Norman ST40 Semi-Acoustic: Exploring Its Unique Sound
Here’s the story of how I got the Norman ST40 guitar.
Christmas 2010 was just around the corner.
I’ve got some extra money by occasion.
So I decided to break my own rule to make the “guitar presents” only on my birthday.
I call this rule “Another year – another guitar”.
But this time I said to myself: “I want a really good acoustic guitar“.
I also had some specific requirements for the searched instrument:
- I play mostly the blues so I want a cutaway model.
- It has to be semi-acoustic.
What could it be?
Two sexy brands came to my mind: “Martin & Co” or “Taylor”.
Of course, the were plenty of other cool brands.
But in my amateur mind, these two were the top of the top for some reason.
So I went to the local guitar store to start my shopping.
The first sales guy, a young man, had one and only approach: “Sell, sell, sell”.
Therefore, all his answers to my curious inquiries ended in the same way: “Take this one, it’s really cool”.
As you can guess, such pressure didn’t really help me to get enough information to make the right decision.
Well, after a few visits, I was almost convinced to purchase a Mexican Taylor with a promotional price of around $1100.
Then the other elderly guy asked me a question: “Are you looking for Taylor only?”
I said, “Not really. But certainly I want REALLY GOOD GUITAR. Why are you asking?”.
And he answered that if I stop to look by the brand only and turn to some local manufacturers I can win big.
“Why?”
Because:
- Local manufacturers make the instruments from locally grown wood.
Which helps the instrument to survive the local climate without any losses in quality. (I live in Canada) - The majority of the Mexican guitars have the back and the sides of the guitar body made from laminated materials and only the top deck is made from the real wood, usually spruce.
For as low as half of the Taylor guitar price I can get an ALL-WOOD Canadian instrument of very high quality.
That’s how I’ve got my semi-acoustic cutaway Norman ST40 for the price of around $600 (Remember: Christmas sale season)
Here are some details about this instrument:
Back & Sides: Solid Mahogany
Top: Cedar (Select Pressure Tested Solid Top)
Fingerboard & Bridge: Rosewood
Finish: Semi-Gloss Custom Polished Finish
Tusq® nut & saddle by Graphtech
Fishman Presys Electronics & TRIC case.
