mean street guitars

**pancho** · 07.11.06, 07:52 PM

I'm thinking of either an OLP or one of the exile or intruder guitars,, what is everyone's opinion of these??

**HipCat5** · 07.12.06, 05:02 AM

I can't speak directly to the Mean Street Guitars, but the OLP guitars are pretty good for the money. Not great, but pretty good. Let's put it this way: for the money, if you tried to get a comparable body, neck, and hardware from other sources it would cost you way more. Unfortunately the OLP bridge pickup is pretty thin sounding and most people replace those right away. Secondly, they always need a good setup (something every guitar should get anyways). Additionally, the OLP "fender-esque" bridges aren't good at all. If you're considering a Floyd Rose anyways, get the MM-1 Floyd Rose model and immediately swap out the original Floyd for a better one. This solves 2 problems which I found ... first, the Floyd in the original is made of some pretty weak material and prone to break under heavy use and secondly, the bridge pickup is situated properly on the MM-1F (on the original MM-1, I find its too close to the bridge after a Floyd conversion and anything sounds tinny when its too close to the bridge). Doing a Floyd conversion on the original MM-1 is not trivial and the wood can easily split if you're not careful (it happend to me, that's why I mention it).

Finally, the latest OLP MM-1's I've seen & played don't have any finish on the necks. The one I bought when they first came out DID have a nice finish on it but they cut that out. My suggestion would be to sand the back of the neck smooth and finish it with tung oil and finishing wax.

After having said all that, you might want to ask yourself if all the work and materials is worth it compared to buying the Exile from Mean Street Guitars. No major problems either with a stock OLP but I wouldn't do anything live with a stock MM-1 because I wouldn't trust it unless I gave it a complete overhaul.

Just my $.02

**Double Down** · 07.12.06, 05:25 AM

Here are countless threads where Mean Street Guitars have been discussed quite a bit.

http://www.vhlinks.com/vbforums/sear...earchid=274070

**Rockguitarstar** · 07.12.06, 11:30 PM

I think with all of the things that you would need to upgrade in any model of the OLP, the mean street model that is going for that EB/MM EVH feel might be the better option. It gets a playable guitar in your hands quicker and with less of a headache than the OLP. Of course there is the axis...

**51501984** · 07.13.06, 07:22 PM

Originally Posted by Rockguitarstar

I think with all of the things that you would need to upgrade in any model of the OLP, the mean street model that is going for that EB/MM EVH feel might be the better option. It gets a playable guitar in your hands quicker and with less of a headache than the OLP. Of course there is the axis...

I really can`t speak for the MeanSreet guitars. The OLP is a great budget guitar and can be modded just like anything else. The best thing to do if you can is to get either the Wolfgang,Axis or Kramer 1984. You`ll save $ in the long run since the only mod I can think of that any of those three guitars might need is a pickup swap. Trust me when you pickup an OLP vs. a Axis or Wolfgang you`ll tell the difference in quality in a heartbeat.