Yes... you wouldn't expect this from a company like MusicMan. Such an expensive instrument and such a crappy setup. I mean, the pickguard was crammed into, pushed against the tremolo system in such a way that it was bending because of the pressure. And I was expecting the trem to stay in tune... Well you can imagine, if it was scratching the pickguard how well it could it come back into tuning. Forget about that.
You rotate the volume and tone knob and you can see the axis is a bit off-centered, so they spin like a carousel. And some strings are buzzing. All notes have some sustain, so they don't have dead notes but strings have a little bit of buzzing, which is annoying, especially the low E. And the action is pretty high. If you lower the action you get dead notes and even more buzz. Even the Harley Benton kits I put together had better intonation than this instrument. Too bad the pickups for the Harley Benton kits are pretty bad but... once you set them up, really, they're feeling better than this Sterling Cutlass CT50. And I got this CT50 instead of going for the CT30 'cause I was thinking I am getting better quality. Man, I was wrong!
I'm also not a fan of the thick neck but I got used to it and I like it but the roasted maple fretboard is too dry... it feels like you're playing an acoustic guitar. Even dryer. But once you start playing, the sound of it makes you want to keep playing it.
With that said... the pickups are very nice sounding. Very sparkly, clear, bright, accurate.
Also, the paint job in one spot next to the neck seems like it spilt over and it's not... perfect. It has imperfection there, like aa small drip. The finish should be spotless! And the pickguard is chipped a little bit, in a spot where it meets the neck. It drove me crazy to see these when I bought it. Never seen any guitar that would have the paint spill a bit and create this little... drip or something. Too bad I can't attach photos.
Would I buy this instrument if I had a second chance? No way! I would go for better instruments at this price range. And I see the prices sky rocketed for the CT50. No way! This is a big no no for me. I don't know if I got a really bad one or this is the level of quality control for them sterling guitars.
