Price paid: £ 900
Purchased from: Local Music Shop
Features: Made 2008 in China. The rest from Tanglewood's website:
- SHAPE: Jumbo
- TOP: Solid Spruce
- BACK: Solid Mahogany
- SIDES: Solid Mahogany
- HEADSTOCK: Rosewood Veneer
- NECK (MATERIAL): Mahogany
- NECK (BUILD): Twin Piece
- FINGERBOARD: Ebony with 0 Fret
- BRIDGE: Rosewood
- BINDING: Flame Maple
- SADDLE: Bone
- NUT (WIDTH) Ebony: (44mm)
- SCALE LENGTH: 650mm
- BRIDGE PINS: Rosewood
- MACHINE HEADS: Gold Grover, Black Buttons
- FINISH: Natural Gloss
- EQ: B-Band A1
- STRINGS: Elixir Nanoweb Light 12-53
- HARDCASE: Deluxe Tanglewood SKB
- RRP: Ј1439.95 // 10
Sound: Open sound in the top and middle. The bass could be considered slightly subdued. This suits my style well because I fingerpick end play the tune on the top stings together so the bass doesn't swamp the melody. It has coated strings (from new). I suspect they are bronze (brass really) not P-bronze and that replacement with non-coated PBs will be an improvement. However I bought the guitar as specified and love the sound. I can plug it directly into my A&H ZED R16 mixer and record it with little trace of transducer quack. This I think is quite amazing as I thought it would at least need a preamp or di box. There is no noticeable hiss or exaggerated finger noise either acoustically or amplifieded. It sounded good even through a cheap acoustic amp in the shop. I do have to be careful selecting a plectrum for strumming as it can get a bit confused sounding if strumming all 6 strings. Again I partially blame the strings (probably) for this. // 9
Action, Fit & Finish: Action perfect all the way up the neck initially although the action needed ajusting fairly soon after purchase as I was getting some buzzing & string choke. No big deal as a hex key was supplied.
The build quality and finish is superb. Congrats to the quality control people. The wood is just lovely (can I say that without being thrown out for sounding girly). Needless to say I've already made a small dink in the front -doh. All the fittings, joins etc are faultless and the guitar feels special. The vol control is out-of-sight on the inside top of the soundhole. It is easily accessable. Much better than the all singing and dancing things usually planted at the top. Tone controls - you won't need it! // 10
Reliability & Durability: Very well built - see previous comments. Comes with the second neck strap button (many don't - do they really think we want to use an old bootlace and knot it to the headstock like it's still the 1960s?). I won't be taking two guitars anywhere so I bought one I can rely on. // 10
Impression: As mentioned I'm mainly a finger picker. The string spacing is a little narrower than on my Martin OM21 so isn't quite so easy for me. I did try the TSM-1 & TSM-2 sometime ago. Both were equally excellent. The TSM-2 would probably have been my first choice - slightly smaller body and slightly more full and toneful in the bass. However I got this Ј400 cheaper than the best available web price. My Martin is quite warm in tone but lacks some of the sparkle of this guitar however when recorded it doesn't fit so well with other instruments but does fill the mix when required solo. // 9
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