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  #1  
Old 01-24-2019, 02:52 AM
gr81dorn gr81dorn is offline
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Default NAMM: Announcing (Ed) Sheeran (FKA Ed Sheehan) Guitars (Brand) by Lowden

https://sheeranguitars.com/

Dying to know pricing. Looks like some great stripped down Lowdens. Seems like maybe Lowdens answer to lower price models from big namers or Waterloo, Epiphone, etc.

Can’t wait for some videos and such.

Last edited by gr81dorn; 01-29-2019 at 09:13 AM.
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Old 01-24-2019, 04:00 AM
IndyHD28 IndyHD28 is offline
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So much for Martin....
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Old 01-24-2019, 05:02 AM
gitarro gitarro is offline
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Ed sheeran getting into the guirar making and selling business?
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Old 01-24-2019, 06:29 AM
Paddy1951 Paddy1951 is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by gitarro View Post
Ed sheeran getting into the guirar making and selling business?
He is growing up and now wants a real guitar.
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Old 01-24-2019, 06:33 AM
gr81dorn gr81dorn is offline
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Originally Posted by Paddy1951 View Post
He is growing up and now wants a real guitar.
He’s been playing Lowdens the past couple years. He also made over half a billion dollars on his last tour, so he can afford whatever he wants now. Don’t we all wish we could :-)
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Old 01-24-2019, 06:37 AM
gr81dorn gr81dorn is offline
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https://guitar.com/news/gear-news/ed...t1ylmrU8zFs6h4

600 quid is like $750 USD. That is tremendous. Will be fun to see if they’re decent quality and all the actual fine details on the specs.
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Old 01-24-2019, 06:45 AM
wattsy wattsy is offline
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I thought I saw a price of around €900 for this range – which I thought was competitive for a "made in Ireland" guitar. £600 is even more affordable. Whilst not the kind of money that many will think of spending on their very first guitar, hopefully a number of young people (the kind of buyers that Sheeran and George Lowden would no doubt like to reach) will see value in buying a £600 guitar rather than a £600 iPhone.
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Old 01-24-2019, 06:47 AM
SausagesBeGone SausagesBeGone is offline
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Not sure about this. Waterloo are still pretty expensive but a £600 Lowden is a bit like Porsche offering a new model for £5000 - it must dilute the “quality” perception somewhat?
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Old 01-24-2019, 06:55 AM
gr81dorn gr81dorn is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by SausagesBeGone View Post
Not sure about this. Waterloo are still pretty expensive but a £600 Lowden is a bit like Porsche offering a new model for £5000 - it must dilute the “quality” perception somewhat?
I think the brand name being Sheeran separates things enough and gives a fair expectation that it’s not a Lowden. It’s probably closer to the Epiphone/Gibson relationship where the models are directly built on the higher end brand platform, just downgraded materials, etc.

Surprised they can do it in Ireland at meet that price point. Everyone else has to go to Asian or Mexico.

I’m not well versed in UK economics, but is Ireland known to be a low wage market?
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Old 01-24-2019, 06:59 AM
dkstott dkstott is offline
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It is an interesting change.

Martin has sold several different Ed Sheeran signature models over the past few years.

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So much for Martin....
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Old 01-24-2019, 07:02 AM
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JayBee1404 JayBee1404 is online now
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Quote:
Originally Posted by SausagesBeGone View Post
Not sure about this. Waterloo are still pretty expensive but a £600 Lowden is a bit like Porsche offering a new model for £5000 - it must dilute the “quality” perception somewhat?
That's probably why the headstock logo says 'Sheeran' and not 'Lowden'.
OK, it has 'by Lowden' in very small letters below the 'Sheeran' logo in much larger letters, but I very much doubt that anyone will seriously believe that a £600 Sheeran is the same thing as a £3,000+ Lowden, nor that the quality of Lowden-badged instruments is 'undermined' or 'reduced' simply by virtue of the introduction of an 'affordable' range.

I could be wrong, but that's my take on it.

The usual disclaimers apply......IMHO, YMMV etc.
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Old 01-24-2019, 07:07 AM
mcduffnw mcduffnw is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by gr81dorn View Post
https://sheeranguitars.com/

Dying to know pricing. Looks like some great stripped down Lowdens. Seems like maybe Lowdens answer to lower price models from big namers or Waterloo, Epiphone, etc.

Can’t wait for some videos and such.

Holyshamoly!!!

Now HERE is going to be the "acoustic guitar" super story of NAMM this year.

These guitars look amazing, and at their equally amazing apparent features and specification list, and at their apparently amazing price point, if they sound as good as they look...wow...just wow.

The Taylor slope dread design will get a lot of buzz at NAMM, because Taylor is really good at ginning up buzz...deserved or not...but THIS is really the story coming out of NAMM.

You want a couch picker that is easy on your old painful shoulder, or a terrific sounding travel guitar, or you just like small bodied but full featured, full voice guitars?

And at what appears to be a truly bargain price point?

nuff said...


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Last edited by mcduffnw; 01-24-2019 at 07:09 AM. Reason: add content
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  #13  
Old 01-24-2019, 07:26 AM
AndrewG AndrewG is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by gr81dorn View Post
I think the brand name being Sheeran separates things enough and gives a fair expectation that it’s not a Lowden. It’s probably closer to the Epiphone/Gibson relationship where the models are directly built on the higher end brand platform, just downgraded materials, etc.

Surprised they can do it in Ireland at meet that price point. Everyone else has to go to Asian or Mexico.

I’m not well versed in UK economics, but is Ireland known to be a low wage market?
It's Northern Ireland (part of Great Britain Great Britain), so average wages are similar to those on the British mainland. In the 'Guitar' announcement it mentioned solid tops, but nothing about back and side woods. I suspect laminates will be the order of the day. If that's the case they will have plenty of competition from the likes of Yamaha and Alvarez. I do hope they don't opt for the dreadful open pore 'finish' I see on things like the affordable Eastman offerings. If they do the typical Lowden satin, I might be tempted to take a look.
I don't know about anyone else, but 'Sheeran by Lowden' smacks of 'Epiphone by Gibson', or 'Squier by Fender', and psychologically cheapens the things. Why not just make an inexpensive Lowden and call it that, like the Gibson Les Paul model?
Edit; yes, back and sides are specified '5-piece construction', so laminates-not that that's a bad thing.

Last edited by AndrewG; 01-24-2019 at 07:41 AM.
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Old 01-24-2019, 07:26 AM
dodge dodge is offline
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Seems a smart move for Lowden building an affordable model with one of the most popular young artists name attached to it. Iooking forward to giving one of these a strum.
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Old 01-24-2019, 07:38 AM
mcduffnw mcduffnw is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by gr81dorn View Post
He’s been playing Lowdens the past couple years. He also made over half a billion dollars on his last tour, so he can afford whatever he wants now. Don’t we all wish we could :-)
I betcha he took a good chunk of that tour lucre and plunked it into this project with George.

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