Hey! I just bought one and played it live last night. I play in a cover band and we have done a ton of songs. I have gone through lots of guitars, amps and effects over the years trying to find the best sounds and tone. I have an '81 Dean ML that screams for all the hard rock stuff(KISS, AC/DC, etc..), then I have an ESP Ron Wood Tele with a Hipshot multi-tuning bridge. That I use for The Stones, Black Crowes, etc. I wanted a strat sound but I don't really care for the electronic layout on Fenders. Especially the volume knob being so close to the bridge and bridge pickup. Plus what is the deal with two tone knobs? So I was looking for a Robin Ranger on ebay. I love the binding and the way the guitars electronics are laid out. I never played one so I was a little leery about getting one. Everything I heard about them was top notch though. I just couldn't find one that I liked for a decent price. I wasn't going to order one for $1500+, wait and then not know how they play and sound. So I was hoping to find one between $500-900. But no luck.
So I kept searching for another guitar, in part just cause I wanted something new, but also something with a different sound than what I had. I was thinking about a Les Paul but then I already had the humbucker sound. Then I heard about the VG Strat. I figured if it sounds good I can live with the knobs and just get used to them. I checked out Youtube and wanted to puke when I watched the young Fender marketing punk pour over the guitar with a million adjectives. What a tool! But then I saw Greg Koch doing a demo and thought it was a cool sounding guitar. After checking a couple more videos and reading some reviews on Harmony-Central I figured that this was the guitar I would buy. So I started checking ebay for prices. One thing I got from reading the reviews was that a lot of guys said to get a better tremolo unit, tuners and set the guitar up cause the factory setup wasn't up to snuff. But for the most part they were all very satisfied with the guitar. I saw one on ebay that had some upgrades and tried to buy that using the best offer option. The seller was located only ten miles from me so I thought I could get it right away. Anyhow I offered $1400. The guitar had the upgrades but was a few months old and more importantly it was black with a maple board and I really wanted three-tone sunburst with a rosewood board otherwise I would have used the buy it now of $1550. In the mean time I went over to Guitar Center to check one out. I only saw one hanging on the wall and wouldn't you know it, it had a broken string. Finally after searching the store I found one right by the front entrance. It was a three-tone sunburst with a maple board. I quickly grabbed it and went to plug in. I chose a Fender Vibroverb re-issue amp to try it out on but after plugging in the batteries were dead. So I went to the one hanging on the wall and took the batteries out of it hoping that they had some juice left in them. They did and I started to check it out.
The place is total mayhem so hearing myself was a little difficult, especially if you want to hear the modeled sounds. Then I was getting a buzzing sound from the amp. I wasn't sure if it was the guitar or the amp so I plugged into a Fender Deluxe. No buzzing, so I went about my business and checked the guitar out thoroughly. Sure the volume knob kills me but there is only one tone knob now. The other tone knob is replaced with the two mini knobs that control the selection of guitar models and the other knob controls the tuning options. I played a bunch of stuff I know in each tuning. Stones(open G), Zeppelin(12 string), Byrds(12 string), Fat Bottom Girls(drop D), Good Girls Don't(baritone) and they all sounded really good. I was pleasantly surprised. I don't know any tunes in DADGAD tuning. If you or anyone knows some pass it on. I've been playing for 30 years and can pretty much play 99.9% of the songs out there. But one thing I really like to try and emulate is the sound and tone of the guitars on the songs. I play the Tele on Sweet Home but it just isn't the same as the Strat. The VG has the Strat tone I was looking for and the modeling sounds that are very handy in a cover band or really just somebody that wants to be able to experiment with those tunings in a quick easy way and still have a good sounding tone. I paid $1700 for it a guitar center. I actually am using the one with the maple neck and they ordered the sunburst with the rosewood board for me. I just will swap the guitars when they get the one I want in. Sorry to go long on you but I had to lay the foundation behind the purchase. I may buy a new pickguard and move the volume knob. I just keep hitting it and turning the volume down. What a pain in the ass! Other than that I think it is a great guitar. The finish looks great, the neck feels nice and it plays great. The guitar goes slightly out of tune but with the floating tremolo bridge I kind of expect that. I may get some locking tuners or a hipshot bridge. We'll see, so far it has been great but then again I've only had it for two days. Hope that helps. If you have some specific questions you can email me at lougiordano@cox.net
