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MGR/Joe « Norman B-20-12 »
Published on 06/26/04 at 15:00I acquired this guitar from Dan Beckers's Guitar Repair and Sales in Louisville, Kentucky. He was performing some repairs to my 1974 Guild F412 and showed me the Norman product line he carried. I believe I paid about $650.00 out the door.
It is a good guitar. The sound is great for the price and it plays reasonably well.
It has a dull lacquer finish. I prefer a gloss. I don't know why dull finishes are applied to instruments. It is the same finish I have on my Martin DM. I allowed it to become over-moisturized and the portion of the neck resting on the body swelled. Plus, the action slipped to a non-playable height and I had to return the guitar to Dan Becker. He made a few measurements and decided that the bridge required shaving down to allow action adjustment while maintaining proper tension of the high E strings across the bridge. The work will be performed under warranty but I wonder why this would occur with a new guitar. He assured me that there was nothing remarkable about the neck swelling and that it was a frequent problem from over-moisturing. He said it would take probably all Summer for the wood to shrink back to its original dimension but it would have no affect on playability. Furthermore, he assured me that if the neck did not settle back by the end of Summer he would replace the guitar. That's fine but I have had several guitars over the years and this is the first problem of this nature I have encountered.
I am no guitar-head in this regard. I looked it over and it seems sturdy enough. I have been playing it steadily since buying it in March, 2003.
I know that a good 12 string is very expensive. The Norman is the exception. While it does have a rich sound and reasonable playability for a 12, the neck may be a little wide for some who do not have large hands. A Guild jumbo 12 has a fairly thin neck and great playability. But, the Guild is also 4 times the price of the Norman. I have to sum it up by stating that the price for the Norman makes it attractive.
This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com
It is a good guitar. The sound is great for the price and it plays reasonably well.
It has a dull lacquer finish. I prefer a gloss. I don't know why dull finishes are applied to instruments. It is the same finish I have on my Martin DM. I allowed it to become over-moisturized and the portion of the neck resting on the body swelled. Plus, the action slipped to a non-playable height and I had to return the guitar to Dan Becker. He made a few measurements and decided that the bridge required shaving down to allow action adjustment while maintaining proper tension of the high E strings across the bridge. The work will be performed under warranty but I wonder why this would occur with a new guitar. He assured me that there was nothing remarkable about the neck swelling and that it was a frequent problem from over-moisturing. He said it would take probably all Summer for the wood to shrink back to its original dimension but it would have no affect on playability. Furthermore, he assured me that if the neck did not settle back by the end of Summer he would replace the guitar. That's fine but I have had several guitars over the years and this is the first problem of this nature I have encountered.
I am no guitar-head in this regard. I looked it over and it seems sturdy enough. I have been playing it steadily since buying it in March, 2003.
I know that a good 12 string is very expensive. The Norman is the exception. While it does have a rich sound and reasonable playability for a 12, the neck may be a little wide for some who do not have large hands. A Guild jumbo 12 has a fairly thin neck and great playability. But, the Guild is also 4 times the price of the Norman. I have to sum it up by stating that the price for the Norman makes it attractive.
This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com