Norman B20 Folk

Small bodied acoustic guitar, hand built in Quebec Canada. Looks similar to classical guitar. Maple top, 3 ply rosewood back and sides. Its an acoustic so there is nothing fancy (which I really like). The top is satin finish and dents very easily and could do to have a scratchplate as my guitar does have an area of wear below the stings, however I have had it 8 years. The neck is a touch wide but that is nothing to complain about.

This guitar has a lovely rich deep sound considering the small body, I rarely change my strings and am very happy with the way it plays. I play a variety of styles on this guitar and it manages very well and does punch above its price tag. Highly recommended.

As previously mentioned the neck is a touch wide and the action is a little high the higher up the frets you go, but still playing higher up the frets the guitar maintains it tune and continues to resonate well with medium guage strings.

I have had this guitar for 7 years and nothing has gone wrong with it, in fact it sounds better now than ever. The body does wear easily especially the top as it appears unfinished. I would gig this guitar without a back up (if I did gigs) due to the fact that I have played it daily for 7 years and nothing has let me down.

Not needed customer support, so I have no opinion.

I have been playing for 21 years and this guitar is the one I have held onto longest purely because of its sound. I also own a Tanglewood Les Paul that I have just bought previously used. If this guitar was lost or stolen I would definately go and get another as soon as possible. I tried this guitar against an Ovation (that rattled), a Fender (sound not as good and ??300 more expensive) and I tried another Norman (the sound did not match up to the B20 Folk). This guitar really does punch above its price tag, its all about the sound, this guitar is not the best looking.

A Norman b20 folk is just your regular acousric guitar. This guitar is handmade in Quebec, Canada. The body is maple an the fretboard is indian rosewood.It sis a 21 fret guitar. I set a pick-guard on minhe because I found that the wood scrathces and dents quite easily of contact. Thats mostly because it isn't laminated.

The sound of this guitar is very soft. It's not ideal for for more mettalic sounds such as blues. in other words it doesn't offer that much variety but I think its great for rythum guitar.

It a regualr looking guitar. There's not anything that special acout ir. The body is rich honey coulour and the neck is rosewood. The artitic work around the soundhole is bad but not grat.

It seems to be a reliable guitar but you have to be careful with because it dents and scratches easily. I wouldn't use this guitar on a gig but it's great for beginners and and for anyone who uses it just for practicing or playing with friends on trips, camping, etc.. The hardware seems to be good. If you're carefull it will last. Mine has lasted 15 years wuithout any major problems.

Mine only had a 3 month warranty but thats because it was used. i havn't had any major repairs on just a setup here and there at my local music store.

If you're a beginner this a perfectly good choice withou having to buy into some overpriced guitars. (a lot of guitars are overpriced because of their brand names.) If you want a guitar to take on camping trips or just practice with to not wear out any of your other guitars.

From La Patrie, Quebec, Canada. Not sure when it was made but purchased in 2002. 21 frets. Solid spruce top, Cherry back & sides, Honduras Mahogany neck with Rosewood fretboard. The finish is fairly light with a matt sheen. Neck is C shaped. Small bodied, sloped shouldered with no pickguard. This one is set up for a south-paw so the no pickguard thing is a bonus

It's a true beauty. Action has been changed along with bridge and nut and now handles concert pitch (dropped a full tone), open D, Slide, fingerstyle and the occasional pleck-strum. It works through a Marshall acoustic amp, plugged directly into a PA and records pretty well too. Being small bodied, the mid range is crisp but dropped tuned brings out the best in the lower strings also. Hard to fault the versatility on offer hence....

Action is now fine. It's been raised to cover open tuning, slide as well as fingerstyle. The finish is understated with a modest inlay around the soundhole, pearl dot inlays up to the 12th & the maker's monniker on the headstock. Thats pretty much it-just an 'all wooden guitar' perfect. The only criticism here is with the tuning pegs-a little light, 'specially when retuning, takes a while for all the strings to bed down

It does do live gigs. Tuning pegs are due for an upgrade sometime soon but nothing else (Bridge & Nut already changed for a Southpaw). The finish is very good in an understated way and the feel of the guitar is solid. It was bought as an all round traveller and it fits the bill. We moved to Singapore which has to be one of the most humid places on the planet but the action has remained constant. Its a dependable little work-horse with a throaty roar

Customer support in the UK was fine under standard warranty conditions. A friend altered the action about 1 year ago and it's been on the button since then

In summary it didn't cost an arm & a leg so it won't do my laundry/walk the dog etc..but that's OK. It's an honest guitar with no frills. It plays well and sounds good. Got to be happy with that especially at the price...

