Kiesel: Vader 6

This guitar was supposed to be my birthday present. Unfortunately, it didn't make it on my birthday due to procrastination. That's right, I deliberated late last year hoping the exchange rate would turn favourable but the opposite happened & I called the order off. 

I had been eyeing the Kiesel range in June 2016 after the local dealer here cleared away their Carvin stock since Kiesel would be taking direct orders online, eliminating any third party costs which would eventually be borne unto the buyers- thank you Kiesel! 👍 Prior to this, I was set to purchase  an offset Fender model, one from the American Pro range, which was also called off after seeing the prices compounded by some other complications that took place along the way (I do not wish to re-visit that episode). Along the way, Dhalif Ali invited me to try his Vader 7 & it somehow re-kindled my interest in all things Kiesel.

At that point in time, I had a month to go till my birthday so I keyed in the custom order but Kiesel don't rush their production, they don't wish to despite the circumstances; it affects quality & I was OK with it. Production was completed a week ago & final payment was made. I'm still playing this guitar & giving it thorough tests before putting up a deserving appraisal. This colour was intentional as it's the colour of that Fender I wished to purchase which also features a maple fretboard. Salt into the wound, you could say that 💣

I'm rather averse to buying guitars online. I need to play one in person before parting with good money. I need to be personally assured because guitars could be harbouring defects & the onus is on buyers to make sure they don't buy lemons. But we don't brush aside names like Kiesel in this consideration. They are guitar people & they make it their business to deliver their best, especially the fulfilment of specific instructions by the customers. These aren't regular production guitars, mind you. 

As this was my initial dealing with Kiesel, being adventurous was not it in any way. I kept things simple & objective. I'm not a sucker for eye-catching flame tops so a solid finish was chosen. I prefer no fretboard inlays & that was made clear here. That's about it, everything else was recommended specs & things turned out brilliant. They had a $100 promo back then for added specs & I took that opportunity to include stainless steel frets. On this note, I'm dead serious when I expressed intentions to veer online for my guitar needs. Things are made more feasible these days with the advent of technology, the rest involves an element of trust. If you choose to stick strictly to what's available in the stores, you are limiting your choices & that could be costly. Let's see now, if I have opted for that Fender, I would have needed to fork out $700 more as opposed to what I paid for this Kiesel Vader 6. Lesser money for a custom shop affair- why not?