Product: Suzuki No. 13
Price Paid: $125.00 (Canadian) used
Submitted
10/15/2004
at
11:35pm
by
dan milden
Email: dan_milden at telus<dot>net
Features
:
8
Made in Nagoya, Japan by the Suzuki Violin Company. Age not known but certainly old. This is a small bodied steel string accoustic guitar with the neck joined at the 12th fret and a slotted peg head. It has a solid spruce top. The sides and back and neck are light coloured very fine grained wood that I do not recognize. The fingerboard is a beautiful light pink wood with a grain like rosewood and flat like a classical guitar. The top binding and rosette are stunning- about one half inch wide black, white and mother of pearl inlay that looks like it was copied from early 20th century European guitars. The top bracing is ladder style (that is, not X bracing)and all the braces are scalloped. The bridge is like a classical guitar, probably intended for ball end strings. The saddle is cylinder shaped and sits in a round groove.
Sound
:
10
The sound of this guitar is exceptional. It has solid base notes, bright treble, unbelievable volume and great sustain. I play it mostly finger picking. It is so easy to play and has such a pleasant sound I usually pick it up instead of my serious guitar (a Larrivee dreadnaught)when I am playing by myself.
Action, Fit, & Finish
:
9
This guitar must have been built well. The neck joint is tight. There is no adjustable truss rod in the neck but it is quite straight with only a slight up bow when the strings are tightened. It has a gloss finish that has held up well with othing worse than minor dings.
Reliability/Durability
:
8
My guess is that this guitar is at least fifty years old and considering that, it is fabulously durable. It has obviously had a lot of use because the top binding is worn where the right arm rests on it. One of the back braces has a crack that was not repaired so the back has a slight depression there but otherwise it is all straight and true. The finish is not cracked or crazed. When I got it the top had been pulled away from the brace under the brdge. That was reglued and it has held in place since.
Customer Support
:
No Opinion
Overall Rating
:
8
This guitar was a steal for the price I paid. The sound is head and shoulders above any cheap old guitar I have tried. I have played many old Suzuki accoustic guitars but none of them approached the sound of this one.
