Jasmine S34C NEX Acoustic Guitar,Natural Musical Instruments

The Jasmine S34C is an outstanding value.I’m still having a bit of a diffiuclt time reconciling the guitar I received with the amount of money I spent for it.Mine arrived earlier this date, with the factory box inside a larger Amazon box and more than adequately cushioned from movement with plenty of crumpled packing paper.The guitar inside the factory box proved to about as perfect in build quality as human hands and machines can make such a thing out of the materials it is made from. I inspected mine very throughly before tuning it to pitch and trying it out -including examining the body interior with the sort of inspection mirror used in automotive repair. I looked for flaws, expecting to find some, but I didn’tTHE NECK: The tuning machines on my example have a positive feel with no backlash in the gears. The nut on my example is of the correct height and is correctly slotted. The fingerboard is a very nice piece of rosewood. The dot inlays on it were correctly done. The frets on mine are all level, properly crowned, polished, and end-dressed. The binding on the neck was skillfully and correctly applied. The neck appears to have been set at an appropriate angle. The satin-matte finish on the neck makes it a fast and smooth thing to slide the hand upon. There is a metal strap button applied in the exact spot I’d have put one on the neck heel myself had one not have been supplied.THE BODY: The laminate sapele on my example is all uniform in general color, with beautifully figured grain. The binding on the body is perfectly executed. Inside the body, everything is neat and tidy -no globs of glue, no whiskered wood. The top on the insturment is often billed as “select spurce.” It is a laminated top, but on my example, you have look very, very closely at the end grain of the wood around the sound hole to tell. It appears to be a solid, voidless board, faced top and bottom with almost paper-thin spruce veneers. The laminated top on this instrument reminds me of the tops used on the old “Nippon Gakki” Yamaha instruments. The satin-matte finish so perfectly and evenly applied to the back and side of my example was equally well done on my instrument’s top. The simple inlaid black and white ring celluoid or abs rosette around the soundhole was flawlessly done, too. My instrument came with the pick gaurd installed, but I removed it immediately upon completing my inspection of the instrument. It was easily removed by simply slowly peeling it off the sound board, leaving no residue behind. I wrapped it in wax paper as soon as I removed it, so it could be re-installed later, if someone was inclined to do so. I bought this guitar to do lead work on and for that, I generally pick with my bare thumb, index, and middle finger, rather than use a plectrum, so the “scratch plate” isn’t something I need on this instrument -hence my desire to remove it.INITITIAL IMPRESSIONS: This is a light and shockingly resonant and responsive instrument and it is pretty much tailor-made for my style of play. Where responsiveness to picking and pick attack is concerned, I couldn’t be more pleased. It has very even volume response up, down, and across the fingerboard with equal attack equalling equal volume wherever a note is fingered. Mine has a substantial amount of sustain, too. I tuned it to pitch and played it for about an hour and a half, using the whole neck, and playing pieces with plenty of single string and double-stop bends, lots of hammer-ons and pull offs, and etc. I’m having a hard time believing that a new guitar would stay in tune through all of that, but it did.Tone-wise, I would describe mine as “sweet” and “clear” without being overly “tinny” or overly accentuating the high-end of the tonal spectrum.It has very good note separation, too, in spite of having almost too much sustain. It seems to generate enough volume when picked with the bare flesh of my thumb, index, and middle fingers to work well with microphones -something I’ll have a go at tomorrow. Strummed with a plecturm or flat-picked, it puts out a lot of volume for an all-laminate body instrument.It reminds me of everything I liked about my first guitar -an Ovation Balladeer, being similar to that in terms of response to pick attack, even volume and sustain response all over the fingerboard, and being close in terms of tone. What I am still amazed by as I write this is that when I first started playing guitar back in 1980, $30.66 had the same buying power then that the price I paid for my S34C has today, but back in 1980, there wasn’t such a thing as a playable guitar to be had for that kind of money.In sum, the Jasmine S34C I received isn’t just “a good guitar for the money.” It’s just a good guitar. Period and full stop.The only “con” to it that I can come up with is that it shipped to me with insanely high string action. I can remedy this easily enough through simply sanding a few thousanths of an inch off the bottom of the bridge. And it isn’t really a “con” per se, because even expensive guitars need a “set up”.Otherwise, it seems entirely well suited for what I bought it for -an insturment for finger-picked acoustic lead or solo guitar. It isn’t something I’d want to flat-pick fiddle tunes on or back a bluegrass jam with as it lacks the “punch” and powerful bass of a good dreadnaught-style guitar. But it seems all peaches and sunshine for what I bought it for and hoped it would do.My expectations were high based on the number of positive reviews this instrument gets. My example has exceeded those expectations.UPDATE 3/7/2016: After giving the instrument some time to acclimate to its new surroundings, I set the insturment up to my taste, tweaking the truss rod a little to get exactly ten thousandths of an inch of neck relief and popping a lower saddle in the bridge to get the string height over the 12th fret where I like it -using a U.S. quarter-dollar coin as a height gauge. I then strung it up with Ernie Ball Earthwood extra-light silk and steel. I only thought I was impressed with instrument as it came from the box. After setting it up and re-stringing it, I am even more impressed than I was initially. This instrument simply doesn’t play or sound like the “cheap plywood box” that it essentially is. It is a highly resonant, sweet singing, responsive guitar, even when strung with extra-light silk and steel strings, and even when picking it with my bare thumb, index, and middle finger as I am wont to do. Tuning stability has also proven to be really good so far. Since receiving this, I’ve already gigged it, where it took nothing more exotic than a humble Sure SM-57 aimed at the 14th fret to get stellar live sound. I’ve also found that it records really well. To say that I am amazed with this instrument is a bit of an understatement. I’m so impressed with mine that I have literally just purchased another Jasmine S34C from Amazon! Having a second one will allow me to have one in standard tuning and another in altered tuning, and alternate between them in live performance, instead of having to constantly re-tune just one of them. If this second one that I have just ordered is as good as the first one I received, the plan is to put K&K pickup systems in both of them.UPDATE 8/13/2018: I now have several of these instruments. All of them were purchased from Amazon and all arrived on my doorstep in perfect condition, albeit in need of a truss rod and saddle height adjustment. I absolutely could not be more pleased than I am with these instruments. I am something of a guitar geek -the kind who goes to brick and mortar stores and plays everything they’ve got, but I have yet to play an acoustic guitar that I like better than this model, regardless of price, or who made it, or what it is made from. It plays, sounds, and stays in tune every bit as good as instruments costing significantly more and, as such, this instrument has to be one of the best “bang for the buck” values in music today. In fact, it plays, sounds, and stays in tune better than a whole bunch of guitars costing a whole bunch more money. If I had more space to keep them, I’d buy a few more. Yeah, it’s a cheap plywood box and it doesn’t have the “solid board” back, sides, and top that so many players think a great guitar has to have. I could care less what the thing is made from or what it looks like. What I absolutely DO care about is sound, and how easy it is or isn’t for me to get what I hear in my head out to the ears of an audience. These things do what I want a six-string acoustic guitar to do. There generally no other six string acoustic guitar that I would rather play instead. The more I have played them, the more I appreciate them. The “honeymoon phase” ain’t over yet. I have installed K&K pickup systems in two of these for convenient and decent live sound. I use the external K&K pre-amp and the result is something that needs no improvement.

