I bought this because I am doing some acoustic gigs with a friend. No amps are allowed and I wanted to be able to use bass on a few of the tracks. I wanted something not too large and also didn't want to spend a lot. So what do I think of it?
The first thing that I noticed was that it looks the part. The second thing I noticed was how fragile the glued on scroll work is when a bit of it fell off. I just glued it back on - I wasn't going to send it back for something that trivial. The key thing is that it played well enough out of the box (for what it is). Even the neck relief was OK, but now it has acclimatised it does need a touch of 'righty tighty' to get it correct. Acoustically it sounds OK, if as one would expect a little toppy. I play quite hard so for me the volume against one western acoustic guitar is OK. If you are one of the gentle players you would need to amplify it.
The things I like - the body size and material. Sits on my lap easily and I'm sure it's going to be durable. On a strap there is obvious neck dive, to be expected when the neck is so long and the body so light. I have seen comments that the tuner is not usable - I beg to differ, I have found it perfectly OK as long as you tune to the octave harmonics.
Amplified I am not enamoured with the sound - it lacks depth without a lot of EQ being applied, even with the bass turned right up on the built in pre-amp. The fret edges are not perfect, a little scratchy in parts, but I didn't notice this when I was playing it until I did a glissando and cut three of my fingers. I immediately smoothed them off to avoid any further incidents.
To conclude, you really can't go far wrong with this instrument at this price. Don't expect it to be more than it is and you'll be quite happy with it. So I recommend it.
