The Applause AE48 is an acoustic-electric guitar, which generally means the guitar will not sound its best unless plugged in. This is true for the AE48. The unpugged tone is not bad, but the guitar wuld have to be miked if you wanted to play to even a small audience.

There are two major drawbacks in the AE48. First, the tone and gain control is located on top of the guitar directly under your armpit. A long sleeve shirt can catch on the control housing as you move around. Secondly, the input jack is in the bottom back of the guitar, so the guitar cord is almost perpendicular to the guitar body. Gotta be carefull not to drag the guitar across anything or you could break the jack. The guitar has nice Ovations grover-style tuners. The bridge-taipiece is string through, often preferred to pins.

The headstock and neck have a natural, 'satin' finish: that is, unlaquered. This doesn't pose a problem with playability but bears mentioning. I've noticed a slight 'hump' in the neck between the 3rd and 5th frets. Again, playability is unhindered, but I've never found this in a guitar before. The rosewood fretboard has a nice subtle convex shape. The frets are thin and could use a bit of rounding. Fit and finish is what you would expect for a guitar in this price range. The physical fits are fine, but are poor cosmetically; uneven paint lines where the neck joins the body and a blemish or two in the multiply binding.

Not a bad guitar for its price. I don't imagine any of Ovations competitors are offering guitars of better quality for the same price.

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It would be a very nice acoustic-electric guitar for a novice, and a practical, inexpensive and useful acoustic-guitar for the experienced player.

Classic Rock