Before You Buy An EART Guitar... PART 1
Вставка
- Опубліковано 22 лип 2024
- Keith checks out an EART Strat Style guitar. There's some good, some bad, and some surprises. Watch this video before you you shell out your hard earned cash.
TIME STAMPS:
Intro/Honest Reviews - 0:00
Unboxing - 4:00
Check Under The Hood - 8:10
Fret Issues - 14:55
Switch Issues - 18:07
Resolving Fret Issues - 21:20
Demo - 22:20
Wrap up - 23:39
Keith Leedham is an independent recording artists/studio owner/tinkerer.
He owns "The Tape Farm" a recording studio that specializes in transferring "pro-sumer" analog tape formats from manufactures like Tascam and Fostex.
Website: www.thetapefarm.com
Facebook: / thetapefarm
As an independent recording artists Keith has released singles, EPs and full length albums. With styles ranging from Progressive Rock to Country to Singer/Songwriter to Hard Rock to what ever the song dictates.
Website: www.keithleedham.com
He also tinkers with various audio equipment such as tape machines, guitars and guitar amps. When he comes across something interesting he posts the progress/results on UA-cam.
*Buyers Tip* don’t buy from EART.... Buy from Amazon for a no hassle return policy. I’ve purchased 2 models, the Tele, and a HSS Strat. NK-C1, and NK-C3. Love em both
Good call.
amazon sucks. get em on ebay
@@wavesofartsandiego825 Exactly 💯. Got mine there.
Guess what? They've gotten wise to this and have taken a whole bunch of models off ebay.
@@torresalex ebay does not decide which models are up for sale or auction. The seller does.
I don't get people only wanting to hear "good stuff". The whole reason I watch gear reviews is to hear the good and the bad to make an informed decision. For a budget guitar I can forgive small stuff, but it's nice to know what to expect. Good on you for maintaining your integrity.
I bought the Eart 335 after watching a review on UA-cam and it's awesome...the frets are amazing!
Important tip: Never file a raised fret without first using a mallet to re-seat the fret end (at which point you would only possibly file the adjacent frets).
Hey, I love ur video, the way I see it is these UA-cam's r giving such high reviews is either there sent hand picked examples or that there simply paid to say its good...that's why channels like urs r so important!! U r keeping it honest.and thank u for that
Finally, someone who isn't beholden to anyone or anything but their own genuine opinion. Thank you for this. This legitimately gave me some foresight on purchasing an EART. Subbed.
I appreciate you going to the trouble to do the breakdown. You're not the only reviewer to call them out on the issue of the high E catching on the fret. And you solved it, and then some, so good work. Maybe EART has somebody who watches these UA-cam vids who can implement some changes, so will fix that fret issue and offer a white pick guard instead of that minty one which has drawn so many tepid reviews. So, despite the problems, I'm still interested in getting one because I'm prepared to fix the issues. Now I'm going to watch part 2 because I wanna hear your tune.
Great honest review as always. Keep up the great work.
I just got mine after about a month waiting,not surprised as Re the times. I really like mine! Glad I pulled the trigger. It's the red tele . I will be changing the pick ups. I new that before I ordered it. Cheers.
YIKES! I have one on order and now I will check it over VERY carefully. Thank god there is a return period with Amazon.
Guitar guys can be so silly. They will object to the slightest cosmetic blemish on a new guitar, but praise the "relic job" of a new guitar. I think its all quite stupid to be honest. I want a straight neck, good frets, quality hardware and stays in tune with a decent setup, but a really finely tuned setup is not a reasonable expectation even custom shop guitars costing many 1000's need fine tuning when its in the hand of the player.
Yup. As long as you are will to do the work or pay to have it done, you’ll end up with a really good guitar. Part 2 covers some of that as well..
Hahahaha yes isn’t it pathetic.
Purchased an EART E-335 guitar and it delivers. No blemishes and no rework. The guitar plays like one that is a lot more expensive. Happy as a clam.
I have the E-335 also . Came flawless. A beautiful guitar.
Thanks for the honest review. I appreciate you telling it like it is: the good, the bad, the ugly and the pretty 🙂!
On mine the wood work,fret work and finish were great. The soldering was as though a child did it. So, i ordered a finder TX Mex pickup set and pick guard., it plays and sound great.
I have GW2 headless and I love it. Stays in tune. Easy to string up. My frets were very well done. Pickups were decent but switched to some active EMG. My frets were good but the fretboard was filthy. Thought it would never come clean. Changed the 10's for 8-38 set.
