Abilene AW28GSA

I bought ths guitar new at a record store! It was hanging on the wall and my buddy asked what I thought of it. I had never heard of abiline so I gave it a once over, the spruce top very nice, mahogony sides and back nice, grovers great, nice finish.

I play old rock and roll and this guitar fits like a glove. Full sound with lots of bottom, a little buzz in the lowers frets but I will have that worked to my liking. Pick it up and played it it was in tune and sounded like an ovation! I was floored!

This guitar came out of the box and was hung on the wall with the other 3 guitars they carry(in other words no set up). So when I played it I expected harshness, but quite the contrary. It is smooth and has great action. The top is matched well, not great but for the cost the wood is great.

I feel this guitar will hold up to just about anything if it could last that long in a Hastings being beat on by kids and still sound this great.

No experience here yet.

I have been playing for 5 years but guitars in the family for the last 20, this is not a Martin, but it is as good an everyday player as I have seen for the price. I would have paid at least $300 for a Yamaha or an Ovation that sounded comperable to this. You can not go wrong here.

This is a solid spruce flat top round hole guitar. The tuners are Grover Rotomatic chrome plated. One of these tuners had the thread stripped out and the guitar was returned and replaced by the dealer. The body and back are laminated mahogany. Neck and body are bound.

The sound is bright, but the first guitar exhibited fret buzz in the lower positions on the first and second string. The neck appeared to be straight, but the fret work was apparently uneven. This would require the customer to have a setup done adding $40+ to the cost of the guitar. This guitar model was made by Samick in Indonesia. It was supposedbly checked out by Valley Arts (Samick's custom shop). If it was they did a very poor job on this and the replacement.

This guitar and the replacement guitar were set up very poorly by the distributor's shop (Valley Arts). The action on the second guitar was too high and the instrument had a crack at the bottom at the bottom back as though it got pinched before shipment. In addition the first guitar received had a defective tuning key (Grover)as mentioned above. The tuning keys appeared to be metal coated plastic (Grover I understand has moved overseas). Don't know how much plastic (if any) is used in these tuners, but I am surprised at Grover making this poor quality of tuner in the Rotomatic style. It does say "Grover" on each tuner.

From what I observed in the two instruments I received (same model) I am reluctant to state how durable the instrument is). The finish was good on both guitars and they do have a bright sound. The treble is a bit muddy, but other than the damage to the back of one guitar and the stripped tuner on the other they looked to be well built. They do not have any internal or peghead labeling - not identified at all. There is a small sticker on the back of the peghead saying "Indonesia". Despite all of the above negatives I do like the instrument and feel it is good value for the money ($159). I would just like to get one in good playing condition.

The distributor, American Music Supply, displayed excellent customer service shipping me a second instrument before I had returned the first. Now I will have to return both instruments. I am undecided what to do regarding a future purchase. AMS is paying for the return shipping on both instruments - this is exceptionally generous in today's retail world.

I have been playing guitar for 40 years. I own an Essex, Epiphone. Kramer, Fender, Ovation. In spite of the defects in the instrument I kwould buy the guitar again (if I could get one in playing condition). I think the solid spruce top, the bound neck and body, and the Grover tuners make it an excellent buy for the price. I do like the tone - booming bass and adequate albeit a bit muddy treble. I am very disappointed in Samick's quality control as administered by Valley Arts (Samick's custom shop) which does the setups.