And we have a winner!
Congratulations to Mr Stephen Cheong for sending his review on the EJ2!
The Tickets are yours!
Hi there,
I was looking for a reasonably priced, dependable electro-acoustic guitar that can handle
frequent use in a variety of situations without me feeling too precious and protective of it,
when I decided upon Maestro's EJ-2. I'd read a little about their guitars and actually wanted to try the cedar top EJ-3 but once I heard this, that was it. Even the higher range Singa(what a great name!) couldn't change my mind
First, the whats: it's a jumbo-shaped body with solid sitka top, ovangkol back and sides and
rosewood fingerboard in matt finish plus I had B-Band pickups installed. Nice and simple
looks which suit me fine, after all I'm getting a guitar for its sound, not as a wall
ornament!
Speaking of which, the sound is what sold me on this. Warm, full and clear, both lower and
upper tones. I play fingerstyle with a lot of slurs and it was important to me that the bass tones come across clear but also with depth. Happily, this is the case. I also love how
the harmonics and tappings just ring out; always gives me a smile
Additionally,
the jumbo shape lends itself to greater body and volume for strumming; plus my wife says I
look much better with a bigger body!
The EJ-2 came already set up and ready to play so I had no problems there. I've never really liked glossy guitars because fingerprints become far too obvious so the matt finish is just perfect.Plus, it makes the neck that much faster and responsive. As an aside, an interesting story here was that the display model I tried out at the showroom had one ding just above the sound hole so the guys said they'd get a new one for me from the workshop which I could collect
in a few hours. I then got a call later saying that unfortunately, the workshop model had
met with an accident while having the pickups installed and the display model was now in better shape than it! Not that I would have minded the display one anyway,
but the shop did offer 10% off for the ding so that was fine with me too
I've played guitar for some 17 years now and have gone through Yamahas, Takamines, Ovations, Corts,Seagulls, Taylors and the odd Kapok (!) or two but for the price, the EJ-2 is excellent value; definitely much better that similarly priced mass-produced imported brands. It's not the most ornate piece of wood in the world, but then a guitar is meant to be played, not exhibited and for that, I'm well pleased with the Maestro.
Stephen Cheong