IYV 6 String, Right, Cherry Sunburst (ILS-300D)

This is a good one. The flame on the top veneer is subtle depending on the light but it has a really cool vertical grain too. The satin finish is nice. The “carved” top is built convincingly enough. It’s lighter than a real Les Paul. Feels like a chambered one. Binding is real, not painted on. Relic job is tasteful and looks like the pictures.Pickups are decent. Sound like Alnico 5. A little microphonic but really articulate. You may want to swap in your pups of choice but these are good, lively and musical.Setup is pretty close to perfect out of the box on this one - action is low and intonation is good. Tuners work. Fretwork is good. No sharp ends. Hardware seems solid. Knobs feel better than I expected them to. Very smooth.Overall, this guitar is a great value. It looks great and plays great out of the box. I’d recommend this to a beginner over a guitar with a tremolo system as it is easier to keep in tune and maintain. I’d also recommend it to modders and pros who aren’t brand snobs.

I’m trying to break the addiction to buying IYVs on Amazon. I told my wife that I was on the last one several times before. I got the Hoffner style bass first because I wanted a lighter instrument for doing gigs. I wasn’t sure if it would be gig worthy but I tried it out and after adding Gotoh tuners for neck dive alongside flat wound strings, I was very impressed with how well it plays. Then I had to try the PRS style hollow body and it is my featherweight guitar, only 5 lbs 4 ounces. Then I had to have a Gibson style 335 so voila it was next. Then I realized that I didn’t have a “Strat”, even though it was back ordered I found a used one in good condition for $95.That brings me to the Les Paul style. Ive always wanted a Les Paul but the weight was a turn off. I’ve had a broken back and I can’t handle the weight after an hour of standing in my band practice. Also the cost was too formidable for me. Then I saw a review of this guitar on Fulton Street beats. The host had a high score for this guitar. Once I received it I was not sure I liked the relic effect out of the box, so I decided to give it the budget Murphy Lab treatment. I’m a fan of the Gibson relic treatment but I couldn’t stomach the $20,000. price of a Murphy Lab Kirk Hammet Greeny.I did some research and found that it was a lot of fun to try my hand at it. I’m a painting contractor with an art background so finishes are a familiar thing for me. I stripped the finish down to the base coat. It’s a very intense yellow finish underneath the orange sun burst. I believe the base coat is a polyurethane finish because it’s pretty sturdy. The orangey finish came off with some wet sanding. The body also sanded off easily. I had to employ some different techniques to get the aged effects. There’s a lot more to it than just a colored laquer finish.And then I flipped the magnet in the neck pickup. It gives a very convincing out of phase sound. I’m very happy with my Peter Green clone-art project. And the weight is under 7 pounds which is due to the fact that the body is a poplar wood sandwiched between the maple and mahogany. The tone and resonance are excellent. The action was very good out of the box. I’ve left all standard hardware alone except for the tuners (Gotoh) and the two chrome knobs for the Greeny look. Overall I like this guitar more than all of my other ones. It’s got character and tone.Get yourself one and enjoy!

It seems like I've waited over a year for this guitar and finally they are available and mine came yesterday. For the most part pleased with only two issues. when backing off on the tone knobs you experience a disproportionate volume drop. It's the same with each one. The other issue is that the thing has a bad smell. When checking it out I started to get a headache. I'm hoping this will go away in time. Other than that it's all good. I was anticipating the need for the usual adjustments, but unless things change after I restring it, it's just fine as is. Neck relief, action, intonation are fine. Pickups sound great, no fret issues, the neck feel is just pleasantly chunky, and I couldn't find any cosmetic flaws ( other than the intended distressed areas). Now I restring, polish frets, and hydrate. I recommend this if you want an inexpensive Greeny. Best regards to you all

Despite already owning a great IYV violin bass (pictured), I was going to joke about this being too good to be true:*This guitar plays and sounds as good as my $1000+ guitar!* If you believe that, I have a bridge in Brooklyn I can sell you.*How does IYV make something of such quality for such little money?* IYV pays their workers (unbelievably skilled luthiers) with bowls of rice and packs of smokes. If you don't believe me, I have three magical beans I can sell you.*Photo flame maple should be used because real flame maple veneer won't look like the picture and is rare and going extinct!* I don't have anything to sell you if you really think photo flame (plastic) is better than actual wood or that flame maple is a different species of maple, one of the most sustainable tonewoods. Just a facepalm.End of jokes. I ordered this back in October, had a couple of shipping delays once it shipped. I was hoping for a Dave Meniketti tribute display piece, would've been happy with something somewhat playable.And damn, I got a good one. Mine came ready to go, just 3 strings out of tune. I literally just started playing once in tune. Intonation perfect, action perfect. Electronics all work, tuners are perfect. Nut cut well, might be bone? Fingerboard is jatoba, like the bass; just dry and needs some mineral oil. Strings not old, frets a bit scratchy but that'll take care of itself from playing. I'm not a huge fan of relic'ing, but mine was tastefully done. The workers could've cut corners because of it, but didn't.Amazon re-taped the single box, and despite seemingly no scarf joint (!) no broken headstock. My Amazon delivery driver carried this to my door with one hand. So not a boat anchor.Sorry for the bad pic, but the neck heel is slanted as advertised, not squared. Super easy to play every note.Hopefully you get a good one, too. I might get a second. Highly recommended.