2nd Review of Thomann.de Baroque Guitar

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Comment by Daniel Vissi on March 25, 2012 at 19:21

Thanks for the information!!

Comment by Tonyyyy on June 29, 2011 at 14:56

My Thomann guitar arrived a few days ago. As other have said  it is quite a good instrument, I changed some of the strings and they are settling down now ; this morning I could play it straight away without 5 or 10 minutes tuning, which was nice! Someone mentioned  that it is small-voiced and the sustain is limited - that is true , it does not really sing out , but it still sounds pretty good. I am still using nails at the moment; when they file themI am sure the tone will sound much sweeter. I have never  played a baroque guitar before ( just a little bit of lute and ren guitar)  so it is exciting to discover this  new range of sounds. Someone used to a luthier-made instrument would not doubt be a little underwhelmed by it.

The action is ok , just a little bit high. I slightly preferred playing it at A=415 rather than 440 as it seemed easier. I also tried it with a capo on 3rd and 5th fret which seemed right  for 16th century music.

 

Unlike a lute and to an extent renaissance guitar the spacing of strings and frets is fairly close to classical guitar. I asked a friend to try it and immediately he could strum  chords on it and some easy classical tunes, the lack of a bass string being the main limiting factor. I think i will need a few months with it to get  accustomed to it , especially the right hand differences

I will probably keep it for 6 months or a year and by that time will know if I want to play BG more seriously and then aim to get a better one

Comment by Mathieu Lavoie on March 2, 2011 at 17:55

thanks for this update. I really wich I had seen this 2 years ago when I started my project of making myself a beginner baroque guitar with an old portugues viola da terra. It did cost me about 1200$ (actually more like 1600 with some nice gadget) but the sound is pretty good I think.

 

But considering how much I use it ( which is not very much) I think I would have been fine with the beginner one from pakistan.

Comment by Rob MacKillop on February 20, 2011 at 14:58

FYI

 

http://www.ethnicmusicalinstruments.com/5-Course-Sellas-Style-Baroq... 

Comment by Scot Tremblay on February 15, 2011 at 18:57

Thanks Rob, for taking the time to update us on this instrument.

 

I quite like the sound of it with the new strings, timid though it's voice might be. Although it seemed to open up significently when you played the rasqueado bit. If it's a solid spruce top then with some serious daily playing it might open up a lot over the next few months. That would be a good thing to tell your student in any case ;) "Want your guitar to sound good? Play lots every day and that guitar will bloom!"

 

 

Comment by Rob MacKillop on February 15, 2011 at 15:36

 

I only had the guitar for a short time today. The new Aquila Nylgut strings really made a difference. The student who bought the instrument said it was a stretch for him to afford this instrument even at the low price, so a 'Western' luthier-made instrument was just not a possibility. He intends to start saving now for a professional instrument, and by the time he has purchased one, he will have something to play on it. He is aware that it is not the equivalent of a pro-level instrument, but he is delighted with it. Prior to buying thsi, he was playing Robert De Visee on a Chinese classical guitar...

 

My final thoughts - this guitar is not going to put anyone out of business. It is reasonably well made, and with good strings sounds OK, if a bit quiet. Will it hold together for two or three years? I hope so. View it as a taster only. I wouldn't play concerts with it or record CDs, but it's not intended for that. I think it is a fine beginners baroque guitar.