6 - month review posted after main review. Please read it as it has important update remarks.
TL, DR: Get this guitar.
As soon as I saw her on the website I knew she was the one.
So, I did a little research on YouTube - I've chosen poorly in my past - and when I saw the nice Russian lady demonstrate this guitar I knew my first instincts were right.
I just knew she would be perfect. I'd been looking for another acoustic since 2008 and lisa (lower case L) was the one, no doubt hands down, sight, well, feel unfelt.
I'm on a fixed income so saving up for moderate ticket items takes a few months. That said, lisa is my 4th Thomann Music guitar, and for all of which I have left outstanding reviews.
This guitar is everything I wanted in a jumbo. The shape is beautiful and allows hours of comfortable playing. Those of us who have played ourselves to sleep, sitting up with a guitar in our laps, is pickin' up what I'm puttin' down.
The colour . . . I chose the Screwed Crimson, or maybe it chose me. It's a deep blood red and it's front, back, sides, and neck all match. The front of the headstock is black with the gold yet subtle BR logo, but the headstock reverse is the same blood red as the rest of the machine. Binding is black and blemish-free.
The rosette, I think, is the subject of the one-star review she was given by a disappointed customer.
For me, the rosette is perfect for the rest of her style. More subtle beauty.
The mahogany is matte - open pore and more comfortable than you would think. Very smooth, and the neck is fast if that's what you need. She has a nice feel all around.
The fretmarkers set into the ovangkol fingerboard are offset and unique, and the side markers on the edge are subtle. Subtle is the adjective of the day.
The spruce top is solid from what I can tell. She rings like a bell so it would surprise me if the top was a laminate. The spruce is shaved to perfection; you can feel it bouncing under your forearm as she sings.
The open tuners are a nice touch, classy, and not the norm for a non-classical gut guitar. Best of all, they do their job. She stays in tune. More on that in a moment.
On the subject of tune,I suppose I could get more into how she sounds because OBVIOUS REASONS!
She's got a booming bass, not obnoxious at all, but solid and prominent. The treble strings do their job superbly as they not only add their distinct tone, but place that fattish midrange right where it's supposed to be.
She's lighter than I expected, which concerned me for 2 or 3 milliseconds. She has all the parts, trussrod, frame bracing, solid bridge with a bone nut and bridge inlay. They must mean the saddle, which is compensated, because I gave it a good look-over when I changed her strings. I mix and match my own personal gauges. Nothing against Elixir; it's just my tone.
Her lack of more weight means more comfort longer,which is great for gigging or the campfire. She's solid, just not heavy.
What else impressed me was when I tuned her, which took less than a minute, her intonation was spot on. All the way up the board. Open, 12th fret, the harmonics at 5, 7, 12 ,and 17 -that cutaway facilitates easy reach to the highest frets - all reading at the proper hertz. How many guitars can boast and brag like that after crossing 9 time zones in the winter? That compensating saddle, folks . . .
I recommend this guitar,in case there was any confusion. Don't hesitate. It comes in two other colours if the crimson isn't your thing. Enjoy!
6-Month Review:
Ok, It's not quite 6 months, but close enough.
I gave the Baton Rouge X11S/FJE-SCR an excellent rating a few days after I received her. I've now had her for 6 months in the very humid Pacific Northwest, and currently, as it's summer here, the daytime temps are in the high 80s/low 90s, and the indoor temp stays around 70°F (21-22°C)
Over the months she has shown some changes, especially after changing from her factory strings to Ernie Ball's Earthwood 2047 Silk and Steel 80/20 Bronze Acoustic in 10's. (No, not getting paid by Ernie.)
I also changed out her tuners, only because of the aesthetics. The new ones have wooden peg heads as opposed to the stock machine heads which are great, but gold hardware just isn't my cup of tea.
When I first got her she was ½ step low in tuning right out of the box, which, coming from Germany across an ocean and a continent, is not a complaint.
She's as beautiful live as she is on her THOMANN web page. The "screwed crimson" open-pore finish is amazing.
Flawless top, body, sides, neck, and headstock.
Every acoustic guitar I've ever owned required work on the saddle, and I had my workshop ready for a set-up. That's when I found out the action was perfect, and most importantly, her intonation was spot on and was near-perfect on the oscilloscope. Incredibly, she is still in perfect intonation along the entire scale length.
This is, of course, the most important feature of a guitar's playability, for obvious reasons.
i recorded her the day she arrived, and again last night, and surely by suggestion alone (or is it???), sounds even better which, I suspect, is due to her adjustment from the cold, dry air of shipping to the damp air here.
I love this guitar and so will you. Get it today.
