Wechter Pathmaker 3120

2006 Wechter Pathmaker 3120 Blue, transparent, double cutaway with full access to the 19th fret and beyond, maple neck, chrome enclosed tuners,3 pick-up system, laminated top, passive and active pick-ups.

Returning after 30 year absence, playing rock and folk music of the 60's thru 80's. Using a Crate, acoustic electric guitar amp. 3 pick-up system makes sound setting ranch seem infinate! Did lots of research, went to many music stores and tried a variety of guitars in the $300 to $500 range.

Factory setup was great! They even customised mine for a lefthanded player on a right handed body. Swiched the electric controlls, pick guard and plug in access for a lefty on a right handed guitar at NO Extra cost! No flaws to fit or finish.

Haven't played out with it yet. Seems solid enought for travel.
Hardware looks fine. Only comes with the bottom strap button. Will have local music store install the neck button.
This will be my primary gig instrument.

Comes with 3 year warranty from seller: MumbojumboGuitars.com
Extremely helpful over the phone with my many questions for customising my Wechter Pathmaker.
Highly reccomended!

Played out in local bar bands from the 60's and 70's. Just getting back into it at open mike nights. I'd buy Only this one again for the incredible bang for th buck! Did my research. No competition to this baby for value! Don't be afraid to order one sight unseen. Only other electric/acoustics of this quality and playability were in the $500 range and up.

2005 guitar, you can find out all the detailed features on the site or musicians friend, but i got the lacewood sides and back instead of the ovakenol with the 3 pickup system, not the fishman. includes a really nice gig bag, extremely padded, so its almost as good as a hardshell.

The Sound on this guitar is amazing. Its a little smaller bodied guitar than the standard dreadnaught, but still has an amazingly deep sound, a little quieter than the dreadnaught loudness that i'd prefer, but still really good. The Unplugged sound is pretty good, but the plugged sound is flat out amazing. It whas just so much versatility with hte different pickup configuration, its amazing. i play worship services occasionaly and i just use a mic cable and plug er in and its flat out phenomenal. i think plugged in, it sounds better than all gibson accoustic, most of the martins, and half of the taylors. i would really reccomend this for anyone.

The finish with the lacewood is very stunning and beautiful, a few cosmetic flaws with the finish, but overall i am very impressed with it. i havn't seen the ovekanol wood up close because theres no dealer in my area, but i suggest bumping up to the lacewood for its sheer beauty.

it doesn't really seem as rugged as my other dreadnaught, but overall it feels good. the electronics area feels a little bit cheap, but its still good

in this, i actually emailed and talked directly to mr. abe wechter himself, multiple times. we worked out a deal, in which he sold it to me for $350 if i were to go to some local music stores and be his salesman, see if they'd carry it. so far he hasn't gotten back to me with the sales info. i cannot stress how good of customer service this company has, its amazing that then can pump out so many guitars from little paw-paw michigan and still have the owner and founder do customer service calls, we even chatted for a while about other stuff (he used to live close to me, ages...) really great guy.

Overall, this guitar is amazing and i would highlyh reccomend it to anyone looking for a 1000 dollar guitar for around 500. everyone i've shown it to has been blown away with it and its price. every single one of my friends thought it rivaled the taylors and martins in its beauty, and it definately sounds the part too.

2004, Laminated top and sides, arctec 3 pickup system, ovangkol back and sides, cheesy inlays

unplugged its an 8 for sound, crisp and clear but somewhat quiet. Plugged in it is a 10 all the way. I actually traded my solidwood, handmade Wechter for this one. the solid wood had more overtomes but it just could keep up (even with a blender). You really have to hear one through a good amp or PA to fully enjoy it. I would compare this to a CA with a blender with an i-beam. You just can't beat the sound for less than a couple grand and then the subtlety in difference is lost on 90% pf the audience.

Playes like an electric. The finish is really good too (not too heavy and you can see the grain raised through the finish). See the Guitar Player review.

The trade off for the superior tone in solid wood is a more sturdy guitar. I play in alot of hostile environments (ie. outside) and the humididty will effect a laminated wood much less than the solid wood counterpart. I also noticed the action changed with the seasons with my solid wood guitar even when kept a t a good relative humididty. My only concern would be the electronics. I really don't know alot about arctec and how reliable they are. I am betting that this guitar will last though. Abe does a good job checking most of his products for problems before shipping.

