Desolation DS-1

[canadian bacon]

It was just a stigma that Japan had at the time. At least, thats how I remember it. I think China has it now. I have no doubt at all the DS-1 is awesome as well as your model 6.

Right, that's all I'm saying. In the 80's many of us preferred made in the USA but bought MIJ on overall "value", or for me I couldn't afford the US equivalent. Now we look back it seems like a no-brainer as many of the MIJ guitars were as good or better than anything out there. You can see now how acceptable Korean manufacturing is becoming in many industries, but it has taken a few decades for them to earn that reputation as well.

So yeah - nice DS1!

[Hellbat]

Well, it all boils down to the level of QC employed by the company that owns the brand. If the let the Chinese manufacturers get away with building shit, they will.

I dig the Desolation series except for the overblinging with the abalone. My only concerns with them are the abrupt transition from unfinished to finished neck and the fret material seemed like a fairly soft metal alloy and may wear prematurely. I'm jonesing for a blue smear star myself and if my local dealer gets one in there is a 90% chance of an impulse buy on my part unless it plays like dogshit.

[straycat]

I'm really liking the DS-1 the more I play it may ditch the black outs eventually and throw a set of Fuelie PAF's in it and an RS pot kit.The finished to unfininshed transition thing will get smoothed out too some wet sanding will fix that.
The frets seem fine atm but time will tell on the quality of the wire.May be cool to go jumbo up to the 16th fret and stay with the medium from there up.
The quality of the paint and inlays are top notch so no issues there.
Plays great and very comfy weight wise.
The tuners are smooth and the nut is cut perfectly no tuning problems at all, rock solid feel and I have played the snot out of it trying to find any weak spots but none yet.

[dres_x]

love the color! hate the inlays >.

[straycat]

Weighs in at 7.5 lbs which is nice the DS-2 was a bit heavier from what I could tell playing both.
Diggin it so far

[straycat]

Well tonight I was planning on switching the pots around so that they were neck top bridge lower like a L.P. Thought hell un plug the pick ups and switch pick up leads well for some reason both pick ups worked all the time so put it back and live with it as it is not a huge deal.
Did notice both plug ins for the pick ups weren't all the way on the pick up prongs.
Shoved them up all the way sounds much better,not sure that affects the operation of the pick ups much but hey worth a try.
Changed the strings to 10's and noticed the tail piece stud anchors lifting a bit so yanked them out by hand and glued them back in.Again not a big deal its a MIC guitar.
10's make all the difference in the world sounds much fuller and the strings have some tension now.
Plays like a L.P.ish guitar should.
I have played the shit out of this guitar just trying to find a weak spot and found tail piece stud anchors need to be checked,tuners need to be snugged down and pick ups need to be checked for plug ins to be pushed all the way on the prongs.
Now back to thrashing this thing and see how it holds up.

[Scooter]

That seals it for me then. I will have one. Was thinking the trans red looks really good. I just haven't been interested in active pups, but thinking about it more and more, and the 18V mod too. Does it have an LP-ish tone, or darker, or brighter, or do the actives make that a moot point?

[DonP]

It was just a stigma that Japan had at the time. At least, thats how I remember it. I think China has it now. I have no doubt at all the DS-1 is awesome as well as your model 6.

Yep China has it now.

The issue I see is that if you look, you can score a Model 6 for $100 less. There is no way I can see paying $600 for a MIC guitar.

[straycat]

Don I wasn't expecting too much but had the guy get two in to check out.
Both were made well and very solid feeling I played both and the DS-1 was very organic sounding which was good,the neck felt great so I plugged it in.
Both had a very solid feel,nice fretwork and fit and finish looked great too.
Granted its no les paul but a great guitar for the money.