I think manufacturer is a relative concept. It's rather there's, say six companies with a number of factories in the far East. Then there's some companies in the far East, a few in Europe and a few in the States that create brands. The branders go to the owners of the factories and make a deal on building guitars. Generally the cheap labor workers and their management don't excel in intrinsic motivation to build a good guitar, they are only in it for the money, and in their culture you are not supposed to do anything else than obey, and certainly don't think for yourself (in varying degrees, and this happens or happened in the West too). So no blame, just noticing. So to get good guitars the branders have to make sure there's a thorough management layer of quality control. That requires a lot of effort (but is very doable, read about how Toyota did it). So, it's not about the manufacturer being good or not, it is about how the brand creates and maintains their quality management. And that has it's price. The same management can pick several kinds of quality, each with their own price, from the same factory, loosely put, making brand D on Monday morning and Friday afternoon, with half the staff, and brand A from Tuesday to Thursday with full staff and everybody warmed up. You also choose what you throw away during production. I also think it is not so much quality as well consistency. Ordering online means you can't check individual guitars in the shop. So a brand can have fluctuations in their quality. GuitarGeek Andy once bought 5 guitars from the same brand and model type to see how much they were alike. A good review does not say much when consistency is low. In short: the (romantic, European?) idea of a manufacturer is beyond reality. A brand is hardly related to a factory.
Valid point. Look at Cort, who makes guitars for pretty much every company including PRS. Thanks for detailed comment!
I bought an Eart Tele eight months ago and its an amazing guitar that has gone up in price. I have the vintage Fen/Gib too, but this guitar beats the more expensive AMERICAN ICON GUITAR COMPANIES. I debated changes pots and pick ups but decided to wait. Still sounds great to me and the neck is AMAZING!
At 13:26 you check for conductive paint for shielding with the "beep" feature of a DMM. These only beep below maybe 10 ohms, but the paint can be good enough shielding if it measures 1000 or 10k ohms. This shields against electrostatic interference, which is very high impedance. If your guitar has hum or noise with your hand near the pickups, but it stops or reduces when you touch the strings (the strings are grounded and touching them grounds your body), adding this shielding (whether it's copper or aluminum foil or conductive paint, connected to the guitar ground of course) will help. For best shielding there should also be foil on the back of the pickguard, around the pickups as well as the controls.
Manufacturers usually apply condutive paint before the color. Screwing through the paint will make a connection. Try a conductivity test between the screw and the output jack.
I do like some of the features they are trying to tackle here. I like where the input jack is. :-)
A good review on this guitar,thank you.........I bought the Blue telecaster from 'Amazon' they all have 'mint green' pickguards,now green & blue just don't match,so I don't understand why they only make the one pickguard....I know this sounds funny,but mine was hand made.the reason I say this is that the 'ash tray' type bridge was cocked over an 1/8 of an inch,very noticeable on first glance,the cover plate for the 3 way switch/tone & volume was also cocked....When I removed the bridge & cover plate,the screws were all drilled at angles (hence the saying,home made) no computer could have done this!....Believe it or not,I like this guitar,the neck is its best feature...being as it is cheaply priced,I added a new 'six saddle' bridge....6 new 'locking' tuners,new maple wood pickguard & matching tone/volume cover plate with matching maple to match the maple neck ( I modified a Fender Telecaster maple pickguard)....none of the holes matched up for the pickguard/new bridge/or cover plate (I filled the holes with 'shish kabob sticks)....(all holes are hidden)..lol......Why all this work,I'm a bored 82 year old man....I hope if you buy one,you get a good one,the sound is great!!
Awesome.
I think I'm gonna do the same thing soon. :)
I've bought the CK-N1 tele and the CK-N3 strat model and both of mine are perfect. This from someone who has been building project guitars for 30+years and has done countless level, crown, and polish fret jobs. Maybe I just got lucky but the necks on both of mine could not be better. Both are a joy to play. Both sustain very well and were perfectly set-up when they arrived. I WILL probably take them apart to shield them although it hasn't really been an issue.
Awesome. Glad it worked out for you.
Very honest review. Definitely this isn’t a guitar for beginners, I would say that is more for enthusiast players that can mod or do their own repairs. I still think that are good for the money and even better than lower end guitars of the big brands.
I recently bought a headless one, and I’m trying to love it but really need some love and resolve a couple of issues and didn’t came playable out of the box neither. Obviously Eart need to focus on their QC.
I received a Left Handed Headless GW2 EART Guitar To Review And It Is Amazing If You Haven't tried One For The Price You Can't Beat Em A Buy For Sure!!
Headless guitars give me the heebie-jeebies 😜. Not really… just not my thing.
Really appreciate your video and the analysis! Well done. I wanted to try out an Eart guitar as well and have just got mine. I went for the Telecaster model. It's a great guitar. Fret's are level, sound is great and it plays well....Then I experienced the trapped high E string issue. Mine isn't quite as serious as yours. Just wondering what glue you used? Thinset super glue?
