Lakewood D-14 CP

ze Germans..you cant go wrong

my lakewood is a very good looking guitar,the spruce top has some nice pattern to it unlike some very blonde ones i have seen.the mahogany back and sides are very nice and shine a nice orange colour in sunlight.the finish is nice but i would agree with other reviews,perhaps a bit thin and very easy to dent (without even noticing)

the b-band EQ is very detailed and you can get varied sounds from it,perhaps a bit fiddly so i tend to stick to unplugged

i fell in love with this guitar,the sound is amazing,rich and full and the sound rings out for ages.harmonic notes ring very nice and clearly.i hadnt played much finger style playing until buying this and it spurred me on to play much more technical music,lots of finger picking in DAFDAD tuning=]

the guitar was obviously set up very well at the lakewood factory,i had no wish to alter anything,perhaps only raising the action slightly if i wanted to use a slide (obviously not a bottle neck guitar though)

the guitar sits real nice and the weight balance is excellent

the neck is smooth and easy to play but perhaps a bit on the thick side

the guitar feels solid and is very reliable,id have no problem playing without a backup.as far as durability goes the only minor downside is how easy it is the dent the laquer,it is very thin but the ringing sound makes up for it

excellent guitar,id played a few martins before buying but preferred the deeper tone of the lakewood.if it were stolen id deffineatly have another,perhaps save up for a custom one though and go all mahogany with some extra features here and there,the lakewood custom shop is very in depth with lot sof options.if i was a pro (lmao) id have my signature in pearl on the bottom frets or maybe the magic symbols for fret markers.and a slotted peg board...i could go on=]

the build is second to none,looking inside the guitar you can see the attention to detail,it is very clean and tidy with minimal materials used to make the ribs etc.

it was a pricey guitar but id still give it a 10 overall,but of course its my pride and joy and im bias=]

AA-Sitka spruce top
Soundhole rosette: Wooden mahogany core with purflings
Back and sides: Mahogany
Cutaway: Soft cutaway
Bindings: Flamed maple
Purfling: Maple and rosewood
Finish: Natural satin finish on body and neck
Neck: One-piece mahogany neck
Heel cap: Indian rosewood
Neckwidth at nut: 1.73 inch (44 mm)
Neckwidth at 12th fret: 2.16 inch (56 mm)
Nut: Bone
Neck-body-joint at: 14th fret
Scale length: 25.6 inch (650 mm)
Frets: 20 frets
Headstock: Flat headstock
Headstock veneer: Indian rosewood
Fingerboard: Ebony
Fingerboard inlays: Pearl dots 2mm from 3 to 15
Headstock bindings: none
Bridge: Ebony
Bridge pins: Ebony with pearl dot
Bridge width (string spacing at bridge): 2.17 inch (55 mm)
Machine heads: Schaller chrome with rosewood buttons
Pickup System: Lakewood Sonic System
Case: Hiscox hardcase

When I need accoustic sounds this works just fine for the music I play. The sound is crisp, well defined, but very full. Notes ring out long and clear, and it's response across the range of frequencies is more than adequate. It's not as warm sounding as some guitars, but it's very good.

Plugged in, the EQ can be very fiddley, and sometimes it's very hard to replicate the guitars exact unplugged sound. That said, you get some degree of control over the sound and it can be warmed up a little.

I'd love to hear this guitar in 10 or 20 years, as solid wood accoustic guitars tend to get better with age.

This guitar has a slimmer neck than I'm used to, but is still enormously playable; this instrument was set up flawlessly out of the case. I can't really find any cosmetic faults on it, Lakewood took the time to go over this with a fine tooth comb before sening it off it seems.

You really appreciate how well made it is when you look closely at the soundhole rosette, the attention to detail is excellent.

I would never use a guitar without a backup if I had a choice, but this is as sturdy feeling as any accoustic I've handled. The finish is very thin, so dings and dents will no doubt occur, but the that goes with the territory. The thin finish adds to the resonant nature of it, a heavy clear coat would deaden things a little. This doesn't make much difference to solid guitars, but on accostics and hollowbody electrics it's very important.

The strap buttons would normally get thrown away in favour of strap locks, however, the jack goes through one of them, so this is not possible, although I'd rather have the jack through there than elsewhere, the fewer holes the better, although this could be a moot point with a rectangle routed out for the onboard preamp...

All in all this is a good quality instrument that I'm sure will last a long time and get better with age. I'm rating it 8, although this is for an accoustic. Obviously it'd be nowhere near as durable as say a telecaster.

I've had no dealings with Lakewood, so I'm afraid I can't comment on their customer service.

This guitar is an good quality instrument. I actually won it rather than went out to buy it, so the brand would have probably escaped my attention entirely otherwise. As a result I didn't compare it or chose it over other guitars, and if it was lost or stolen, I'd shop around first, see what else I could get. While this guitar's very good, I'll probably look for something with a thicker neck in future.

I would like to reitterate the attention to detail though. It's very, very good. A lot of care and time seems to have been taken on this.

As for other gear, Partscaster Teles, 67 SG Jr, a Matamp amplifier and planet waves cable all do me fine.