Crafter GAE-15

It look so beautiful guitar. I loved it since I meet. Grand auditorium is my

I used to test this guitar with amp the sound so good. The acoustic sound is lound and boomy.

It too high action I think it need to little set up for the action. But high action give the sound lounder and resounder than low action.

I'm not sure. Give the time to test it.

I don't know.

This is very good guitar. But a little problem of this guitar is high action but you can set it up letter.

A genuinely attracive and 'different' guitar. I've always loved the 'natural' look, so the solid cedar top and dao back and sides finished in satin suits me brilliantly. 'GAE' stands for 'Grand Auditorium Electric'. the cutaway is aesthetically beautiful and allows you to reach the final few frets. The strings used are D'Addario EXP light eleven gauge which are bright, but feel heavier than the gauge suggests.
There is a built in pre-amp with equaliser, and a surprizingly good built in tuner. (I've never used an electric tuner before and even I found it easy).
Neck is indian rosewood with a mahogany fret board. Position marks are inlaid 'snowflake' shapes which are original and nice to look at.

I haven't plugged it in yet as the rubbish amp I have won't do it justice. However, when played as an acoustic, it suits me brillintly. I play a combination of fingerstyle, strumming and rhythm guitar and the crafter is rounded enough to sound right whatever I'm playing. Its also a very forgiving guitar, I played first in early afternoon and by the evening I was already sounding better than I could acheive on my old acoustic. The general 'sound' of the guitar is rich, if maybe a little too bright at the moment, but the sound will warm up as the wood ages.

I can't fault my guitar here, although I tried the exact same guitar on the same day, the only difference being it was the acoustic version, and the string action was far too high. build quality, finishes and fittings are excellent.
Mines good, but from what I've experienced there will be variation from one guitar to another.
Its a very playable guitar, judging by the fact that the store employees seemed sad I was buying it from them. (must've had a few strums themselves!)

Unfortunately there is no strap button at the neck end, so you'll have to rely on one of those aftermarket buttons or a bootlace (not ideal). the jack at the base of the body of the guitar doubles as the strap button at that end, and seems secure and fit for purpose. The finish will be durable.
Judging by the feel of the tuning pegs (and previous reviews) the tuning pegs/buttons are a weak spot on this guitar. However, the willingness of the manufacturers to provide free replacements shows that Crafter are prepared to help.
I would trust this guitar at a gig from start to finish provided I had confidence in my strap fitment at the neck end!

Again, the readiness crafter has shown to provide replacement tuning pegs free of charge outlines the strengh of the customer service. I've never dealt with them, but the shop i bought the guitar from was confident enough to offer free adjustment and manufacturers warrantee for a year. I beleive the manufacturers warrantee is actually longer than that.

There are several nice functions of this guitar, but I'm bound to give it a glowing review as its by far the most expensive guitar I've ever owned. However, I did play a lot of other guitars the day I purchased this one, and this one (I feel) is the best in this price range. I got mine for ??345 including a good stagg hard case (worth ??69), which was a very good deal especially since it was in 'Denmark Street', Central london. rrp for the guitar is ??329.
Its worth noting that I've only oowned the guitar for under a week, so my sections on durability/reliablility are based mainly on previous reviews and my personal impressions.
I tested an Ozark, a Tanglewood, another crafter and even a second-hand Ibanez in this price range, but felt this guitar offered the correct combination of beauty and function, as well as feeling perfectly set up for me.

Grand Auditorium with cutaway, satin finish, crafters own tuners with "amber" buttons.
Rosewood fingerboard & bridge, Mahogany neck, Dao back & sides, solid ceder top.Made 2006-Korea, Pickup - L.R.Baggs inc. tuner.

Mellow but clear.
Excellent electronics. Natural tone needed hardly any tweaking

recieved with "factory" action set about 2.5mm at the 12 fret.
Absolutly no complaints about the fit.
Slight imperfections on the top, couldn't see anything but could feel a couple of peaks by running a hand over it.
One cracked tuner button.

Seems substancial without feeling like a tank, hardware apart from the button seems robust.

Contacted the retailer (Guitartek) about the cracked button, who contacted the wholesaler (Sutherland) who supplied me with 2 replacement machineheads f.o.c. and within 5 days.

