Simon & Patrick S&P SC CW

Dreadnut-cutaway with no electronics.
Real nice pale solid cedar top with high gloss-finish
Rosewood body with high gloss finish. The dark rosewood and pale cedar make a very nice effect.
Rosewood fingerbord

One comment, but I think that apply to many many guitars, why not install at factory 2 good stap buttons instead of having to pay later to have them or letting the poor guy taking a chance with it. I do not lower my rating because of that since it is common in too many guitars.

I really do not know how I can rate the feature since it is a really simple guitar that make the job it is supposed to do. No gadget, it just work fine.

Since I am used to Norman sound, I was alway more interested with guitar having that kind of bright sound. This guitar sound great right out of the box so I just imagine how it will sound in a few year. It is important to note that not all guitars can improve with time, this one will. In the same price range I prefered it to many other guitars including the Norman St-68.
I play mostly Beatles and other rocks like Led Zeppelin. But this guitar could play anything. I am not a pro, just play for fun but I listened and played guitars for years and this one makes the job.

In the stores I could really try guitars without having too much noise around (not evident to try an accoustic guitar when a youngster is tryin to play heavy metal with electric guitar at 20 feets), I could not play real expensive guitars but in the price range and still a lot over, this one is a winner.

The guitar came out of the box absolutely perfect. In other reviews seen here, I know some mention that finish and factory set up was not perfect, but mine was great. I did not have to adjust the action which was low anough to have a great action, but still sound great. Finish was also perfect.

The only guitar that really had a better action was a Takamine, but did not sound really better and was way much more expensive.

Well, it is a new guitar that seems very solid and since it is in the same family as my 30 years old Norman, I would guess it will stand for long time.

My guitar came with the pick guard not installed and I keep my guitar that way. Since I take real care of my guitars, I will see with the time if I need to fix it or not but it looks so great without it.

I have to give it a 10 because of my experience with the Norman, but I have to admit I do not play gigs and take care of my guitars.

I never had to contact the company for this guitar so I do not know how the service is. I am from the province of Quebec, same as the company so I guess it would be easier to have service that someone very far.

But I bought this guitar from Nantel musique, same for my electric guitar. And since I always went to this store for my guitar services and it is excellent, I guess I would not need Simon & Patrick service anyway.

My guitar is really new, I have bought it two months ago after trying many many guitars. In fact, since I own an old 30 years old B-50-12 (that I played with only 6 strings lately) Norman guitar, I needed something that perform at least the same. But since the sound of this Norman improved a lot with the time, no new B-50 even got close to it. This old guitar outperform many guitars much more expensive, I took it with me to compare. So I tried many guitars going from $750 to $3000 (CAN), my budget being about $1500 (CAN)max. Tried $3000 guitars to have a point of comparison, but to realised that often it is not worthed.

I cannot list all guitars I have tried but I have to say that I am not an impulsive buyer and took months before being set to a decision. It is also difficult to compare many guitars not from the same store. suppose guitars A, B and C. A and B are from one store but not C, B and C are from another store, but not A, so you need to compare both to B and go with this. Imagine when you try many many guitars. That is why I often brought my Norman as a comparison point.

Anyway, I am very satisfied and even if I had plently of money, I would still have bought this guitar. Maybe I would have Martin or others just to say I have one though.

For this budget, no other guitar really compare, in Quebec anyway since we have to pay higher price for guitar made elsewhere. The opposite is probably the same in US where you would pay higher price for this guitar and less for US made.

New made guitar, 2003
Dreadnut-cutaway
Solid ceder top with high gloss-finish
Rosewood body with satin-finish (beautiful flames in wood)
Rosewood fingerbord
B-Band electronics (High, Mid, Low, Presence and Volume). Perfect sound when amplified with the right amp. A bit hiss if you amplify it with an ordinary PA (but still OK).

Very warm sound in low range, but a bit stiff on the high notes (especially high B and E). Depending on strings this sound can ben inproved by putting on a 0.11 or 0.12 stringset. But with a 0.10 set (which are good foor solo's, that is where the cutaway is made for) your sound decreases substantially. For me, this is the reason why I will sell it again and purchase another model.

Factory set-up was near perfect. One ajustment was made, but was later restored in factory-settings. The guitar itself was finished very nice, without any flaws. The body and neck where made of perfect quality wood (although the back of the head might be a little bit soft). The electronics intallations were a little bit off-centre on top of the body.

Although I only have it for about two months now, its reliability seems to be quite good. It's a ferm and solid build guitar, well painted and it is delivered in a free suitcase which protects it during transport. The guitar is a bit heavy. This is due to the firm construction, which is good when you have to transport the quitar a lot. The case also protects it very well from temperature changes, so it doesn't need much tuning at all when it is taken out of the case after transport. I think it is a very reliable guitar.

The only customer support I needed came from the guitar-dealer I bought the guitar from, and that was/is excellent. So I quess factory-customer support must be OK to.

Overal rating is good. It wasn't the perfect guitar for me because I was looking for a specific warm sound in the high notes and I still had to be able to play solo with a 0.10 stringset. For this purpose, the S&P SC CW isn't the right guitar. But if you play mainly fingerpics or chords in the mid-range of the guitar, this is on of the best instruments on the market (especially for this price).