Year 1 update; The guitar has been played and gone through about 4 sets of string changes. It has travelled to the Mayan side of Mexico through the Cancun airport and spent two months there being played. It came back to Canada with no problems and no adjustments have been made from the initial setup. The action has been measured and +- .001" was the only variation.
Since I'm back replying to curious comments, I'll update you on the guitar that I kept. That is the shade top version. It hasn't imploded, it has remained stable and the sound really hasn't changed for any reason. The setup is stable and I last used it in a couple of campfire jams while camping. The other musicians commented "unsolicited", that they liked the guitars sound. I shared it around and they also liked the setup and the way it played. In January it will be in Mexico for 2 months and I'll update you afterwards on how it handles constant 85% RH and 33 degree heat. Stay well everyone.
For those who don't watch and listen to the complete review let me summarize some points: 1. This a follow up to JP Cormier's "amazon guitar review". 2. These are new guitars, not used. 3. I recommend caution on 2 points, one that if you receive the guitar with shipping damage I don't know your recourse and two I don't know how the neck joint is made when looking down the road years to when a reset would be needed? 4. I place these two solid wood (top, back and sides) guitars in direction competition with othe solid wood guitars in the new, Canadian market when you exclude the bling. 5. The bling is an extremely expensive add-on to any guitar in Canada and this creates a hard to value for me option. 6. With the guitar competing well on the basis of a $500 Canadian, solid wood guitar ( I have personally tried thousands of acoustic guitars and own many, but it is still my ears and my opinion) then I concluded that if you receive it in good condition (the gamble), it is a good value for a new guitar. 7. Five friends now own variations of these, including a 12 string version and all are still happy with them. Each of these friends have owned many guitars. 8. These fit on the ladder of new, acoustic guitars as a slightly above the level of an entry level guitar (solid woods, no laminate), an average starting point for setup, but I always recommend a personal setup by a trusty luthier, a competitive sound but not a high end level, average hardware ( pins, tuners, strings), and away over the top bling. To each his own. Stay well everyone.
I think they both sound really great. I do think the shade top is a real keeper. I like the deeper sound also. I personally just bought I copy of a Martin D-100 with really very elaborate inlay on top and back for $900, a little extra money, but the inlay is over the top incredible, all solid, bone nut and saddle.... $900 vs $114,000 for the real deal is okay for me to at least get a similar look of a real D-100, and in reality I would never be so stupid as to waist $114k on a guitar even if I were a millionaire. P.S. please get a better camera! I liked your review. :)
I agree. I think JP had called that one wrong .. they aren't made by student luthiers. Also i doubt they are solid wood back and sides .... however china does seem to get stuff cheaper from neighboring countries... So maybe you can chim in on that one. What do you think? Laminate or Solid ?
Yes very helpful. I would think that you could get lucky with one of these but if you are unlucky then sending it back could be not something you'd fancy.
If pieces are falling off when they're brand new, imagine the build quality of the rest of the instrument. It's very difficult to get something of quality for nothing in today's world.
Perhaps you didn't understand my comment? The temporary pieces that were coming off was their attempt to cover the fake Martin labels underneath and nothing to do with the real construction.
I bought mine from Ebay about two and a half years ago. Perfectly set-up from factory. Nothing has fallen off and it still plays/sounds absolutely great. Solid Rosewood back and sides. Real Abalone inlay, real Mother of pearl. I own about every higfh end Martin, Guild, Gibson ever made and as much as it butt hurts some haters on youtube, it will play along any made and in fact outplays many 'high end' guitars. If Martin made anything close to this it will cost you well over ten grand. In fact they couldn't do it. I am fine with naysayers, but naysayers who just make things up because they happen to own a Martin or Gibson, Guild etc... are only making themselves look childish. Eberyone has a bias. It's ok because we can buy whatever we like.
Thomas, are your Martin copies made of solid rosewood back and sides? I located a Chinese seller of Martin copies, "Guitar of China". Their OOO28ECfor example, is not specified as having solid rosewood back and sides. The guitars that are specified solid rosewood back and sides are sold for $1500 upwards. By the way, the sound quality I heard when you played seemed be similar to an authentic Martin D28 or the like. Would that be your feeling too?
Hello. The back and sides, wood grain match inside to outside on these and my lutherie believes they are solid. They didn't spell out "solid" sides or back in the listing only "solid wood top." So I would always assume that if it isn't spelled out, it's laminated. The tone is very good on both of them. Martin D28's in Canada are around $4,300 ( not hd28's) and for that money I would want an even better tone, with or without "Martin" on the headstock. A friend now owns the natural top version and I am using the shade top version in Mexico as a travel guitar. It hasn't had an issue and still plays and sounds good. So I would say that means it has been very stable. It's 28 to 35 degrees daily and 85 to 95 %RH every day. I keep it in a skl case when not being played. There appear to be an infinite number of company names selling these out of China?
Great video, and very informative. Forgetting the bling for a moment, I am just wondering if it would not be better value to go for a Sigma rather than what is, essentially a knockoff?
The first major consideration is what do you do if there is an issue? Would you have to ship it back, would you get your money back? In other words it is a gamble. Secondly after the initial inspection and playing it for a while, if you had to do a neck reset at any time, is it a proper dovetail joint or is it like many cheap acoustics, a poorly done dovetail with epoxy poured into the gaps? If that's the case, it's going to be what they refer to as a kamikaze neck reset, cutting the neck off at that heel and changing it to a bolt-on. Expensive? Forgetting the bling, it is solid top, back and sides so looking for an off-shore guitar with good construction, with as good of sound, supported by a local dealer would be better. Cheers
@@tomehCanada I've checked some of these out on Ebay, and sent questions to the sellers on materials. The adds seem to indicate solid top, back & sides, but when I asked specifically about the back and sides, they said they were laminated. You note above that yours has solid back and sides. Have you been able to confirm that by chance?
@@davehosey9258 I can only speak for the ones that I recieved and they were solid back and sides. My. Luthier and I concluded that after checking for an exact grain match from outside to inside. If they don't spell out solid back and sides, I would assume what you are going to get is laminated.
Hi. I didn't do any setup at all on the natural top guitar and I did a little on the shade top guitar. A very minor tweak on the saddle height, in the neighbourhood of a 1/64' off the bass side tapered to nothing on the treble. They were both very playable "as is". I always suggest getting your luthier to fine tune the setup on any new guitar to meet your style and likes.
We is myself, my partner and all JP Cormier followers who watched his video. .Thanks for letting me know I was "ripped off. I don't know of I will be able to sleep at night? Please share how/where people on RU-vid can obtain it for less money today. And please explain why the use of "we" is so, so "strange."
@@Edward1312 which model of Sigma is directly comparible? I will track one down and check it out. When did you see and play these Chinese guitar that JP Cormier and I reviewed? What aspects were better or equal for less money on a new Sigma model (any used guitar should be less money) that matches these? To be ripped off I would expect an apples to apples comparison. I look forward to reviewing and directly comparing the Sigma model that you compared. Cheers from Canada.
They are not comparable with a new Sigma they are only comparable with a second hand Sigma price wise. I personally wouldnt spend the money you have on them I would have spent that same money on a secondhand Sigma DR-28 or DR-35.
