Douglas: Grendel (2)

Did the ritual to my Douglas Grendel today. A push-pull coil split switch...

Orange drop capacitor. This pic also shows you the interior appearance of the control cavity; a well-finished affair, I should say.

A pair of Tesla Plasma 7-1 humbuckers. I hear good stuff from this pair in my Schecter Omen 7 & they did well here- more definition, less mush from the 7th (B) string.

After much playing & physical scrutiny, I am giving my Grendel a quick appraisal:

The Douglas Grendel is a cheap guitar, there's no hiding that. But there's also no hiding that it was well made; from one end to the other, it's top notch. It's not a 'wanna be' guitar, it didn't draw inspiration from any particular brand name model out there so you won't feel played out by some false expectations. 

I need to remind potential buyers out there that the neck profile here is the fat & wide type, coupled with a rather flat radius (13.7"), it could be quite a challenge to some of us who are too accustomed to a 6-string. Compounding this experience would be the fact that the manufacturer employed a 'uniform neck profile', meaning- the thickness at the first fret, traveling up to the 12th, only experiences a 0.5mm difference. Please keep this in mind.

Electronics-wise, the Grendel is equipped with budget features so the pickups there are the typical 'get-by' grade, nothing fantastic. In fact, some of us might find it excessively bland across frequencies. One of the pots was extra stiff & I did away with it yesterday.

All in all, the Grendel is arguably a worthy 7-string to own. I wouldn't quite recommend this to players who are starting out with an extra string in their guitar, due to the neck profile. However, if you find skinny necks detestable, this would be a good pick. It's value for money, no doubt about that, it just need a little getting used to.