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LOWDEN S-22 ACOUSTIC 1983 I'd never heard of Lowdens when a pair of them appeared in Hodges and Johnson's shop in Chelmsford around start of 1985. I had a go one day and this S-22 (now renamed O22) was the best acoustic I'd ever played. Obviously H&J's buyer had misjudged Chelmsford guitarists' taste for quality, as they stayed in the shop for months, with the price gradually reducing. I eventually beat the guy down to below £500, for which he fitted an Ashworth transducer too. Later Alvin Davies fitted a better one, and a decent pre-amp, under the split saddles. But its amplified sound has now been optimised by a Fishman magnetic pu/mic and a Zoom pre-amp. Lowdens are second to none for tone and playability, and they're well-made and unfussy. This comes from the period when George Lowden transferred production to the Japanese maker Sadao Yairi, but the model is the same as played by Pierre Bensusan and, at one stage, by Graham Kendrick. The top of mine is cedar (pretty eroded around the soundhole now!), with back and sides mahogany and ebony fingerboard. |
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