Rogue Grand Concert Acoustic-Electric

Well, if you are here reading this review, I'm sure you've already went to Musician's Friend site so you should already know the spec and features. This guitar definitely has everything an A/E guitar has. I wish there is another strap button at the location where the 14th fret joints the body but, hey, I only paid $80 and I'm asking too much. It's great to have a Fishman pickup with preamp. I think the preamp alone well worth more than the price of the guitar. The color is the sunburst and it is just fine but the clear cost seems to be a little thin (what am I saying again, I only paid $80 !). But it is shinny and reflective. Initially I wanted the natural but somehow I have the Sunburst. I have to say I like it. There is no onboard tuner. Really I paid only $80, what more can I ask ? Ok, based on the price, my rating of the feature is 10+++.

My main axe is an Ovation Adamas 1597 for reference.

It sounded really terrible when I first open the box. Intonation was extremely poor and it sounded like those $25 toy guitar at Walmart. I played for a day and decided to return to MF so I called them. The customer rep offered me a set of string to try so I said, yeah, why not? I have 45 days for return.

The factory strings they put on was Di'Addario instead of Martin as stated in their web. I believe it was an extra light gauge set and appeared to be low quality mass production strings. When I picked a string, the pitch didn't stay constant. It was the right pitch when pick but quickly flatted out, very obvious. It happened for each of the factory string. Finally a set of Elixir Polyweb light fix the problem.

Sound: when play unplugged, it is fine and not quite bright. I think the wood needs time to settle in. Volume is better with the Elixir light string (heaver than factory string). When plugged in, it is where the Fishman shines. I wasn't expecting much from a $80 guitar's electronics but it completely blew me away. It sounds very warm and doesn't bear the typical piezo harshness.

The Fishman pizeo was the coaxial type instead of the typical rectangular pizeo.

I give it a 9 with Elixir strings but will be a 2 with factory strings (1 = walmart's toy guitar).

Factory action was as high as the mount Everest. Literally when I pressed on the fret, the string displacement was so great that it changed the tension of the string and in turn sharp the pitch. Fit and finish average but I reminded myself this is only a $80 guitar. There are some areas which the fit and finish show lack of detailing. I think the worse part of the guitar is the tuners and I may change them eventually. Tuning was not very easy and the lack of precision. But it seems to stay in tune once tuned.

I am no luthier but I'm a mechanical engineer so I will get my tools ready on anything I touch, including this guitar. I did the setup by knocking off the nut and file it down and getting the saddle lowered. Of course, I did the trust rod adjustment too.

After the above adjustment, the guitar is very playable to my surprise. I have not completely finalized my setup yet but it is already very playable and sounds great.

I give it a 8 after the setup but would give it a 3 for factory action. (again, 1 = walmart's toy guitar)

I only have it a for a week so I don't know how long it will hold up but so far it does seem to withstand everything I put to it. I think if something is going to break, it will be the plastic nut, saddle then the tuner. The top seems very solid build to me.

Rogue is the MF's house brand and MF is always very helpful (except once that the girl sounded impatient). Most of their reps are a pleasure to talk with and they like to resolve issues if any.

Well, I give it a 10 for overall value since I paid too little and getting too much back. But the guitar will not shine without changing strings and doing the setup. If you don't know how to do setup, you need to have an expert do it for you or you'll have a guitar that is almost like the walmart toy guitar (trust me, you will hate it).

I'm a semi pro and been playing for over 30 years. I own two Ovations and some other gears and I prefer quality over features. I will definitely buy this again if it is lost. I have to say this guitar sounds better than those $300-400 Ibanze unplugged and almost on par with my Ovation adamas when plugged in.

For 100 bucks, it's fine. All the neccessary parts. Nice Fishman pre-amp for the price. Others have covered most of the specifics.

Ok so my main guitar is a Taylor 814CE which tips the scales at over 2 grand. Again, for 100 bucks, this thing is good. Thin piezo sound, noisy electronics at times, but passable overall with enough outboard tweaking at the amp or board.

Very high action. Appeared to have no setup at all.

We'll see how long it holds up to abuse. At 100 bucks, I consider it "disposable".

MF has a solid rep. No worries.

Been playing 30 years. I play some charity gigs in strange places like prisons and men's homeless shelters. I love these guys, but they can't keep their grubby hands off your guitars! Turn your back and some guy is off pounding on it in the corner. I bought this to be a backup to my Taylor to take for gigs like this. It does the job fine. It plays fine and the sound is passable. I replaced the strings with Elixir Phosphor Bronze, replaced the plastic saddle with a bone saddle (Be extra careful to perfectly line up the piezo pickup underneath any replacement saddles or some strange results will occur!) and then did a full setup. It made a significant difference and the thing actually doesn't sound too bad. It's appearance screams "cheap cheap cheap" but that's ok. I'm not out to impress the audience in these venues, just provide some music, which this does just fine. I am very impressed overall that for 100 bucks plus about 30 bucks in add ons, I have a very capable backup that I can also throw in the trunk to head to the beach or whatever. My 10 rating is based on what you get for the price.

This particular Guitar was made in 2004 but it came with a pick guard that was poorly fitted unlike the others that had no pick guard. The Fishman classic 4 pickup failed after the first two days I had the guitar. The neck had twenty frets of medium size and rosewood Fretboard with a dark stained mahogany neck. The peg head was painted black with a gold and black Rouge logo decal with the peg head shape similar to a martin. It came with loose Grover tuners and what were supposedly Martin strings. I had to choose this guitar after trying to buy a grand concert herringbone and being sent three herringbone dreadnaught style guitars. The action was high on this guitar until I lowered it then added Elixir Nanoweb light strings that completely changed the tone of the guitar. It sounded wonderful so I was not going to send it back to have the Fishman electronics fixed. After three weeks it started developing a large crease in line with the cross bracing just above the sound hole on the right side The brace had cracked or separated. The spruce top was creased noticeably from this defect.

