An all solid wood guitar for just 300 $ presented by MF as Silvercreek.
I just hope they brace themselves for returns.
For the same price, I really like my Yamaha FG730S:
http://www.musiciansfriend.com/product/Yamaha-FG730S-Solid-Top-Acoustic-Guitar?sku=519049
What's unimaginable about it? I don't see anything that tells me that they should "brace themselves for returns". Looks like a nice guitar. And you get a free case.
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-:¦:- ((¸¸.·´ -:¦:- Elecktrablue -:¦:-
"Don't wanna ride no shootin' star. Just wanna play on the rhythm guitar." Emmylou Harris, "Rhythm Guitar" from "The Ballad of Sally Rose"
I have never ever seen any guitar which is all SOLID WOOD for only 300 dollars.
They start atleast above 500 or so. And all Martins and Taylors which are all solid wood are around 1000 dollars range or higher.
Go figure.
wow rahul that is some find.
I've got to agree with you, I wonder where they saved money? Solid wood tuners? Solid wood frets?
Balsa wood maybe?
Nope, I checked the link. Hmm.
Steve-0
https://www.masterclassguitars.com/index.asp?id=&refcode=AAMCG2&phone=1-800-381-2448
Bwaaaa-haaha-hahaha-haha.
Good one :)
Research is what I'm doing when I don't know what I'm doing. - Wernher Von Braun (1912-1977)
Not solid though...
Cost cutting:
Stamped tuners, cleverly designed in the image of tre-$$ Waverlies -- whose gears are not usually covered BTW. Note the small thin ferrules and rear covers.
Plastic nut, bridge
Rosette may be a decal
Edges on headstock and heel are very sharply defined, instead of slightly radiused -- not much finishing work done
Finish on headstock seems to hide the grain -- even of the rosewood overlay. Probably a low cost finish job with nearly opaque poly, allowing fast finishing and hiding of wood flaws
No positive evidence of a truss rod in MF copy or in photos (adjustment would have to be inside sound hole -- not unheard of, but less typical
Pretty wild looking grain on that "solid mahogany" back:
Reminds me of a low cost Harmony accoustic a friend had when we were kids. It wasn't a great guitar, but he did great things on it. And all that said, it still could be a decent deal and sound fine for three bills.
-=tension & release=-
wow rahul that is some find.
I've got to agree with you, I wonder where they saved money? Solid wood tuners? Solid wood frets?
:lol:
I just hope the strings aren't solid wood.
And they are even giving a case free. So one can only wonder what is the value of the guitar.
It's not really a big deal, and I think you'll be seeing more of this. I started noticing solid top guitars for under $300 in classical guitars about 3-4 years ago - here's one from MF.
When you compare steel strings to nylon, there are only a few extra parts involved (truss rod, bridge and end pins) and a few that have to be beefed up (bridge plate, top bracing). Automated manufacturing is dramatically reducing the costs of assembly, and the cost of the extra parts isn't very much.
Notice the list price is $350 on the classical vs. $600 on the steel string. So part of the price is a loss-leader type of marketing on the part of MF. They're probably selling it for pretty close to cost. Maybe they got a good deal on a few thousand of them, or maybe they just want to catch people's attention.
But pricing decisions aside, you're going to see more and more "solid spruce" guitars at low prices. People will pay more for solid spruce, and manufacturers are getting squeezed. So they're figuring out a way to do it....
"Spruce" is a generic term that covers about 35 different kinds of trees. Of those, perhaps three are used in top quality guitars - but the others can still be called spruce. And the off-species "spruce" will be a lot cheaper!
Even if you're buying one of the 'good' kinds of spruce, there's still lots of wiggle room. If I plant an Englemann spruce in my back yard, it might be big enough for making a guitar top in 40-50 years or so. But the guitar won't be very good... good guitars come from wood grown in poor conditions: short growing seasons, drought, poor soil, etc. All of that makes the tree grow slowly, which makes for a tight grain and better sound. Growing the tree in the right conditions for guitar making can take well over 200 years.
So what you're seeing is manufacturers going for off-species "spruce", and buying fast grown specimans. They're not lying about it; it IS "solid spruce". But if the demand for guitars wasn't so high, those same trees would be turned into paper or 2x4s.
You get what you pay for.
Guitar teacher offering lessons in Plainfield IL
Adding to what Noteboat said: I'm not sure if it is real advantage to have solid back and rims on a guitar in this price range. "Mahogany" also covers a lot of woody ground; and the quality of that lower cost mahogany is not always that good and/or uniform. In a low cost product, the best way to get uniformity and repeatability in construction and tone would be to laminate the rims and back. And laminated will be more durable -- not to be overlooked in a beginner or secondary "travel/beater" guitar.
-=tension & release=-
I think its a bit more than $300 for the all solid wood guitars that Washburn introduced not to long ago, but I've heard a few good things about them. We generally think that an all solid wood guitar will sound better than a solid topped guitar, but that isn't always true.
