Crafter ATE-100CEQ

Made in Korea, 2004, this is a high-gloss finished, beautifully figured and matched amber-golden all Tiger Maple bodied (top, back & sides - described as a 'veneer over a maple core') arched back AND top, grand auditorium cutaway acoustic-electric. The 22-fret neck is 2-piece mahogany, fingerboard & bridge are Indian Rosewood. Body and fingerboard are flawlessly ivoroid-bound (body in b/w/b/w/b etc). Postion markers are abalone 'snowflakes', 3-ring inlay around standard-sized round soundhole: b/w/b/w/b ivoroid inner & outer rings, abalone in the middle ring. No pickguard lets the figured tger maple show. Bridge is string-thru (think: Ovation type)not bridge-pin type. Factory strung with D'addario EXP's 12-53. Tuners are gold plated grover type (Crafter logo on them). Headstock sports abalone inlya Crafter logo and twin-bird filligree. Piezo in bridge by Shadow, Crafter's 'Timbre Plus' pre-amp system I think is by Headway, but it sure looks like an LR Baggs, with a volume knob, bass, mid, treble and scoop sliders, along with pushbuttons with LED indicators for mute (nice on stage feature) and phase. I only wish the input jack was in the endpin, not on the lower side...and that there was a 2nd strap button. But I won't deduct anything for those nitpicks, in this case. No case included, but you want an easy-to-find quality hard case to tote this positively stunning-looking and magnificent-sounding instrument.

The arched top & back and string-thru bridge help this naturally brite all maple to project an even, rich, full acoustic sound...Cats heard me trying it out and came around to ask 'Oh...I thought that was a Taylor...sounded like one...'. Does that give you the picture, here? the Shadow/preamp system is superb. The 'scoop' is prety much a very good notch filter for the mids, and the phase shift button...ooh, man. Sounds like a very light chorus effect. I'm mainly a strum/rhythm player (anything but metal and jazz), and this gives an excellent recording sound, mic'd or direct. But it fingerpicks cleanly, nice even tone...not a muddy bass note in earshot.

I described this in the Features section. I couldn't find a flaw on this baby, anywhere. No mismatches, no bad fits. Everyone who has seen this in the month I've owned it just drop jaws. Crafter has devised their own (or different, anyway) top bracing design, I think some type of A-thing, not an X or K. It works well.

I promise not to abuse this grand lady.

Interesting stuff here. What is a 'Lifetime Warranty' worth? Hohner was marketing Crafter in the US until just recently. It seems they forgot to sell these to US dealers. I'd never heard of Crafter until I saw this in my local shop. He'd gotten them on a 'great deal' from Hohner, dumping their inventory. I found this, literally, by accident. And could not walk away. Hey, I got a great price on it. Worth at least twice what I paid. Anyway, After some problem emailing Crafter Korea with a question on the wood, I heard back first from Hohner (the warranty card said send to them) who told me they didn't handle Crafter anymore. Short & Sweet, but would honor the warranty. Then I heard from the VP of Crafter USA. We had quite an exchange. Very helpful. Bottom line: the warranty will be covered by Crafter if not Hohner. I don't think I'm gonna need it. Shadow gives a 5-year warranty on the pickup. The rating here is for Crafter USA; Hohner's rep who emailed me made me want to throw my Blues Harps in the garbage. Crafter/Korea? They finally got back to me...hey, the email was in Korean, what can I say...

I've been playing over 40 years and have several guitars. Still. I've owned too may to cry about. I had a similar guitar, Guild F-50 arched maple back, maple sides, but spruce top, in the late 70's. This has finally made me stop regretting parting with it. It complements my 34-year old Guild D-40, a piece I hate to leave home with, and puts my Ovation Celebrity CS-257 on the shelf as backup.

If it were stolen or lost? Well, I'd probably be SOL. While Crafter (International) has an extensive line, this model, actually, the whole 'ATE' (Arched Top Electric Acoustic) series is NOT part of the Crafter USA line...yet. So I guess I'd have to go on e-bay, or to Europe, or Korea, because I WOULD want to replace it.