N.G.D.

grayn

Rather than my usual NGD, where I tell you all the guitars I tried before plumping for one to come home with me.  I thought I'd give some spec, to start.  This is an all solid electro-acoustic guitar.  Sitka spruce top, with mahogany back, sides and neck.  The mahogany is a really lovely looking wood here and in particular, the neck. The body, fingerboard and headstock are bound.  The head has a very tasteful ovangkol veneer, with M.O.P. inlay.  The body has chequerboard purfling and rosette.  The open back tuners are very smooth and internally the body has scalloped X-bracing and a very natural sounding Fishman pickup system, controlled by volume, bass and treble knobs and there's a nice, built in tuner.

This is a very well built, light dreadnought, with excellent finishing.  The tone is loud but well focused, with a good harmonic range.  All this and you also get a very good quality, hard case.

So, how much would you expect to pay for all the above spec and quality of build?  Rather astonishingly, I got it brand new for just under £500.  Why, because it has Fender on the headstock.

The guitar in question is a Fender Paramount PM-1E standard dreadnought.  Yes this guitar was designed in the US and built in China but if it had Eastman, Tokai or dare I say, Gibson, on the headstock, you could multiply that price by 2, 3 or 4 times.

I'm not saying this is a D18 beater.  I just think it goes to show how conservative guitar buyers are.  We all know that acoustics were never Fender's strong suit.  But when these Paramounts came out, quite a few years ago now, they showed that perhaps Fender could take acoustic guitars seriously and produce something good and very well priced.  There's not much, at this price point, that can give so much for so little.

Having said that, whilst at the shop, I played a few Inspired by Gibson, Epiphones.  Wow, what a range.  In particular, I really liked the J200.  A stunning Jumbo, set up beautifully, with that tone that only a nice jumbo can produce.  An awesome strummer and flat picker.  Plenty of warmth and shimmer.  It was between this natural J200 and the Paramount dread, for me.  The thing that swung me toward the Fender, was the more focused tone, and the Fender had a far better pickup system installed.  Plus, the Fender was £200 cheaper and came with a lovely hard case.  Mind you, at these prices, I may end up with both.

The Paramount PM-1E sounded great in standard tuning but now it's home, I have it tuned down to Drop-C and it sounds awesome, both acoustically and though my amp.

thomasross20

Congrats and what a great write-up!

GoFish

With recent additions by Fender, Guild, Epiphone, Eastman plus the venerable Yamaha Lx6 series, the choice at the £500ish mark looks really, really good.

Great photos and description @grayn

HNAGD!

Soupman

Looks like a nice job.
I agree there is a lot of headstock snobbery around, the Fishman pickup and the hard case are very tempting too.
A more upmarket name at twice what you paid would have a foam case.
A good bargain I think, especially as you like the sound so much.
Congratulations!
 
 

Mellish

@grayn ; well *that* looks a bit nice. 

Congrats mate  

ditchboy

I almost picked up a PM3 before I got my GS mini. That looks really nice, love the headstock on them.