Yeah. I use Mercury adhesives. Mercury Adhesives 4 Pc Starter Pack with Activator/accelerator www.amazon.com/dp/B06X6MBZ3C/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glt_fabc_VDKV3CXJ875QZYZK4VPR
But any thin super glue will work. Only use a little. Better to have to apply it twice than apply to much once. If that makes sense.
Thanks for the honesty.. I own a hardtail Ibanez RG Gio. Really cheap guitar but the finish is almost perfect. Frets were a lot better than my mexican player strat. Maybe I got lucky. Might not have the best electronics but it's more than enough for a beginner like me
A buddy of mine has an old Ibanez he’s had for ever. He loves it.
I purchased the NK-C1 telecaster and have been pleased with it. I checked my frets after watching your video. They all seem fine, luck of the draw I guess? I am switching the pickups out as I found them to be just average.
Exactly… not bad pick ups… they do the job and are serviceable, but for a little bit more money you can get a really good set of pickups and turn an otherwise well made instrument into a real good gig-able player.
Thanks for the info. To be honest, every guitar I’ve had whether it was a Gibson or Fender has some small issue but usually easily corrected. In this case with the Eart it seemed minimal. If the string was getting caught near the17th fret, you probably only needed to bevel them down near the end with a fret file not add super glue. Just wondering why you chose that option. if I received in in decent shape, the only two things I would do to the guitar is copper tape shielding for the cavities, and add locking tuners
07/25/2023: I have the telecaster body with tremolo or the EART T-380. I liked everything except, I did not like the recessed bullet fret ends. The actually are annoying and sometimes painful. So, I filed the fret ends down to be like all other guitar fret ends and it is great now.
Great review. Personally, I would have sent it back, as would most people. Get it right, or get it back. No biggie. The cross threaded screw is a shame, however, I don't see many people needing to remove those screws, unless they are replacing the switch or the pick guard. It's just not necessary. Even to replace the pickups, those screws don't need to be touched. The routes are exceptional as well.
I purchased their 335 model a few weeks ago. It had none of those problems and it played great right out of the box with only minor adjustments...just as the other reviewers said. Anything can happen and hopefully, EART has a good customer service group that's prepared to handle returns for inferior product. Again, great review! I would just hope that the beginner wouldn't accept this and send it back.
Hit or miss I got the SSS and the Explorer with no issues I love them both. Of course PU are not the best but tuners are really good.
I agree with someone elses comment that the Kramer is a better guitar for the money. I bought a Eart Explorer and I am having issues as well
Just bought a eart Strat. Fret ends all ok and frets all level using the three fret rocker test. Thy must have seen your review.
looks like they rounded them to far up onto the fret board where your high e string will fall off.
Yea a bought one, and when I tried to send it back they said it would cost 150 dollars to ship it back. Also the pickups did not sound that great to me.
These guitars are unreal. Yeah you may have to fix a few minor things but you end up with a great playing guitar and the value is the best in guitar history. I comment frequently on these guitars because I want people to end up with a great playing guitar that doesn't have to be a expensive Fender or Gibson. Also Eart stands by their product 100% and clearly care about the happiness of the customer. Don't forget you can't buy a neck with SS frets alone for the price of this entire guitar. Yours will probably have some high frets and the tuners aren't the best but get all that fixed and you will have an insanely good guitar for the price.
Yup… that’s pretty much what I say in part two. As long as you are willing to put in a little bit a work, you’ll end up with a really great guitar.
I purchased an Eart E-3S before the latest price rises, the new prices have made them
way too expensive.
Thankfully i had no quality issues, and the frets were smooth and level, which is not
always the case with this brand.
I wonder if one the reasons for the new higher prices is that they are taking the time
to set them up, the cost of making guitars has gone up, but not this much.
Great guitars if you can find one at the old price.
When fret ends lift (not uncommon) you can tap them down with a fret hammer at a 45 degree angle from the board. Not a big deal to fix. Eart's customer service is very good. You could have sent it back for replacement. BTW , you DID buy the cheapest guitar they make at $200. You whine like you expected a Fender American strat to arrive.
I think their sightly higher end stuff is more realized..... This is a good candidate for a pickup replacement though....I don't like cheap ceramics pickups.... Wow it had some issues....
I'm having the same problem with a fret on my sawtooth guitar
I have the Eart Tele and it is exquisite. But as soon as you lifted the strat to show those frets, I could see that although they were beautiful, they were glued in with little care. Randomly staggered somewhere near the very necessary positions. And I have seen this in other Eart reviews. That sucks because they are offering specs of $500 guitars for $200.
I have a feeling that the fret ends will lift up over time.
The other thing people are skeptical about is not just the integrity of the reviewers, but also if the manufacturers are sending out a guitar they know is being reviewed, they might make sure they are sending their best example which is not necessarily representative of the average piece of their gear.
