Norman ST40 Semi-Acoustic (gone)
Christmas 2010 was just around the corner.
I’ve got some extra money by occasion.
So I desided to break my own rule to make the “guitar presents” only at my birthday.
I call this rule as “Another year – another guitar”.
But this time I said to myself: “I want really good acoustic guitar“.
I also had some some specific requirements to 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 were ending in the same way: “Take this one, it’s really cool”.
As you can guess, such a pressure didn’t really help me to get enough information for making right decision.
Well, after few visits I was almost convinced to purchase a mexican Taylor with a promotional price 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 the locally grown wood.
Which helps the instrument to survive the local climat 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 the laminated materials and only the top deck is made from the real wood, usually spruce.
For as low as a half of the Taylor guitar price I can get ALL WOOD Canadian instrument of very high quality..
That’s how I’ve got my semi-acoustic cutaway Norman ST40 for the price around $600 (Remember: Christmas sale season)
Here some details abiout 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.