Simon & Patrick Pro Flame Maple

Beautiful high-end sound. It was the reason I bought it!

Playability when new was wonderful, looked and felt great!

Absolute junk! This is the second S&P I've owned - the first one had to be replaced under warantee less than 4 months after i purchased it because it warped so bad. Not only is the second one doing exactly the same thing, but it's 3-piece back is cracking and separating. As with my other guitar and my mandolin, I do use a humidifier, so it's not a matter of drying out. I'm not telling you what to do, but I'll never buy another S&P product ever again.

I sent them a nasty letter last week. I don't know if they'll respond or not.

Made in 1996, Canada
Solid Spruce Top and Solid Flame Maple Back with Laminated sides.
No Pickup
I've own the guitar since new in 1997. I have owned two lower end martins, two high end takamines, and a 800 series taylor and this is my favorite guitar. It's all beat up so I don't gig with it anymore but this is the one that I practice and play for pleasure everyday!

I have always preferred the sound of the spruce/rosewood acoustic but I hav always loved the look of the spruce top with a flamed maple back. However, I never liked the tonal qualities of maple. Too harsh and boxy sounding for me. So when I picked this instrument over eight years ago, I left the store with it within the hour. It sounded like a rosewood guitar. About three years later, the strap pin let me and the guitar down. It hit the floor with a crash and I had a four inch crack in the soundboard. Ironically, it must have cracked just right because it sounded even better as the crack must have freed the soundboard to resonate even more. For the next four years, I played the guitar as it. One day, the now six inch crack started buzzing. So I was about to throw the guitar away when I decided to make a learning experience out it. I got some ideas from a local luthier and went ahead a repaired it myself. It's not pretty but it is still the best sounding guitar I own. I worried that the depth of sound would be compromised once the crack was repaired but to my surprise, the S and P now sounded like a matured "opened up" spruce/rosewood guitar. The repair left the sound more defined and crisp yet still full and an deep.

The guitar was not set up very well as the action was high. The finish was above average. Years later, I made several adjustments which greatly improved the action (neck joint, bridge/saddle, etc). Though the price was very modest, the asthetic and tonal qualities were excellent with quality wood used throughout (except the sides of laminated wood,, of course). Due to the unusual depth of the tone (maple) I can only assume that this is due to something related to Simon and Patrick's interior bracing design. The tuners seem to be of a modest quality and tuning was always a little more involved than with my other guitars. The playability (after the adjustment were made) was excellent as the neck proved to be perfect for me and one of the best acoustic necks I've ever played. The intonation was fair until I made the adjustments.

Obviously, the guitar is a workhorse and a trooper. It survived an otherwise handicapping injury only to return scarred but better than ever. The strap button did fail however. Other than that the guitar is very dependable. The gloss finish is a little thin but I like it that way. This is a guitar, not a cheap piece of furniture.

I have dealt with customer service via e-mail as I could not find a toll-free customer service number. I even had to search hard for the e-mail address. To this day, I believe that the physical address is all that is listed on their website (which btw has not been updated is about 3 years as some of the models listed in the site aren't even produced anymore). Anyway, they were bvery helpful vial e-mail in helping me to locate a dealer so that I might consider purchasing another guitar.

I've been playing for twoenty years and have owned several acoustic guitars worth mentioning and this one is still my favorite. I am going to buy another one soon if I can find the right price. A comparable guitar is now about $1000-1200 Canadian and about $800 US. At one time (IMHO) Simon and Patricks were the best guitars you could buy for their price points. Right now they're about double the price or more, and yet they are still a good value.

beautiful guitar.....beautifully made, finished, and worth much more than I paid.

It is an accousitc dreadnought, I installed a fishman pickup in the sound hole with the small microphone attached......

I had a grand in cash in my wallet....went into the store to buy a martin or gibson in about that range...the sound from the pro flame maple blew them away...every note rings clearly, lots of volume.

action, fit and finish are beatiful on this guitar, I keep it in it's case, so no dust gets on it. The guitar looks great and plays amazing....worth at least double what I paid for it.

I've played this guitar live for 2 years, no problems with anyting, stays in tune forever,

I've been playing for 20 years, I have 3 other guitars, of various types...this guitar is my favorite, it's like treasure to me.