Excellent guitar. Neck feels amazing --- the compound radius is immediately noticeable over my previous 8-string (a Harley Benton). This makes the guitar extremely comfortable to hold and play. The way the fanned frets are staggered on this guitar makes it very easy to play --- they don't begin to get noticeably slanted until ~12th fret, where playing style tends to change anyway. The stock strings on this guitar (and all 8 string guitars) are garbage, far too thin and filmsy to make use of the long scale length. You should only use the stock set to test the guitar works then immediately swap them for something heavier (e.g. D'Addario XL).