Kiesel Aries Anyone?

[Emg77]

I'm looking into picking one of these up. Was looking for any input to the quality of these from someone with experience with them. From the surface they look to be a great value. Also, how are the lithium pick-ups?

Thanks in at advance.

 

[crankyrayhanky]

I have an AM7 multiscale and love it.

Mahogany body and neck, ebony board, plain maple top. I like the lithiums a lot but I think the wood choices play a huge role, as well as tuning (drop A) and material (hi gain rock/metal). The lithiums have a lot of attack and are tight tight. I think they have some kind of built in boost which usually means I'll turn off my OD boost even for hi gain stuff. Sounds good for me and the above, but if I was going 6 string E rock I may choose something else.

I may get a AM6 for dropC or dropB. I really dig the neck on the 7 and can shred up a storm on it, maybe more so than any other axe.
One thing to note- some receive a guitar where the hipshot bridge pieces need to be unusually high to get a decent setup. Not sure if that is a design flaw or setup incompetance- mine are up a bit, but nothing extreme or bothersome and I like a bit of medium high action. It arrived this way and it works really well for me.
Others report they need to max out the height which becomes very weird and feels awful on the right hand. Kiesel probably could use a bridge piece that is a little thicker to avoid such issues. If you like ultra low action this likely won't be an issue, and it may not be an issue anyway- but worth mentioning as others have reported.
Here is one link
http://www.kieselguitarsbbs.com/viewtopic.php?t=47332

 

[Emg77]

I have an AM7 multiscale and love it.

Mahogany body and neck, ebony board, plain maple top. I like the lithiums a lot but I think the wood choices play a huge role, as well as tuning (drop A) and material (hi gain rock/metal). The lithiums have a lot of attack and are tight tight. I think they have some kind of built in boost which usually means I'll turn off my OD boost even for hi gain stuff. Sounds good for me and the above, but if I was going 6 string E rock I may choose something else.

I may get a AM6 for dropC or dropB. I really dig the neck on the 7 and can shred up a storm on it, maybe more so than any other axe.
One thing to note- some receive a guitar where the hipshot bridge pieces need to be unusually high to get a decent setup. Not sure if that is a design flaw or setup incompetance- mine are up a bit, but nothing extreme or bothersome and I like a bit of medium high action. It arrived this way and it works really well for me.
Others report they need to max out the height which becomes very weird and feels awful on the right hand. Kiesel probably could use a bridge piece that is a little thicker to avoid such issues. If you like ultra low action this likely won't be an issue, and it may not be an issue anyway- but worth mentioning as others have reported.
Here is one link
http://www.kieselguitarsbbs.com/viewtopic.php?t=47332

Thanks for the input. The bridge thing concerns me a bit. Perhaps I will look into the floyd or the evertune.

 

[mooncobra]

I had one, custom ordered it, and it was a good guitar, even the pickups were pretty cool. I thought I would have to replace them but they were ok. It played well, and sounded good. I had an alder body, maple neck, ebony board, Floyd rose, etc. definitely worth the price, and I have seen Aries go CHEAP used on reverb. crazy good deals on them. that being said, customer service wasn't the best. I switched customer service reps.

 

[splatter]

Don’t have an Aries but I love my CS6.
Don’t care for the lithium pups though, very mid heavy

 

[Emg77]

Awesome! So, would you say call the order in or just order it online?

 

[crankyrayhanky]

always best to call up.
Everybody loves Chris Hong (I think that is his name?)

 

[MYLILSS]

I have 12 kiesels and love every single one. Customer service has been great for me with my sales rep as well. I’ve bought a few used but most of them were new orders. They discontinued the model I like which is the CT with a Floyd, so I haven’t been buying as much, but they are great guitars.

 

[MetalHeadMike]

Lots of people with love for Kiesel, but my experience with an Aries 6 order a couple years ago left me saying Kiesel...Never Again!

Good luck.

 

[Emg77]

Lots of people with love for Kiesel, but my experience with an Aries 6 order a couple years ago left me saying Kiesel...Never Again!

Good luck.

What didn’t you dig? What was the spec of your build?

Thanks

 

[MetalHeadMike]

Lots of people with love for Kiesel, but my experience with an Aries 6 order a couple years ago left me saying Kiesel...Never Again!

Good luck.

What didn’t you dig? What was the spec of your build?

Thanks

Basically the neck pocket was f#cked up and they maxed the saddles to compensate. The sales guy was the most unprofessional arrogant s.o.b. I ever encountered and then there was the egotistical douchbag running the show.

If your interested in specifics, here's my post about it: viewtopic.php?f=3&t=187387

Specs were:

6 string
Swamp ash body/ antique ash
Walnut neck
zebrawood board
stainless jumbos
hipshot bridge
kiesel lithium pups

Guitar looked AMAZING but played like utter garbage. Jeff Kiesel made a video calling me out publicly basically saying "it's a shame we get customers that lie about our products and photoshop pics to try and make us look bad." Unbelievable what an ego that guy has. I really wanted them to fix that guitar cause it was aesthetically stunning, but they had ZERO interest in working with me...ZERO.

 

[cardinal]

These are bolt on, right? If the saddle height adjustment is weird, just shim the neck angle.

 

[crankyrayhanky]

These are bolt on, right? If the saddle height adjustment is weird, just shim the neck angle.

Yes bolt on
But I think the neck pocket shim solves the opposite problem- action too high
These reported issues are action too low

 

[cardinal]

These are bolt on, right? If the saddle height adjustment is weird, just shim the neck angle.

Yes bolt on
But I think the neck pocket shim solves the opposite problem- action too high
These reported issues are action too low

Neck can be shimmed either way. To drop the frets relative to the bridge (get higher action), just shim the front of the neck pocket. I’ve done it many times.

 

[harsh59]

Opinions on Kiesel are all over the place . Anything from dedicated fanboy to fuck you I'll never buy again . All I have are my experiences with them . I have 3 Carvins , all bought before the name change . A DC200 from the mid to late 80's . A hardtail Bolt and A ST300 with a Floyd from a few years ago . All ordered new from them . I had no problems , everything went smooth and by the numbers . All 3 guitars play , sound , and look great . A lot of there new designs , headless , multi scale among other things are not my cup of tea . I would by from them again . BTW the S22B bridge pickup in my ST300 sounds freakin amazing .

 

[Emg77]

Thanks for all the input. It seems Kiesel is great to deal with when there isn’t any problems. But, sounds like, they take no accountability for when there are issues.