Landola J8000 Jumbo

Jumbo acoustic guitar. Made in Finland by Landola Guitars in 1998. Very sturdy guitar with a thick neck (with reinforcement rod inside). Heavy and well-oiled tuners (can't remember brand - Gotoh, I think). Came with .012 gauge bronze strings.

I use it for a variety of musical styles, from country-style strumming to fingerpicking to a latin-type solo style. I use it in combination with a soft pick and it sounds great. Nice even balance between deep lows and bright high-end sounds. I can only come up with one word to describe the sound of this guitar: professional. When I bought it, I was amazed to get such and incredibly sounding guitar for so little cash. This is the sound I heard in my head when thinking of an acoustic.

Action: perfect. Fit: tighter than Hell. Finish: good to excellent. My only beef is that the headstock had Landola written on it in gold and when I was cleaning my guitar... The whole thing fell off... Also, the inlays in the frets seem to fade a bit. But those are minor details. The finish on the body is a beautiful red sunburst and is applied very well. Also at a string change, strings stay in tune immediately (!) first time you wind them up. No need to tune again an hour later.

Like I said: the guitar is very sturdy. I think this one will last me a lifetime.

Never dealt with them.

I've been playing for about ten years. If it were stolen, I'd buy it again. For this price (about 410 USD) you cannot get a better all-round acoustic guitar. And believe me, judging by the time I've been playing it and the visibly high quality of the materials used, they haven't cut corners to get to that price either! If you need a good acoustic guitar that can handle a variety of styles and sounds like a pro... And if you can find a Landola... Give it a try.