I have had this little guitar for 4 months now.
I purchased it because I wanted something for Slide/ Delta Blues style playing. The sound samples I heard online convinced me to buy it as opposed to one of the larger guitars.
I asked Thomann to send me one with "pretty" wood grain and I am happy to say that is exactly what I got. So, for that, a big thank you to the Thomann team.
The pros:
The guitar itself is well put together with good finish.
The open pore finish looks authentic for the genre.
The wood grain is stunning.
The neck is extremely playable.
The truss-rod adjustment has remained correct since I adjusted it
The guitar sounds exactly like I had hoped. The sound is similar to a resonator style guitar and really has the Delta Blues feeling to it.
The tuners, that some other reviewers have complained about, are perfectly adequate. The hold their settings and are easy to adjust. Whilst they aren’t Gotohs they are better tuners than the ones on my Harley Benton DT120 CE. I play in Open D and Open G and therefore use them fairly often to change tunings without any problems.
The cons:
The frets!! These were the sharpest frets I have had on any of the guitars I have ever purchased from Thomann. It took me quite a lot of work with a file to get them sorted out.
The short scale can make tuning a bit problematic and intonation can be iffish if too much pressure is applied to the strings. Once you get used to it, it is OK and changing the strings really helped the intonation.
The strings the guitar came from the factory with were rusted. They were also not the gauge that are listed in the products specifications. They are actually thicker, which is a good thing. However the rust issues and intonation problems I had with them made me change them pretty soon.
The setup was terrible and I had to do a lot of adjustment on the truss rod to make it playable.
The fretboard was extremely dry and had a number of stains on it that I treated with oil. After treatment everything was OK.
In conclusion: I wanted a Slide / Blues Guitar and that’s exactly what I have. It sounds like I had hoped for and, after a bit of work, it is definitely worth keeping. The price certainly made up for any deficiencies.
If you want a regular guitar substitute, to play contemporary music, in standard tuning then this is definitely NOT the guitar to get!
However, if you wish to play Delta Blues style licks or swamp / mountain style music, slide included, then this is definitely a very useable little guitar. As I said previously it’s sound is closer to that of a resonator guitar. A number of other musicians are also of the opinion that it would be suitable for Celtic music in DADGAD tuning. I have not personally tried this though.
I am pleased with my purchase and I can spend ages noodling around on it with a ceramic slide. In the future I may upgrade to a bone bridge and saddle for it.
If you want an authentic blues sound and are prepared to put in a bit of work, then this is a good choice.
