Jasmine S35 Acoustic Guitar, Natural Musical Instruments

The Background:I am a professional singer and musician who has been at it for decades. I’ve played Taylors and Martins, but prefer a nice Breedlove because their tone seems to sit right in the middle between Taylor’s cut-through-the-mix bite and Martin’s perfect-tone-for-blend smoothness.I bought this as a gift for my daughter for Christmas. I would have loved to have had $500+ to spend on a starter guitar for her, but we simply didn’t have it. I did a lot of research on sub $200 guitars and came across this instrument. I was a bit surprised by the rave reviews and have to admit that I had high hopes because of them. However, as a musician who has seen his share of bad, cheap instruments, I was fairly certain I was going to be disappointed. After all, $70 for an acoustic instrument is…well…ridiculous. Again, I was hoping against hope that it would be as good as the reviews said, but I was more than ready for and expecting things like sketchy construction, uneven fret spacing, substantial fret buzz, poor tone, and more. In short, I was more than pleasantly surprised!The Good:I pulled it out of the under-whelming packaging and was instantly taken by the look of the guitar. It’s beautiful. Don’t get me wrong – it’s not a $700+ instrument, but I’ve seen plenty of $400-$500 starter guitars that didn’t look nearly as nice. Love the satin finish.Because of the reviews I’d read, I was ready for rusted strings and praying it didn’t have any damage due to the poor packaging. I’d purchased some nice D’Addario strings to put on it and was fully ready to go through a lengthy set-up process to get it playable as some reviewers suggested. However, the strings were in perfect condition and, when I tuned her up, the guitar had nearly perfect set-up and sounded pretty stinkin’ amazing out of the box! I’ll still take it in after Christmas to have it fully set up by a pro, but out of the box this things was extremely playable with a very respectable tone.As for tuning, the frets are nearly perfect. My first guitar was a much more expensive Epiphone that sounded great open on the lower frets, but lost tonality quickly as you moved up the neck, especially under capo. Not this little gem. She sounds great all the way up the neck. The neck is narrow and very playable, the frets are smooth with no jagged edges, and the size of the instrument just feels right. The guitar itself is not huge, but it’s also not tiny like a travel guitar. Again, it just feels really nice to play.The Bad:There’s not a lot at this point, really. If this were a $500+ instrument, I’d have some things to say here, but even if it was in the $300-$400 range, I’d have to be fairly picky to write much in this column. The only thing that even crosses my mind is a some concerns for longevity. For instance, the tuners are functional, but you can tell that they are entry-level. They tune just fine and hold tune surprisingly well (again, better than my Epiphone did), but will they last? Only time will tell. Worst case scenario, though, is that they tank and I spend $20-$25 to put some nicer tuners on it. Even if that were to happen, I’d still be in this thing for a ridiculously low price! That almost moves this “bad” possibility into the plus column, in my opinion.Here is my only real concern for this guitar – it’s light. I mean, really light. So much so that it almost feels fragile (it doesn’t feel fragile, but it’s close). My Epiphone was a tank, and I never had to worry about hurting it with the normal bumps and bangs that often come with a first guitar. This guitar, however, is just the opposite. My daughter is very good at taking care of her things, so I’m not too concerned about it because of that. However, if I were getting it for my son who is notorious for destroying everything, I’m not sure it would make it to 2019. Again, only time will tell how this guitar holds up. I’ll try to keep this updated as time goes on.The Wrap:BUY IT! It’s $70, and I’d be shocked if you could find something of this quality for anywhere near this price point. If you are in the market for a sub $350 guitar, don’t spend a penny more than the $70 it costs for this gem. To do so would just not make sense. Even if you had to replace the tuners, strings, and get a better nut, bridge, and pegs right out of the box, you’d STILL be in this for less than $150. You’d also have an even BETTER sounding guitar. In my opinion, the only reason to spend $350-$400 on a different guitar is NOT to get better tone or playability (I doubt you’ll find it, honestly), but because you will have instruments in that range that are sturdier and that have solid tops/backs, etc. But, again, this is only SEVENTY BUCKS! What do you have to lose?

Some reviewers have criticized this guitar but, as one positive reviewer said, it is amazing that you can buy a musical instrument of this quality for such a low price. If you are a guitar enthusiast and avid player, you probably will immediately notice that this guitar is not nearly as good as one that sells for $300 or $400. But of course not–it is not a $300 guitar; it is a $70 guitar. For $70, you can’t go wrong. It is a beautiful guitar. The action is not as high as others have said and the strings are fine. I tuned it and played it right out of the box and it sounds great. I love this guitar. You cannot go wrong for $70.

