Fazley FFV618BK Electric Guitar (Black)

Fazley flying V
For the price this is a great guitar.
Looks good, fit and finnish better than I expected.
After a little set up,tighten truss rod,raise bridge,tune,stretch strings and tune again, which is all very normal for a new guitar,took me 45 mins to get the V sounding really good. Its now my favourite guitar.
For the price I am very happy with this purchase and will consider getting other guitars to add to my collection.
First time having a new guitar through Internet purchase, arrived on time, packaging very good double boxed no damage. Bax music very good keeping me informed via email and delivery spot on DHL.

Warning: This tale grew in the telling => a very long and over detailed review.

I have a child who wants a Flying V and only a Flying V. I cannot run to Epiphone, let alone Gibson prices. At the moment this is the only budget Flying V on the market that I can find that looks reasonable close to a Gibson, in this case the pick guard less rear routed 1980s version of the V.

The guitar arrived 3 days ago and while I did initially consider returning it for a direct replacement, I was not sure that I would get another that is significantly better and I could even end up with an example with more serious problems, and so I have decided to keep it.

The pros:
It is playable with one exception, some of the the fret ends - see cons. The truss rod does appear to work, but I have not had to make any major adjustments, only to slacken off for a little more relief. The action can be taken down the high end of low (high E = 1.25mm and bottom E = 1.75mm at the 12th fret), without too much choking or buzz. There are only 4 rocking frets, none of which are bad enough to require an immediate fret levelling. The (plastic) nut is cut well enough. The guitar can be intonated, even with the cheap supplied strings. The pickups can be taken up to my preferred height without getting unduly tilted or floppy.

The hardware ls largely what you might expect at this price point and it all works to a greater or lesser degree:
(1) Tuners: These are no brand generic tuners which have an acceptable finish, are somewhat imprecise in tuning, but do not appear to slip. The guitar has not held tune all that well, but I can pretty put much of that down to the low quality strings, which will of course be replaced now that I have decided not to return the guitar. BTW… These tuners are not as good in feel as the ones I have had on some other budget brands, notably Harley Benton and Antiquity (PMT house brand - now deceased), but are still way ahead of these found on old cheaper Epiphones like the Les Paul Special II.
(2) Small cheap looking potentiometers, a 'proper' mechanical 3 way toggle switch, i.e. not a PCB switch, which feels OK, but it is visually not of any great quality, and pickups that while not exactly the 1980s Gibson ‘Dirty Fingers’ should be reasonable output humbuckers (measured resistance of 7.9 KOhms at the neck and 11.4 KOhms for the bridge).
(3) Bridge, stop bar tailpiece, strap buttons, which have OK cosmetic appearance and function well enough.

The cons:
The paint finish: These are a few small cracks in and one 6 mm wide 2mm deep semi-oval chip out of the varnish on the neck binding. The front of the guitar has a very shallow rather strange looking three legged ‘spider’ indent about 5cm across located south and inboard of the control knobs. Otherwise pretty reasonable, but I did reminded myself that with black underlying defects are always more visible than with other colours and therefore did make some allowances.

The input socket: This is located on the inside of the V on a flat surface. It loos as if the plate which holds the socket was designed to screw to a curved surface and is consequently slightly buckled in the centre on both the top and bottom. The jack socket is of poor quality and whilst it grips the plug all too well at the moment (try getting the jack plug out without using what seems like an unreasonable amount of force), I do not hold out much hope of it having a very long life.

Construction: The frets are dull and scratchy, as is to be expected at this price point, and the fret ends are not that well finished, but 4 fret end on the Low E side are potentially hazardous. These are somewhat deformed, cut with a very shallow angle, lifting at the end and are razor sharp. As I am now keeping the guitar, these will have to be dealt with immediately. The holes for the switch and pots have not been drilled in a straight line, the middle pot being 3mm closer to the outside edge of the guitar, and the spacing of the pots is not equidistant with the middle pot being 3mm closer to the first than to the last pot, giving a somewhat ‘higgly-piggly’ unprofessional appearance. There are some brown glue marks on and around the fretboard inlays, but I did expect that.

Overall:
Would I buy another (if it were stolen/lost/destroyed)? Yes, as I would as I would not really have a choice unless something else cheap and Gibson like had appeared on the market. If it were just for my own use I may be tempted to try the Harley Benton, but the recipient of this guitar wants a Gibson look alike and would not be happy with the truncated headstock shape or the peculiar looking cut outs from inside of the V wings that the Harley Benton currently exhibits.

I liked the style but unfortunately the copy I got was let down by poor QC. There were a number of marks and scratches on the finish and a glue mark on the fretboard. The truss rod was overtightened so the neck was back-bowed and unplayable out of the box. Once I loosened the truss rod to get some relief in the neck and adjusted the action, it became playable although there was still fret buzz on the thicker strings. Had the finish been better, I might have kept the guitar and done some remedial work on the frets but the cosmetic flaws made me return it. On the plus side, the returns process with Bax was very easy.

IF it Looks GOOD Then..AND it Really does..The Gold Fixtures against that Black Body..Its Lustre..its Size & Presence..Standing there On its Own 2 Feet..IF you want a Sturdy'ICON'to Watch over your Guitar-Room..To Lock it All together..This 'Nearly-Free-Vee'..is So Well put together..Checked it out with Hands & Eyes..Strapped it on..Put on SRVs'Tin-Pan-Alley'for Company..& took it for a Spin..Now as a Player I am..Shall we say..'Still-Trying'..But I Can at least Tell when a Geetar is'Sympatico'..Nice neck & Action..The Bass is Full-bodied..the High-side has good Sustain..The Basics are ALL There.. Upgrade the Pick-ups why wouldn't you..& NOW We Talkin'.."What Say Stevie-Ray..the Baddest Place in town" ..