What is the exact model that you are reviewing here and do you prefer chocolate chip pick guards over the mint green flavor? I ordered on of the Blue tinted Tele model and it is slated to arrive on 07/06/21. Will lets folks know here what I think. I have had the blue poplar top EART Electric Guitar Headless fixed Bridge for a few months and no complains what so ever have only praise for his guitar it holds tuning better than any other electric guitar I have ever played and I own 20. Only negative was the guitar came with 10's on the strings and I prefer 9's but I have yet to change them since they are decent strings.
The listing on Amazon has changed from when I bought mine. But it’s the SSS model. If it were mint chocolate chip, then maybe…
@@TheTapeFarm Ok if arrived a day earlier than predicted. Everything is fine on it and the pickguard appears to be while. If there is any mint green I can't see it or taste it. Here is a cell phone quickie review. ua-cam.com/video/hBXG-IaE3co/v-deo.html
Purchased an Eart headless. Same issue with the frets. Had to press them in with a fret press and do a leveling job. Plays awesome now but buyer beware.
What about thickness. Can it be upgraded with a big block tremolo
I believe so. I’m thinking about putting a two point contact term like the Wilkinson on there. I’ll let you know how it goes.
Honesty, respect it dude….I -put Seymour Duncan Antiquity pickups in the EART 335 and WOW….so good
I am blown away with my Eart 335...thinking of new pickups but after adjusting height on the stock ones not sure what I would gain (or lose). Just a wonderful playing, balancing and airy sounding semi hollow.
You gotta be a leader & speak what you feel & ignore negative comments or sometimes just get into it. I rather hear the honest opinion of what's up then someone saying it's great or it's junk. An unbiased opinion is always the best.
I think to many people lie or chose not to disclose the problems. It's really hard finding a left handed electric acoustic & so many said Ashthorpe was great. I ordered a left & right handed one & the left hand could not be fixed without a neck reset. Got another & it was worse. The right handed one has issues too. These aren't expensive but still a $100 is a $100. I don't know how they stay in business.
Thanks for the lesson in basic common sense and logic
@@mr.smithgnrsmith7808 You're welcome I'll send you my bill in the mail.
Very fair and reasoned review. I have bought two Eart headless guitars via Amazon and absolutely love them. Simply in a different league to the budget Squier strat I grew up with! Bridge is a bit quirky in both, but that can be changed. In my view the hype is real - they make instruments that are 80% of the way towards being seriously high-end for about 20% of the cost.
Try a 1970's ish K-Mart special, that was my first guitar. Kids are lucky to have these types of guitars today.
Totally agree… but kids today are also (IMO) much more easily discouraged. Mainly because I think they have so many other options to choose from as to how to spend their time. When we were kids it was play outside, watch three channels, or learn to play guitar. One of my biggest fears… who is the next “great band”. Guitar is starting to make a bit of a comeback of late. But it’s no where near what it was like when I was a kid. Forming a band in my hometown was a matter of 3 or 4 phone calls. Now HOAs would make it nearly impossible for kids to start a garage band. All this to say… I want kids picking up guitar… learning to play… and being that next great band. So any encouragement/help/advice our generation can provide might help make that happen. Maybe those days are gone… but that would be sad.
@@TheTapeFarm I feel if a child is interested enough in music to pick up the guitar they generally will stick with it. If you have an unplayable instrument, then you may become discouraged. I struggled with my first guitar. My parents didn't have the cash to toss around on a decent guitar, It took me 2 summers of cutting grass to save up for a guitar I could actually play. The reason I stuck with it was because I loved music, and that is the true driving force, distraction or not.
appreciate the truth about the fret work
My buddy bought one and it looked and felt great but as soon as I struck a chord the high E hung up under the fret!!! If I do buy one I will have my mallet ready to play Hammer Time on the fret ends.
What? Why would the e string move off the fret board in order to get stuck under the fret end during a chord? If yo bend the string down instead of up you might get that but a chord......nope
Most of the other youtube reviews are little concerts and people click because they like to hear the music. Only a few reviews actually review the guitar. Philip McKnight, MusicNGear, Scarr my guitar all test the fret level, fret ends.
shielding is under the body paint, weird choice but it is shielding
Bridge string spacing is too wide causing the E to ride over the fretwire.
Bought mine a few months back. I noticed the catching problem on the 22nd fret almost immediately, but it was only happening when I did a barre chord on the first fret, so I thought I could live with it. A few days ago, however, I was playing something that called for a full strum. I discovered that the string catches every time I do that (not something I do frequently, but I wanted to learn this song). So now I've either got to buy a fret end file (to be fair, I probably need one, anyway, but this is the first time I actually NEED one) to fix it and take a small bath if I sell it, which I'm leaning towards, or don't fix it and take a huge bath.
Anyway, I want to get the repair method right. Did the superglue trick not work, of did it partially work, but some filing still had to be done?
It worked but still needed filing to completely resolve the issue. Not sure if just filing would have resolved it, it might have.
