I ended up in the unfortunate situation last week of needing money, the only thing I could do was to sell my beloved Martin HD-28, I thought I would never find anything else to be happy with but surprisingly and thankfully I was wrong. I spent a good deal of time browsing zZounds and looking at all the acoustic guitars on the site. I was just about to purchase an Ibanez but I came across the Silvertone and I immediately noticed that it looked a lot like my HD-28. It seemed to have the same body shape, color and wood combo, etc. I found some reviews which were good and I found that it was made by Sammick which has the ability to make great guitars, so I decided to take a chance on it and I'm glad I did.First I would like to say that zZounds is great, as always. 2 day shipping for free! Plus insanely affordable payments. Now, the guitar, unboxing was a pleasant surprise, the fit and finish is very very good, the guitar has a beautiful gloss finish and the neck carve is excellent. The top is spruce and it's got a nice dark color like a well aged Martin. The guitar is absolutely gorgeous. It's extremely difficult to believe that it only cost $279!As far as playing goes, well the action was absolutely perfect right out of the box, zero adjustment needed. A quick tune and I was off to the races. As I mentioned before, the neck carve is just great, it's somewhere around a Gibson 60's neck but slightly different. The frets are finished well but do have slight edges to them but it's… read more nothing to complain about. The binding on the neck does not go over the fret edges but it's very well done anyway. The guitar plays effortlessly and is a real joy. The sound from this guitar is satisfying, it has a nice bass response and is very articulate. Each note is clear and defined to the point that mistakes just jump out of it, so it may even help you to play better! The tone does have a good round sound with balance across the spectrum but it is what I would call bright. In comparison to the Martin this guitar has tons and tons of top end. The Martin is very bottom heavy and the high notes are smooth, on the Silvertone the bottom and middle are smooth but the top end really jumps out. It's not a bad thing as I can see it sitting very well in a mix or a jam, but playing alone it is quite toppy. Overall I am glad and impressed. For the price it is more than worth it, this doesn't replace the Martin completely but it does fill the void of having to sell that guitar. It doesn't compare to the Martin in terms of tone BUT for the price it's amazingly close, the workmanship is right there with Martin (in my opinion) and the feel is also just as good, the looks are close as well. The only thing it's missing is the huge bottom end of the Martin but that's about all it's missing. Buy it an enjoy!

Musical Background:
20 years of playing electric and acoustic.

Musical Style:
Rock, metal, bluegrass, blues, country. read less