The Tonedevil S-12 arrived yesterday.
I was first surprised at it coming in a standard-size guitar shipping box, and then again with the size of gigbag. Having never seen a harp guitar in person, part of me was expecting a monstrosity.
In the bag, it's 4.5" shorter than my dread's case, and even a couple inches shorter than my Grand Concert's case. People talk about lugging harp guitars around like it's a nightmare. Well, the gigbag isn't very protective and I wouldn't trust it other than a few miles in an otherwise empty car...but in the right case, it'd hardly be terrible to lug around.
My expectations were confirmed--this is easily the best deal going for harp guitars.
I quickly moved on to inspect things that are more important to me: playability, build quality, and tone.
Playability: 10/10.
This is very important to me, and it's fantastic, very easy and smooth fretting, and I'm picky. Exactly how I like, medium-low, out of the box. (Both my 6-strings have 1 7/8" nuts, so I was right at home.) The light strings sound more robust than lights usually do (large sound chamber, large top?). Plays as well as my best Taylor, which is impressive.
Another feature that won me over was the 14-fret neck. Most/all other harp guitars I've seen have a 12-fret neck. I like 12-frets with cutaways, but I otherwise need 14-frets for a lot of my songs.
Build quality: 8/10.
Excellent overall. Fretwork is great, walnut binding is excellently done. The design is admirable, comfortable (considering the large arm...sitting down, it doesn't feel much more unweildy than a dreadnought). I swapped the cast tuner buttons for some pearloid ones, which took additional weight off the headstocks.
It's very resonant, and feels properly-but-
lightly built (just tap on the top, sides, or back! Wow.). Has unkerfed lining, back braces that don't extend into the (un)kerfing. Spanish heel neck, which (at least in my mind) must be good for stability. I like the shape of both headstocks. The larger-than-usual dot inlays on the side of the fretboard are good for visibility. Bone nuts and saddles are a nice touch, and properly installed and cut.
Finish: 6/10.
I'm putting this in a separate category than build quality. While the build quality, design, bracing, binding (as well as the frets, nuts, saddles) is excellent, the finish is okay. There are some sanding marks in an area, some unevenness in areas of the finish. Rosette inlay work is okay, some unevenness. Nothing bad at all, just a little room for improvement. The open grain finish is cool, though. And at this price-point, the finish is the
only area that doesn't well-exceed expectations.
Tone: 9/10.
I don't have a $3,500 - $12,000 harp guitar to compare this to, but it was everything I'd hoped for tonally. I'm thrilled with the tone. It's crisp yet full. Notes leap right out (larger soundboard and/or the lightness of the build?), the reverb-like effect of the harp strings is inspiring (and easy to mute with the wrist when required). The bass notes are full and defined, not mush.
I was concerned about learning the harp guitar (and you should be too! Haha.), but within 30 minutes I was working out some great new arrangements of my songs. I'm bound to be non-traditional harp guitar player, using it for more modern folk singer-songwriter stuff. I do spend most of my time fingerpicking and have spent a lot of time on oud-type instruments with
wide (3"+) saddle spacing, so I was already used to playing with a wide reach.
The harp guitar absolutely deserves its resurgence, and I think Tonedevil (and Emerald) will play a big role in it (partly due to price-points). But this price for a wooden, full-size, true harp guitar, how could you do any better? The Tonedevil is absolutely well-made, and well above entry-level in tone and playability, and overall build quality. I feel good about supporting a small business run my skilled craftsmen in the US. Tonedevil is onto something pretty awesome.