@@TheTapeFarm It makes sense that both are needed, given how this sort of fret mounted. I was wondering if by just filing you'd have to too much off. Thank you for answering. Now if I can just not botch this…
Guys.. if the fret is not seated against the fretboard.. why wouldn't you just press it into place? You probably don't need to level the frets if you get it seated properly.
@@davidfaustino4476 because it wouldn’t seat. So either the slot wasn’t cut deep enough, or debris wasn’t cleared out of the slot before it went in.
@@TheTapeFarm I finally got around to doing the glue repair. Hit first fret barre f chord: no catch. Played “Strung Out” and put in the down strum I think the song needs: no catch. So, so far, so good! Thanks again for giving me an idea on how to do the repair.
That guitar definitely would be a return for me. I've done a lot of modding and fitting, but having more than a couple of frets standing up is too much. That and the broken screw would have sealed it for me. Did you have problems with the string fretting out, rubbing, on those frets after the repair?
I almost ordered their 335 type guitar, but went with the more expensive Ibanez AR420 (my wife said I could). Haven't received it yet, but it has to be better than that guitar.
Good job. Off to watch Part 2.
After the work it plays great. I only needed to file the fret ends themselves. If I wasn’t doing the video, I probably would’ve returned it. But I thought showing how to fix the issues might help somebody out so I just went ahead and fixed it.
@@TheTapeFarm You didn't have to tap them down? I made a P90 LP Special and ended up with 1 fret the popped up right on the end like yours. I used super glue and tapped it down. Worked fine after that. But if I had as many as you, the dressing afterward would have had me thinking of a new neck. Thanks for thinking of us viewers and powering through it. You da Man!
My EART explorer 1 refuses to go out of tune,I love this guitar!
I’ve never even thought about getting a headless guitar… but I’m looking at some of the EARTs… 🧐
@@TheTapeFarm these guitars are amazing,I've played everything and for the 300$ I spent I'm blown away 👍
@@TheTapeFarm The Explorers are actually more of a superstrat style. Headless models are the W1 and W2, but the JUST discontinued them. You can still get them on Ali Express or Ebay though.
@@jzalapski Where do you get your info on the W1 and W2 models being discontinued? They are still available to purchase on Amazon as of today 07/01/21
@@twowaymuir a couple of weeks ago EART did a 10% off promo claiming they were discontinued as of a certain date. They were actually delisted on Amazon and it was only recently brought back. It seems that only the blue fixed bridge model is available.
This is definitely a thing with eart guitars high e string. Id break out a mallet before filling with glue
YIKES!!! Honestly, I would have sent this back to the manufacturer and got another one. Anyway, here is my experience with an EART ES-335...
I received my EART ES-335 on the 23rd of December, opened it on Christmas day and was COMPLETELY BLOWN AWAY...WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON, I said out loud!!!
I never, ever buy anything on the net based on the recommendations of people on these "Diy or review" channels. Honestly, I was expecting a worse case scenario as many of my friends have fallen into this kind of trap and have been burned over and over.
This ES-335 guitar is RIDICULOUS, and buy that I mean it is mind bogglingly FANTASTIC. I have been playing and teaching guitar for over forty years, and have also built dozens of guitars for myself and other working musicians.
I have played hundreds of guitars in big and small retail stores all across the U.S...and every guitar that ever looked and played this well was in the 2k-3k category.
I bought this guitar based on several reviews that I watched and since money and free equipment are the biggest motivators on the net (no offense to those who are honest) it's hard to trust ANYONE who is reviewing anything. Yet based on the overwhelmingly preponderance of positive evidence... I held my breath and took the plunge.
After I unboxed it I personally took a magnifying glass to this piece and went over and over it for at least forty min. and found only "ONE" small flaw in the binding (not visible to the naked eye) and even that was just a small tool mark.
The intonation was off, but only by a little bit and it took all of five min. to correct it. IMO, the Pickups are great and on or off this guitar sings. the tuners are average but hold a tune. Honestly, the only thing I wish EART would have done is to KEEP the LOVE ROCK logo on the headstock, mine did not have one on it.
All in all this guitar exceeded all my expectations and I found this guitar to be wonderfully and beautifully made in spite of the steel frets (which I could care less about) and IMO this piece in particular should make the brand name competitors shake in their boots. Don't get me wrong, I am a brand fanatic from way back, but at this price point...why oh why would you pay thousands of dollars for a brand name ES-335 when you could get this beauty of an ES-335 which actually plays better than it's brand name counterpart and all for under $400.00. WOW, keep it up EART.
I don't know much about guitars but I bought the same guitar and agree with your assessment. The only thing I did not like was the bright white bunding on the tobacco stained finish guitar. I tuned it out of the box and thought it was out of my league.
Also, my complaint has nothing to do with how the guitar handles or plays, so it is just a personal preference.