This is indeed a remarkably nice little cheapo guitar–good looking and, after adjustment, really easy to play. I wish I could get the action on my Taylor 214 to be this good. It is not, however, made by Takamine, though it was designed and built by them–it looks identical to several of their models, especially some in the G70 series. That was a long time ago. Takamine sold the brand to KMC Music Company (Connecticut) around 2005. The one I bought several months ago was made in Indonesia. It looks great and is solid and well made (though one neck-dot was not quite flush), but it is–as several reviews note–essentially a “cheap plywood” box. I replaced the truly mediocre tuners (actually, I put $55 Hipshot locking machines on this $119 ax–had to drill out the mounting holes to 10mm, but that was easy), replaced the nutt and saddle with tusq pieces, and of course put better strings on. It’s fun to play and, as I said, has really great action after proper setup. The weakness is the sound, which varies a great deal–its tone responds more to humidity changes than any guitar I’ve ever had. Sometimes it sounds pretty sweet, but a lot of the time it sounds a bit jarring, like the undertones are clashing somehow. A mix of brass and wood bridge pins helped a lot, but still…. I bought it to experiment with some alternate tunings and it’s been great for that–I now keep it tuned a whole step down for tunes I just can’t sing in the original key and can’t transpose to a different set of chord-shapes. Personally, I wouldn’t gig with it, but I pick it up pretty frequently–especially when my aged, arthritic hands are hurting. It would be a great first guitar for a kid who can handle a regular-sized instrument, but spend the extra money & time to get it professionally setup. I wouldn’t trade the one I’ve got now for anything I’ve seen in the store for less than $500 (yeah, I’d trade it for a Taylor Academy 12), but it took some work to get it there.

