. They don't line up with the strings, and there's no way to fix them. The spacing is simply wider than the string spacing. The pole on the 6th string lines up, and the 1st string is off by quite a bit. I doesn't seem to affect the sound, so I'm not going to worry about it, but it really is a glaring error. Those pups are for a guitar with a wider neck.


The overall finish is very nice, and the guitar looks like a million bucks from a short distance. Very deep red, with some very nice wood grain showing through. But there are flaws in the binding on the f holes and headstock if you look really close. Reall cheep MOT block inlays, and they don't even line up.

Reliability/Durability: 8
I've had it for about 3 months, and used it at least once a week. So far, so good.


The bridge has a floating type wooden base, and can move, throwing off your intonation. I check it every time I tune up. I also makes chaging strings a bit trickier. If you take off all six at once, the bridge just falls off. You will need to have a good tuner handy to get the intonation back in place. The brass part of the bridge has fine adjustments,rollers for the Bigsby, and seem very well made. The Bigsby tailpiece also seems first rate.


The tuners seem solid and it stays in tune rather well, unless you really start to push the Bigsby.


The gold plating started to wear off where I rest my hand on the bridge almost immediately, but that's to be expected. You have to keep the gold stuff wiped clean all the time, or you will have that 'worn in'look very quickly.


I always play with a backup, but so far the backup has stayed in it's case when I had the Arbor with me.

Customer Support: N/A
Shipping took about 2 1/2 weeks, which drove me crazy. Other than that, I have not delt with Crossroads or Arbor.

Overall Rating: 10
I bought this guitar mainly for the Bigsby-style tailpiece. I couldn't resist the ridiculously low price. I had never heard of Arbor or Crossroads music, so I was really taking a chance. The price was $100 lower than eBay, so I went for it, and I'm glad I did.


I don't think it is fair to compare this to a $3000+ Gretsch. I stands on it's own as a very playable instrument. I can not believe they can produce and sell these for $240!! These Chinese companies don't have a lot of quality control, and there may be quite a variance from one guitar to the next, so you are taking a chance on using mailorder. I got a good one! I'm giving these fat Arbors a 10+ in the Bang-for-the-buck category. This guitar would be great for jazz, rockabilly, or whatever, without having to spend big bucks. The metal parts are solid, but the electronics are cheesy, so it's a trade off. If you like the guitar, you can always replace the pots and switches.


I've been playing over 30 years, on lots of different guitars. I've got questions and compliments from the audience on every gig that I've used this guitar. It's a headturner. No, it's not the best guitar I've ever played, but it's the best $240 guitar I've played! Just get rid of that UGLY pickguard...