SW203 Review

It was made in 2008 in Belgium. It a dreadnaught, it has 20 frets, the neck is quite flat I'd say, the frets are small. It has a solid baswood top. The finish of my guitar is a reddish sunburst, but these are also available in black, blue etc...

Features:	8
Sound:	8
Action:	10
Reliability:	10
Impression:	9
Overall rating:	8.7
Reviewer rating:	9
Users rating:	8.3
Votes:	25

Reviewed by: unregistered, on december 10, 2008

Price paid: € 130

Purchased from: Local shop

Features: This is my 2nd acoustic guitar and the 3rd overall. (bought it becouse I had some spare money and no musical instrument here with me) It was made in 2008 (it still smells like Brand New) in Belgium. It a dreadnaught, it has 20 frets, the neck is quite flat I'd say, the frets are small. It has a solid baswood top. The finish of my guitar is a reddish sunburst, but these are also available in black, blue etc... // 8

Sound: It has a very warm, bassy sound with strong mids, propobly becouse of the basswood top. There's a low-to-medium amount of sustain in it, but it's ok. There is no fret buzz at all. I play all kinds of music, from Folk to metal and this guitar suits them all. Actually it has an amazing sound for a guitar that cheap. // 8

Action, Fit & Finish: When I bought it and took it back home I was surprised - It was totally superbly built. No scratches, everything is tight and right in it's places. The neck is flat and quite narrow. (I like that becouse I have small hands, and that's the reason why I own an Ibanez too) // 10

Reliability & Durability: The guitar looks really solid and it looks like it can withstand a lot of years of playing (I'm not boasting.. it really is an amazing piece of work) The finnish looks great and not likely to wear out soon, it already encountered some accidental bumps and scratches, but they didn't leave a mark or a memory. // 10

Impression: I'm playing for about 6 years now. I also own a Ibanez GRX70 and a another acoustic of a maker I can't remember. When I walked into the shop, the guitar just stood out from the other acoustics just like the one and only love... It has a beutiful black headstock, a red sunburst top that is just hypnotizing to look at. The only thing I don't like about it is the sound, it could be the cheap strings. I would like the sound to be a bit brighter. If it was stolen.. I'd cry for a week and then buy a machine-gun to hunt down that mf.. // 9

Comments

[legiononearth]

I live my 203 as well, got it at a flea market in Ohio USA for about $140, with electronics, couple of blemishes but brand new. It's way better than I expected from a company I never heard of before. It just had something about it, and yeah, it does sound good, especially with some fatty bronze.

[I am punk "BF"]

this guitar sucks. Sorry but this review is totally incorrect, especially cuz it says this guitar is good for metal???? And u said there is absolutely no buzzing, when there is actually a ton of buzzing, and it is a very cheaply made, lol but i gotta say i do like the guitar a lot for some reason no lie. It is a goodish guitar just with a bad review

[ArcticDude]

Yeah I have this guitar, and it does buzz a little, though not so much that sound is completely ruined. It is a good looking guitar, and the sound is pretty awesome. I've had it about 8 years now, and it is a little damaged since I was only like 10 when I got it. Yeah.

[Szten]

It does _not_ have solid top, it's a full laminate, full basswood guitar.
Action is high. Not like "oh, it's a little bit high, but well, guitars straight from the factory, without any adjustment use to have high actions, so it's ok". It's extremely high. I've never seen a guitar with this high action before. Very awkward.
Sounds like crap with the stock strings - especially the bass is unbearable. Changeing the strings can cause quite a huge improvement in the sound. It will never sound like great, nor even good though - the most one can expect is a bearable sound, what's acceptable for this price tag, but nothing more. (Yes, like I said _it is_ a huge improvement. No kidding.)
Tuners are quite unreliable. Not the worst I've ever seen, but still pretty bad.
I would never recommend this guitar for anybody, even if he/she is looking for a cheap guitar. There are far better guitars in this price-range.

[alextraz]

can anybody tell me does sw203ce-bk and sw203Tr sound the same...??

[Szten]

alextraz: More or less. The SW203ce is a cutaway model, which means different body shape, and different body shape means different sound - but the difference isn't too significant. The Tr and bk in the names only refer to the color of the guitars, nothing more.

[SiRNaThAnIeL]

I bought myself one of these just a few days ago and it works wonders compared to my SG i dunno why it just is amazing.