My PRS had the same fret problem. Easy fix. Nothing to stress about. Glue.
I assuming you have a PRS SE. If your PRS had this kind of fret problem then PRS would have replaced the entire guitar.
@@IndyRockStarfender and Gibson wouldn't. Their guitars are dogs even at 2-3k. I view these guitars as raw materials for people who know that they're doing.
In my opiniom, for $200, that purple Kramer in your bg is a better overall purchase for the money.
if the guitar was a vanilla white, maybe the mint green pickguard might match? but yea that is one unique color pickguard... lol!
Just not as minty… I reviewed a Squier bullet Tele that was blue with a guard that was just ever so slightly minty and it looked great.
Sorry you received a lemon, that's always disappointing. I bought the w2 headless and it has been a fun no issue guitar. Looking forward to your next vid!
Made for a fun project and video. Part 2 is the fun part.
That fret issue really earts me
BA DUM TUM TSSSS
I have this guitar and it's amazing. The fret job is incredible and it plays like a $2000 guitar. I am surprised about those bad frets as i've played other Eart guitars and the fretwork was pretty good and from what I've heard Eart stands by their guitars. Order through Amazon and you really don't have to worry
This does not play like a two thousand dollar guitar, I don't know how you're coming to that conclusion. I have a fender stratocaster that's over two grand and this thing doesn't even come close. Sure, it's a nice strat styled guitar, but, you get what you paid for. I changed out the pickups in the eart and that made a huge difference compared to the stock pickups. As for fit and play, it's average. I bought one on the hype, and hype it is.
@@CockySoupNazi Every Fender I've played sucks. The fret jobs are garbage for what you pay. This guitar does play like a $2000 guitar. It may not look like an expensive guitar but the playability is off the charts. I bought the tele version and it's amazing as well. Fender gives you crap for the money i'm sorry.
@@Stratisfied22 You're delusional. You obviously haven't played many guitars. I can vouch that the eart guitar is an average guitar because I have plenty of guitars to compare to. I have three gibsons, four strats, a telecaster, g&l s500, an epiphone that say otherwise that the eart is an average player, that doesn't include the custom shop stuff I tried. I've been playing for years and know what's good or not. Give it a few months and the earts will be showing up on craigs list. I recently sold a affinity squire strat to a neighbor and it played better than the eart. But, to say the squire is better than a les paul or high-end fender is crazy, that goes for the eart, sorry.
@@CockySoupNazi Are the Fender and Gibson guitars that you own old or newish? The quality is not what it used to be IMO. I am 68 years old. Have been playing since age 11 and currently own 20 guitars. Have owned classic 50's Gibsons, 62 Fender Strat, and 70's Gibson Acoustic, and a 1932 Gibson Mandolin. I have had an Eart Headless with the fixed bridge for a few months. Great Guitar no negative issues what so ever. Set up was perfect and it stays in tune better than any guitar ever owned and the pickups are good. Ordered the Tele model in blue and shall see what I get in a few days. I have viewed most all reviews made and posted on youtube about this brand. I ordered models that are not their bottom of the barrel in price and you get what you pay for in the higher priced models which are seriously low price anyway. This Eart company seems to be on the right track and for the price deliver a better than average product in my experience than that of many other other brands and if you get a lemon just send it back at no charge. Seems like a win win situation to me. That said not everyone has the same opinion on anything. Myself I am not a company man that can only love or like one brand of guitars or cars or whatever and think that all other brands suck. The Eart Headless took a while to get used to due to no head being there, but otherwise is does play wonderful and a great neck, frets, and overall design and workmanship even it done by robotics. I don't know for sure but I suspect that the frets on their guitars are molded or machined to completion before installed on the fretboard rather than after. A smarter and better way to do it if so IMO. Good day Anthony.
@@twowaymuir Most of my guitars are newer, no vintage stuff, a lot of it used. But, I've played some vintage stuff, a friend has a Les Paul deluxe from the seventies with a pancake body and it plays fantastic. My favorite guitar is a 2014 SG special that is used, I also have a american stratocaster deluxe plus with the personality cards that has gorgeous neck and is amazing. My eart has a lot of high frets on it, a lot of fret rattle no matter what I do with the truss rod or action. I decided to use it as a slide guitar, which is fine. Oh, and the nut is cut badly. Oh well.
