JimB1
Junior Member
I came across this ad for someone selling this guitar locally for $50 so I bought it figuring for $50 I'd have a picnic guitar if nothing else.
It's a 000 sized body and appears to be mahogany laminate (double sided and very thin) with a solid spruce top. 1 3/4" nut, 14 frets to the body. Nice ebony fingerboard and bridge. Unusual adjustable bridge. The tuners are open backed and seem to be pretty good. I'd say 14:1 ratio or so if I had to guess. The neck appears to be Mahogany but it is lacquered so it's difficult to tell. The headstock has the old Martin round cornered shape with Madeira in mother of pearl along the top of the faceplate. The faceplate is black lacquer so I'm not sure what kind of wood it is. There is a truss rod cover on the headstock so I am assuming at this point that there is an adjustable truss rod in there. It has a label on the neck that says "Made in Japan" and the "Adjusted and Distributed Guild" sticker in the sound hole.
This one has the dings and bumps you would expect from a 35+ year old guitar. Looks like it was dropped at one point and there is a small cluster of dents that it looks like someone filed with wood glue. A couple of belt buckle scratches on the back. Looks like the heel cracked at some point and was glued back on but the lacquer wasn't fixed so you can see the repair but it's just a raised line around the heel. It actually looks like the heel is a separate piece and the glue just gave out and it was re-glued because the line is very straight and level.
On playing it, this guitar is made for fingerstyle! The 000 body is very comfortable and the string spacing is very nice all the way to the bridge. The guitar has excellent resonance and you can feel it pulse with the vibration of the strings. Not exceptionally loud like a dread but it has a sweet sound to it. Clear and balanced. The action as you play up the neck gets pretty high but not horribly so. Still I'll have to see what can be done about it.
It even came with a old chipboard case, looks like a dread case but still decent for what it is.
Overall, I am extremely pleased with it. One of my best finds yet. I think I can see this becoming a favorite after a cleanup and a little tweaking.
I've read a lot of good/bad and indifferent reviews of the Madeira guitars but this is definitely one of the good ones.
Anyone else had good experiences with the Madeira line?
-Jim
It's a 000 sized body and appears to be mahogany laminate (double sided and very thin) with a solid spruce top. 1 3/4" nut, 14 frets to the body. Nice ebony fingerboard and bridge. Unusual adjustable bridge. The tuners are open backed and seem to be pretty good. I'd say 14:1 ratio or so if I had to guess. The neck appears to be Mahogany but it is lacquered so it's difficult to tell. The headstock has the old Martin round cornered shape with Madeira in mother of pearl along the top of the faceplate. The faceplate is black lacquer so I'm not sure what kind of wood it is. There is a truss rod cover on the headstock so I am assuming at this point that there is an adjustable truss rod in there. It has a label on the neck that says "Made in Japan" and the "Adjusted and Distributed Guild" sticker in the sound hole.
This one has the dings and bumps you would expect from a 35+ year old guitar. Looks like it was dropped at one point and there is a small cluster of dents that it looks like someone filed with wood glue. A couple of belt buckle scratches on the back. Looks like the heel cracked at some point and was glued back on but the lacquer wasn't fixed so you can see the repair but it's just a raised line around the heel. It actually looks like the heel is a separate piece and the glue just gave out and it was re-glued because the line is very straight and level.
On playing it, this guitar is made for fingerstyle! The 000 body is very comfortable and the string spacing is very nice all the way to the bridge. The guitar has excellent resonance and you can feel it pulse with the vibration of the strings. Not exceptionally loud like a dread but it has a sweet sound to it. Clear and balanced. The action as you play up the neck gets pretty high but not horribly so. Still I'll have to see what can be done about it.
It even came with a old chipboard case, looks like a dread case but still decent for what it is.
Overall, I am extremely pleased with it. One of my best finds yet. I think I can see this becoming a favorite after a cleanup and a little tweaking.
I've read a lot of good/bad and indifferent reviews of the Madeira guitars but this is definitely one of the good ones.
Anyone else had good experiences with the Madeira line?
-Jim
