Jasmine S35 Acoustic Guitar, Natural

For the price this is a great guitar, slim necked for those with small hands and sounds great.
A prompt delivery and was very well packaged .

It was left at my door. The courier didn’t knock or ring so it wasn’t until I noticed on the tracker that it had been delivered that I found it leaning against the wall at my door. The box was ripped in a few places and was not fastened closed. Inside was the dreadnaught wrapped in thin styrofoam sheeting.with an elastic band holding the truss rod wrench on the headstock. I held my breath while unwrapping and was amazed to see the guitar. It had only a small scratch at the top of the headstock.. whew. Yes it is a small scratch about 2 mm to 1/4in. It’s incredible that greater care is not taken to box these to be sealed and imbedded in paper or strong padding.
The guitar is very well constructed. Inside bracing is glued without any gobs of glue showing. I looked with a flashlight (torch). The external black binding is very nicely fitted and the wood, once the dust is wiped off, can be felt to be thinly satin finished and all joins are tight with no spaces or ill fitted areas. There is just a visible neat glue line under the strings on the rosewood bridge which is probably good procedure. A glue line can also be seen between the neck and the top of the body but this is very neat and again evidence of good construction.
What surprised me further is the body top wood. It is a streaky reddish beige color. The sides are like the picture at Amazon. I had expected to see a spruce colored light wood with brownish lines like in the Amazon picture and the picture at Jasmine.com and like my Epiphone Spruce top, I find it hard to believe it is Spruce. EDIT After research I conclude that it is a heartwood cut of Spruce; hence the redish non-striped appearance of the top and also the back: this is attractive and possibly more functional than the usual sapwood cut and will attract less water from humid air so, it’s all good.
The Jasmine websites lists this guitar model having a “select spruce” (“select” usually means thin ply layers like my Epiphone) top with Agathis back and sides. The back and sides look like Agathis.
The guitar grows on me. I wanted a dreadnaught and I am impressed by the harmonics and notes projected by his instrument. It is easy to play and sounds magnificent. I paid 100 bucks + tax and got all the sound I was hoping for from a good sounding instrument but am puzzled because I don’t know what wood is used other than Agathis and Spruce ply on the body. The neck is Nato with Rosewood fretboard and Rosewood bridge. I’m pretty sure I will keep it and enjoy big beautiful sounds.
Months later, I’m glad I kept it and the action, I forgot to mention earlier, was amazingly perfect right out of the box and remains so.

really nice sounding guitar… bought for Christmas present the young un loves it… thnaks

I want to start by saying that most of the very few negative reviews on here are because these individuals do not know how to set up a guitar, or know that most new guitars need to be set up in the first place.

I think it may be done to save labor, but the truss rod is often not tightened, and the saddle is too high.

This guitar also has the capability to sound like a $400 guitar, but this will cost 20 in extra parts. A TUSQ saddle and a new set of strings. I prefer medium-light for these lesser expensive guys, if the action is set correctly, it will be easy to play and sound beautiful. These are not necessary, but for all the reviewers who say this doesn’t sound as good as some of the nice ones, put the new saddle on and the new strings, set the action, torque the truss rod, and you have yourself a wonderful sounding guitar.

Regardless of your experience with guitars, an easy test to see if this guitar needs to be set up is to stick a quarter under the 12th fret. If it has room on top of it before it touches the string, it will need to be set up. Proceed to step 1, if the quarter fits just perfectly with no room, congrats, you got lucky, you are ready to play.

1.) If you are new to guitar, I would highly recommend taking it to a guitar shop and having them set your action. This will usually cost 20-30 bucks but will make this guitar play really nicely, and your progression as a guitarist will be effortless instead of very difficult. I dont recommend spending the extra money on a new saddle or new strings for a beginner. To them, this thing will sound full bodied as it is, and you can switch out the saddle and the strings in 6 months or a year when you replace the strings anyway.

If you are not new, or new but handy with little repairs and such, go on you-tube and type in “how to set up your new guitar” A great video of how to set it up. For anyone experienced with guitars, the sound quality will be pretty good stock, but to make it resonate and sound full bodied and amazing (like a true solid spruce top guitar) change out the saddle for a TUSQ or something equivalent and buy some Ernie ball Earthwood medium light 80/20 strings. Together they run $20 and once your action is set correctly and your truss tightened perfectly this thing will sound like a $400 takamine, No joke.

I keep referring to the action, this is the amount of space between the frets and the strings, it is the most crucial part of setting up a new guitar and will make ease of playing, sound quality and the whole experience fantastic. The way to decrease action is to loosen the strings enough to pull the saddle out and sand it down 1/32 – 1/8th inch depending on how much is needed. This process takes less than 10 minutes yet many players don’t know how, or don’t know that this is an option.

Many reviewers on here say that the “action is too high” which it may be, but it is VERY easy to fix, and makes or breaks any inexpensive guitar. Please don’t listen to the bad reviews from the individuals that have not yet set up their action correctly, this is a takamine (Taak-ah-mani)which is a fantastic brand that makes fantastic quality guitars, do not be fooled by the price tag. This is a beauty, and is simple but perfect for any person with a spare 100 bucks.

And honestly, I would not buy any guitar upgrade until you could afford a Seagull s6 (roughly $400) as the seagull will play like a $1,200 guitar. DO NOT waste your money on any other cheap guitar out there, and remember… when you buy a new guitar, it needs to be set up!

You now know more than 90% of the people out there, so the next time you hear someone saying “the action is way too high” or “This cheap guitar doesn’t have sustain” or “this doesn’t sound full bodied like the nice ones.” Just smile and know that all they need is to buy a new saddle, some new strings, and adjust the action (all less than 20 bucks if you do the work yourself). I have seen friends buy $1000 guitars and never sand the saddle down, it makes me sad.

I know this is long guys, but thank you for reading, I highly recommend this guy, and I highly recommend the seagull s6 as the next guitar upgrade. Have fun playing!