I had a similar fret edge issue on squire...smacked down...but then had to reglue in half the frets, puke
Kinda like firefly fans,don't make fun or your done, I have two of their 338s, because I like how they feel, when it comes to their LP it's has a fat uncomfortable neck to me, but some won't say that because they bought 20 in every color,stuck on the looks more than how it plays,I order guitars to play,not to be wall hangers,one mistake is enough for me,especially if I have to do fret work,change pickups,recut the nut, replace the bridge,or other problems,once I get a guitar and have to do all that,just to make it playable,I'm done,I certainly appreciate an honest review,my problems may not effect some players,but I have small hands,and have become use to playing slim necks,since my first band days,when I bought my real strat,now I switch between many different guitars,and the reviews tell me all I need before purchasing,this eart is not getting great reviews,but I wouldn't buy one anyway, because I didn't like the headstock shape,and the stainless frets don't cut it for me,I knew they would be too hard to work on,and your video proved that,I'm guilty of binge buying, during the last few years,with guitar sales reaching a whopping 700% above normal in 2021,I think it has tapered off a little now,and I know that I bought a bunch of dust collectors,and a few really nice additions,to my collection,but it's time to weed the heard out,most don't have cases and others are are waiting for upgrades,but I think I'm just going to try to get them in the hands of some of the grandchildren and great grandchildren,or just sale them all,and buy one brand name work horse,time to start making music again,now that I have every tool in my dream list,I like tinkering with guitars and learned a lot about set up,fret work,recutting nut for lower action,all the typical stuff,but I kind of lost sight on my ultimate goal,to record all those songs I wrote, and setting up my studio,I've been collecting equipment for 25 years,only to now have the internet, but I'm old school,and digital amps just don't interest me,thanks for the video,I've been listening to some of the songs you wrote,they are really really good,keep up the good work,I really appreciate your channel brother.
Why didn't you return it?
Honestly… because that would have a been a boring video 😬. And since I knew how to fix the issues, I just decided to do that instead.
No sure why you didn’t use a fret hammer and knock them down a little a!?
Because the frets were flat. Pounding the frets in would have meant an entire leveling and recrowning job… this was easier and just as effective.
6:17 i love the spoiler :D
Yeah… exquisite until I spend a couple of hours filing fret ends 😂
@@TheTapeFarm the beauty of that statement resonates with anyone who has a CV strat or a MIM one, and was like "ouch, i could have gotten better fretwork for less", your video is the only one directly adressing it.
19:20 wouldn't 'those guys' get guitars that passed an extra round of QC?
But a beginner wouldn't take off the pickguard, I guess ;-)
That’s fair. I imagine “they” would. Which makes this review even more valuable I guess.
Don't know how my telcaster ever passed,read my review
60 cycle also had string under fret
In the immortal words of Owen Wilson…. Woooow!!
Before you f*** with it plug it in and play it!
I know its not supposed to be like that but if ur playing in a way that forces the string so far off the board and then down, ur doing it wrong.
Yet it only happened on this guitar…. Ever. Been playing guitar for nearly 50 years and have owned literally hundreds of guitars. If you think there’s a “wrong way” to do it, I’d suggest you are mistaken.
@@TheTapeFarm Any possibility that the high e slot is too close to the edge? Or whether the bridge is correctly squared with the neck?
Yeah, it's not the youtube creator that is biased, it is the audience! Today, people just want to feel they belong to a group. It's the same for movies, tv shows. That's why most of them just have great musicians playing the guitar.
I was shocked to discover this was not the case on *Project* *Farm* - a related name of completely unbiased review of automotive gear. They set the standard to what youtube videos should be doing. They line up 10, say, battery chargers, and measure how much output each gives.
I must say that Philip McKnight reviewed one and didn't find any fret sprout. It's possible you just got a bad one.
Huh? I do NOT wanna be part of any “group”
There's a-lot on Amazon complaining and going into detail why the guitars are not good. But then again I've bought brand new brand guitars that were junk that not even the companies could fix.
Ummm that mint pickguard is the coolest part of that guitar.. but by all means go cheesy.
To each his own.
The seam between the neck and fretboard, plus the lifted fret ends, screams “built with improperly cured wood”
People complain about the price of Fender guitars and that these will make them charge less. Nope, winners will pay more for Fender
I bought a 335 a few months ago and it’s INCREDIBLE
Awesome.
I hung in there for 13minutes but this interview is too long on opinions about reviewers and posters to keep my interest. I get it. I believe you are nonbiased but that is not why i watched as long as i did. Thanks for the sincere effort though.
I get it. Thanks for the feedback. I appreciate it, honestly.
does it compare to the Sire tele?
No the sire sounds better and is finished better.
@@alhajemmedia4450 thanks so much for telling me,appreciate it
@@matthewstearle7395 No problem. Go for the Sire its a amazing guitar!
@@alhajemmedia4450 which model Sire did you try,I have tried the 335,it was nice
@@matthewstearle7395 nice I've played the t7. Im gonna try the 335 too
good thorough review. people hate facts these days.
The prices on Eart are rising ..
I purchased the explorer for $346 last week and the next day the price changed to $599..
Sorry to burst the bubble, but, these are overhyped. Bought a strat version like you, and it's an average guitar. Change the pickups and you'll hear a great difference. I never had any issues with guitar fit and finish except I have hairline cracks in the finish on the body where the neck pocket is and the weak pickups. This is a beater guitar and that's it, I've played affinity strats that are better than this thing.
