Product: Art & Lutherie Spruce CW cutaway
Price Paid: UNKNOWN
Submitted
10/29/2007
at
09:15pm
by
ehmanages
Features
:
9
Dreadnaught sized acoustic. Finished in a satin burgundy-ish color which looks sweet on this guitar. Love the handmade in Canada vibe with recovered timber from Canadian forests angle.
No name tuners work very well. Tusq nut and compensated saddle means that the guitar is intonated all the way up the neck. Nut width is 1.72 inches - which means 1 3/4 " to me. Scale feels like a very slightly less tensioned 25.5 so it but may be a 25" scale.
Bought it used for a couple of hundred bucks... so no case/tools/etc. info on this one. I believe mine's a 2006. 14 frets to the body and 21 frets in all. Solid spruce top with 3 piece laminates each for the back and sides, nice matching of the grain for a solid wood look for the back and sides. Nice rosette... looks hand laid.
Uses the Godin made Quantum electronics vol/treb/bass knobs (uses a 9 volt battery.) Nice for open mics but not enough EQ for 'pro' gigs.
Neck is a 3 piece maple neck with scarf joint at the headstock and another on the heel (classical guitar style.) Fretboard is a nice piece of thick rosewood. Neck feels Martin-like. Fret work is excellent -pro quality- frets are crowned and shaped.
All in all, Fit and finish is amazingly nice for such an an inexpensive guitar.
Sound
:
8
Sounds phenomenal for pop/rock/folk guitar work. The sound tends toward the mid range with plenty of brightness with a lot of volume and punch. It can do some detuned stuff but this guitar is not built to compete with OM/Parlor type of guitars with soft cedar tops which excel in soft finger picking style or darker blues. This guitar is the opposite of intimate sounding.
I have/have had a nice collection of pretty expensive acoustic (collings/vintage martins/taylors/Larrivee's, etc.) and this guitar needs no excuses to come out of the case and join the party. Great all around axe. Bought this as a throw around beach guitar and, no joke, its become a fave of mine. I kind of want to keep it a secret like my Larrivee guitars... but no one had reviewed this guitar yet which was a shame.
Marking this an 8 as to be fair it is not a grand piano like some of my other guitars - which if they get dinged or bumped I feel sick. This I have no worry and tons of great tone.
Action, Fit, & Finish
:
8
Action is medium to med-low. Too many players want action that's super low; what I call 'les paul action' but you need some string height to move the top.
The top wood is perfectly bookmatched. Guitar shows no flaws - it is not filled with lots of fancy binding, etc. but everything is clean no obvious glue marks and no head-scratching builder probs.
Reliability/Durability
:
9
Guitar is all about function with aesthetics about 5 steps behind. I like clean looking i.e., less blingy guitars so this is a positive for me. Satin finishes better help with tone as harder poly gloss coats can take more of beating from my perspective. Still, it was cheap enough for me not to care if it weathers early. all the hardware works like it should and I have not needed to tighten or tweak anything to get it work like its supposed too. Learn the tuning song if you break a string because this guitar doesn't need a back-up... its very trustworthy
Customer Support
:
No Opinion
don't know on this ... never contacted them
Overall Rating
:
No Opinion
Been playing more than 20 years. Own lots of stellar gear. Bang for the buck award in my mind always goes to used Larrivees and recent USA strats - both of which are pro level guitars and you can get them at super reasonable/cheap prices. This guitar is in third place in the 'bang for buck' award. If lost/stolen I'd get another... but I'd find a used one in good condition and save a lot from the new/showroom depreciation.