I want to start by saying that most of the very few negative reviews on here are because these individuals do not know how to set up a guitar, or know that most new guitars need to be set up in the first place.I think it may be done to save labor, but the truss rod is often not tightened, and the saddle is too high.This guitar also has the capability to sound like a $400 guitar, but this will cost 20 in extra parts. A TUSQ saddle and a new set of strings. I prefer medium-light for these lesser expensive guys, if the action is set correctly, it will be easy to play and sound beautiful. These are not necessary, but for all the reviewers who say this doesn’t sound as good as some of the nice ones, put the new saddle on and the new strings, set the action, torque the truss rod, and you have yourself a wonderful sounding guitar.Regardless of your experience with guitars, an easy test to see if this guitar needs to be set up is to stick a quarter under the 12th fret. If it has room on top of it before it touches the string, it will need to be set up. Proceed to step 1, if the quarter fits just perfectly with no room, congrats, you got lucky, you are ready to play.1.) If you are new to guitar, I would highly recommend taking it to a guitar shop and having them set your action. This will usually cost 20-30 bucks but will make this guitar play really nicely, and your progression as a guitarist will be effortless instead of very difficult. I dont recommend spending the extra money on a new saddle or new strings for a beginner. To them, this thing will sound full bodied as it is, and you can switch out the saddle and the strings in 6 months or a year when you replace the strings anyway.If you are not new, or new but handy with little repairs and such, go on you-tube and type in “how to set up your new guitar” A great video of how to set it up. For anyone experienced with guitars, the sound quality will be pretty good stock, but to make it resonate and sound full bodied and amazing (like a true solid spruce top guitar) change out the saddle for a TUSQ or something equivalent and buy some Ernie ball Earthwood medium light 80/20 strings. Together they run $20 and once your action is set correctly and your truss tightened perfectly this thing will sound like a $400 takamine, No joke.I keep referring to the action, this is the amount of space between the frets and the strings, it is the most crucial part of setting up a new guitar and will make ease of playing, sound quality and the whole experience fantastic. The way to decrease action is to loosen the strings enough to pull the saddle out and sand it down 1/32 – 1/8th inch depending on how much is needed. This process takes less than 10 minutes yet many players don’t know how, or don’t know that this is an option.Many reviewers on here say that the “action is too high” which it may be, but it is VERY easy to fix, and makes or breaks any inexpensive guitar. Please don’t listen to the bad reviews from the individuals that have not yet set up their action correctly, this is a takamine (Taak-ah-mani)which is a fantastic brand that makes fantastic quality guitars, do not be fooled by the price tag. This is a beauty, and is simple but perfect for any person with a spare 100 bucks.And honestly, I would not buy any guitar upgrade until you could afford a Seagull s6 (roughly $400) as the seagull will play like a $1,200 guitar. DO NOT waste your money on any other cheap guitar out there, and remember… when you buy a new guitar, it needs to be set up!You now know more than 90% of the people out there, so the next time you hear someone saying “the action is way too high” or “This cheap guitar doesn’t have sustain” or “this doesn’t sound full bodied like the nice ones.” Just smile and know that all they need is to buy a new saddle, some new strings, and adjust the action (all less than 20 bucks if you do the work yourself). I have seen friends buy $1000 guitars and never sand the saddle down, it makes me sad.I know this is long guys, but thank you for reading, I highly recommend this guy, and I highly recommend the seagull s6 as the next guitar upgrade. Have fun playing!

This guitar is great value and perfect for beginnings like myself. It feels much higher quality than the price would suggest and the finish is beautiful (I got the natural). It has satin finish as opposed of being glossy, which I think adds to the overall quality and beauty. I was able to tune it with no difficulty and the adjustments were smooth. The sound is rich and warm with the included strings.I will echo the concern (and misfortune) of many that the Amazon packaging leaves some to be desired for this guitar… The outer shipping cardboard box it was in was HUGE… And only had padding paper on one side. When I pulled the box into my house I immediately felt the inner box Jasmine packages their guitar in sliding all over the inside of the shipping box. I became quite concerned, having ready a few reviews with unfortunate outcomes. To my luck, everything was in order and the guitar is perfect. To be fair, I don’t think Amazon alone is on the hook on this one… Jasmine could do a better job at padding the guitar box, too!But, that observation aside, as a product, this is a 5 star guitar in its price range. Definitely punching above its class. If I’m ever good enough to get something of a higher caliber, I will likely always keep this one around. 🙂

I am a guitar player and teacher. In my 10 years of playing, I must say, this guitar surprised me. I purchased one for my son at Christmas because of the great reviews. I own a few acoustic guitars including a Seagull s6 which is a beautiful sounding guitar.I can’t lie and say that this guitar sounds better than my s6, but I will tell you that this guitar is amazing on its own. In terms of playability and sound, it can contend with a lot of other guitars, especially if you have great strings and a nice set up. Which brings me to my next point: the set up was great out of the box. When my son let me strum it a few times I couldn’t put it down.I am now recommending this guitar to all of my students! This guitar is definitely not a throwaway when you get better. This is a keeper for life.