Tanglewood TW1000 - Deluxe Reviews 4

I bought this guitar in Dublin for €650, or STG£460. I originally was looking for a semi-acoustic with cut-away. Having spent a couple of weekends going around different guitar stores and sampling Takimine, Ibanez, Washburns, Epiphone, I initially chose the Tanglewood TW15, a full wood semi with cut away and Shadow pick up and good natural tone. However, just before buying I had a look at the TW1000, a more compact guitar without cut-away. However, the sound was far superior to that of TW15 and the pick was a Fishman and not a Shadow. Therefore, I went for sound quality.

The best thing about this guitar is the sound. Its fantastic. Its no €2k guitar sound but it is miles ahead of anything else in its price category that I have come across. The guitar is a solid body rosewood. No synthetics in it. Therefore, the sound is nice and full. Quite a bassy hum to it. The action was perfect and with a Fishman pick up, there is no Tinnyness that you find with the Shadow pick ups.

The only thing I don't like about the guitar is that there is no cut-away. However, having had the guitar for about four months now, I still think that the sound if produces more than compensates for this.

The version I got is a deluxe with gold Grover machine heads, some ornamentation on the fret board and a gloss finish. The guitar is full Rosewood with no synthetics and the pick up is a Fishman. Therefore both the natural & ampified sound quality is excellent.

Overall, this is a fantastic sounding guitar that is very nice to play. The pick up is Fishman and the warm bassy/mid level tone given from the compact Rosewood body sets it apart from any other guitar in its price range and even those that were €400-€500 more expensive. On a scale of 1-5, I give it a 4 for sound quality (it isn't a €2k or €3k guitar) and a 5 for value for money.

Dec H rated this unit 4 on 2003-09-01.

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