What's happening at Tanglwood?

[oggiesnr]

I've always had Tanglewood pegged as making decent quality instruments at good prices. I have a 12 String (£200), my son has a double neck electric and a mandolin. Perfectly acceptable instruments and good quality/price ratio.

A couple of days ago I happened to browse the guitar section of a local music shop, saw a nice looking Tanglewood and then saw the price tag £1,200! The manager there told me that they also do a couple of more expensive ones than that. At the same time they still had the entry level a and budget stuff but also a lot in the £500+ price range that I'd never tagged Tanglewood as being known for.

Has anyone here played these more expensive Tanglewoods? If so how do they compare with the competition, are they still good value money (ie are they even better than the competition at those higher price points)?

Steve

[Grangur]

We know Tanglewood have been making instruments for Overwater and Overwater have spent a lot of time with them getting the quality better. Maybe they're now looking to get some rewards for this themselves?

In other sections of Chinese industry the workers are beginning to demand higher pay, so the costs will inevitably move up too. Times, they are a-changin'.

[leschirons]

Our guitarist has just bought a Tanglewood electro acoustic. (Something like EW47 EC or thereabouts, don't quote me)

He was raving about this after trying it out in the shop and when he told me the price and then what make, I was a little surprised I admit. I UK Googled it as usually I can source stuff much cheaper back in the UK for my French pals. It was in fact £120 dearer.

Anyway, he turned up here with it and plugged it in. This thing is incredible. Small bodied with a huge sound. Sounds fantastic unplugged too. Workmanship is crazy good quality and has all the right bits on it (grovers, Fishman etc) Bearing in mind his other electro acoustic is a beautiful hand built €3,000 Kopo, this thing is a serious contender.

The equivalent priced guitar from the say the Martin range, buys you a heap of fibre-board crap. For €700, he's got a solid Mahogany instrument that plays, sounds and looks beautiful.

[Mog]

I've noticed a dip in quality over the last few years. I'm still playing a TW1000CE 12string that's years old and it puts a lot of the new models to shame. Two lads who come to a local jam night both use different models from the Evolution Exotic range. When that range came out they were priced at around £500 - £600 and both had crappy electronics and a dodgy output jack. Their higher end instruments don't come close to similarly priced guitars from the likes of Taylor, Martin, Ibanez and Freshman (if you can find one).

[Annoying Twit]

Didn't they have a range of instruments made for them by Fujigen in Japan? That they then decided to sell under the 'Signature' brand, rather than call them Tanglewoods? If that's correct, then perhaps they've been planning to move upmarket for a while.

[OldG]

My wife has a TW45NS... chosen carefully after trying out a myriad of others. It's had around ten years heavy use - we still get people wanting to buy after playing it (not that we would ever let it out the house).....

[Roger2611]

a lot of so called budget makers turn out some high end stuff as well, I guess they employ decent luthiers to oversee the standard production stuff and then let them loose to build a few special instruments.

I have a high end Crafter acoustic which is simply fantastic, every time I pick it up and play a chord it puts a smile on my face, it sat in a comparable price range with low end Taylor guitars and some lower end Martin guitars, I preferred the sound and feel of the Crafter to either of the others.

I am under no illusions that its future value will be a fraction of that of the Taylor or Martin but when I sell it the lucky buyer will get one heck of a guitar

[BrunoBass]

I've played, owned and sold several Tanglewoods over the years and have always been impressed. However I've just picked up one of the new Crossroads guitars (TWCR D E to be precise) as a strummer for the living room and am pretty disappointed. Poor set up, tuner display keeps breaking up, poor quality tuners (tuning is inaccurate and keeps drifting out) and the fret ends are really sharp. I'd heard really good reports about this model so I'm surprised that this one is poor. The body and neck however are beautifully made but it seems they're skimping on hardware. Yes I know it's a budget instrument but I'd expected more for £160 from Tanglewood. I'm going to get it set up properly and see if that makes any difference.

[Kiwi]

[quote name='Grangur' timestamp='1388312472' post='2320573']
In other sections of Chinese industry the workers are beginning to demand higher pay, so the costs will inevitably move up too. Times, they are a-changin'.
[/quote]
I'd be very surprised if this is true. There is no loyalty between employers and their staff in China and private companies operate a 6 day working week. The moment one of them has an issue, they both part company.

[quote name='Roger2611' timestamp='1388613499' post='2324126']
a lot of so called budget makers turn out some high end stuff as well,
[/quote]
Convincing people to buy cheaper versions of a well known and popular expensive brand (e.g. Fender, Warwick, Ernie Ball, Overwater, Steinberger etc.) is much easier persuade them to buyer more expensive versions of a budget brand though. Would actually be better to set up a separate brand and have it know the instruments are built in the same way as the expensive ones (which is pretty much what Fender and Ernie Ball have done).