CME's review of the Lennon Models

[JuanCarlosVejar]

I don't know what to think about this kind of review ... but the guitars sound very nice IMO :

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

JC

[grOOved]

I don't know what to think about this kind of review ... but the guitars sound very nice IMO :

 

 

 

JC

 

I love heading down to CME a few times a year to drool over their guitars and amps. I played a J160E Lennon there last year and it was very true to the Beatles sound. Electric strings, laminated top - sort of a hybrid jazz box/acoustic guitar. You have to understand the era and the sound to truly appreciate it. A friend I was with had no clue what I was "hearing" while playing it =).

[Red 333]

I have the J-160E Peace (natural, but without the Lennon drawings on the top), and that's the unmistakable sound it produces. I don't know of any other acoustic made today that sounds like it.

 

I also have the solid topped, x-braced J-160E Standard and Epiphone EJ-160E. Both are fine guitars, but sound very different from the laminated top, ladder braced sixties spec reissues like the Peace, Museum Editions in the video, or those sold by Fuller's and some of the other 5-Star dealers. I'm always amazed when other J-160E Standard or Epiphone EJ-160E owners rave how much their guitars sound like Lennon's. It really illustrates the psychological effect that all of us players experience at some time, if not ALL the time, when we hear what we want to hear. The video really proves it.

 

Red 333

[rbachman]

I thoroughly enjoyed the video !!!

 

I have a Solid-top J160-E from 2005 and I do love it verrrrrrrry muuuccchhhhh ... but it doesn't sound like these guitars. Must be the P-90 instead of the P-100 and the laminate top !!

 

Love Lennon !!!!

[ParlourMan]

For me the laminate jobs have a very percussive presence, almost no sustain etc... so for the fingerstyle guys (or AGF crowd to be topical) I can see why these would be slated, however as it's a holly bodied electric guitar disguised as an acoustic, I could make decent use of one of these in my wee combo... the downside, I wouldn't pay the cost involved when I could simply buy a ladder braced guitar, or a laminate beater for much cheaper, equip it with an electric pickup and electric strings to achieve a near as damn-it repro of the same sound.

 

Nice guitars for the purpose and for Beatle maniacs, but minus any Lennon / fab four connection, these wouldn't even be in production today, nobody's paying 2-3k for a ladder braced laminate guitar under normal circumstances.

 

The video, well, the video was laden with a bit of slapback and reverb too to get that Lennon vocal sound, but you can hear it applied to the guitars too, so it's not fully representative of how they sound. Take that away it mightn't be so appealing, or better still add the same effects to a normal acoustic and you'll get close enough to this to be fairly representative.

[zombywoof]

The J-160E sold new for around $200 in the early 1960s. That was alot of scratch back then. The way most of us went was to buy a J-45 or SJ and slap a DeArmond single coil pickup across the soundhole.

[onewilyfool]

Very creative vid...but I agree, hardly indicative of how they really sound. I've seen some of these re-issues with solid tops, x-bracing, solid back and sides....I played one like this and it was pretty dead. I thought iw would sound more like a J-45 with a soundhole pick-up but it didn't....Nice look though..