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Farida slopes?


dhanners623

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Maybe it has been discussed here already, but I see on the Elderly Instruments website that Farida is coming out with a series of slope-shouldered guitars and they are supposed to be in around May or so. Anybody heard anything about them?

 

I know some folks here have raved about their Faridas, particularly the value for the money. I'll be interested to see what these sound and look like.

 

https://www.elderly.com/catalog/product/view/id/143816/s/farida-old-town-series-ot-62-vbs-acoustic-guitar/category/943/

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I have the lowly cheap OT22. It’s at my folks house in Brooklyn. It’s a fantastic guitar, and despite the laminate back and sides, sounds really good. Perfect intonation. Comfortable neck. Short scale.

Caveat... these sound good because they are lightly built. I bet the Farida Slopes will be lighter than the Eastman E10ss. I’d expect an airy punchy sound, with the Gibby thump. But man... you better humidify they sucker.

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Farida is the house brand of Grand Reward Education & Entertainment, a well-respected manufacturer in China that builds for a number of brands to their specifications. I've read they can make as many as 13,000 guitars a month. I believe they built an Epiphone Masterbilt model or two in the late 2000's. They are capable of building a very high quality instrument, influenced of course by the price-point the brand wants it to sell for. I think Elderly's been offering a line up of LG-2 ish guitars built to their specification by Grand Rewards since last summer, and people seem to like them from what I've read, and I've heard some nice videos of them. They are certainly priced very attractively. Sal's review is very encouraging. I wonder how much better the solid side models sound.

 

I saw the video about the J-45ish slope just the other day, and it will be interesting to hear how they sound. They will soon join the Ren Fergeson designed line of Gibson influenced guitars for Germany's Shadow Electronics and Epiphone's own Masterbilt J-45, of course, as quality budget priced choices for those looking for Gibson-y slopes.

 

Red 333

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Boy howdy, if "Grand Reward Education & Entertainment" doesn't sound like the name of a Chinese company, I don't know what does. I like to support American-made products, but since living abroad, I've discovered there are some other good manufacturers out there, as well. (And there are a lot of guitars that, as Steve Earle says, "still thinks it's a tree.")

 

It's times like this I wish I were back in the States to check out these Faridas. They have one photo of the new Farida slopes on the Elderly site, but I can't find it now. They look J-35ish, with rectangular bridges. Both the sunburst and natural top looked cool.

 

If Farida ever made a 12-fret slope, I would be forced to buy one....

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Epiphone's current J45 Masterbilt is, I believe, made in Samick's Indonesia factory, which has built some very nice instruments for Epi. The model was recently updated with a new batwing pickguard that more accurately fits the guitar & exposes the rosette. Looks quite nice & has solid woods.

 

If I were in the market for a cheap slope-dread copy, it's one I'd want to check out.

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Epiphone's current J45 Masterbilt is, I believe, made in Samick's Indonesia factory, which has built some very nice instruments for Epi. The model was recently updated with a new batwing pickguard that more accurately fits the guitar & exposes the rosette. Looks quite nice & has solid woods.

 

If I were in the market for a cheap slope-dread copy, it's one I'd want to check out.

 

I recently got a roundhole Masterbilt Century Deluxe. It's built in Indonesia as well. I don't know if it's from the same factory that makes the Masterbilt J-45, but it's a terrific guitar.

 

Red 333

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I believe the Farida acoustics are built on the same line as Sigmas. The Sigma LG2-alike I played recently was superb, basically the same guitar as the OT-22 as far as i can deduce. Loved that thing, light as a feather and lovely neck.

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I recently got a roundhole Masterbilt Century Deluxe. It's built in Indonesia as well. I don't know if it's from the same factory that makes the Masterbilt J-45, but it's a terrific guitar.

 

Red 333

Glad you like it. I’ve been looking hard at them.

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Cool! I like that style better than the B-10e anyway.

When I go to that Elderly link there is no photo.

 

There is one photo that seems to flash randomly when you click on various pages on Elderly's website, but I've only seen it twice and can't replicate whatever it was I did to get to the photo. The photo shows two guitars -- one sunburst, the other natural -- and they most definitely draw their inspiration from a J-35.

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