15 years - pro.

Rock, Blues, Classical.

I ordered this guitar thinking that I would be pleased but I wasn't; I have played Ovation guitars since I started playing back in 1989, and this guitar does not even come close to an ovation, even the ones with super shallow depth bowls. The sound of this mini jumbo is just okay, nothing to jump about, it does really sound in tune though, I can't deny that; but for the money you can get a better guitar, I sold my Ovation GC057 to get this one and I was really disappointed, not only with the sound but with the quality. I grew up playing Hohner harmonicas and I thought the quality was going to be better, it is not; a bottom of the barrel Ibanez sounds better and it's better made than this. If you are a beginner, it would suit you just fine; it is very small, I would have kept it for my grand son if the quality was not so crappy.

The guitar came in a plain cardboard box, an indication of low quality; this might not mean much but my Ovation came in a beautifully designed box, even the labels were top notch. Again, nothing to boast about, maybe the Earvana compensated nut is something worth mentioning, but what is the use if the guitar might fall apart in a few years? The advertising claims that it comes with Grover tuners, it doesn't.

This mini jumbo was very easy to play, the neck is the right size and it is fast; the action was set up a bit high for my taste but it was okay; the body is small enough and very light, it feels like a toy guitar though, like I said, if you are just starting, it might be a good choice because of the price, but if you want something solid you're better off buying a Yamaha APX500FM, or even a low end Ovation.

Okay, you might think "this guy is just complaining and keeps on ranting about his Ovation"; not! I'm not just complaining, I am being very objective here, I am comparing it to my Ovation guitars because that's all I have ever played and as they say "you never know how good you have it until you loose it"; quality is where this guitar really sucks; to start with it came with Daddario strings, which is a good thing, but they were shot, all rusted; the frets were rough to the max, which combined with the rust on the strings made it extremely hard to enjoy playing a simple blues scale, nevermind sliding your fingers across. I couldn't believe the frets were not polished. The guitar looks beautiful from afar, but as soon as I started inspecting it I found several flaws: the end of the frets show on the side of the neck, you can see the fret slot from the side, I never seen that before on any guitar; then the finish on the cut away is all wrinkled on two spots on the edges, it almost looks like is made out of paper, horrible; then when I looked inside the sound hole I could see the block for the neck joint has a crack in it, it looked splintered as if it could not take the tension of the strings; and to top it all off the battery for the preamp was dead. All of the above is very disappointing since I really researched this guitar on the internet and found some very good things about it; I even saw the video of the challenge where they put this "the essential" series against a Martin and a Taylor on a blind-fold test and it did very well, but it is all marketing hype or I just got a real lemon. I am sending it back to Zzounds, I stopped fooling around and I ordered an Ovation Elite 1778TX; I know I will not be disappointed.

This might be a good Christmas present for a 10 year old who wants to learn how to play guitar, I would buy it and keep it for 100 bucks or less; otherwise, stay away from this brand, at least from this model.

I really don't know about Hohner support, but the guys at Zzounds are awesome; (the 10 rating is for them) when I called to process the return they apologized and even gave me a deal on my new Ovation Elite and a case for it; I am very pleased with this company; besides, where can I buy anything and split the payments in four, with no tax and free shipping? Yeah, I know, nowhere else but Zzounds.

Regarding looks, this guitar is really not bad, it is actually very beautiful, the wood is finished raw almost, no glossy varnish or finish here, which I really liked, it is smaller than a dred, or even a classical guitar, and it does really look good, but I don't know any musician who would buy something just based on looks; if it didn't have all the flaws I mentioned I am sure it would only get better and better with time and playing because the woods used were really not bad.

hobbyist

rock, blues, jazz, flamenco