Product: Simon & Patrick S&P Rosewood
Price Paid: HK$ 5500
Submitted
08/15/2005
at
09:50am
by
Bobby Alvarez
Features
:
10
canadian-made dreadnought, no electronics, no cutaway, no pickguard... this baby epitomizes beauty in simplicity.
the only mods i've done are put sperzel locking tuners and install lrbaggs electronics.
it came with a case.
Sound
:
10
this baby sounds awesome. bought it in march 1995 while on holiday in hong kong... there was a roomful of s&p's. they all sounded ok. this was the best unit. i wasn't really lookin to buy a guitar. just went to the store, saw a row of acoustics, decided to try them out. ended up trying around 20 or so acoustics, this one stood out, regardless of the price range. the fact that this was less expensive (compared to taylors) was just an added bonus. didn't buy it the 1st day. lost sleep that night thinkin about this axe. went back the next day, trying to convince myself it wasn't true love. didn't buy it, and lost sleep again... this went on & on... i finally bought it after 5 days... at long last, a wedding! been a happy marriage ever since!
tone is very balanced. warm but with ample attack, deep & complex. the other s&p's at the store at the time sounded ok but this one has "the touch of the devil," i guess. to my ears, it just blew the other guitars in the store away.
i play rock and blues. but this guitar soundss just as good with jazz and anything you could play an acoustic guitar with.
the lrbaggs really brings out the natural sound of the guitar. love it!
Action, Fit, & Finish
:
10
right off the rack, i had no problems with the way this guitar was set up. action is superb! plays like butter. no buzzes. just pure acoustic magic. love the neck.
the only time this guitar saw a guitar tech was when i had l.r. baggs electronics and sperzel locking tuners installed.
*i needed the sperzels since i gig without a backup guitar and this really helps when i break strings in the middle of a set. but it hardly happens. i think i only broke a grand total of 3 strings in the past 2 years.
Reliability/Durability
:
10
i've dropped this guitar a couple of times. no damage. this is a solidly built axe.
i use it all the time without a backup.
the finish turns white when i sweat on it but goes back to its normal color after.
Customer Support
:
No Opinion
n/a
Overall Rating
:
10
been playin since 1991. have had a few guitars through the years. strats, a tele, a really sweet transluscent amber gibson classic premium plus which was stolen (serial # 6 1857, in case you find it)...
if it was lost or stolen, i'm not sure if i'd buy a simon & patrick again. like i said, i wasn't impressed with the other s&p's i tried in the store. this unit was particularly sweet.
this guitar has the 2 most important things i look for in a guitar: tone & playability. in both categories, this guitar is superb. i've tried numerous acoustics like taylor, martin, and gibson. my s&p sounds as good as any taylor. can't really compare it to martins as the martins have a very distinctive tone that is uniquely martin. but in terms of playability, this particlular s&p plays as well as any martin. hell, it plays as well as or even better than some electric guitars.
the only guitar i've played that i can honestly say left my s&p in the dust is my uncle's all original pre-war gibson hummingbird. damn, that baby was sweet!
for the price i paid, this guitar was a total steal!
i just wish it came with a pickguard, coz the finish is all screwed up where the pickguard's supposed to be from years of hard playing. but it actually looks cool that way.