I’m a beginner guitarist (about 4 months of practice in) and this thing is great. I own it alongside an Esteban and an electric (Yamaha Pacifica PAC012) and it’s one of my favorites to play on. It’s pretty lightweight and easy to carry around. A great guitar for the price. It stays in tune for a good amount of time.Strings are phosphor bronze 12 gauge. They can tear your fingers up a bit, which in a sense makes it really good for developing finger strength. Same with its action (height between strings and frets), meaning you’ll have to either get your fingers closer to the fret or press down harder to prevent buzzing. If you’re an absolute beginner, practice 15-30 minutes every day and until the tips of your fingers are sore. Within a month or so you should start developing calluses and it’ll be easier to play thereon after. I recommend also getting these picks (plectrums if you’re from anywhere but the states) – https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B0002D0CH6?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2_dt_b_product_details – the 0.73mm size is great for multiple types of guitar playing, be it rhythm or lead.Most of the materials are on the cheaper side, which I believe is expected for a budget acoustic. But that doesn’t mean this thing is of poor quality, and it especially doesn’t mean it sounds bad because of it. Anything but, actually, as this thing sounds amazing.The only con I can think of is that (and this could be just because I have poor technique, so not necessarily a fault of the guitar) barre chords towards the headstock of the guitar can be tricky to play (such as F major, Bm, and so on) cleanly on it. Usually my 2nd string starts to buzz or sound off, but again, that could just be me needing to change my technique. The action of the guitar could be responsible for this, but I’d have to get a 2nd opinion.

I’ve been playing guitar for 25 years or more. I know what a cheap piece of crap feels like and what a quality instrument should feel like. The build and feel of this guitar is super slick. It does not feel like a $120.00 guitar this feels like a $300.00 to $400.00 quality guitar. The action is spot on and the tone for the price is spectacular. Even the strings (usually the first thing I replace on a new guitar) are pretty crisp. I bought this as a couch guitar. Something I could just pick up and play and not worry about kids and dogs knocking over my Martin which stays in the case. Now I don’t want to leave this out on the couch. If you are a beginner or someone who’s looking for a decent guitar you don’t have to baby don’t look any further. This is what your looking for. I’m probably going to swap out tuners as the ones that came with it are a bit gritty for my taste, but they are nothing close to terrible.

An academic point first. Jasmine guitars have not been made by Takamine since 2005. Takamine sold off the Jasmine rights to KMC music in that year. There is a convoluted history there that you can go research if you like. The Jasmine guitars that were made by Takamine say “by Takamine” on the headstock and on the sticker inside the guitar. I still see current reviewers stating that these are made by Takamine and even sellers putting that in their advertisements and it is misleading. Now does that really matter? Not at all. These still represent an exceptional value.My guitar needed a full setup so be prepared to do that yourself or take it to a pro to have it done. This is perfectly normal.As for a review. I purchased this as a general knock around guitar so that I wouldn’t have to take my Martin or Washburn guitars out of the house. There isn’t much to add that hasn’t already been said by other reviewers. This one arrived in a foam bag, double boxed. My guitar has some very minor cosmetic issues with the finish. The headstock stain is darker in one spot near the treble tuners (see photo) and there are a few light specs on the top where the stain didn’t absorb around the binding. I pulled the strings and saddle off of the bridge and hit it with the micro mesh pads since it was a little rough. I took the tuners off and oiled them and they are much smoother now and hold tuning fine. The nut slots were a little tight and the strings were binding so I hit them gently with the nut slot files. Problem solved. If you have that problem and don’t have any nut slot files, don’t worry. Just use some pieces of old guitar strings and run them back and forth in the right nut slots, rub in some pencil lead and that should do the trick. The fret wire is tiny. Fretwork is fine and there is no fret buzz. Slight fret rock on the 13th and 18th frets, but doesn’t affect playing. All of the internal bracing and purfling is fine. Nothing loose or broken. My action was on the the high side so I ended up taking 2mm off of the bottom of the saddle. Now it’s perfect for me. Still using the factory strings and enjoying it. I would buy this guitar again without hesitation. Typically you get what you pay for. This is certainly one of those wonderful and rare exceptions.