Wesley MAG-9825 Electro-Acoustic

Mine is actually a 'MAG9824 - CHERRY SUNBURST ROUNDBACK'. Rather than repeating the excellent review by Peter Rawlings, I will only add my opinion about the guitar's finish (below).

I haven't plugged it in yet and quite frankly I'm not particularly bothered. I wanted a 'nice and easy' acoustic guitar with a fairly shallow round back but wasn't going to pay for an Ovation. I just need something to practice on, as I only play to entertain myself! I am very pleased with the unplugged sound from this guitar - it is certainly loud enough for my liking. The sound is clear/clean, certainly not 'boomy'; Personally I'm very happy with the sound.

The colour is better than the pictures showed and I was very pleasantly surprised. At this price level I can't really complain too much - the high gloss finish on the top is very good; it is only let down a bit by the less sympathetic finish of the 'leaf' patterns, which look as if they were simply added as an afterthought. They could do with a fit of fine finishing, but I am being very "picky" at this price. Very close examination in the sunlight will show up other very minor issues such as glue markings on the white trims, but If you want a better finish than this one at this price level, you'll either need to do it yourself or get a specialist to spend some time (and your money!) on it. Don't bother - if you want perfection you will need to spend alot more money than this!

Too early to tell.

Excellent speed of delivery. I won the eBay auction on a Sunday and had the guitar in my hands within three days!
Excellent paperwork/admin. I expect not to have many problems with this guitar so I can't comment further on the customer support.

I've only has this guitar for three days and I love it. It was a real bargain and it fits the gap in my collection perfectly as I already have a 12-string for a really full sound as well as an electric LP copy and a classical guitar. It is too early to say much more about it and to be honest I couldn't tell how it compares to to other guitars unless they were side-by-side. It is getting me playing again after a gap of a few years, so the finger tips are hurting a bit but it is certainly worth the effort. I can definitely recommend it to anyone. The fantastic value and full set of features are marred only by the less than perfect finish, but that should not stop you from buying one.

This is a 'copy' of an Ovation Celebrity (roundback electro acoustic with 'adamus'-style top). Its bound neck and body give it a 'deluxe' feel that the 'entry level' Ovations lack. It uses Schaller-type sealed machine heads, that are very precise and stable. A slim mahogany neck with matt finish is very smooth and fast. The body is a shallow- (or possibly medium-) ABS bowl. The top is a well-figured ash-ply that is finished in brilliant high gloss PU. Fitted with an active three-band EQ and acoustic pick-up, the pre-amp is low-noise and has a good lift available at low and high frequencies.

It's a 'ply top' and so its acoustic sound is perhaps less mellow than its hugely more expensive up-market competitors, but the sustain is very good and there are no obvious peaks or resonances across the range of notes it produces acoustically. When 'plugged-in' the range of tone is tremendous! At one end you can set a very 'reedy' sort of mandolin tone - at the other it can boom like a jumbo!

Action: Out-of-the-box (this was bought on-line!) the action was set perfectly with no buzzes or any great distance to pull down at the 12th fret! The tailpiece/bridge is set perfectly in-line from the nut - without any bias toward the edges of the fingerboard.

Fit: No gaps, no filler/shims masking any gaps!

Finish: Brilliant deep gloss on the heavy ash figured top; nice matt/satin finish to the neck. Very good use of materials! Very slight binding error on the body edge and very slight 'splatter' on the sputter finish on the back of the bowl. not noticeable except to the really picky player!

It's new! It works now and I don't see any weaknesses that suggest it won't be a durable long-lived instrument.

Not tested.

Been playing off-and-on for thirty years. This was my first eBay purchase - and I struck lucky! The instrument is currently my favourite (above the Tele') but it is very new! It came strung quite heavily and I'm getting used to playing with these gauges again - well, the finger pads are 'coming-to-terms' anyway!

This guitar is the very best value I have ever bought!