Has anyone heard of Merida guitars?

[Rosewood99]

Saw some of these on ebay and they look stunning. Wonder if they are any good. It looks like most of the guitars are between $500-$1,000. They also had an all rosewood guitar--can't imagine what that would sound like.

[jwhelan56]

If nothing else, they are nice looking for sure! In the videos, they also sound great to my ear through my headphones.

[jwhelan56]

Here is some information about the company and who they are:

https://www.musictrades.com/profile13.html

[personatech]

I've got to admit that soundport placement is an interesting innovation. Wonder if my forearm would sport some welt-like marks when the playing is done?

[Towzer]

need to hear them non amplified there is quite a bit of compression in these videos

[Rosewood99]

I did find out that the ones that are around $500 are solid top but laminated b/s but for around $800 they have all solid wood.

[ericcsong]

Originally Posted by personatech

I've got to admit that soundport placement is an interesting innovation. Wonder if my forearm would sport some welt-like marks when the playing is done?

that soundport design was taken from Kevin Ryan: https://ryanguitars.com/design-innovations

[Wolfram]

Originally Posted by ericcsong

that soundport design was taken from Kevin Ryan: https://ryanguitars.com/design-innovations

Moreover Kevin has patented that soundboard design in the USA; so I believe it would be illegal to import that guitar.

Cheers,
David

[Rosewood99]

Originally Posted by Wolfram

Moreover Kevin has patented that soundboard design in the USA; so I believe it would be illegal to import that guitar.

Cheers,
David

Only if they caught you.

Seems like a dumb place to put it anyway. My side would block most of it while I was playing.

[Earl49]

Originally Posted by personatech

....Wonder if my forearm would sport some welt-like marks when the playing is done?

As a big fan of bevels and armrests (will never buy a guitar without one again) I'll gladly take oval shaped welts over the marks of hard edges any day.

[ronniesguitarst]

They're good sounding instruments, the side ports bring music to the right ear to give a stereo effect to the player. The solid wood models run with the best American made guitars. Great tone and projection. They will get more popular( and expensive) as they catch on here.

[ronniesguitarst]

I'm 62 years old, my first guitar was a tennis racket played while watching the beatles on Ed Sullivan. Lifelong guitar player, I have performed with top name guitars, Gibson, Fender, Taylor, Guild, etc. Currently performing (occasionally) with an Alvarez Yairi WY-1.
I have played and owned a number of Merida models, the all solid guitars are professional quality with full range and good sound projection. The necks are modern C, slim and fast and I believe all of their steel string models are
1 11/16" at the nut. As a rule the fretboards are dead on straight from the nut to the soundhole which is one of the features of a well built guitar. Without a level fretboard obtaining optimal action is not possible. Merida has got the neck/action relationship figured out. I have played out with an A72, a C40 and a Cupid model. I have played a number of others and my opinion of these guitars is very high. You can get a Taylor 500+ series quality guitar for 1/3 the cost. I have played the Venus koa model in the first picture, it's stunning, a great player but not all solid.
If you are a serious player with an ear for tone, stick with the all solid models.
https://meridaextrema.com/

[The Bard Rocks]

Originally Posted by paulzoom

Only if they caught you.

Seems like a dumb place to put it anyway. My side would block most of it while I was playing.

I used to think the same thing... then I played one. (Notice the past tense in the first sentence.)