With its C-shaped mahogany neck and radiused fretboard, the Stage handles more like a semi-hollow electric than a traditional classical or flamenco guitar.
The Pro Series Concert includes some of the maker’s signature touches in a well-made instrument that’s ready for the stage or studio.
Greg Olwell June 29, 2023
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Martin's affordable new SC-13E acoustic guitar boasts a fresh, out-of-the-box redesign—even flying in the face of Martin’s usual traditional glued dovetail joint!
When I played the Sage acoustically and dug in hard with a pick, the guitar’s sound compressed nicely, accentuating the guitar’s thick midrange projection, without leaving behind the high-end sparkle and low-end definition.
The Epiphone Masterbilt Excellente guitar is like a time machine—take a good look at it and you might think you’ve been transported back about 50 or so years.
The Recording King Dirty 30s Deluxe Single 0 guitar shares the same woods and electronics as its Dirty 30s Series 11 counterparts, but with a few key differences.
The AC622CE is a beautifully made guitar with a big and bold sound. It manages to be both strong and clear at the same time, great for strumming and inviting of picking and fingerpicking, the latter especially offering firmly spoken tones.
D’Addario was the first major manufacturer to offer casein plectrums, including a heavy 2.00mm 351-shape guitar pick ($21.99 street) with a faux-tortoiseshell appearance, beveled edges, and embossing to provide grip—with prices lower than their typical boutique counterparts.
While carbon fiber guitars are unlikely to supplant wooden guitars anytime soon, the Lava Me 2 seems less eccentric than it would have even a few years ago.
The Crush Acoustic 30 is a tiny little amp that weighs almost nothing. The specs claim it’s 13.5 pounds, but I don’t believe that. It comes right out of the box with a tilt-back design, so all the sound is projecting upward, where you want it.
Parlor-sized with an L.R. Baggs pickup system, Lowden's WL-35 Jazz nylon-string guitar is an excellent fit for steel-string guitarists looking to expand their palette.
For the new Builder’s Edition collection, Taylor master guitar designer Andy Powers has selected various models—from the 300 series up to the 900 series—and outfitted them with a variety of pragmatic and experimental upgrades.
SonoTone, a small-batch guitar-string company based in Massachusetts, prides itself on design and tone, as well as the pitch accuracy of its handiwork. Developed to faithfully produce authentic vintage tones from the 1950s–’70s, SonoTone’s American-made strings are available in two types for acoustic guitarists: phosphor bronze Symphonic and Concert brass.
In the not-too-distant past, acoustic guitarists and singer-songwriters were relegated to hauling around large PA systems replete with a mixer, power amp, speakers, stands, plus duffle bags stuffed with a wide assortment of tangled cables—all in an effort to simply be heard in a rehearsal, club, or coffeehouse.
The Gold Tone PBS-D—or Paul Beard PB Signature-Series Squareneck Resonator Deluxe Guitar—is an elegant instrument with a homespun sound. In terms of looks, materials, and tone, it covers all the bases for slide players looking for high performance in a traditional package.
Carrying on the work of company founder and namesake Preston K. Thompson, who died April 11, 2019, the small cadre of builders at Preston Thompson Guitars, in Sisters, Oregon, is one of those teams that’s capable of delivering extraordinarily crafted steel-strings time and again, and this Thompson 000-14SBA is one of those fine instruments.
Thanks to their full-range sound capabilities and multiple input options, many acoustic guitar amplifiers have been called miniature PA systems. That has never been so true as with Roy, a top-of-the-line package from Schertler, the Swiss maker.
DPA’s series of 4099 CORE microphones includes models designed to cover a wide range of instruments, depending on their sound-pressure levels. Each mic features some important qualities—a small footprint, a pre-polarized supercardioid condenser capsule, and mounting hardware optimized for the instrument in question.
How do you choose which guitars to review? Our writers are guitar fanatics, just like you. They’re always on the lookout for new or updated offerings to recommend. We’re sometimes asked why we don’t publish negative or one-star reviews – there are so many great guitars being produced today that we’d rather share our balanced opinions on the instruments we do think you should consider.
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