J & D D-170S

Who would buy a guitar without reading any reviews either on the Musicstore site or online? Sometimes in life you just have to follow your instinct and take a chance. Occasionally it pays off - and other times you end up with a dog.

So what happened with this J&D D170S NL?

Ill tell you.

Ordering simple and straightforward with Musicstore, and delivery super quick. Ordered Monday arrived on Thursday. Well packed and arrived without any problems with accurate and honest UPS tracking all the way.

I was very nervous when I opened the box but undoing the wrapping revealed a wonderful looking guitar. It was much better than the photos suggested with unexpected snowflake abalone inlays on the fretboard. The finish is impeccable apart from a rough edge on the fretboard at the sound hole, no rough frets and no glue marks or runs. Ive seen less perfect finishes on Takamines and Fenders.

When I read that this guitar had solid mahogany top and sides I must admit to being sceptical, because even Epiphone says "select mahogany" which I understand to mean laminated. However on inspection you can see that the D170 actually is solid mahogany.

The big question is does such a great looking guitar sound as good as it looks?

Well it really does. I was looking for a well-balanced tone, nice dynamic range and chewy thick midrange. This wonderful guitar delivers this in spades and the mahogany really does its job tonally. Out of the box action will be ok for most but I will probably lower it a bit due to arthritic fingers. I have also applied a few drops of lemon oil on the fretboard and bridge as they looked a bit dry and thirsty. That really brought out the beauty of the wood. The Grover tuners mean tuning is not a problem even after hard playing. Yes, Grover on a sub 100 Euro guitar!!

To summarise this is one cracking musical instrument and to my ears outperforms many £600 plus guitars. This is not a cheap acoustic although at its current price its the bargain of the year. Id go as far as to say its probably one of the best value products I have ever bought. It cannot be described as a beginners guitar either, simply because it delivers all that a gigging or experienced acoustic player could want. I know - I am one.

Im now wondering what the rest of this 100 euro plus J&D acoustic range. have in store. If the D170S is anything to go by, I have a funny feeling it wont be long before Ill be finding out.

Now Im wondering why my other guitars were such a huge amount dearer!