I did change the pick ups. Check out part 2. Thanks.
I think the answer to your question is easier then you think it is. When the manufacturer sent them a new guitar they made sure the guitar was as close to perfect as it could be before shipping it. They picked it off the line on a good day of production.
Sure you didn't leave plastic protective film (green) on guitar...? They come with white pick guard
Ceramic pickups are a no go for me.
It's a $200 guitar. I'd be really surprised if it had alnico pickups and an Oak Grisby switch
Agreed…. As I stated, I don’t tell people what to expect, I just tell them what I see.
I must have gotten lucky, my EART is better than great.
That's not fret polishing. They're casted like that.
They don't make lefties so I personally never own one, in the 335 China clone
world grote Harley benton is the only cheap China copies for lefties that I can find. Wanted a firefly but missed the boat since they are no longer making
Left handers. Hope eart see's this as
I for one would buy a 335 lefty copy...
Eart is making a left-hand 335. I'm not recommending it just that I looked it up after watching this video and I see for a 2021 they have a right hand and a left-hand 335
Thanks for the tip
Seems there are alot for sale between 220/275 used. That tells me alot. unlike other cheap china copies, this one is definitely not getting "marked up" like others. Seems like they are dumping them....
That would be a nightmare for a beginner!
Agreed. My fear is a beginner would think the issue was them and not the guitar, and give up.
just tap the fret down with rubber mallet
The fret was level with the other frets. Doing that would mean having to do a complete releveling, and recrowning… a lot easy to do what I did.
I hate those fret ends.. you actually lose some room for the string and it makes the neck feel wider than it needs to be. Also you'll catch the strings on them.. (lol just saw you realize this yourself) I'd rather have them go to the edge with a slight rounding. That's why expensive guitars don't do this stupid fret rounding nonsense.
No way in heck you had to replace the selector switch, any tech could have easily gotten the broken screw out with less fuss than replacing the pickguard. If I were doing a strict review I would have not changed the pickguard out on video time, it's a personal matter not a review matter. You blur the line and make it appear as if it's a fault of the guitar, the same with the satin (matte) finish? I've been to the web site and they show many guitars with gloss finish, next time spec what you want.
I appreciate the constructive criticism. However your wrong about the screw. It was snapped out of the box and was so badly cross threaded it would have needed to drilled out. And frankly a switch isn’t worth that effort. I’ve been working with tools and on guitars for nearly 40 years. I’m very capable of removing a screw if it’s able to be removed. The pickguard was not replaced because of the screw, it was replaced because I didn’t care for the color, which I clearly stated. I never stated a matte finish was an issue, just that the fact that the matte finish was not (at the time of purchase) mentioned in the product info. In fact I stated that it didn’t bother me that it was a matte finish, but it might bother someone else, so that’s why I mentioned it. All that said I have been concentrating on what is and isn’t getting screen time and have condensed some things in the videos I have done since this video. I’m always trying to make shorter, more concise content while still trying to be as informative as possible. Thanks for the critique.
@@TheTapeFarm Thanks for the reply. As thin as the sheet metal is on the 5 way it couldn't have but 3/4 threads holding the broken machine screw. My point about being less fuss was a way of being comparative in the amount of work involved in removing the broken screw (fairly easy) vs. the elective changing out of the Pickguard and changing out the switch. Right after watching your review I watched "Guitar Max" do a review of the very same model 'strat' only in a different color (also matte finish) also with a greenish pickguard. If you have a chance check it out.
The reason this video, and part two, is so long is you talk way too much. Just a thought, maybe keep some (read all) of your superfluous opinions to yourself. BTW, you do nothing but complain. So don't deny it. An objective review is just that objective. No drama and no personal opinions. In an objective product review the product will speak for itself in terms of goodness or badness.
Thanks for the feedback. Reviews by their nature are opinions. While I don’t necessarily agree with you entirely, you make some points that I will take into consideration in the future. For example maybe instead of showing all the issues I found and my reaction to those issues, it might be more effective to just do a montage of the issues with a voice over. More of a listing of facts sort of thing. Then go into how I dealt with the issues. That would be a bit more concise, thus making the video shorter as well. Thanks again and thanks for watching.
21:45 , according to some reviewers, they aren't stainless steel frets, that was false advertising. Thoughts ?
Urban myth that all stainless steel are magnetic, some are but some are not like the 316 used here.
I was just watching 60 Cycle Hum, IIRC he said it was the Amazon website that said the frets are stainless steel, and not EART.
@@TranscendentBen correct the stainless comes on the more expensive one
get yourself a ball pene hammer with a rubber tip and pound that fret easy fix not hard to do
11:10 I think it's rather you spoil their dream of risk-free bargain hunting.