Artisan
The Artisan Award is bestowed upon the pieces of gear that embody
elegance, beauty and craftsmanship. We’d hang them on our wall if
they didn’t sound so damn good.
PRS Tonare Grand
One of the pair of Paul Reed Smith’s first
foray into the acoustic world basically
knocked the socks off of reviewer Gayla
Drake Paul. “This guitar has a huge sound,”
she wrote, “voluptuous and chimey, yet fantastically warm and phenomenally detailed.
It’s a dark and glassy tone that is hypnotically
appealing.” In addition to being charmed by
its choice European spruce and cocobolo,
elegant detailing and comfortable neck, she
was amazed by its ability to effortlessly handle different kinds of playing and every open
tuning she could throw at it. Read the entire
review on page 154.
Street $5330 (base)
prsguitars.com
Click here to read the full review
Collings 360
The Collings 360 (July 2009) is one of the first
entries into the electric guitar market by a
long-time acoustic builder. While it looks like
a stretched-out Les Paul, the 360 is lighter
and thinner. “I love guitars that are resonant,
and the 360 is alive,” wrote Pat Smith. “The
feel of high quality is obvious as soon as you
pick it up.” Two Lollar mini-humbuckers give
plenty of sizzle; the bridge pickup especially
yields an almost Tele-like twang. Collings has
also wired the 360 in what he refers to as
’50s style, which prevents the volume control
from making the tone bassier.
MSRP $2900 (base model); $3500 (flame top)
collingsguitars.com
Click here to read the full review
Kragenbrink OM Fingerstylist
The Kragenbrink OM Fingerstylist
(November 2009) is aptly named: with a
huge fretboard and a spruce top, this guitar
was simply one of the best acoustics we
received in-house all year. No matter who
played it, the guitar gave us great tone in
a beautiful package. However, putting it
into alternate tunings really showed off the
versatility and tonal quality: “Big, booming
bassy chords sustained beautifully under
melodic lines, and harmonics rang nearly forever,” wrote reviewer Gayla Drake Paul, “it
takes a truly remarkable instrument to do all
of that without overwhelming the ears with
unfriendly overtones.”
MSRP $5650
kragenbrinkguitars.com
Click here to read the full review
114 PREMIER GUITAR DECEMBER 2009
www.premierguitar.com
