I think Gwem has or has had one as well? (In amongst his 1000 Vs :lol:, so I suspect he's an "expert" you'd like to hear from)
I really like the Faded series - I have the SG Special and its bass counterpart. But they definitely seem to be a "try them until you find one you like" range. The six string was about the 5th I'd tried, and I'd nearly given up on them. The bass was the 2nd I tried (or possibly the same one twice - it might have moved from one branch to another!).
On the SG, I think comparing it to an SG standard is possibly being a bit unfair to it :lol:. The Faded SG is an SG Special (no binding, screen-print logo, etc, etc), so it probably ought to be compared to the fully finished SG Special instead of the Standard.
One of the things about the Fadeds is the finish. That seems to be how they make them - take one of the cheaper models and don't bother with the heavy clear-coat finish (and the time required to put it on) to make it possible to sell even cheaper. I think they don't bother too much with grain filling that would need to be done for a proper gloss finish either (I get this from comparing my Fadeds to an Explorer I stripped - when the clear-coat came off, it was very much like a Faded but smoother).
So what this does is give you a new guitar that can feel a bit dry, rough, cold in the hands. Stick a bad set-up and rusty strings on one and it feels like a dog! :lol:
Get one set up, with decent strings on, and it plays nice. Play it for a few months and it soon starts to polish up and feels really warm and lived in. If you don't like the unfilled grain though (and they seem to be variable in this), then you might never bond with it.
Like Keith says, they are very sensitive to knocks - my wife was very upset when she dented one by just "touching it" (much more than I was, took ages to cheer her up). I saw her do it, and it was more than a touch, but most of my other guitars would have come away without a sign. Basically, they haven't got the clear-coats a fully finished guitar has, so you can't really expect any different I suppose (and I don't mind dings anyway :lol:)
I've not tried the V, but have gassed about one myself several times. I've seen one in the flesh, and this particular specimen looked a bit more orangy than my two, so that was a bit off-putting for me... (However, I know you can darken them, and speed up the polishing effect using Briwax - that's what I did to my six-string)
How it compares to a Standard, I've no idea, but I suspect that if I could lay my hands on enough of them to try then I could find one I'd be very happy to own.
I'll stop typing now, I'm starting to feel GAS twinges myself... :lol:
