Ok, a quick review. Remember that this is barely more than first impressions, as I only got it on Wednesday.
By and large, it's a pretty good guitar for the price, and considering it's the only California-style vintage singlecut (Agile wants no association with the T-word) on the market, it's a steal if you both like extended range and snappy double-stop bends. The gloss on the body is almost perfect - I was really impressed by how well the finish was applied when I pulled it out of the box it shipped in. The neck, I suspect, is unfinished maple, or if it has anything then a VERY light coat of matte finish. My sense is that it's bare wood, which actually has been a bit rough on my fingertips. It feels dry, and I think it was leeching oil out of my fingertips while I played. Add to that the fact I've mostly been playing bass lately, and it was a little rough on the hands with all the bluesy overbending.
The profile feels quite comfortable - true to vintage form, a little on the thick side, with a pleasant carve. It's spec'd as jumbo frets, but they feel like mediums to me. The fretwork is perfectly fine, though - not the sort of artistry you get on a really good custom, but there are no high frets or rough edges. Fretboard radius feels really flat - it's billed as 15", but it feels flatter than my Ibanez UV, which as I recall is 16"
The pickups are fair - neck and bridge are pretty bland on their own, but the middle position rules. I think a Wolfetone rewind might be in this guitar's future...
The biggest problem I'm having is with the bridge. Because the saddle screws are so long, and because they're not locked in place linearly but can move up and down a bit, the extra string tension on the low strings is enough to push the high E (and, to a lesser extent, the high B) slightly towards the treble side. This slight change in alignment isn't enough to impact playability directly, but it does bring the high E right up to the edge of the V-shaped groove on the saddle, such that when you bend a note, the string seems to viibrate against the edge of the saddle groove, choking the note somewhat and seriously deadening sustain. Since I bought this as a blues guitar, and in the Albert King world it's entirely possble to play an entire chorus simply bending one note on the high E over and over again, this is something of a problem. The good news is it's intermittent, and sometimes works just fine. I'm going to try throwing heavier strings on (I play 10's most of the time anyway) and hope that helps, and if not then look into other solutions - heaviuer springs around the screw, replacing the saddles, or possibly even filing off a quarter mm to improve the alignment. Either way, I feel confident enough that I can sort this out that I'll be breaking the guitar down over the weekend and starting on a tung oil refinish for the neck.
So, overall this is a pretty damned cool guitar, and it's a blast to hear that Tele-style spank down in the range of a low B. However, the bridge is slightly problematic, and the pickups are (as you would expect in this price range) less than inspiring.
Rondo still has a few of these in stock - $550 plus shipping from New Hampshire. If you dig sevens and dig vintage style guitars, this thing owns.
