The National Resophonic Delphi is the new National company's interpretation of the Duolian, one of the least expensive national single cone steel bodied guitars of the 1930s. The guitar has about a 25 inch scale, 12 frets to the body, ivoroid bound rosewood fretboard, appliance-like baked on enamel finish (mine is gray), open nickel-plated tuning machines, lovely slotted headstock, rolled f holes, and so on.
rnWhat can I say? The thing is a monster. LOUD. Loves to be beaten on. Absolutely perfect quality. Sounds fully as good as an old Duolian, except the new ones have truss rods and other modern conveniences that make them much easier to live with. Close your eyes and think "Son House" or "Bukka White". This is it. There is no comparison between this guitar and any lesser resonator I have ever played. Even the new Dobros are far less impressive.
rnShortcomings? None really, except the body is steel so the guitar is very heavy, and it is not set up for a strap. Of course, properly one sits to play a guitar of this type. I understand that, according to legend, such guitars saved a few bluesmens' lives by stopping bullets in dangerous jukes over the years. Let's see a Martin do that!
rnBest guitar I have ever played. I have no interest any longer in acquiring any other instruments. This one should last until, say, 2109 or so.

I bought this guitar in my b-day and when i first saw it, i liked it immediately.The finish is a bit odd for some people though. It is like any usual strat, 3 single coil pickups, 2 tone control and 1 volume control. Its really a simple guitar, the sound is okay for alternative,punk(the 2 genres i play often),but also good for blues and jazzy stuff. It is a pretty durable guitar,and the finish will only break(not entirely, just some small parts) if hit hard, but it is a pretty solid guitar.Overall, the only drawback is the weird finish.This is a good guitar for beginners and pretty cheap too, but great for the price.

Bam! Must be something about the shape, but I, nor any of my friends or family, can keep their eyes of my guitar. It's almost, erotic. But aside from its beautiful style, it sounds brilliant. moving up and down the neck is easy; I just feel faster then on a stratocaster. The tone sounds great straight with my fender frontman 15r or Yema G75-465. I use a zoom 505II. It has a maple fretboard and black finish with white pickguard. This guitar has impressed everyone I've shown it to, all my friends think its awesome, even my grandma thinks its "retro." Something about it is just recognizable as well. While in an airport checking in luggage, this middle aged- older woman walked up, looked at the case and said "gibson flying V?" I responded "yup" "What color?" "Black and white" She said "Classic, sweet." I have had no problems with My Flying V so far, save that a strap is REQUIRED. Even sitting down with it, the guitar will just slide off your knee, and really, who want to hold a solid plank of wood for hours? Perhaps the biggest downside would be the price, but the shop I went to threw in a mess of cables, picks and discounted the case. I recommend it, just to show off if nothing else

The Epiphone EJ200-CE is a great guitar for the money. When you think in contrast that you could buy a Gibson J-200 for around $2,000 to $4,000 depending on the options, the Epiphone model is much more realistic seeing as how most of us do not have thousands available to spend on a guitar. This guitar comes with a piezo style pickup built in so it is easy to plug in and play through an amp as well which really shows it's versatility. The tone of this guitar is great. You really get that bassy lower end out of the jumbo style body with an equally impressive mid-range boom also. The mustache bridge and gold hardware also really set this guitar apart from other mid-level acoustic electrics as well. To say the least it is as visually satisfying as it is satisfying to hear. The functionality of this guitar is in my opinion it's greatest feature. I have my guitar setup for medium to heavy gauge strings and it really packs a punch when you plug it in or not. I've been playing guitar for 9 years now and will more than likely be purchasing a nicer acoustic within the near future. However, I will not get rid of my Epiphone. It is a great guitar for someone who has already learned how to play and is looking for a moderatly priced, mid-range guitar that has all of the benefits of some of the higher end models without the price tag.

Since I didn't have much money I decided to buy a cheap First Act from Walmart for $60.

It has a laminated spruce sound board and rosewood bridge. The interior ladder and X appear to be adequate. The box claims that the neck is "steel reinforced" but there is no truce rod adjustment visible on either the head stock or at the neck joint inside the body. My advice would be to only use light strings to avoid neck bowing. Even light, it took 6 days before my new fingers could fret the steel strings without pain.

