Larry Carlton H7 STR

Sadly, this guitar doesn't live up to the hype and makes me wonder about the legitimacy of the YouTube reviewers.

Haven't played it very long not to damage anything before returning it to Thomann but, as far as the sound goes, it's ok. Pickups are a tad on the low output side but that's obvious given the guitar specs. The design is good as well - great, comfortable neck shape and the most comfortable body shape I've ever played sitting down.

The main problem of this guitar is the fretboard and things around it. Fretwork is really bad. The frets, some of them yellowish, weren't even polished in the factory, making this scratchy noise whenever you're bending strings. There are visible dye spots on the binding (dyeing is one way to make the cheap ebony look better, I guess...), file marks all over the place and at least one small but visible crack between the binding and the fretboard. It's puzzling why Sire even bothered dyeing the fretboard given the fact that there's this enormous bright patch, taking like 1/3 of the fretboard in length and just making the whole guitar look cheap.