To start I messed up my order and ended up with both this model and the fanfret version.
I would say that the overall feel and quality is better than I expected. The knobs and selection switch felt good. Overall the neck feels nice in the hand, I have several 6 string Jackson’s and this felt comfortable to play coming from those. It played good right out of the box, but I would lower the action a little.
Really the only negative thing I have to say is the tuners are not good and tuning stability is an issue, but if you end up liking the guitar it’s an easy inexpensive upgrade. The pickups are also not the best either, they are ok for seeing if you will like playing an 8 string and not having to pay a lot to find out.
Now the difference between the two models in my opinion is, I think the pickups on this model are a little better, but not by much. The biggest difference is obviously the other model has the fanned frets and is multiscale, and you can definitely tell a difference in string tension playing on the smaller strings on this model, they feel tighter in comparison. It feels much more comfortable for me playing the multiscale, but the fanned frets might not be your thing, I really only notice it up on the first few frets and maybe like 19-24. I would say they are both good guitars worth the money if you want to see if an 8 string is right for you. I think if you plan on trying to record or anything like that you would need to upgrade tuners and pickups but other than that plays great and has a very playable neck.
