Product: Wechter 5714 Elite 3 Pickup Jumbo
Price Paid: UNKNOWN
Submitted
03/22/2009
at
06:09pm
by
Fredgold52
Features
:
7
This is a big Jumbo guitar. Gloss finish on the front and head stock. Open pore natural finish on sides, back and neck. Very different finish, but once you get used to it it's great.
Solid spruce top with laminated rosewood back and sides.
3 pickup system is good with decent onboard EQ. No tuner. Neck is fast and comfortable
Sound
:
10
Wonderful rich full sound with complex overtones. Sounds more like an all solid wood guitar. It can get loud if you want it that way. Whether loud or soft, all the strings come through. The Wechter has a big, deep voice that stands out from other guitars. This one will not fade into the background.
Electrically it keeps the lushness of its acoustic sound. The preamp lets you blend the UST, the magnetic soundhole pu and the internal mic. I have swapped the mag pickup for a 2 element JJB-Electronics set of transducers. The JJB adds alot of sound and it plugged right into the preamp.
Action, Fit, & Finish
:
9
The neck is fast and comfortable to my hand. The open pore finish feels different but OK. From the factory the action was set high. I reworked the saddle and adjusted the truss rod and got the action nice and low with no buzzing. It would have been good to have it this way from the factory.
The pickguard that's included is a little cheesy. I got a nice figured one off ebay. The finish on the guitar is very well done. I have found no flaws.
Reliability/Durability
:
10
The Wechter is a solid guitar. It's not heavy, just solidly built. Hardware seems fine, should last as well as others. I haven't had the guitar for all that long so it's impossible to tell about longevity. But considering how playing it makes me feel, I will have it for a long time,
Customer Support
:
No Opinion
Don't know anything about Wechter customer support, but I expect it's fine. The guys at Sweetwater give me wonderful support. They are great to work with.
Overall Rating
:
10
This is my favorite guitar out of the five that I own. This is the one I gig with, play at home, practice with, etc. Makes me wonder why I own the other four.
I own a Larrivee DV-03RE and an Alvarez MD90c, both spruce and rosewood all solid dreadnoughts along with a couple other lesser guitars. This Jumbo was lots less expensive than either of those and sounds every bit as good as well as bigger and deeper. What more can I say? This one will never leave me.
