Realized I never posted my full review here:
After playing for a few hours yesterday, I'm definitely in love with this one. Have most of my gear packed to move and have been fighting the urge to unpack stuff just so I can play this through stuff other than my Katana Mini and ML Amps plug in.
Here's all the deets from the BrOla site:
Solar A2.6S Antique Silver Matte
Neck - very comfortable, fast and easy to move on. After wrapping my hand around the neck on my Solar bass (the thinnest, fastest bass neck I've ever played on), I was expecting this to be a bit more Wizard-esque, but it's a little meatier than those. Feels more like the neck on my Schecter KM6, but fast like my Jackson SLX DX.
Color - pictures don't do it justice - it's STUNNING in person. I bet the flake in the paint really looks incredible under stage lighting.
Headstock - this is my first reverse headstock and I've not been interested in one ever, being stuck with the 'tuners belong on top cause they've always been that way' mindset. That is, until I saw a vid where Ola talks about how it's more ergonomic - and he's right. So, consider me a convert to the reverse headstock Kool Aid drinkers. I've read a lot about the logos peeling on the headstock, but this one shows no signs of doing so, ATM. And, it looks like a freaking spear - so #Metal
Tuners - I prefer 3x3's at my age, just cause I tend to bump the neighboring tuners when adjusting the one I want, but that's not a big deal. They turn smoothly and I've no complaints. So far it seems to stay in tune very well. Still need to swap the strings, but these ones still have life in them, so I may wait a bit.
Frets - the fretwork is done very well, in fact, better than most sub-$1000 guitars I've picked up in stores lately. These are "Super Jumbo" ones, however and this might be my only 'quibble' with the guitar. My shorter, smaller fingers feel every iota of fret wire and that means they lack the inconscpicousness I'd prefer in fret wire. If I notice the frets while playing, it's a distraction and I notice these simply because of how big they are. However, they were installed very well, ends are near perfect, etc. Hardly a reason to diss the guitar, but just something that doesn't immediately suit my personal tastes. Absolutely zero fret buzz and the action is sweet.
UPDATE: After getting used to it, the oversized frets are no longer noticeable when playing.
Fret board - while I don't seek out signature series stuff, or have any sort of idol worship for other guitar players that I want their signature gear, BrOla is the kind of guy I would have loved to jam with back in my heyday, so seeing his sig at the 12th fret is pretty cool, IMO. The board itself is very clean, free of any cracking, blemishes etc. Would love it if the side dots were luminlay, but at this price point I'm not complaining at all.
Pickups - haven't done much, if anything, with the neck pup yet, but so far I really dig the bridge. As I said elsewhere, it seems like a tighter middle ground between a Duncan Distortion and a Duncan Custom, both pickups I love. But, I'm not 100% convinced I love them just yet, simply because I haven't run them through my Jet City/Mesas or my Axe FX. While I highly doubt I won't love them, if I decide I want to change, it's a perfect reason to buy another Elysian Trident II from Adam.
UPDATE: The more I play this, the more I love these pickups. To the point I might seek out some to put in a few other guitars. Very crisp, responsive, thick and tight.
Bridge - It's essentially a generic Hipshot style bridge and I'm a huge Hipshot fan. The saddles are raised up higher than the sidewalls of the bridge, which isn't the case with my Hipshots on other guitars, which I'm not sure I dig. This made me wonder if the sidewalls aren't as tall as the standard Hipshot, but I've not cared enough to do anything other than eyeball the Hipshot on my Franken7, which looks more substantial than this one. I considered lowering the saddles a bit, but imagine that will introduce fret buzz. So, I think I'm just going to live with it. Swapping it for an actual Hipshot is easy peasy, but don't know at the moment if that would improve anything.
Electronics - everything works fine, so... yeah... Really love how the knobs are slightly recessed. Not sure there's any playing advantage to it, but it looks cool, feels cool and... yeah...
Body - the seller told me it had a "big scratch" by the volume knob, but not only could I not see one, my son who has perfect eyesight couldn't either. Aside from this mythological scratch, this baby is flawless. I really love the scallops on either side of the neck in the cutaway valleys. For that alone, I'd buy a Type A over a Type S all day, every day.
The guitar itself has just enough heft to it to feel solid, but not so much that it would bother me having it slung over my shoulder for a few hours. It helps that Mahogany is my favorite of all the toanwoodz.
Overall score - A+
As much crap as I see people giving Ola on the FB page about quality control issues, this thing utterly destroys every other sub $750 guitar I've touched in years. If you told me it was priced more in line with the $1000-1500 Jacksons, Schecters, LTDs, etc. I'd totally believe it. And it's way nicer than any non-Prestige Ibanez available right now. It isn't quite the quality of my Jackson Pro H7, but it's really close - and it lists for $699 while the Jackson is $1350. I'm so impressed so far, it has me considering selling my Schecter KM6, which I absolutely love. And, I wouldn't hesitate to buy another Solar, which means I'll be chasing a
Solar 7 string soon...
#OlaFTW
