The objective was to get an introduction to 8 string guitars and this is a very good guitar for this. This is basically the best 8 string guitar your money can buy for this purpose.
The finish is OK, there were few black dots under the lacquer on the neck and the frets were not well polished from fret 9 onwards. This and the out-of-the-box strings do not helping with bends. Other than that, the D-shaped neck is amazing, it makes the width of it disappear, really good. This non-fanned version will make you feel at home if you are coming from the 6 string guitar world. It is also properly weighted, no head drop.
The pickups are actually alright for the price. The clean sound are better than the distorted. It definitely lacks definition in the lower end. If you have access to an EQ and compressor you can get a OK sound. Replacing the microphones on this guitar shall still give you a very good deal.