Cole Clark Fat Lady

The Cole Clark fat lady that I bought was made in 2004. Its a FL1AC - Fat Lady 1 with cutaway and pickup. In the shop I was comparing it to other guitars from all over the world in the same price bracket. This guitar sounded a lot better than the many others I played (even some Matons in the same price range). Cole Clarks are made in Australia.
All fat ladys are a solid Bunya top and back. The top and back are internally carved (with a CNC router) to give better resonance. The tuning heads are Grover. The fretboard is solid rosewood. the timbers used are excellent. As in the other reviews you can read that the neck and body are made differently to 90% of all other acoustics. The finish all over is satin - for a more natural look. In my experience you will get a nice hard case when you buy a guitar at around this price.
No scratch plate comes on this model. You can put one on but i think it will take away from the look of the instrument.
The pickup is a piezo type on the bridge with a soundboard sensor. Excellent set of controls with a 3 band graphic eq and mixing between the front and back sensors.
The strings supplied on this guitar are elixer strings. these last longer and keep a bright tone for longer (but cost more to replace).

My style is varied. I like to play a range of modern music on acoustic with and without an amp. The amp I am using is rubbish so i wont even mention it but on a good roland PA it sounds beautiful with the right Eq settings and evenly balanced between front and back pickup sensors.
the sound is as bright and rich as you want it to be, the full range of frequencies is there for you to play with. It is a loud instrument without amplification.
I have no complaints about the tonal qualities of this instrument. The only issue is that it is set up for med-heavy strings and if you like to bend notes you will have to get it set up again for different strings.
There is some fret buzz on certain strings and frets (maybe its me being lazy).

The action on this guitar is a little bit on the heavy side for me but I believe this is better for acoustics. The pickups were adjusted perfectly and I wont need to adjust them. the bridge is machined perfectly. The timber has been carefully matched on top and bottom.
The only flaws I could find may not be called flaws by some people. There is a change in direction in the timber grain that looks a bit like a dent from some directions but this should not worry most people.

I cant see any reason why the fat Lady 1 should have any wear problems. The hardware is all good quality. The timbers are hard and don't dent easily.
Because there is no scratch plate you could scratch the satin finish on the top if played roughly with a plectrum.
The strap buttons are solid and good quality metal.
I would use this guitar in a gig without a backup - just some backup strings.

The warranty is 1 year on materials and workmanship.
I emailed the manufacturer for advice and they responded within 24 hours (twice).

I have been playing for about 20 years and always more acoustic than electric. I don't hate anything about this instrument, although some people may be looking for something that looks more fancy.
If this guitar was lost or stolen I would get another Cole Clark. Their tone and construction is very good. My favourite feature is the sound. Its very rich and loud without needing hard strumming.
Cole Clark are a realtively new player in the market and they really know their craft in acoustics. Compare the sound of a Fat Lady to any laminated guitar in the same price range and you will be amazed.

I flew to Melbourne to solely buy a guitar. As a Canadian, it was an honour to try out Australian Timbers. I played a lot of Matons and walked into one store on Brunswick and they asked me if I had heard of Cole Clark. Nope! Played a few licks before looking at the price and said this is it. I had tried close to 20 other guitars. Nothing fancy, just a grassroots feel good toy. The pickup sounds amazing with many sensors laden throughouth the body of the guitar. It took me a while to get used to the light weight body, but the sound'o' the fat lady shines! The finish is classic and will compliment any folkies on stage appearance. I am on cloud nine with the look of this guitar! The best value out there!

It sounds pure, simple, and homegrown, which is how it looks. I play bluegrass, folk, and blues and the guitar sounds good in all aspects.

After playing the guitar for a few days, I wish I had got my action raised a little bit. Its a transitional thing I will get used to. The finish is simple, and very beautiful...It is a beautiful thing! Classy looking pickup box! Can't wait to see it on stage!

I must admit, due to the light finish, and simplicity, it is probably not the safest guitar to travel with, but I bought a Fort Case (made in Canada) with it and its a great combo. Guess you learn to look after your baby as best as possible.

Just checked out CC site recently, and its laid out well. Would love to see the factory, but will be back to Melbourne later!

I am a new person with this guitar...its made my life complete. If anything, I would love to get on the Fat Lady II. I have the FL 1 with cutaway and pickup. As well, I would have had the techs raise my action a bit...I played the Maton ECW 80 (the Classic) , but this one was equally as great, and the price is unreal! Spread the CC love around the world!