I have reviewed this already (seen nearby under a cost of 265 English pounds from Holiday Music), but after owning it for a while I want to add some comments. I've added a faux-tortoise shell scratchplate, which looks like it's what Seagull guitars use, whether they're from the LaSiDo factory or what they order in.

I almost always use a B Major tuning with this guitar, now: B, F, B, F, B, E flat. I would never tune it all the way up in standard tuning because it's too thin sounding that way, though no doubt it would record well. I just don't like standsard tuning except down 1 or two semitones. (THe lowest string suiffers intonation-wise with this B (and open C) tuning the further up the neck you go, but a look at acoustic guitar newsgroups shows this is the same for any make of guitar; I suspect having the saddle slot moved back would be good and i may do this soon.)I now have a bone nut on it, which clearly sounds better - I hope no one tried a corian nut on my recommendation, as the low E string soon sounds funny with corian nuts (though oddly it doesn't with Martin guitars), perhaps becuase the guitar is already quite bright due to its non-gloss finish - especially the often otherwise problem kiddies that are the 2nd and 1st strings played open. I have got a compensated micarta saddle in, home-made by me, using micarta bought from a knife maker. I'm going to get a bone one soon, but am considering this may be too bright. This guitar is really great for open D, C and my B tuning, and for dropped D. Like most inexpensive guitars with small bodies the 3rd string could sound better, though it is fine when the string is new and if you're not like me and trying too often to listen to aspects of the guitar in isolation. If i could play better this sort of thing wouldn't matter, I s'pose!

I've tried various set-ups all done by myself. I came close to selling this guitar a few times, but am very glad I didn't now. The natural blonde spruce is a bit bland I feel, and I prefer the woodstained versions I've seen, but this sort of thing shouldn't be dwelt on with a 'spiritual' thing like making music, and the scratchplate has sexed it up a bit. This guitar can be successfully set-up with a low action in standard tuning, and mine is 1.8 on the treble, 12th fret, and 2.8 in the bass, 12th fret. I also have the nut slots low like on a Martin. I've done it so that there is the same amount of height from the fret with an open string as there is at the second fret if the string is fretted at the first. This is lower than the recommended trick of having a paper's space between the string and first fret when the string is held at the 2nd fret. It sounds great, possibly even better, which I don't really understand. I use bluegrass gauge strings, i.e. lights on the top 3 strings and mediums on the bottom three, ususally phospor bronze. With a higher action silk and steel strings, 11.5 to 47, by Martin also sound good, but only for a short while.
however, I do have a complaint, which is recurrent apparently with lasido guitars, though my Norman dread doesn't suffer from it: the fret board slightly kinks toward the body after the body fret. At a guess this hinders intonation on the high frets, but that doesn't concern me. I'm a bit bothered why this should happen, and it does seem not rectifiable, as the neck is correctly set, being without problems, buzzes, any other noticeable kink and providing neither a muffled nor thin sound, at least in B tuning. The 5 I'm giving it is for the factory job. I'd give it a 9 now if that wasn't narcissistic....

I am, perhaps naively, surprised that a lot of paint from the headstock has gone for a burton while I've been gluing in and taking out about 20 different nuts and restringing, etc.

As I said before

I realise after trying many guitars that I love the sound of mahogonay, so the same guitat with mahogony in there somewhere effective would be ideal. The Seagull Artist Mahogany Folk is probably my cup of tea but they don't make it lefthanded, which spares me further creit card debt for now....

small-bodied acoustic guitar, solid spruce top, lam cherry back and sides, satin finish, Tusq saddle and nut

Despite the compensated saddle it was a bit dodgy, tuning-wise,at first. They're not very well set-up, though I'd played worse versions of the same guitar, some quite instantly arthritis-inducing. But I'ce had it a week, and I've had a bit of a tweak, and it's glorious. I replaced the Tusq saddle and nut with Corian - they use Corian on Martin acoustics for the nut. I imagine Tusq is easier to bulk-produce or something, but Corian is drasatically better. My guitar is alot fuller now: brighter where it's needed and warmer where it's needed, with a bit more bass. My dead-ish Ernie Ball Earthwood strings on it still sound good in a Nick Drake kind of way, in fact the Pink Moon sound is what I've got with this guitar now, pretty much. Before, with the Tusq, it was a bit repressed and too middley. It's obviously still not sounding like a dreadnought, and I imagine that it willl have opened out a bit anyway; but as soon as i tuned up after putting the Corian on it was pretty obvious I'd done the right thing.

