I waited a year before writing this review because I wanted to give the guitar time to settle and adjust to the climate in my area. Initial reactions are that the guitar looks beautiful - the wood is bright, the gold trim pops well, the detail around the sound hole is a nice touch, and the leaf fret markers are obviously beautiful. Visually, my review is five stars. It plays well on the hands - the action isn't too high and the spacing up and down the neck is good.
Beyond that, I have some issues with the guitar. Tonally, I've found the sound has always been a little "clangy," and the bottom tends to fall out (even after trying different string types). I've trouble getting it to hold its tuning for too long. Additionally, the nut has always seemed a little low and from the beginning has resulted in some string rattling if I strummed even a little too hard, and the frets wore down incredibly quickly just exacerbating the issue as time has gone on.
Overall, I wouldn't say I "dislike" this guitar but I wouldn't spend this amount of money on it again. For a $500 purchase price, I felt disappointed by the out-of-the-box quality level, and have had to put a lot of work into it after only a year.