I bought the full bodied Fat Lady with pick up.Handmade in Australia,2004.It's all solid with spruce(top),Queensland Maple(back,sides),solid rosewood bridge/fingerboard,Grover machine heads and a natural satin finish.The Fat Lady also features an integral(or Spanish) neck heel as opposed to the more common dovetail or bolt-on types.The dual input pick-up features 9 sensors(6 under the saddle,three on the face) and 5 sliders(volume,treble,midrange,bass and the other functions as crossover from bridge to face).There is no case included and the Fat Lady requires a bigger than usual one to fit into.I bought a jumbo case for this large dread.This guitar is very minimalist and natural in looks,which is what i like.All the functional features of a high-end guitar are here.

I play alot of styles of on this guitar-from classical/folk fingerpicking to rootsy flatpicking.The one constant is that this guitar is always rather loud though tonally balanced.There is some great bottom end here with absoulutely no buzz,the 12th fret plays as clear as the first.Definitely studio quality in terms of sound.I'd suggest the Cole Clark Fat Lady for music where the acoustic guitar is the dominant instrument.The two words that describe the sound best,to my ears,are woody and smooth.(I cannot comment on the pick-up as i'm yet to play it live,but all reviews indicate it is one of the best features of this guitar).

I got my guitar literally days after it was made.Setup was perfect.In terms of playability,this guitar is by far the best i've owned.Everything is where it should be with no cosmetic imperfections.

It is very light for its size.For this reason i'm careful with it.It's a solidly built guitar,but i keep it cased whenever i'm not playing.It has so far proven dependable and i would have no qualms gigging without a backup.

Great support,have sent off a few emails and gotten lengthy responses the same or next day.Had a minor issue with the first guitar i bought from Cole Clark(due to transit i suppose),wasnt even sure it needed fixing though.Sent it down to them to have a look at,they sent me a brand new guitar within a fortnight.

I've been playing for a long time and was looking to finally take the plunge into owning a higher quality acoustic.For my style of playing,the Cole Clark Fat Lady stood head and shoulders above the competition,regardless of price.This guitar would be a bargain at double the price.If it were stolen/lost i would definitely buy another.Thanks to the craftsmanship and value for $AU of Cole Clark and Maton,i'll never have to buy another overpriced,inferior quality foreign guitar in my life.

my flac2 was a gift from my wife in 2003. it is the best thing she has ever given me, (apart from our kids ofcourse) a beautiful solid top acoustic with an amazing tone

i do alot of pub duo/trio work and have always used Matons as my employee, along with my '75 Takamine. this Fat Lady just blew all these away. my partner with a 3k Maton just looked at me when i first brought it out on stage in amazement..."gimme a go" was his comment as he passed me his 5y.o. Maton. the rich tones and the exquisit base sound i get is just brilliant. being able to change my pickup from bridge to face and anything inbetween allows me to get what im looking for when i want out of any room

lovely set up, the finish and bookmarking add to make this guitar look great

i have been playing it since i got it, and with regular weekly gigs it is doing the job easily. i have really given it some stick and she just looks up at me and smiles...what a lady

well im a 20yr player, havent had alot of quality guitars in my time, but i have played everything possible (acoustic). i am now only interested in Fat Ladies. good on ya C.C for putting some class and style into your guitars and making them affordable for the local guy looking for something more from a work partner

Basically Cole Clarks "entry acoustic" saying this it is simply the cheapest they offer. Pick up (brilliant--volume,fader,bass,mid,treb) with cuttaway Dreadnought guitar. Solid top back and sides.
The guitar is australian made and Im proud to be australian as a result of this. It is BRILLIANT WATCH OUT MATON!
The elixir strings and grover hardware are awesome too.

The sound is great, the minute I played it a work (i work at a music store obviously) I knew i wanted it. This retails for 1200 (I wont tell you the price i paid! :D) and i played it alongside the EM325C which i'd imagine where 'completing' models (whilst the 325 starts at 1800) and there was no competition.

The guitar just rings and rings and rings but you can get a great soft or muted sound as well. I play contempary stuff on it and would never find the sound out of it as being any trouble not fixed by my own inability to play!

The guitar needed a slight truss rod adjustment from the store setup but being from the Top End of Oz this didnt surprise me as the confitions are obviously a little more demanding up here!
There were no flaws, buzzes etc. and thats all I've done.
I LOVE THIS GUITAR. hahha

It seems real strong but I am never gonna test it as I will not drop this thing for the life of me. It has a very simple natural finish and acording to the supplier directly a good quick clean with lemon oil will keep it lookin great!
I would defiantely gig with this.

I have sent several emails as a customer and their response has been OUTSTANDING speedy and friendly.
At work I have also spoken to the guys there and they are great for a yarn. Champions.