I really like the fact that these guys return calls. There is only a 1 year warranty for the guitar as far as I can tell. hopefully I won't have to deal with the factory though.

best value on the market for an acoustic/electric bar none. Try it you'll buy it. I traded a hand made, and signed Wechter Pathmaker elite for mine. That's how much I loved the sound plugged in.

Pathmaker? Steel String Model 3120 - Ovankol, Hand scalloped bracing and thin finish, Spruce top, Ovankol back and sides, Mahogany neck, Natural bone nut and saddle, Rosewood bridge and fingerboard, Reinforced adjustable truss-rod assembly for stable neck action, Bound top, back, neck and fingerboard, 3-pickup system, padded gig-bag included

Sound is what it's all about, unplugged it's good, nice and crisp and clear, not as loud as some other acoustics. Plugged in is where it stands out. I've tried it on the 4 amps I have, a Randall RC-280, 160 watt stereo chorus with 2 - 12's, A Crate TD34, a Peavey VSS-20 and a Fender Bullet running through a 2/12 cab. Surprisingly it sounds best with the Fender Bullet and the 2/12 setup. With or without effects and I can get some really nice sounds from this. With piezo/mag set at 80/20 it's nice and clean and crisp, with mag/piezp 80/20 it's more robust, nice bass responce but not muddy. I keep the mic off most of the time. I haven't run it through my sound-board yet for recording, but I'm sure the mic will be an asset here. I use a Digitech GNX-3 which has about every effect you could want plus amp modeling and digital 8 track recorder. I like to record loops (drums, bass and rhythm) and just jam, it's fun and the Pathmaker comes through very nice. I play every Sunday in a Praise group, there I use a little chorus and some delays, it really sounds sweet. You can use some distortion and the mag pick-up and play some lead, but it's not the same as a solid body electric, but if you've got just one guitar to play, you can do just about any style you want with this guitar.

I did a lot of research on this guitar and several others before I ordered it from Musicians Friend. Most of the reviews were from this site and that's what convinced me to get the Pathmaker. It was set up pretty good but not quite what I expected. I was looking for the feel of a good solid body electric and it really isn't there. I wanted to play it for a couple of days and see how it set-in, after two or three days I finally did take the saddle down about 1/8 of an inch and put extra light strings on it, big improvement, it plays much better and the sound is better because the strings are closer to the pick-up and soundboard. The fit and finish is good, the neck to the body is solid and looks great. The neck feels great, a little wider than my electrics and quite a bit smaller than my acoustics.

It's a well built guitar and I don't forsee any problems with it holding up. It does not have both strap buttons which is a pain, I've got one of those tie-on straps around the peg-head which is not cool, but I'm not ready to drill a hole in it yet, although on the Wechter web-site it shows exactly how and where to put it, maybe in a couple of months I will do that. I feel it's a very dependable guitar.

I've emailed Wechter twice, once just to let them know I was considering getting the Pathmaker and once after I got it to ask about taking down the saddle. Both time Mrs. Wechter (I assume - Elena Wechter) emailed me back with advice on how and when to do the saddle.

I was looking for a new guitar in the less than $500 price range, I considered a Mex-strat, a Carvin kit and the Pathmaker. I'm glad I made the choice I made. I've been playing since the mid 60's and have had a lot of guitars, a few very nice and quite expensive and way too many cheap guitars. I thinks it's amazing that today the quality of guitars in the 300 to 500 price range. For the last 3 years I've been playing a DeArmond M75T which is a real sweet guitar, sounds great and plays like a dream. My first guitar I got for my 13th birthday, it was a Silvertone plank bought from Sears, man, they've come a long way since then, thank God. I am more pleased with this guitar (the Pathmaker) every day. We're getting quite confortable with each other and I'm trying new things and experimenting with sound and songs in a new way. I'm feeling a little guilty about leaving Sparkle (DeArmond M75) sitting in the corner, but a new guitar, and one as different as this one, is a real joy to play and very inspiring. I'd buy another one in a minute, well, maybe next year at tax time any way.