Brook Guitars Teign 010

The Teign is a classic dreadnought bodied acoustic. There is a wide choice of woods, mine is classic spruce top with a beautiful honduras rosewood back and sides for which I paid a (very reasonable) surcharge. Tuners are ebony buttoned Schallers (again a little extra) and very smooth. The neck of my guitar is quite slim - I asked for this specifically. To be honest listing the features is a little academic as Brook are very obliging and will build you pretty much what you want. I also asked them to leave off the dot markers and do a bit of custom inlay work. It is worth pointing out that changes to standard spec are very honestly priced rather than an opportunity to extract extra cash! Don't think that you need to spend extra mind, the standard wood combinations on offer result in a very classy instrument - hard to believe this is the basic model.

The sound has classic dreadnought character - its a good strummer for 'singer-songwriter' type styles. However there's much more here. Its a great fingerpicker (even if I'm not) and has a three dimensional quality to the sound - almost like extra reverb. It also has great dynamic range - there's no need to hammer it. I bought this in preference to a similarly priced Martin HD28 which has similar woods. It doesn't sound exactly the same, it has its own character, but in my opinion the Brook sounds superior.

The quality of this guitar can not be overstated. The woods used are beautiful, the construction verging on the obsessive. There may be flaws but after a week staring at it I can't find any. The action as standard is very low, perhaps too low for heavier styles, but Brook will adjust this to taste.

Haven't had the guitar long enough to comment on its longevity. Have no reason to doubt it mind. The guitar comes with a very durable and well fitted Hiscox case which will help no doubt.

This is the real selling point. If you're considering a Brook, you should visit the workshop in person. This is half the fun - they're very nice people who operate out of what looks like a Hobbit house in deepest Devon. Service is personal and first rate - they not only remembered the name of a friend of mine who bought a guitar 10 years previously, they also offered to set his guitar up! Coffee is technically free. I say 'technically' because you'll find it hard to leave without placing an order. Downsides? You'll have to wait a while for a custom order - they can only build them so fast.

Basically I wanted a great Dreadnought. I was going to buy a Martin D18 but the new ones didn't sound so good. So the budget went skywards until I found a Martin which sounded as I expected. Then I came across the Brook site and realised I could have a handmade British guitar for the price of a mass-produced American one. There you have it - a custom guitar for the price of a middling Martin. I suspect this guitar could even give some of the higher end American luthiers a run for their money. One final point: How many second hand Brooks do you see on eBay? People hang onto these for a reason...