Product: Lyle C 640
Price Paid: UNKNOWN
Submitted
05/03/2007
at
04:33am
by
Galavander
Email: galavander at sbcglobal<dot>net
Features
:
9
Mahogany neck, rosewood fingerboard and peg head overlay. Bone nut and saddle. Top is spruce, back and sides are rosewood. All wood is solid although I don't know the country of origin. This guitar is moderately ornate with ivoroid style string acnchor plate on the bridge with matching design on head stock and sound hole rosette. This must be Lyle's top of the line model. A little bit of glue showing around the inside bracing, other than that very well made.
Sound
:
9
Very tight well defined bass, easy to to get a clear registry for tuning. The mids have beautiful lingering undertones and the high notes have adequate volume for good even character. Some classical guitars sound unfocused when strumming or splitting 2 or more strings, but because of the tight bass this one handles it well. This guitar is no show piece or dream guitar, but may be one of the best kept secrets in the vintage Japanese quality for the price battle.
Action, Fit, & Finish
:
9
I had to raise the nut a little to keep the first two frets from buzzing. But this guitar is quite old. The rest of the neck is also as low as any classical guitar I've played. No bowing in the top, no splitting or pulling up at all. Neck joint is perfect. This old guitar has many scratches and dings so I know it wasn't babied yet the tuners are fine and the body and neck are structurely excellent.
Reliability/Durability
:
10
This guitar was shipped across the country to me in a cheap cardboard type case with shipping lable taped to it. It took two weeks and when it arrived I gasped at the sight of how it was shipped! This thing will be here another 100 years I'm sure.
Customer Support
:
No Opinion
Like most old Japanese guitars. What you see is what you get. That's part of appeal. The whole guitar is a mystery. What year? What exact materials? Lineage of ownership? I'll never know, but to me it's a true jewel.
Overall Rating
:
10
I was wanting a classical guitar but after spending $3000. on a steel string I couldn't justify another purchase. When I saw this one on Ebay I could see through the sound hole that it was solid wood. Luckily noone else noticed and I bid and won. 9 times out of 10 this strategy ends in disappointment, but for once I scored. I thought I would keep it for a while and resell, but it's definately worth holding on too for the sweet tone. The first night I was able to expand on previoiusly dead end melodies thanks to the inspiring sound of this guitar.
