Hey John, it's Ian!

So I've had the guitar for a while now and I've had a chance to gig with it as well. 
Here's my official review that you can put on your webpage or whatever, and some pics. 
Sorry they are in B&W. Apparently we had to pay for color! 

This is my second guitar built by John, as my first one(an explorer) was stolen out of my house. 
I will go on record saying that this guitar is one of the best I've ever owned. My insurance 
wrote me a big fat check to get a new guitar, but i told them to just forward it to JCi guitars, 
as I wanted another custom. As with my first guitar, John kept me updated throughout the entire 
process, and i looked forward to his emails to see my guitar in it's various stages of completion. 
It's this kind of commitment that convinced me to go back to him rather than buy off the shelf. 

When my guitar arrived at my door sealed and packed very well, I tore into it like a kid on Xmas 
and finally got to my guitar. Honestly, it was better than the first. John truly outdid himself. 
I did tweak a few of the specs this time around, and with fast improvements. The craftsmanship is top notch, 
the finishing is beautiful, the value is unbelievable, and the tone is unreal. I found that the tone was 
a little muddy on my last axe, as it was mahogany on mahogany with a Padauk board. This time, I switched 
it up and went with a maple fretboard and maple stingers in the body. Big difference! The maple really 
brings out the treble response, and the wood itself is silky smooth and extremely comfortable. The pickups 
themselves are a little vintage-y for my tastes(usually), but they sound very good with this particular guitar. 
I play through a Diamond Nitorx half stack(if you haven't heard of this company, i implore you to check them out. Finest amps I've ever heard!) 
and i play mostly heavy music(check out my band at midnightdawns.com). 
But with the wiring system that John employs, you can generate everything from SRV style spank, full bore humbucker mode, 
throaty roar to almost acoustic. One of my favorite tones is what John calls
"low output", which is both pots in the "pulled" position.  It basically turns any amp into the most pristine, glassy clean machine you've
ever heard. Amazing!

White Ash Monarch

So i finally got the guitar, played it, plugged it in and rocked out. 
Enclosed are some pictures of said rocking. Overall, I am very satisfied. 
There are a couple of concerns, but i think that they are more just things I 
have to get used to. If you would like me to share the concerns, just let me 
know. What I will share is the the great things about it. The tone is unreal 
(especially the clean) and the over all cosmetic look is exactly what i 
envisioned. The neck is smooth and just the right size, not to thick or 
thin. It plays very easily. Clearly, you are a fantastic craftsman, and an 
excellent guitar builder, and I would enjoy doing another project with 
you(in fact, i have an idea for a neck through SG style, and eventually i 
would want another guitar to complement this one, like a Flying V or another 
explorer) when I get some more money! So again, I must thank you and for 
everything. I WILL recomend you to everyone I can, and I hope we can do 
business again soon. But I just bought a house, so i am pretty damn broke. 
Ahh well, maybe Christmas time.
With many thanks and continuing gratitude,

Sincerely,
Ian Leung