I have been playing about 4 years full on. And came into the market for my first decent acoustic recently and like most aussies immediately thought of a Maton. I wanted an Australian guitar and had oonly heard snippets about anything but Maton. I was only looking to spend 600 odd initially on a second hand Maton EM225C or something but when I played this I was blown away. For value for money you CANNOT BEAT these guitars. Honestly please check them out, this baby blew away the EM325C i played beside it and they retails for 600 more. Just the other day, a good mate of the family (whose been playing for 10+ years) played this. And after just telling me he recently almost bought a $3500 Maton he is now reconsidering to perahps check out the FL2AC instead to save the money. HE WAS IMPRESSED TO SAY THE LEAST.
Look out Australia, look out Maton! I cant wait to tell people how much I bought an FL1AC in 5 years.
Do yourself a favour check them out Aussies!!

Here goes, and unbiased review...(hmmm)

Basically its a 2003 build, built in melbourne Australia - which gets a bonus point straight away. Its bunya top, back and sides - all solid and using coleClarks's patented bracing idea (how do you explain it - they dont us X bracing, they do it their own way and then 'tune' the guitar by routing the inside). Controls are almost impossible to read! I have perfect sight and struggle to read the controls...however once you know what does what, who reads the label anyway. Your given the standard volume, three phase EQ, and a phaser. This pretty much slides between the piezo pickup and the face sensor (?) that is attached to the top of the guitar near where your forearm would rest. Essentially the piezo grabs the tight treble sounds, and the face sensor is used to get the solid bass notes. The phaser slide lets you mix this up till your happy which allows for a very tight amplified sound that i think is next to perfect (as far as sounding as similar plugged as unplugged. They ship with a good action, elixir strings (which i feel get tired quickly) and grover machine heads. I'll give the fat lady 2 a 9/10 taking into account that it loses a point for the impossible to read pickup labels, but gains a point for being very attractive and made in australia. Should also note that i got a great deal, flightcase, stand, lead, strap, strings included in my purchase deal

I play everything from bluegrass, rock, jazz, and classical. While the sound isn't classical, classical pieces really do sound awesome on the fatlady 2. Mainly its a rock/blues guitar for me, and it dos this perfectly for my liking. That said, The sound is really a take it or leave it. Comparing the sound to my 5K Taylor, I prefer the fat lady2, however that said compared to 5K martin, well its just not quite as good. Not a bad sound, just not the martin sound (but then again, what is).
The fatlady 2 plugged in has a great variety in is sound thanks to the haser slide, and 3 phase EQ, and this is doubled by a great sound unplugged. 10/10 from me.

Everythigng about th Cole Clark Fat Lady 2 is perfect as far as the great action, great sounding pickups, great grover tuners, and great looking bunya top back and sides. Asfor Flaws, well the strings (elixirs) die in rear too fast for me, but they are changeable so its not really a guitar flaw, cole clark could perhaps change string company, but thats easy enough for me todo for them. 9/10 due to the strings.

It isn't old, but so far so good. I do use it in gigs, so probably gets played about 6 hours a week, plus practice time (so maybe another 10 hours a week). A good point to make would be that while i use a taylor, maton and garrison also, I have converted from using the taylor in songwriting sessions to the cole clark, and also moved from using the taylor as the mainstay for gigs, to using the fat lady 2 and then having the taylor as a backup for any string breaks (which has only been one...but kinda my fault). The strap buttons are good, very solid, and another good poin i love about the cole clark is that the bottom strap button doesn't double as the jack input. I find this fantastic. Its in a very similiar style to an electric, plugs in sorta 45o below the button. 9/10 taking into account that it isn't that old yet.

Havent dealt with them really, had he action lowered thinking i might prefer it lower, they did that no quams, I didn't like, it, so they moved it p again no charge too. Most impressed by cole clark really.

Overall the guitar is extremely good value for the dollar. It isn't a martin, but it is up there amongst martin, taylor, maton, dare i say it, gibson. I rate it very highly, and considering the meagre price, it just makes it even greater. It might not sound unbiased, but truly, try these guitars. Everyone should be able to appreciate the fantastic craftman ship.

To answer the questions, gear i have is pretty good quality stuff, I own two taylors, a mrtin, a gibson les paul, two fenders (srat and tele), a maton, a jackson, a prs ce22, my first ever guitar, a yamaha, and my main pride and joy...a custom built acoustic built to my specs by a fantastic former luthier in britain. In the amp department i have amesa boogie rectifier, a laney head and quad, a marshall stack, and a ibanez acoustic amp. Like most seasoned players i have a chain of effects, harmonica, and thousands of picks (and still can't find one often!).

In closing, The coloe clark was chosen as i really felt like it was tuned to suit me. Compared even to my custom acoustic, I rate the cole clark as very good. Please, don't buy it thinking its a replacement for many topshelf guitars, buy it as a good solid workhorse, that sounds and plays like a topshelf guitar (just doesn't have the price, a case, or the solid gold tuners).