Product: Allen EWD-30S
Price Paid: US $180
Submitted
07/18/2005
at
09:30pm
by
dinga-dinga
Features
:
8
It is made in 2003 in Korea. 20 frets. 25 1/4" scale length. Solid spruce top. Back and side is laminated rosewood. Neck is Nato and fingerboard is rosewood. Thin neck (1 21/32"). Mine is beautiful sunburst finish. Typical dreadnought solid top guitar at price range $300~$400. No electonics. Grover like gold plated Allen tuner. The saddle under the 2nd string is carved back for balanced intonation.
Sound
:
9
The guitar comes with cheap strings, but with With Elixir strings, this guitar really sings. No boomy base or harsh treble. Sound is well balenced. The intonation is almost perfect. Acoustically, this guitar is as good as my Takamine EF440C which is laminate spruce top guitar.
Action, Fit, & Finish
:
7
Action of my guitar is a bit higher than two other Allen guitars I tried at the store, but I chose this model due to its sunburst finish. The height of the 6th string on 12th fret was 6/32". I lowered it to 4/32", and it almost starts to buzz when hard strum on 2~6th frets on 4th string. The neck was dead straight. After adding just about 1/62" of relief by adjusting the truss rod, no more buzzing problem. The guitar seems to be well constructed and no rough finish on bracing, but still little bit of glue mark is visible. The narrow finger board may be noticed by an experienced player, and this may be a problem for a person with thick and large fingers.
Reliability/Durability
:
8
Have had this guitar for several months, and so far no problem. Does no show any sign of deterioration.
Customer Support
:
10
The owner of the store I bought the guitar from runs/subsidizes a factory in Korea. (Like Samik makes many guitars for Fender and many other imported brands.) The staff working in the store is very friendly and knowledgeable. They will give you a full refund within few weeks of purchase, and will take it as a trade in with a good price after that.
Overall Rating
:
8
Played steadily for three years about 20 years ago, and recenlty picked up playing and start taking lessons. This guitar is a good value for the price. I compared it with similar feature/price Alvarez and Washburn, and the Allen guitar stood fairly neck and neck. The most serious problem I found on this model is that the neck width is 1/32" smaller than most acoustic guitars with 1 11/16" neck. 3/32" smaller than 1 3/4" neck guitars. Another problem is that the Allen guitar is not a recognized name brand. with the same price, you can still get similar featured Washburn or Alvarez, which are mainly made in Indonesia and China, with much cheaper labors.
The store sells the guitar at around $300~$350. One time, their EBay store sold them at $180. If you do not mind name brands, but care for the sound and build quality, Allen guitars would not be a had choice.
