Agile Custom shop AL3200 build and pickups ?

[handyman11]

Just picked up a custom shop Agile AL3200 Les Paul locally, for the price of a used AL3200 ... (not sure it was worth the $1150 the original owner paid)

Incredible green and yellow finish, bought it because it looked so great ... looks to be well built, although it weighs a ton.

My questions are how do they compare to Epiphones (have a 2001 Elite Les paul, a few upgraded 2000's) or lower end Gibsons. Particularly the pickups, I just played it along side my other 3, and it sounded good, but for some reason the other three seem to sound different, in a good way.

Do we people swap the pickups out of these guitars ?

Any opinions are appreciated . Thanks in advance.

 

[Steadfastly]

IMHO, you have a great guitar there. To answer your question about pickups, people change pickups of very expensive guitars. They usually just want something different or like to experiment. The P/U's in your Agile are excellent already and it is way over and above an EPI and many Gibsons too.

 

[ChrisN]

The Agile typically comes with hotter rock-oriented (esp. in the bridge) Alnico 5 pickups. My 3100's (w/1.75 nut) measure 8.08 and 12.76. I like more of a PAF sound, so I lowered them flush, and I like them fine, but I don't use distortion, so someone else would know more.

As for comparisons, I also have a '93 Gibson LP Studio with some name-unknown likely Alnico 2 PAF-level Gibson pickups (7.8 and 7.2), and an RS Guitars upgrade kit for the pots/caps (probably wasn't necessary). You might try lowering the Agile's pickups for a better sound.

I prefer the Gibson's nitro finish, esp on the neck, and I prefer the unbound neck. The Gibson weighs 9.2 pds vs the Agile's 8.4. I prefer the lighter weight, but the 9.2's not a deal breaker for me. The Agile's fretboard radius is 12-16, which I like, but the original Gibson radius (they say 12, but might be closer to 10) feels fine, too. I prefer the flame cherry burst maple veneer on the Agile (both have maple caps), but, like the whole guitar, it's under a thick layer of poly, which I don't like. The neck set on the Agile is a true 4 degrees, while the Gibson's in the 5+ degree range (overset), which results in the bridge and tailpiece sticking up higher over the pickups, which is kind of sloppy (but a well known thing).

The Agile's fit/finish is flawless, the ebony fretboard (also on the Gibson) and bound headstock appeal, the fretwork was flawless, the tuners work fine. I had to lower a couple of nut slots a hair, but otherwise it was good to go, after I lowered the pickups.

I love both and am keeping both because of the different nut widths. If I had to pick one, it'd be hard to do, unless "name recognition" or "resale" were factors.

EDIT: I should mention that the necks on both guitars are almost the same '59 rounded profile that is my preference.

 

[customguitars87]

Just picked up a custom shop Agile AL3200 Les Paul locally, for the price of a used AL3200 ... (not sure it was worth the $1150 the original owner paid)

Incredible green and yellow finish, bought it because it looked so great ... looks to be well built, although it weighs a ton.

My questions are how do they compare to Epiphones (have a 2001 Elite Les paul, a few upgraded 2000's) or lower end Gibsons. Particularly the pickups, I just played it along side my other 3, and it sounded good, but for some reason the other three seem to sound different, in a good way.

Do we people swap the pickups out of these guitars ?

Any opinions are appreciated . Thanks in advance.

I own 5 Agiles (2 are custom shops purchased used from GC DIRT cheap, the rest are regular production models) and they're all fantastic guitars. The only thing that isn't absolutely stellar is the pickups, so I would definitely recommend swapping them. The stock pickups in most Agiles are perfectly usable and sound "good", but not great compared to some nice higher end ones. Dimarzios/Duncans are a good upgrade but I'm a huge fan of Bareknuckle pickups and use them in just about every guitar I have...so most of my Agiles have a BKP set.

Here's my absolute favorite Agile, a custom AS-1000 semihollow with Bareknuckle Mules. I would take this thing over any Gibson 335 that I have ever played (and in fact, 2 Gibson 335s that I owned went to new homes a few years ago when this arrived):

 

[handyman11]

Thanks for the great feedback ..actually have a Dimarzio Super Distortion (in silver) on another guitar, thinking about a swap to see how I like it on the AL3200 ....