Submitted by rbeardslva (see all reviews from this person) on 12/17/2011

Where Purchased: Republic

Year Purchased: 2011
Price Paid: 399 ($US)

Sound

I build acoustics and wanted a beater to A) play and B) learn reso setup and engineering of the guitar. I got that and more. It sounds and looks great, my audience liked the tone of the guitar.

Sound Rating: 9

Setup

Setup was pretty good on arrival. A little high but if I was selling it I would have shipped it at the same height. Easily lowered at the bridge. Strings were lousy but I expected that. Intonation was dead on except for the high D (open G) which is just a little flat. Can't get it any better after numerous tweaks and it sounds fine anyway. Fit and finish is very good. Added a little piece of felt where tailpiece touches body for good measure but it wasn't ratlling. No rattles at all. Fret ends smooth and fret heights even and polished. Releif is good. I give it an 8 because I don't think you should expect a $400 guitar to be perfectly setup (or any guitar for that matter) until it has been setup to player's preference.

Setup Rating: 8

Appearance

Painted steel - sunburst. No obvious flaws anywhere in paint job. Neck is nicely finished - satin. Inside of guitar is clean, no oxidation. Frets are fine. Fingerboard is A- or B grade wood but there are no real flaws in the wood.

Appearance Rating: 9

Reliability

This thing will be around for a long time...its built like an old VW beetle.

Reliability Rating: 9

Customer Service

Fast shipment well packed included soft case and while I cannot tell if it was setup or gone over I have to guess that it was, given the condition it arrived in compared to what you can expect with other $400 imports.

Customer Service: 9

Components

The cone appears to be of fine quality as advertised by the seller....hand spun Continental. The biscuit is rosewood with ebony cap (I filed the slots so I know its not ebonized). I would not try to turn this into something its not (i.e . swap out parts for upgrades....spend that moneyt on the next tier up of guitar instead) ...its a steel bucket that makes pleasing sounds

Components Rating: 9

Overall Comments

If you want an excellent beater that you can take to your luthier for setup if you don't do your own, and come out with a pleasing sounding, sturdy, good looking (heavy..its steel!) resonator. Buy this...but hurry, its a discontinued model listed under disocunted items on the republic website.

Overall Rating: 10