MusicRadar Verdict
The Shape may face tough competition in the crowded mid-range guitar market, but with its winning combination of features and all-round quality you'll be hard pressed to find fault here.
Pros
- +
Outstanding build quality and materials.
Cons
- -
Tough competition from big-name brands.
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We have been consistently impressed by Indie's quirky designs and competitive prices. This Shape semi-acoustic guitar sees the company moving upmarket, without losing its value-for-money ethos and emphasis on original design.
Its solid mahogany sustain block and genuine flame maple top give the guitar the extra resonance of a hollow design and the power of a solid body. Combine this with hardware from TonePros and Grover, and the Indie stands tall in the mid-range guitar market.
"Indie has easily done enough in terms of spec and build quality to justify the price of the Shape."
Indie has easily done enough in terms of specification and build quality to justify the price of the Shape; it continues to impress with its satin finish, and there are no rough edges to be found - even the inside of the f-hole is tidily painted.
The recessed controls, well applied binding and flame finish all smack of a high-end instrument. Although Indie's doublecut body shape is original, it does remind us slightly of Fender's much-missed Starcaster, the '80s axe beloved of Radiohead and The Killers.
Semi-hollow bodies like this are used by guitarists as diverse as bluesman BB King, Britpop wonder Noel Gallagher, G'N'R's Izzy Stradlin and loincloth toting rocker Ted Nugent.
This list is a good indication of the styles the Shape feels at home in, with its big, fat and sometimes swampy tone providing extra resonance and overtones from the hollow chambers.
The mixture of Indie's GR8 humbuckers (voiced for a vintage tone) on the semi-hollow body and 25-inch fingerboard gives you the perfect balance between the classic, fat sound of a semi-hollow body guitar and the snappier attack of a longer scale length. The resulting tone makes the Shape a very responsive guitar to play unplugged, too.
Indie claims this model can deal with everything from clean jazz to high-gain rock. Semi-acoustics are certainly versatile beasts and, plugged in, the Shape lives up to that promise.
The guitar has the inherent fatness needed for big chords, and its semi-hollow construction encourages the good kind of feedback when you get lairy.
It's hard to find fault with this guitar. You'll appreciate the high build quality from Indie, the unrestricted heel-less neck join, and the way the satin finish doesn't get sticky, even at sweaty gigs.
While we've played better sounding guitars for this money, few match its combination of features, playability and build quality.
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