Metropoulos Forum

A few weeks ago I bought an Agile AL-3100; at $470 (including case, tax, and shipping), it's a great guitar. I replaced the pickups with SD Seth Lover's, the bridge with a Tonepros TOM, the nut with an earvana compensated nut, and added the Mojo tone mod. All in all, it's a great guitar, but I wanted to know just how it stacked up with Epis and Gibbys.

...off to GC.

I'm not going to bludgeon you all with ridiculous metaphors describing the physical/tonal differences, I'm just going to get to it.

Agile vs Epi - This was a garden variety Epi ($479), nothing special. In every way the Agile destroyed the Epi. Not even close. Obviously I can't be completely sure, but I'm betting that my Agile sans mods would even whip the Epi.

Agile vs Gibby - This was a used custom ($2499). In terms of weight - too close to call. In terms of build quality - Gibby...there's just too much love put into that guitar. Sound (acoustic) - very close, Gibby by a nose. Sound (amp'd) - this was difficult because my guitar was sporting SL's and I dunno what the custom had (GC salesman told me it had 490s). All I can say for certain is that both guitars sounded great and that whatever was in the Classic was much louder and more aggressive than the SLs.

Consensus? At a fourth of the price, I'm happy with my purchase. Are stock Agiles just as good as Gibbys? Absolutely not, however, make some modifications and the delta rapidly shrinks.

Anyway, there's my $0.02.

As much as I hate to say this, I agree that there are much better deals to be had than what Gibson has to offer. I know that many will disagree, but I frankly think that Gibson charges some pretty steep rates for their stuff. I have a Tokai and I love the thing to death. I'd put it with confidence against almost any Gibson.

considering most people will probably replace the stock gibson pickups, i'd say on that level they are basically even. I definitely agree that gibson is making you pay for their name. from your review it sounds like the guitars were pretty evenly matched in your eyes, which speaks volumes. thanks for this comparison! I'll definitely consider an LP copy next time GAS hits.

No problem! Hopefully, someone will find this information, as subjective as it is, useful.

I would have to agree. A friend got an Agile for Xmas and I was floored at the quality.

My next purchase will probably come from Rondo Music....

I recently purchased an Agile as well and put some Dimarzio 36th Anniv. pickups in it. That guitar is awesome. I would concur with what d20 said. I have a lot of guitars and I will not pay what they want for a Gibson when these sound so great and the workmanship is very good. Plus Kurt is a great person to work with and have read numerous things about his excellent customer service.

BFG

The agiles do look pretty sweet. I am def. considering one down the line but would love it if they offered a gibson flying V rip off with the nice classic headstock. Maybe some rear routed strats would be nice too..

As for the mojo tone mod, what is it exactly? I just placed an order with Nomo and i gotta say that it took about a week to get to Canada, wasn't too expensive, and no hassle with shipping or customs (yet- until i get a note possibly). I'd buy from there anytime.