Sheeran Guitars - by Lowden NAMM

GTC · December 2019

It arrived this afternoon - looks good but too tired to do anything with it today after the General Election last night.

Strange thing was that the DPD driver asked me if it was a guitar - and said that on an earlier delivery of another guitar to a neighbouring village he was asked if he also had a guitar for me (referring to me and my village by name). Weird!

Nogoodboyo · December 2019

I'm curious....are you doing a full or partial conversion? And if you don't like it do you pass it on as a right or leftie?

GTC · December 2019

Nogoodboyo said:

I'm curious....are you doing a full or partial conversion? And if you don't like it do you pass it on as a right or leftie?

To start off with I'll just change the strings round and if I don't like it I'll probably sell it on. If I do like it then I'll get my luthier friend to cut a new left handed nut and fill the existing ebony saddle slot and cut a new correctly angled one. I'll also put in left -handed fretboard board side markers. This will commit it to being a lefty. If I was then to sell it on it would be sold as a lefty but I would, of course, point out it had been converted.

ToneControl · December 2019

sounds like one might be in stock here:
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/274145795644?ul_noapp=true

Andy79 · December 2019

Project now have them. The floodgates are open

GTC · December 2019

Andy79 said:

Project now have them. The floodgates are open

Sooner rather than later for you then?

Andy79 · December 2019

Maybe. Certainly going to trip out and try them

GTC · December 2019

Andy79 said:

Maybe. Certainly going to trip out and try them

Good luck - it will be interesting to hear what you think of the other models

ToneControl · April 2021

I finally found some Sheerans in a shop today, I tried 3

tbh I'm not impressed, they all sounded very boxy. OOTB setup was pretty awful, but that's just playability issue that can be resolved, although they had a very high action even for new guitars.

I compared with some Lowden S models in the shop, which were light years away in tone. My Avalon S size at home is up another level from the Lowdens

I'd say the blueridge acoustics I've played sounded better than the Sheerans

I was hoping/expecting that the (albeit CNC-based) production lines being in the UK would be producing guitars closer to the Lowden/Avalon benchmark, with the shortcuts being cosmetic. i.e. real competition for Korea, Indonesia

I had thought that the lack of (human time consuming) adaptation to the individual pieces of wood in each guitar might be a tough obstacle, but assumed that Lowden had found a way to mitigate this.

I wouldn't want to be playing one of these unplugged, I guess it would be OK on stage.

Is the name on the headstock going to help or hinder sales? I usually avoid signature models, am I alone in that?

JCA2550 · April 2021

I ordered one last Summer from Guitar Village and the bridge was lifting off so back it went. Sounded okay, but better guitars are around for the same money.

GTC · April 2021

It didn't take long for me to sell my W01 on. The sound was OK'ish for the money but not a patch on lower priced similar Eastman models. It was light years away from a Wee Lowden. The build quality was poor - I had the impression mine had quite significant and non too careful rework done on it.

I'm stilled annoyed over the nut width which is advertised in the Lowden specs with the same standard dimensions as a Wee Lowden (45mm) but is less (43.5mm). I told them about this and nothing was done.

I'm surprised these are still being sold.

Tannin · April 2021

Australia is awash with them and has been for ages - six months maybe. Here they are very, very expensive. My nearest dealer has them between $1750 and $2300, mostly around $2000, with a single even shorter-scale model for $1500. (That's £980 to £1290, or £840 for the one with the 610mm scale.) So far as I can tell, no-one is buying them. When it's all said and done these are a short-scale plywood-back guitars and that is downright crazy-man pricing. For the same money you can buy a Maton EBW-70, SRS-70, or SRS-808, a Martin 000-15, 000-13, D-15, or D-13, a Cole 2 Series Angel or Fat Lady, a Gibson G-45 Studio, or a made-in-Japan Takamine. For just a little bit more you are into 3-series Taylors and TE Matons. All those guitars just mentioned are good quality solid wood guitars from famous manufacturers, made in high-wage first-world countries. It makes no sense!

On the face of things, the 1 and 2 Series Taylors seem like a more sensible comparison. These are also plywood-backed but made to a high standard (albeit in Mexico rather than California), and they are extraordinarily good for what they are. They go for $1500 to $2000 - substantially less than equivalent Sheerans. Low-end Martins, it's a similar story.

My uninformed guess is that our local importer got hold of a lot of Sheeran stock at the height of the pandemic-induced shortage, and talked retailers into taking a large number of units at top-dollar prices - roughly 50% higher than UK prices despite having the same or lower costs (higher shipping but only half as much VAT - call it even).

Confession time: I have never bothered playing one. I assume that they are as surprisingly good as the equivalent 2 Series Taylors - they'd certainly want to be at those prices - but (a) "good for a laminate guitar" and "good" are two different things, (b) I don't like short scale guitars, and (c) I try (with varying degrees of success) not to go into shops and play guitars I know I'm not going to buy. I am all in favour of more choice and variety on the guitar market, especially when it's not just yet another brand attached to cheap stuff out of China, but on currern form these look destined to fail.

malcolmkindness · April 2021

I thought they were destined to fail as soon as I heard about them and this was confirmed as soon as I played a couple, just out of curiosity.
I can't understand how they ever thought they could compete with SE Asia at that price point!

brucegill · April 2021

ToneControl said:

I finally found some Sheerans in a shop today, I tried 3

tbh I'm not impressed, they all sounded very boxy. OOTB setup was pretty awful, but that's just playability issue that can be resolved, although they had a very high action even for new guitars.

I compared with some Lowden S models in the shop, which were light years away in tone. My Avalon S size at home is up another level from the Lowdens

I'd say the blueridge acoustics I've played sounded better than the Sheerans

I was hoping/expecting that the (albeit CNC-based) production lines being in the UK would be producing guitars closer to the Lowden/Avalon benchmark, with the shortcuts being cosmetic. i.e. real competition for Korea, Indonesia

I had thought that the lack of (human time consuming) adaptation to the individual pieces of wood in each guitar might be a tough obstacle, but assumed that Lowden had found a way to mitigate this.

I wouldn't want to be playing one of these unplugged, I guess it would be OK on stage.

Is the name on the headstock going to help or hinder sales? I usually avoid signature models, am I alone in that?

What price range were the Lowden S models?

ToneControl · April 2021

brucegill said:

ToneControl said:

I finally found some Sheerans in a shop today, I tried 3

tbh I'm not impressed, they all sounded very boxy. OOTB setup was pretty awful, but that's just playability issue that can be resolved, although they had a very high action even for new guitars.

I compared with some Lowden S models in the shop, which were light years away in tone. My Avalon S size at home is up another level from the Lowdens

I'd say the blueridge acoustics I've played sounded better than the Sheerans

I was hoping/expecting that the (albeit CNC-based) production lines being in the UK would be producing guitars closer to the Lowden/Avalon benchmark, with the shortcuts being cosmetic. i.e. real competition for Korea, Indonesia

I had thought that the lack of (human time consuming) adaptation to the individual pieces of wood in each guitar might be a tough obstacle, but assumed that Lowden had found a way to mitigate this.

I wouldn't want to be playing one of these unplugged, I guess it would be OK on stage.

Is the name on the headstock going to help or hinder sales? I usually avoid signature models, am I alone in that?

What price range were the Lowden S models?

£3100

I was expecting less difference in tone, given the info publicised: I had thought it would be a reduction in cosmetic appearance, but most of the Lowden sound still evident

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Sheeran Guitars - by Lowden NAMM

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