Art & Lutherie

Art and Lutherie AMI, handmade in Canada. 19 frets, body starts at 12th fret. Solid spruce top. Canadian Wild Cherry body, maple neck. Parlor guitar body style with sunburst finish. Comes with a gig bag. UTILIZATION What I love most about this guitar is the neck. The whole thing is built quite simple but is very easy to play. This is also probably due to the smaller scale. You can play up to the 12th fret but this guitar really is built to play in the lower regions. It's parlor body is very ergonomic and is close to being almost too small. This is not a miniature guitar though. SOUNDS I really like how this guitar sounds. It fills the room with a sound you would not expect from an instrument in this price category. I also like that it makes you play different things than on normal acoustic guitars. It really shines when playing open chords. There is not a lot of bass but for me that is not a problem OVERALL OPINION I like how simple the design of these guitars is. The gig bag is a nice addition as it comes free of charge. It sounds great and has a unique design in this price range. It is also great for traveling. Some people might miss the bass a bit and the smaller neck is not for everyone.

My friend purchased this for our setup. This is a high-quality acoustic electric, and is notable for having many controls with which to adjust the sound. These include volume, brilliance, treble, contour, bass frequency, notch, and a phase switch in case you run into phasing issues (I personally have never needed to use that switch, but all the other ones, I certainly make use of). It has a spruce top and a maple body and neck, with an ebony fretboard. The bridge is also ebony. UTILIZATION The cutaway allows easy access to the top frets. With all of these features and the cutaway, the cw feels more like an electric guitar than an acoustic, and this makes it an interesting guitar. It isn't too heavy and it feels good to play sitting or standing. Getting a good sound almost always requires an adjustment. It's almost in your best interest to get the right acoustic guitar amplifier, this amp only sounds good amplified. I'm not a big fan of the direct sound (the pickups just aren't really cut out for that). The action was too high when I bought it, so I had it lowered and now it plays great. SOUNDS This is an acoustic electric that sounds like it has a little bit of both in it. There are some sounds that wouldn't have sounded out of place on Eric Clapton's Unplugged record. For the most part, this is built for live performance. In fact, that's when it sounds the best. I would never mic this guitar live or in the studio, or even play it acoustically if I was looking for a good tone. But I doubt anyone would buy this guitar if you are looking for a good acoustic. This is acoustic-electric all the way, and if that's what you want, it sounds fantastic. That's the reason for the high mark. OVERALL OPINION I think this is a really great A/E guitar, and I'd really be thrilled if I had one of my own. Unfortunately, I don't, but I think I might get one eventually. It's certainly expensive, so make sure that you'll use it a lot and that it's exactly what you are looking for.