As I say, not so well set up. I'm left-handed, and left-hand guitars are worse set up than average, I imagine because the set-up fellas are not lefty. But I enjoy having a tweak.

The top is not perfect, as a piece of wood. there are some cosmetic flaws, but not ones which I think could affect sound - and i like quirks and imperfection anyway. There is a bit of a buzz on the low E string, but without spending #4000 that seems to be a consistent complaint. it's not too bad though, and I *do* tune down two semitones or to open C so I'm bound to get a bit of that.
The Tusq saddle though 'compensated' didn't really do much for the intonation, either with the 12s that were on the guitar or the 13s I put on it. The Tusq nut was not so well put on, partly contributing to the intonation problem due to leaning towards the fingerboard a bit. all academic of course, because the bits of overrated plastic are now resting in my drawer.
The finish is lovely. Some Normans - like my dreadnought B20 - have an orangey woodstain, like the Simon and Patricks, but this one doesn't. It seems not to pick up sweat and filth as bad as the woodstained one. It doesn't have a pickguard, but my style of playing, strumming or picking, doesn't seem like it'll get it scratched up. A slightly damp cloth every now and then'll take care of that.

This'll be a guitar for life for me, I think, though it's pretty inexpensive. I will be using it in small clubs happily, though I expect a gloss finish would inspire more confidence there. I was told that, though not advertised, a gloss version can be ordered.

The Scottish distributers have been very helpful with both my guitars; they're sending me a pickguard, and they sent me a saddle when i lost one. They've answered my e'mails and gave me a few tips. I decided on the norman rather than Seagull or Simonb and Patrick equivalents, because their UK distributers are pigs.

Extremely happy with this guitar. If I had bundles of cash I'd get another to keep in a different tuning. It probably could do with a pickguard for some people, and to be sold with Corian on instead of Tusq.
I like the fact that Normans and other Lasido factory guitars are largely made by women, employed often apparently because of superior concentration span and it's effect on attention to detail. Hey - it's a feminist guitar.... (A-hem.) Hopefully this doesn't mean they're paid shit.
I disagree with other reviewers here that it's not a good strumming guitar. With 13s on and detuned especially it sounds fine, and records well as a strummer, as I'd hoped.

My B20 was made in La Patrie and Princeville Quebec. Features are the same as previous reviewers. It didn't come with a case or pickup. I managed to find a hardcase a couple of months after buying it (this was quite tricky actually because of the relatively unusual shape fo this guitar - it rattled around in most cases). I also bought a 'woody' pickup to fit in the soundhole. I got the shop to add on one of those button things where the neck meets the body to attach the strap. I don't play folk or blues music so the choice of a folk guitar was unusual for me in terms of its features (eg no scratchplate) and the folky design around the sound hole, but I generally like the look and features. My one criticism here would be the fret markings - these are fine along the finger board and look quite nice - but the ones along the neck are almost invisible! This is really the one thing wrong with Norman acoustics in my opinion, how much effort would it be to put some visible markings along the neck?

As per my previous comments, I am not a folk player. My music is pretty much your standard strum along a pop/rock song stuff. However, the Norman's sound when put to this style of music is superb and really stands out from the crowd. When I'm just playing around in my living room its got such a rich bright sound without sounding really sheeny like some guitars do. Live I play with a woody in the soundhole and then straight through the PA - this is also suprisingly good and sounds a lot better than most acoustic setups I hear. The guitar records live very well when played this way, although I think it looses something when strummed quite vigorously (for gentler songs though its brilliant). I have also recorded just playing in front of an SM57 microphone and the sound quality that way is just lush. I had always thought electric acoustics where the only way when playing live, but now I think you have to fork out too much money to get a half decent sounding one. Overall I think this guitar has a great distinctive sound - I often play along with a Martin guitar and I think the Norman has a much more interesting and subtler a sound and although it hasn't got the volume of a Martin the tones really cut through.

No complaints about finish and fit - ok it hasn't got the visible craftmanship of some guitars but you've got to remember the price tag, and I generally prefer guitars which aren't overly gaudy looking. The action is very easy to play and this is a great acoustic to teach people on. Also the thin frets seem to add to the playability.

Played this guitar loads live and it can take knocks and falling over really well. I think it'll last years and years. The frets don't get worn down very quickly either. The finish below the sound hole is getting a bit worn and scratched from strumming but I don't care about that. Live its dependable and will stay in tune for an entire set. One problem if you strum hard is string breakages - I've lent it out a few times on open stage nights and invariably someone playing a thrashy number on it will break a string. When you know how to play it though this shouldn't be a problem.

