How much would you pay for a Guitar with these specs?

Clashman

Will try upload a photo later ,it's sods law I had a photobucket account and now they
won't link here.

Clashman

I think the back and sides are possibly made of  African Wenga.

Jez6345789

I think if you got it for 250 on the face of it a bargain but I could build one using those woods but it would sound at best mediocre.  What  you are paying for someone who knows how to get the guitar braced, top tuned and all the finessing that goes to make a great hand built acoustic.  The material costs are far less important than the luthiers skills. But if you like the sound then winner

ICBM

The tuners on Freshmans are not Waverleys, they just look like them and are nothing like the same quality. I had to repair one recently.

They are nice guitars, but they are Chinese factory made to a UK (Scottish actually) company's designs, not hand made. In fact, forget marketing snobbery about 'hand made', because they are *better* than you could make a guitar by hand for at that price, even in China. Factory production has huge advantages for quality and consistency at anything below true highly skilled luthier prices.

Clashman

<a href="https://imgur.com/GQ4EPKr"><img src="https://i.imgur.com/GQ4EPKr.jpg" title="source: imgur.com" /></a>

Clashman

https://imgur.com/GQ4EPKr

Clashman

https://imgur.com/dF27xCL

Clashman

https://i.imgur.com/TJ4tN7m.jpg

Clashman

My Guitar doesn't exist

Clashman

Should I get rid of the tuners that aren't Waverly and get some others?, what would you recommend?

Sassafras

Clashman said:

Should I get rid of the tuners that aren't Waverly and get some others?, what would you recommend?

Depends on whether they work or not.

ICBM

If they work fine, leave them.

On the one I had to fix, the baseplate had kinked up slightly in the middle so the gear teeth were skipping under tension - it just needed straightening. Other than that they seem OK.

But I'm almost certain they are not real Waverleys - unless they've reduced the quality recently - if I remember right, the name isn't (or can't be) trademarked, so there is nothing to stop copyists using it. Not that it would stop a lot of Chinese copyists anyway - see 'Gibson'...

AliGorie

not Wenge Clashie  looks like it might be stained - give us a shot of the inside / back.
Wenge has distinct large 'pores' and a kind of speckled look.

its deliberately a smoke and mirrors guitar but if it plays and sounds ok - use it and forget about the exclusivity factor -
I have a far eastern guitar that's b&s are said to be mahogany - it's not. 
  

steveh

ICBM said:

A hand made (by a British luthier) guitar can cost between about £1500 and £5000 roughly. 

Or 11K if you happen to be Stefan Sobell. 

Lewy

steveh said:

ICBM said:

A hand made (by a British luthier) guitar can cost between about £1500 and £5000 roughly. 

Or 11K if you happen to be Stefan Sobell. 

If you happen to be Stefan Sobell you’d make our own surely?

AliGorie

contact details here clashie - let us know -
happy strummin
http://www.freshmanguitars.net/contact/

Clashman

Sent an email off ,..the Guitar is a keeper anyway for me .Will report back if I get a reply.

Clashman

Just bought a case for it from a Local store down the road ,it is strange to receive such a nice guitar
sound wise, but as people have said on the thread the quality is not A1 . I think when working with wood
there is a definable difference between how a guitar is made and what sound it makes, the sound is
K.O.maybe I need to change the strings or my ears as they look aged.The sounds I can get out of the
guitar however are quite remarkable compared with other guitars I have personally played the best
 probably being a Taylor or Martin at free an easy night somewhere in the distant past.Having paid bugger all
 for the guitar I can say my opinion is unbiased by any brand .I am more of a sound Guy than a visual type
of person ,my ears tell me what I like when it comes to music not my eyes, sometimes you look at
ugliness and hear beauty because you see beyond your eyes It's a keeper but needs new strings
The next Freshman Range of Guitars should perhaps be called the Nectar Range and sound sweeter
still with more of a handmade feel with a made in wherever sticker instead of being embarrassed it is
made in China  . I went through a lot of the  rubbish spoken in the 1970's calling imported Japanese goods
Jap Crap.Honda pants anything rubbish Made in Hong Kong but when the products overtook ours the
smiles were wiped away...to be continued but this is where i'm at ...      

Clashman

Forgot to say no response from my  Freshman email  ,the tuners look genuine to me
and I have never had a guitar in my life that stays in tune so well whether
that it down to the strings which I think will need changing or the tuners is
something I wouldn't know about anyhow.I also am pretty convinced that
what your ears hear changes over the years ....my Mum bless her cotton
socks knew I didn't have a guitar in a particular time of my life and rang me
on the phone one day to come round and see her,when I arrived she gifted
me an acoustic guitar with Hondo logo on the headstock the strings were
all bent and rusty ...5 years later I bought a Stagg................no smiley that bad lol.    

prowla

Before this thread I'd never (knowingly) heard of Waverley tuners - do they all come with a free guitar attached?

Actually, ISTR a thread a while back about a prototype (maybe Freshman) guitar...?