CG-45 NS : great guitar for campfires, festivals, beaches, riversides and much more

Spoiler alert: I'm really stunned by this guitar. It's just unbelievable, how much guitar you get for the buck around here.

But let me take a few steps back..

I have played several guitars in the 100?-pricerange in my time as a beginner on acoustic guitar. They were almost entirely really really bad to play, sounded dull and blunt and were detuned with the blink of an eye

Somehow that did not stop me from playing guitar, but I soon came to the conclusion that I needed a pricier model to be happy.. well I found one in the 300-400? pricerange that was a great insider tip, but since as a student the money is tight, that was my very precious guitar, I didn't want to take anywhere with a higher risk of getting it damaged

My best friend and bandmate who already earned cash at that time got himself this guitar for exactly those reasons.. taking it with him on festivals, barbecues, etc.

When I laid fingers on it, I was impressed.. it was really good to play with, better than all the cheap guitars I owned (and better than most that I played) in the "cheap"-pricerange - even though this specific guitar was the cheapest of all of them!!

Also the sound was pretty solid for the occasions.

Well, after a while I decided to try it out myself.. I was already sure, my friend had a sh*tload of luck when he ordered this guitar blindly and that I'd have to try several copies of this model until I found one that was comparable in quality.

So when I got my delivery I was highly sceptical and searching for reasons to send the guitar back.. well, the mechanics were aligned, there were no air gaps between parts, the mechanics were working well, the bridge seemed alright (it is supported with additional pins connecting bridge and guitar body, maybe without them it wouldn't be sturdy enough, but hey, if it helps, I'll take it)

But when I started playing I found 2 points that disappointed me:

The tie bars had a 'sharp' feeling on my hands on the side of the neck when playing.. and I noticed the fingerboard is rather rough on its surface

Well alright, there was my reason to send it back, I thought.. but kept playing for a while... after a few minutes I noticed the sharp feeling seemed to have disappeared... I put the guitar away for a while and tried it again later, just to be sure.. and indeed, no sharp edges anymore.. they seem to have vanished with the first chords.. so no problem there anymore.

Also the rough surface seemed more even on the frets I played .. in higher positions it was much more rough than in the first frets, where I did some chords stuff.. well. Alright then.

So now I had a guitar that was cheap and was now easily playable. So far, so good. How about the sound?

Well, for the sound.. it's not hi end guitar, that's for sure. It lacks in 'body' (low frequencies) and it doesn't have that 'sparkle' up up high. But it's far from sounding dull or muffled. There really are enough mid and high frequencies to have a clear, open sound. Somewhat metallic and thus a bit 'dirty' in character, which I really like for the occasions I use it.

It's also not too loud.. and actually I take this as a plus, too. With my more expensive guitar I have the problem, that my voice gets masked too much (even though I don't sing quietly) and therefore I feel the urge to sing louder, which makes me sing less controlled and strains the vocal chords

But this guitar has the right volume for me to sing on top of it and still have enough guitar sound to support my singing.

I feel like I'm getting lost in talking, so I'll cut short here:

I wouldn't use this guitar for solo guitar recording (well I have, but the hi end sparkle really is missing and the root notes in the 'body' area are missing, too)

I could imagine it as additional instrument in a mix.. because it has this nice dirty gritty charakter

I really, really want to recommend it for playing inside .. the guitar is loud enough to entertain the whole room but not as loud as to deafen the audience.

In a large space the sound could get lost, so you better not step on stage in a large concert hall with no mics on this baby.. but who would, anyway?

Despite me having a better guitar, I play mostly on this one.. as I explained, it fits all my requirements for 'playing for fun', as it's the right volume and it's easy to play

Oh and I almost forgot: Detuning's not really a problem here.. the guitar will keep the tuning for days at times. Also the mechanics are easy-going and therefore work as it should be expected.

The negative points at the end: After a while I noticed the tradeoffs that come with the price. Almost all bridge pins broke (I replaced them with dark ebony Harley Benton bridge pins for small cash, see my review there) and I can see the marks of the strings working their way into the soft bridge.. more intense than on other guitars.. but nonetheless, this piece of gear is still working well (after approx. 2 years now) and I'd say it is looking forward to this year's summer season at least as much as I am :)

So big recommendation for beginners and for people who need a guitar 'to go' as well!