I play the blues, Rock and R &B ballads and the neck and strings when they were finally setup sounded and felt great. I have a couple of amps but I never got to test the electric sound because the Fishman amp failed. I have a couple of nice hard cases with humidity meters and I stored the guitar in a proper environment away from heat sources in my music room. I noticed the crease forming one morning and I thought it was just a light glare or something but when I looked closer it was a crease. It got progressively worse so I contacted y favorite Musicians Friend agent who gave me an RMA number, prepaid postage label and a great deal on another guitar. I was heart broken because this guitar was very nice looking and finished nicely. With the Elixir strings it was one of the best acoustic guitars as far a sound goes that I have played the blues on. With the exception of the loose tuners that I tightened and adjusting the action for my style of playing I loved this guitar even without it amplified. The Guitar uses scalloped braces and they are notorious for being weak. The Spruce top was almost perfect. But after all the trouble I had with the previous orders and then this problem Musicians Friend gave me a very sweet deal on another brand of Acoustic Electric Guitar. If these Guitars stay on sale I might buy another since I know that other friends of mine have had good experiences with this model Guitar.

As I stated the Guitar once I dialed the action in was almost perfect until I had the bracing give way on the left side just above the sound hole warping the top. It still played OK but this unsightly crease in the top is unacceptable in any instrument. All of the other good looks of this guitar were ruined by this grave defect.

No comment

I have been a loyal customer of Musicians Friend and they always handle any problem with the highest quality service and responsive action. Once they found out that my Fishman preamp had failed and the brace had gone bad they made sure that I was very satisfied with their remedy.

I have been playing Guitar for many years and I would buy this model again but not at the moment. I need an acoustic electric guitar for playing gigs and it needs to be bullet proof like my main electric axe is and my twelve string acoustic guitar is now. I have owned many expensive guitars and this Rouge guitar seemed like it could have made the grade. I will try again but I am getting a considerably more expensive guitar now so I can have a very reliable performance guitar. I will buy the Rouge as a backup axe and if I get a good one I might make it my main machine. I would consider this axe if it had no problems to be worth five to seven hundred dollars worth of Guitar. Next time will be better.

This is a chinese guitar made for musicians friend with 21 frets, laminated top bound neck and body, fishman classic 4 pickup system with piezo and pre amp with treb, mid, bass, brilliance and volume. It's got grover style tuners that are not expensive looking but seem to function well. the neck is plesently thin and comfortable. There is no neck strap button, you have to attach the strap to the headstock. it came with a 10' cable and battery. Price has a huge impact on the numeric rating, for $100 it has tons of features.

Acousticaly The guitar has a pleasent tone sumwhat lacking in bass but it sounds ok. Plugged in it functions well and sounds good too, it does not seem to have a feedback problem, I have giged with it in a band and it worked perfectly.

The finish is much better than you would expect from a hundred dollar guitar. where the guitar fails slightly is in set up. the nut was to high and I had to remove it and file it down. I also adjusted the truss rod to take out the relief in the neck (bow). It seams to me that the radius curve to the neck is not matched by the bridge and nut wich lowers the action on the 3rd and 4th strings while leaving the 1 and 6 a little high. After I lowered the nut and adjusted the neck it is quite playable.

I've played with it live as my backup for a Taylor 310 ce and it worked great

I bougt this guitar for my 9 year old. I wanted a guitar with a full size scale and a smaller body. for what it is, It is a great guitar (if you can tweek it just a little) it is definately worth its money and i would highly reccomend it to a beginner, as a backup, or for your nine year old. you would have a very hard time doing better for the money. I have been playing for over 25 years and own a Taylor 310ce, a '53 les paul, '01 gibson les paul jr special and others. At $200 it would still be a bargain, It is what it is and thats pretty good.

Genuine spruce top (not a solid top)
Cutaway body style
Die-cast tuning machines
Nato neck
Bound rosewood fretboard
Fishman Classic 4 pickup and preamp system

Not a bad sound at all .... I like it better with Medium strings ... I bought 3 of these (2 Grand Concerts - 1 w/ cutaway and 1 standard non-cutaway) and one on the way (supposably a dread cutaway). I'm running into either a tube direct box or a Fender Acoustasonic. It was noisy at first on the first guitar (had to take in and get a new input jack due to a bad ground noise but Musician's Friend says they will pay me back) ... On the bright side plugged in and not plugged in. A bit thin for my taste but I love these Rogue guitars (more on that later).

Again, ground noise from the factory and a shotty add of a pickguard (I added a nice Taylor pick-guard). The saddle in the cheaper model was crap so I added a nice martin saddle (the saddle can affect the pick up so be very careful). The saddle's in the higher end models (the one's with herringbone) are better. The overall set-up was quite good for an Asian factory guitar. The spruce top in the base model is amazingly cool looking ! Everything was in pretty good shape. Not to hard to play either. Pretty low action for a $150 guitar ...

I have been playing Rogue acoustics now for about 4 years. I have an artist endorsment with a higher end company that makes handmade acoustics and sold all my Rogue's accept one. Bad move, the Rogue's rule because the intonation is almost dead on (in open G - tough to do) and you can beat the crap out of them an not really care (you can get a new one for $150 !!!).

Musician's Friend generally does a great job. This (Rogue) is their house brand.

You wouldn't think a semi pro would play cheap guitars like this but this is a great guitar. You would not be disappointed unless you were expecting a $1000 ~ $2000 Taylor. Like I said, I sold all my Rogues and just went out and bought three new ones. For the money, you will not find a better acoustic electric period.