The bad things were obvious. The outside edges of the frets were all sharp. I had to use sandpaper to smooth them off before it was safe to slide my hand up and down the neck. Secondly, the low E and A strings buzzed very badly on the 3rd and 4th frets.

I decided the action was probably too low, allowing the strings to hit the next higher frets. So, I took the strings off the tuners to get them out of the way. The saddle just drops in so it was easy to remove with the tiny pliers on my swiss army knife. I added strips of heavy card stock paper to build up the bottom of the slot about 1/8". This got rid of the fret buzz. Another bad thing is that they left the bridge fastening screws inside the body (these are supposed to be removed after the glue sets). I couldn't see any easy way to remove them so I just tightened up the nuts so they wouldn't rattle.

The guitar is parlor sized which is smaller than a dreadnought but is still larger than a kid friendly 3/4. It has a reasonably good sound, holds tune after playing (according to my chromatic tuner), and the finish doesn't rub off. It comes with a spare high E and B string.

If you can't make adjustments to it then don't buy this guitar. But be warned though that guitars like $40 Rogue Starter and $60 Dean Playmate won't hold tune. You could get a more playable $80 GTX without sharp frets and buzz, but you would need the $130 DS-10 with solid spruce soundboard to get a significantly better sound.

Bam!
Must be something about the shape, but I, nor any of my friends or family, can keep their eyes of my guitar. It's almost, erotic. But aside from its beautiful style, it sounds brilliant. moving up and down the neck is easy; I just feel faster then on a stratocaster. The tone sounds great straight with my fender frontman 15r or Yema G75-465. I use a zoom 505II.
It has a maple fretboard and black finish with white pickguard.
This guitar has impressed everyone I've shown it to, all my friends think its awesome, even my grandma thinks its "retro." Something about it is just recognizable as well. While in an airport checking in luggage, this middle aged- older woman walked up, looked at the case and said "gibson flying V?" I responded "yup" "What color?" "Black and white" She said "Classic, sweet."
I have had no problems with My Flying V so far, save that a strap is REQUIRED. Even sitting down with it, the guitar will just slide off your knee, and really, who want to hold a solid plank of wood for hours?
Perhaps the biggest downside would be the price, but the shop I went to threw in a mess of cables, picks and discounted the case.
I recommend it, just to show off if nothing else

I got interested in the Michael Kelly Patriot Ltd after reading about it in the NAMM reviews. It was awarded Bet of Show. That intrigued me because it is a somewhat low-priced instrument made in Korea. I thought the award might have been a mistake and was really curious about the Patriot. I watched them on eBay for a couple of months and finally found one at a pretty good price. I wasn't expecting a whole lot but when it arrived I was pleasantly surprised. The guitar is very solid and has a good weight to it. Almost as solid and heavy as an actual Les Paul. And it plays just like one too. I very slightly sanded the back of the neck to give it a nice satin feel. The neck, bridge and strings were preset and dead-on accurate. The Grover tuners really hold the strings well, too. The Rockfield pickups have amazing punch and the coil tap option on the knobs really grabs you! The finish on my particular model is a beautifully matched spalted maple. It also comes in a Bubinga which looks nice in the pictures. For less than you'd pay for an Epiphone version of a Les Paul, you can buy a Michael Kelly and be very happy. Go for the Limited, not the regular. It comes with better finish, pickups, neck, and tuners. You'll be happy you did. Price ranges from about $325 (eBay) to $499 new.

This is an $1,800 guitar that I purchased used from Guitar Center. It comes with a beautiful case. Even though it has 12 strings the guitar is easy to tune with a chromatic tuner. The stand strings are excellent but expensive to replace at about $27.00 a pop. The sound quality is excellent and the body gives the guitar excellent sustain. The build quality is top knotch. The only complaint I have is it is difficult to play bar chords on the higher frets. Maybe the guitar requires a better set up. But to sum this evaluation up I would have to say this is a quality instrument fully deserving the list price of $1,800 and should last an owner a life time.

I've got a Seagull S6 with a pine top and cherry sides and back. It's gorgeous. It plays and sounds great and cost a lot less than other namebrand guitars of the same style. I would definitely recommend a Seagull to anyone looking for an acoustic guitar.

My Taylor 810 is an incredible guitar. The sound is fantastic and the action is superb. It's a true joy to play.