Good Sound But Has Issues

GOOD: This is a medium thickness guitar, 20 fret neck, but it has very good bass. It does not sound like a big boomy Martin but it is richer than would be expected from the body size. Satin nickel non-name tuners look good and seem to hold tune. Fret edges are finished; neck is a medium to small C and is easy to play even for players with small hands. The output includes an XLR balanced jack along with a 1/4 inch unbalanced phone jack. The B-Band preamp is NOT the Fishman listed as included, but it sounds good; only has two band eq (no presence control). Strings were DiArdio. BAD: My new guitar had a chip on the back binding on the lower bout; whoever packed it KNEW it was chipped. WalMart had it listed on their www site as $380appx but charged me $470appx to my Amex Membership Awards account. The Dragon 'abalone/mother of pearl' is actually a clever DECAL; thankfully covered with the top clearcoat. The abalone around the soundhole also appears to be a plastic imitation, but its not covered by the clearcoat. There is no pickguard, so a $9 black pickguard from GuitarCenter is needed to prevent scratches below the soundhole. CONCLUSION: Altho the MSRP is $450-500, if I was buying this (not getting it with points) I would not pay more than $325-350. Again, it has a better than expected sound and unless you look real close it is a very attractive guitar.

bikefreak . Review provider: walmart.com