If anything went wrong (which I doubt) I'd take it back to the shop so CS isn't really valid

Been playing this guitar for 2 years - I think I would find it really hard to find a better acoustic for twice the money. If it were lost/stolen I would probably buy another Norman to replace it but perhaps try another model. The thing I love about this guitar is just how good it is for the price. You see all these players with similar priced electro acoustics which sound so crap. I feel so superior having bought a solid top guitar for such little money.

My B20 was made in 2001 at the LaSiDo factory in Quebec, Canada. LaSiDo also make the Seagull, Simon & Patrick, and Godin line of guitars. The B20 has a solid spruce top and laminated cherry sides and back. The neck is mahogany, and the fingerboard and bridge are Indian rosewood. The neck is wider than usual, at 1.8". The fingerboard has a 16" radius. The scale length is 24.84". The body style is similar to the pear-shaped Martin 00 (about the size of a classical), but with a wider waist and deeper sides. The tuners are standard Schaller-style tuners, unmarked, possibly made by Gotoh. The finish is a special thin alcohol lacquer.

A hard case is not included in the list price ($399).

I bought this guitar for its sound and feel. The sound was surprisingly rich for a new guitar and it sounded better than the other, more expensive guitars I auditioned, which included several Martins, Tacomas, and a Seagull. Although technically a parlor guitar, the B20's deep sides give it a robust sound.

I subtracted one point for each finish flaw. The B20 I purchased has three flaws: (1) The binding seam on the back does not line up with the back's center seam; (2) The end of the fingerboard (near the soundhole has a slightly rounded over corner, which doesn't affect playability but looks less than ideal; (3) The joint between the sides near the end pin is not tight and is filled with a sliver of wood filler. You may think I am picky to list these flaws, but I did not see them on any other guitar I tried, so they are significant.

The playability of the guitar, however, is excellent.

I feel that this guitar is very durable and will withstand a lifetime of use. The B20 comes with a two-year factory warranty, but the store I bought it from guaranteed the guitar for as long as I own it.

So far I have not had to contact LaSiDo for customer support.

I've been playing guitar for about a year. I play mostly finger style blues. If I lost this guitar, I would buy another, unless I had enough money to buy a Lowden or Santa Cruz.

I bought this guitar because I wanted a sub-$500 guitar that was optimized for finger-style playing. In my opinion, the Norman B20 was the best choice in this range. The overall rating would be 10 if not for the construction flaws.

If you are considering buying this guitar, then you should also try the Seagull Folk and the Simon and Patrick Pro Folk. These guitars are the same as the B20, except that the Seagull has a cedar soundboard and a triangular headstock, and the S&P has a solid rosewood back. I bought the Norman version because I prefer the sound of a spruce top and didn't want to pay the extra money for the S&P's soild rosewood back.

This smaller body acoustic-electric has a spruce top that only gets better with age, and really beautiful darker wild cherry sides and back that i just love to stare at. treble, bass, and volume controls are included in the fishman pickup system. The neck is u-shaped, but nice and made of dark wood probably mahogany. The frets are relativly small compared to other acoustic fret sizes.

The sound of this acoustic unplugged is so sweet. WARM. Not at all hindered by its smaller size. Great projection. Definately one of the fullest sounding smaller guitars i have ever played. I am in love. the only complaint in this department is the electronics. In order to make the pickups work, you have to play with the imput a little (not serious)

The Norman guitars are handmade in Canada. The action is a little high at the 12th fret, but i don't really find it to be a problem. great spacing for finger picking and sweeping.

I think this guitar is going to last me a very long time and i don't look forward to buying another one, since this is an awesome acoustic that has everything i want.

I have never even heard of Norman before i played it for the first time in Canada and took it home to Massachusetts.

Buy Norman

This Norman B20 Folk has a small body, like an orchestral model, looks more like a spanish guitar. The top is made of solid spruce, back and sides of solid wild cherry. The inside is very, very well finished as wall as the whole guitar, which is a good surprise for the price. The bridge saddle has a " tune o matic " shape. Both saddles are made of special plastic which looks like bone or ivory. Its density seems higher than those of classic plastic features. The tuners are chrome plated. This model has no pickguard. The neck is made of a darker wood, like mahogany or nato.

