Maybe let's start with why I have been MIA for the past few months. In fact, let's talk about 2023 and what it means for the near future. Things really slowed down for me the moment I left my job one year ago. Without any income, I have no spare change to play around for musical gear. And that effectively shut down this blog for the time being.
Until today that is. I don't know how I managed to save up this much money in the past year, but I did. And I wasn't intending to buy a new guitar. But I chanced upon this company called Jethro Guitar Works and they are based in Singapore. I read the specs of the guitars they are selling and I couldn't believe my eyes. So I ordered one.
The guitar came yesterday and I immediately went to test it out. The build is okay, average at best. There were a lot of dust here and there. Inconsistencies on the guitar everywhere. In my testing, the wiring had some issues, causing the bridge pickup to be way quieter in the middle position. What was I expecting for a $600 guitar?
It did come with a nice hardcase and some goodies inside. The hardcase looks really good although the materials used are cheap ones too. I texted Jethro Guitars and they agreed to do a swap for me after hearing my sound tests.
And so the swap happened today. The replacement guitar came and the sound was much better, although the action and intonation were screwed up to the max. The Bigsby arm always became loose after some usage. Had to do a lot of adjustments before the guitar was even playable. Guess I'll survive with this for the time being.
The sounds are okay. The pickups are generic and I hear nothing special out of them. It's perhaps a good place to start modding when the income comes in again next year. Sadly, the guitar cannot hold tuning very well everytime I used the tremolo. Maybe the locking tuners are also bad quality.
Ok time for some good things about the guitar. Fretwork is nice. Rounded smooth edges and clean fretboard. Paintjob on the guitar looks good for this price too. Eh wow. That's about all the good stuff. Dang.
Ok once I sell off my Edcaster, I'm probably building another Edcaster, one with less problems this time. And I'm not trusting any random Carouseller with the build anymore. Going straight up to the reputable shops for the assembly. Thinking of building an exact same one but with TV Jones pickups. I think it'll be damn sick.
As for the Jethro Thinline, I'm probably gonna keep it for a while. If I got time and money, I'm definitely gonna do up the guitar a little. Probably replace the tuners and the stupid ass nut, and definitely get it set up by a professional.
I don't know how things will go from here. But I'm trusting that it will be good at the end.
Edwin Ang
*As of 24th September 2024, the Jethro Thinline has been sold for $535.
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