Subject
Decent, fun to play nylon acoustic/electric thinline with great pickup
By: J. Huggins from San Diego, California, USA
Submitted: 12/17/2012
Quality
Would you consider this product to be made well? How dependable?
Overall very well put together, nice thin coat of finish, not gunky at the seams like some other manufacturers but definitely well done. Nice smooth frets, everything top notch workmanship except for the tuners, whcih are terrible and I had replaced with some nice double sealed $40 tuners that made a huge difference in tuning stability. The sound could also be improved with a better saddle; I went with bone. Electronics are all spot on.
Reliability
How has it stood up over time?
Seems to be a sturdy made guitar, haven't had any problems with it so far!
General
Your general opinion of this product.
Excellent, though it could be better if the back and sides were laminate and the tuners had been of better quality, but these are not big points. It doesn't project like a normal classical guitar but the sound is killer and it is a lot of fun to play through an amp, with a nice basic set of settings on the fishman.
Playability and Feel
How does it feel, Heavy, Fast, Chunky? How was the neck? Are the controls easy to get to while playing?
It plays very fast and smoothly thanks to the nice rounded frets and wide neck. Not quite a real classical's width, but not too tight like an electric/acoustic guitar, which makes it excellent for fretting chords. Controls have to be set between playing because of the location, like with most acoustic/electrics. It's hard to get the action very low as well before running into fret buzz, but I have mine set at a nice comfortable level for playing.
Tone
Bright and snappy? Dark and smooth? Were the pickups hot, mellow, thick, thin?
Stock, it had a nice warm sound, very mellow. The thin body doesn't give it much projection, but it does raise the acoustics a bit which I happen to like, so you get a better representation of highs and mid range sounds. With a bone saddle and decent strings the solid spruce top also transfers a very mature sounding bass. It translates into very rich sound over the amp. The volume knob can really be cranked up to get a blaring, distorted sound, otherwise it's best to keep it low. The equalizers give a nice range of sound from crisp and clean to loud and popping. It can be a good sounding acoustic with upgrades, but it won't project well; it's on an amplifier that it really shines with the excellent fishman electronics.
Finish
How did the stain or paint job look?
Mine has a nicely evened vertical grain and looks gorgeous. The trim is very dark and fits the darker wood, giving it a very western, 'smoky' look. Gold hardware looked nice on it, though I replaced mine with silver. Very even, shiny coating.
Action
How was the action out of the box?
Action was a bit high stock