Northwood MJ80R

This is a Northwood Mini Jumbo Florentine Cutaway with a solid spruce top and rosewood back and sides. It is a completely hand made guitar by John Mcquarrie in Langley, BC Canada. To those not in the know, it just looks like another guitar. It isn't just another guitar though, it is a beautifully handcrafted instrument with the finest woods and materials available. The Ebony fretboard and mahogany neck are stunning. The binding, fretwork and hardware are as fine as anything else I've seen todate.

There are no electronics installed. John leaves these out and prefers to let each customer choose their preference either when they place their order or as an aftermarket installation. I will be taking my guitar back to Northwood in a month or two, probably for a Fishman installation.

I'm sure if I waited a year before posting this review, the sound of this guitar would have blossomed even more. But it is wonderful right from the start. This Mini Jumbo is rich and warm with both delicate highs and a dynamic bass register. I'm constantly reminded of the quality materials by the overtones present and wonderful sustain.

My playing consists of my own stuff (folk like) and playing mainly contemporary Christian tunes in our church. Mostly with a pick, although some finger picking as well. So far, there hasn't been anything that I've played that doesn't sound good on this guitar.

My nature tends toward the analytical. Having said that, I cannot find any fault with this guitar. It was setup perfectly. No anomalies, no buzzing, and perfectly playable up and down the neck.

As mentioned already, the fit and finish of all materials on this guitar is as good as any guitar I've ever owned.

It is hard to comment in this area since I've had this guitar for only a short time. I cannot imagine it not standing up and lasting for a long time.

Having said that, it is a quality instrument and it would be a shame to start banging it around. In other words, if we are having a party sitting around a campfire I will bring out one of my other instruments. This is too good an instrument for that, imho. As far as a gig goes, yes, I can see no need for a backup. Totally dependable

I live in BC and had the opportunity to meet John and tour the Northwood operation. Two things quickly became apparant. He is a skilled craftsman and does beautiful work. And he cares that his product is the best it can be and worthy of the love that is going to be bestowed on it.

I don't even know details about the warranty, but feel that if there was a service issue that needed fixing, it would be handled promptly. I purchased the guitar through Guitar Adoptions and Dave was excellent to deal with as well. I beleive he would support any service issues that arise as well.

I've owned lots of guitars over the years - Gibsons, Fenders, Ovations, etc. Without question, this is the nicest acoustic I've owned, with workmanship that is second to none. I tried a number of Martins, Gibsons, Larivees and Taylors before making this purchase, and as nice as some of them were, I felt the Northwood was something special. Still do.

I would definitely replace it, if it was lost or stolen. If you can, do give one a try. Beautiful instruments.

2005 Northwood Mini-Jumbo 80R with EIR body and engelmann spruce top. This guitar has a beautifully silked engelmann soundboard with tight grained East Indian Rosewood. The EIR is so dark and beautiful, and the hand-sanded mahogany neck has dark grain lines running throughout. The nut and saddle are both fossiled bone, and the endpins have abalone tops. The headstock is inlaid with ebony and has an ivoriod binding that also flows down the sides of the ebony fretboard. I added ebony tuner buttons to this one, and they are really a nice touch instead of the chrome tuner buttons.

The finish is absolutely flawless and mirror-like in reflection. The active LR Baggs I-beam pickup that I added sounds awesome with this guitar as well. The body size is just right for a mini-jumbo (16" on the lower bout), and the action of the neck is awesome with the satin finish. The included HSC is very nice, but a notch below the Taylor case or my Tacoma deluxe HSC.

The sound is absolutely amazing with the piano-like tones of the EIR coming through. I am mostly a strummer by training and this guitar holds up very well with a medium to heavy strum. It does tend to break down just ever-so-slightly with a very heavy attack, but then again this body style wasn't made for that. It is an excellent guitar for strumming, but works best for picking, it seems. The body style accomodates the low-end very nicely, and it does not suffer from lack of mids and highs as most mini jumbo's do. The range is excellent, and it has perfectly crisp notes and overtones. It is is definitely a cut above other rosewood MJ guitars such as the Breedlove Ed Gerhardt model.

The action of the fretboard is very nice with the 1.75" nut width. The feel and action of the neck are perfect, and my hand slides easily back and forth. The feel of the neck is definitely different than that of my Tacoma, but I do notice that my hand does not get tired like it did with the Tacoma or Taylors I owned. I guess it is better in that regard because it just feels more comfortable, and I can do bar and power chords with less effort.

The guitar is perfectly bookmatched in the back so much so that I can't even tell where it was divided (if you look very, very closely you can see it). This guitar used to come with a herringbone backstrip, but the luthier decided to ditch that because he thought the bookmatched back looked better without it (plus it was extra cost to him).

This guitar basically screams elegance with simplicity.

I have only owned it since early June so I can't really respond to the reliability just yet.

John McQuarrie, the sole luthier of the Northwood guitars, will answer any questions you have and talk to you for as long as you want about his guitars. He gave me a very genuine opinion of the engelmann tops, and what kind of appointments I'd need or not need. He wasn't trying to run up the cost for me at all, and in fact recommended the base model MJ-80. I'm very happy that I listened to him.

However, he is horrible at responding to emails, and you usually have to reach him via phone to talk. For that reason I give him a 9 in this catagory.

This guitar is awesome, and for the cost it is the best value for a custom shop hand built guitar. It is far less expensive than other custom models such as McElroy, Collings, etc. and the sound is awesome for a MJ body. I'd recommend it to anyone that's beggining all the way to pros.