Thomann Brazilian Caipira Guitar

Violę zakupiłem ok. roku temu. Od tamtego czasu służyła mi do nauki gry na niej. Zanotowałem kilka plusów i minusów:

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Dobre wykończenie, solidne materiały.
Dobra na początek.
Nigdzie indziej w Europie nie była dostępna.

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Słaby dźwięk jak na taką cenę.
Jakimś cudem mostek się po prostu odkleił. Wysłałem violę w ramach reklamacji i wygląda na to, że zostanie rozpatrzona pozytywnie.

Out of the box, the guitar strings are too loose, and rattle a lot. Tuning up to ADEad resolves this issue, but to really make the instrument pop you have to change strings to a higher gauge. The instrument is not built for high tensions, however, and there is a lot of flex in the lid when changing to stiffer strings. I use the instrument as a (to me) better sounding cittern, rather than as intended. Works great for me!

With the alternative DAEAD tuning it's got great tone and projection. It's almost 12 dB louder than my solidwood Harley Benton guitar (the only similarly priced guitar I own), and around the same volume as a Furch G21-SW. A great orchestra guitar, in other words. The sound is balanced, but being a smaller guitar is lacks a bit of low end (which can easily be EQ'd if you mic the instrument or can be made up by a bass instrument).

The build quality has room for improvement. There are a couple of bad cuts (one in the heel, one in the bridge and one between the neck and fretboard), but none affect playability. The body also has plenty of scuff marks both on and under the finish. The fretwork is good enough, although I'll see how long the zero fret holds up.

The neck joint is not entirely flat against the body, but the neck is stiff and does not flex, and the truss rod works just fine. The tuners are not great and easily lose their tuning frustratingly easy, even when the screws are tightened more than they should be.

The finish is uneven, which gives the instrument a dirty look, and the wood choices are of course not premium and have a couple knots and discolorations. The sound hole was burned when drilled and has not been rounded off. Still, the walnut and wooden binding look great and at least on my sample there is no ripped wood on the body.

I'm sure there are plenty better and (subjectively) prettier viola caipiras out there, but once I changed strings this instrument feels and sounds great to play. Soundwise it sounds better than any budget 12-string I've played and many more expensive instruments. You could buy 4 of these and each would sound as good as a guitar costing that much. Maybe one of those four instruments will also have a visually great wood selection and proper finish. Trifles compared to the joy of playing this great instrument.

It is a good instrument but more for beginners I say this because I am an expert in this instrument, I am very knowledgeable about the construction part and I have also been playing this instrument for 13 years, and this instrument really owes a little, the playability is not the best, but it is worth it it's a pity for the affordable price and because there is practically no other option on the market superior to this one here in Europe, but there are instruments like these that are much more much better in Brazil, both in finish and in wood combinations and also in terms of sound

The instrument arrived in unplayable condition. By this I do not mean it was damaged; I mean that it is unbelievable how poorly made it was. There were three major things wrong with it, plus one smaller thing.

(1) The intonation was extremely poor. At the 12th fret it was a whole semi-tone sharp.

(2) The action was absurdly high: at the 17th fret the strings were more than half an inch above the fingerboard.

(3) The two pieces of wood from which the top was constructed were not joined properly: there was a distinct ridge running from the centre of the bridge/ saddle down to the centre of the 'foot' of the instrument.

(4) The rim of the soundhole was rough to the touch: it had not been finished.

I was forced to take the instrument to a repairman. He told me that the action was so high that adjusting the truss rod would not resolve the issue. Hence he moved the bridge back and filed it down, so as to correct the intonation and the action. He also sanded the rim of the soundhole. These repairs cost me £70. I am not happy at all.