I was trying a bunch of guitars at Archambaud in Montreal, seeking something original. I tried a few Martins, Guilds, Taks, Seagulls. Some very nice pieces indeed, but they all sounded too new. When you buy a guitar you have to keep in mind that the model you are trying has not its definite sound yet. So I was just walking among the guitars, caressing the standard-tuned strings on all the necks, then I ran into this one. It sounded warm already, like a guitar which has been already played for months. The volume of this small guitar is surprising, and so is the sharpness of the sounds. The notes are rich, both in strumming and fingerstyle. Picked notes are very very precise. Now I play it mostly in open tunings, like DADF#AD, this guitar is incredible. I play folk and blues with it, flat or fingerstyle and that's all it's made for in my opinion. Slide tunes are warm, like on an old Gibson. I bought it in November 2000 and its sound is now warmer and richer and I have an incredible pleasure to play it. With D'addario strings it sounds good already, but if you mind to try DR medium, or Spectrum Thomastik-Infeld you're going to have a ball.

The finish is 4 stars as I said earlier, but the action was a little high so I gave some trussrod 1/4 turns to solve this. I lowered it just enough to hear a cool buzz on the bass string and it is COOL.

The construction seems tough but in the long term I will replace the tuners with Schallers or Gotohs. One more thing: the guitar should have come with a pickguard.

Never dealt with them so far

I worked in a guitar shop and I am running my own shop in France this spring 2001. I've tried a lot of guitars and I never hesitate to say if this model or another is a great pile of poooo (see my review of the Gibson WM45 on this site). So far the B20 F is one of the coolest guitars that I've tried. This is my opinion by now, I will probably find a better guitar to replace it someday, but with this kind of equipment (at a low price !) the succession will be hard.

Small "folk" style body. Solid spruce top, laminated wild cherry back and sides, mahogany bolt-on neck (Taylor/Simon & Patrick style neck joint), rosewood fingerboard and bridge, chrome unbranded Schaller-style sealed tuners, cream plastic binding front and back, no scratch plate. 14-fret neck joint, 630mm scale length. Very thin, matt acid-catalysed lacquer finish.

For a 200-300 pound guitar the quality of the sound is nothing short of amazing. Obviously, being a small bodied guitar it has it's limitations ? it will never strum like a Gibson J200 but everyone who plays it comments on the feel and quality of the sound. It has quite a middly tone which is wonderful when finger-picked or lightly flat-picked. Despite the small body there is a surprising depth to the tone and the bass end in nicely controlled under most conditions while the treble rings clear and brightly without being shrill or harsh. It doesn't like being strummed hard with a heavy pick when the mid-range really dominates, becomes harsh and overpowers the sound. However, strummed with a fairly light pick (which my wife tends to use anyway) it still sounds nice.

The finish on the guitar is plain, thin but hard-wearing. The spruce and cherry seem to cope well with general knocks and every-day wear and tear and, of course, the thinness of the matt finish helps allow the woods to resonate well. There is no scratch-plate so in the longer term there is bound to be a question about plectrum wear on the top. However, since it isn't really a hard strummer's guitar it should be OK. Certainly the top is fine now, after a few year's use.
The set-up is nice and easy, the neck straight and the action low. When we bought it the truss rod developed a little rattle after about a week but a small tweak of less than a quarter turn cured that without effecting the neck relief. The matt varnish makes the neck a delight to play. The profile is a relatively deep, flat-backed D shape (not my personal favourite but my wife finds it very comfortable) which fills the hand nicely without being too bulky.

Although any acoustic guitar will require a certain amount of care and attention the Norman is as robust as any. Given a decent case it has performed perfectly well in a range of different environments without any problems. Apart from the settling in adjustment which I did on the truss-rod and a general set-up after about a year it has needed very little attention.

Never tested. It has never given any serious problems so I've never needed to worry about customer support!

This is a great little guitar and I would have no reservations in recommending Norman (or their close cousins, Simon and Patrick) to friends looking for a mid-price acoustic. For a guitar of this price the sound is astonishing, better than some small-bodied guitars costing over twice as much, even more so when playing finger-style. Sure, the sound has some limitations ? it isn't a heavy strummer. However, that isn't a problem, rather simply a characteristic of smaller guitars ? they just don't sound like J200's!
We bought this guitar because we were looking for a reasonably priced smaller bodied, solid-top guitar for my wife, who finds dreadnought-sized guitars a bit of an armful. At the time the only choices in the UK below about #400 (we bought it at the UK's largest trade show so we had a pretty comprehensive selection to choose from) were from Norman, Epiphone, Yamaha and Seagull. The only comparable one for feel and sound was the (inevitably) similar Seagull model. However, at the time, the finishing on Seagulls of a similar price just seemed so much rougher and less well done than the Norman and so we went for this model. If it was trashed, lost or stolen we'd have no hesitation in getting a direct replacement.
Trevor Raggatt