Replaced an Eko ranger 6 that i've had for 30 years (50th birthday present) Received it nearly 2 weeks ago.
Didn't actually get to compare it to any other guitars (I'm left handed, so finding a local shop that has a selection of lefties in stock has been dificult) I chose it based on reccomendation from a friends kids who have a couple of crafters (a fx550 and another (model not known))
Fine guitar, glad I bought it.

As described already I'll just add that the top is solid cedar with dao (rosewood appearance) back and sides. I think the neck is mahogany but I'm not sure. The pickup is a Headway piezo with a Timbre Plus pre-amp (controls as stated previously). Wooden inlays and rosette are simple but very attractive, I'm not a fan of pearl or abalone - I escaped the 'magpy gene'. Satin finish brings out the wood grain beautifully. I had some quality cables, a strap and strings thrown into the price.

Beautiful rich sound. Warm bass with clear mid and treble (cedar and dao contribute to warmth). I prefer cedar to spuce, hence my preference for the GAE sound. Unplugged it is quite loud although a dreadnought would be louder. Plugged in the tone remains true to the acoustics. I tend to keep the controls flat but occasionaly drop the scoop to increase the bassy sound of this guitar. It is important to try a few GAE's as each one sounds a little different, primarily dependent upon the grain of the cedar. I played narrow and wide grains which range from trebly to bass respectively. I settled on a medium grained top which had better tonal balance.

The truss rod needed to be tightened as the bow was a little too deep. Unlike another reviewer I did not experience any problems with the truss. The action was a little too high for my liking so I lowered the saddle and filed the bridge holes to compensate for the drop in break angle. All other aspects of fit and finish were fine, although the rosewood fretboard was very dry and I oiled it during the first string change (minor fault). I fitted a pickguard to mine but this is just a personal preference to protect the top. I have docked a few marks for the action which should be set-up lower from the factory and the lack of a second strap button (something that is missing from most acoustics, particularly in this price range).

I've had my Crafter for 6 months now without a single problem. Build and electronics are sound. I expect it to last for a long time.

Never had to deal with the company. Website gives a nice run down of the different models available but is pretty sparce on details.

I've been playing guitar for many years but have only seriously returned to playing in the last year. I also own a Hohner Strat copy and 60Watt 'el cheapo' tube amp with Dunlop Crybaby and Marshall BluesBreaker II. If my Crafer was stolen I would definitely replace it. The build quality and sound are exceptional for the price and it out played others in the same price range (Johnson and Cort) and more expensive models that I tried (Yamaha and Takimine). Only faults are the action which is set too high and cannot be adjusted quite low enough for my liking but at least it'll toughen the fingers!

Made in Korea, 2001
Big, deep cutaway jumbo style body, lots of volume.
Solid cedar top
Active pre-amp with volume, treble, middle, bass and prescence sliders, piezo under saddle pickup.
Body and neck woods unknown. Grover tuners (excellent)
Factory set-up is fine, and there is an adjustable truss rod (hex key through sound hole)
General finish is matt, with nice inlays around soundhole and on neck. Ovearall apperance is rather restrained compared to most other Crafter guitars that I have seen (which is one reason that I bought it).

Plenty of volume, well balanced, nice warm bass that doesn't overpower. I really like it.

Good factory set-up. Can't fault finish or construction

Only 4 weeks old so a bit early to tell. So far so good.

Have had no contact with company. 12 months warranty.
Website is not much use.

Overall, I'm really pleased.

I was considering a Yamaha CPX which has similar features but is #100 more. Having played both, I prefer the sound of the crafter (slightly warmer). Really good value for money

Made 1999 in Korea

Frets 21

Solid Cedar top

Active Electronics, Volume, treble, base, middle, presence, battery test, mute.

Woods for body and neck unknown.

No accessories

The sound is very balanced. The top is pleasant and clear, the bottom is supportive. It's a good solid sound for the money.

The action was good from the factory and needed no adjustment.

The top was well matched with a non-gloss finish. The neck had nice wooden inlays.

But, the truss rod was glued to the neck, or stuck in some other way, so that the neck could not be adjusted.

I've only owned the guitar for a week so I can't comment

I've not dealt with Crafter. Their web site is a bit lacking.

I've been playing 20+ years. I have a 63 Stratocaster, Ibanez 540HS and Taylor 510ce. Marshall 4x12 wired stereo, Carver PM-100 and DSP-7.