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Bolin NS Model Guitar Price Paid: US $1,495 used Purchased direct from manufacturer. Features: 10 From what I was told, this guitar is almost 2 years old. It was a guitar shown at trade shows. So I am guessing it is a 2001. 22 frets, medium, on an ebony fret board. Locking tuners and one of the most inventive neck joints I have ever seen. Maple neck, medium profile. Uniformly thin flamed maple top on an arched alder body. Deep single cutaway with an offset waist. Satin violin brown finish. Comfortable bouts on the back of the guitar. It just hugs the body and very comfortable in multiple playing positions. Active EMG 85 pickups in hum-hum configuration. A volume, tone and mini-3-way switch. At first, I didn't like the mini-switch, but have grown to love it. Its non-obtrusive and solid feeling. Non-tremelo bridge is fully adjustable. Height, intonation and side-to-side. Very solid and easy to adjust and change strings. Came with a custom, from-fitted case. Sound: 10 Acoustically: At first, its quieter than I'm used to qualities threw me off, but I noticed the perfect balance between the strings immediately. I do get fret buzz on the low E string and its from the nut being too deep on that string. Amplified: The pickups are HOT. On my Fender amp, it really pushes it and distorts much quicker. Again, the balance between the strings is perfect. Each note rings true and vibrantly even under a ton of distortion. With my Sunn Beta amps, I get a good solid crunch, very controllable feedback, great pinch harmonics and a monster sound. Full, round, easy to control. Clean, the guitar sounds incredible. With both pickups on or just the neck pickups, the tone is very warm, much more than i would have expected from my experience with EMG pickups. From clean jazz lines to overdriven rock to bluesy twang to metal crunch, this guitar is capable of more styles than I can even play. Action, Fit, & Finish: 9 Action was low and even, except for the too-deep nut on the low E. Other than that, set up was great. Pickups and strings were aligned perfectly. Neck joint is rock solid. The satin finish showed off the flamed top perfectly. For the bridge, there is a small spot where they flattened out the arched top for a perfect, flush fit between the bridge and body. The pickup cavity was spotless and wires tucked away. Reliability/Durability: 10 I have no doubt in my mind that this guitar will last me many years. The wood and hardware are rock solid. I feel no need for strap-lock buttons. The satin finish is prone to "polishing" from use. That is, pick marks and where my arm rests on the upper bout are starting to get shiny. I was fully aware of this when I bought the guitar. Someone that wished to retain the satin finish can do so with a light un-polishing with fine grade steel wool. Customer Support: 10 I talked to the Bolin people a LOT before purchasing this guitar. Friendly, honest, easy to talk to. I bought this guitar "blind', having never played it before. I was given a 10 day trial period for my guaranteed satsifaction. I have had no reason to contact them since I got the guitar, except only to thank them for it. Overall Rating: 10 This guitar replaced my PRS McCarty standard. At the time, my PRS's (I've had 3) seemed to be the greatest guitars I have ever played. Well, along came the Bolin and it blew them out of the water. Even balanced tone, incredible construction, a nice balance in the body, a comfortable next carve... I could go one and on. For a guitar that I initially pursued for cosmetic reasons, I was shocked at how well it played and sounded. After playing guitar for 20 years, I never thought I would find another guitar that would just take my breath away like this. A great guitar from great people. This is a review I submitted to Harmony Central after I first purchased this guitar. I happen to run into this review on another site, and figured it may be useful here. A couple of pics:  
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Oct 13, 2004 16:53
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| # ¿ May 2, 2024 12:11 |
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