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- Verified Buyer
Well... I wanted a simple ~throw around guitar.... to take to play at events as I don't want to risk either of my expensive Maton guitars getting damaged. For this reason, I must have watched a hundred videos on multiple smaller guitars and how they sound... right across the range.. from Ibenez to Martin...Taylor etc etc etc.. I'm talking every video with every well known brand, to the unknown ones as well. To be fair I NEEDED a fretboard with a nut width of 1 3/4" as my playing style is "fingerstyle" finger picking...and that immediately cut my list into 1/4 of what was really available at any price point. I actually bought a Martin dreadnought Jr from a store that I wont disclose the name of.... in short, after less than a week of owning it; I had to send it back for a refund as it developed two 3inch ~cracks on the back part of the guitar where the fret board meets the neck....it was in all fairness probably a one off; but was enough to turn me off the brand. This was my personal choice.... as I imagine this is a rare event; however I lost confidence after seeing such a problem develop.... so I kept looking. I had heard of the Journey rt410 from a few places (mainly Youtube)... and in a few cases they were just used as comparison guitars to other more expensive models; but to my ears they actually sounded really nice. So I ordered one... from here on Amazon... And I have to say if there is ANYWHERE that could beat this AMAZING price I did not see it; and I looked everywhere. Honestly as soon as I saw it here it was a no-brainer. So.. it arrived yesterday, and my thoughts are as follows.You may notice the body of the guitar is a wedge shape which ~apparently... is supposed to help boost the bass and make this tiny guitar sound like a full size... and.. it freaking does!!.. When I first played it, I was really taken back to comparing it to the recently returned Martin D JR...and there is a MASSIVE difference in the sound of the Journey that honestly puts it on another level, in short it sounds beautiful.. the notes ring/resonate way more than the Martin did... and from the bottom of my heart ~pretty close... to my Matons which blew me away as the cost me WAAAAYY more than this little guy!!!. When holding the guitar it is immediately different from any other guitar I have ever picked up..and over the last 40 years or so of playing there have been many. It's different as it is tilted as I look down on it due to the wedge shaped body...which immediately means when you glance down at it, you can see the fret board on a better angle that shows you where your fingers are.... this feature is a bonus to the wedge design that naturally boosts the sound of the guitar giving it more volume as well. Hmmm...LOL.. well you probably wont read this anywhere on a review of a guitar... but it smells really nice to. The sound hole emanates a beautiful wooden aroma of the natural woods this guitar is made of... honestly if they could bottle this I would buy it... a plus to the guitar?.. not really... but its sure nice to experience...once again unlike the Martin which felt a heck of a lot lighter...and had no aroma at all... which for me at least is a quality indicator. I LOVE the head-stock on this guitar.. it's so small.. but the shape of it is so damned nice, and the tiny pegs to tune the strings are geared really nice!!... once again they are BETTER than the Martin as you have to turn them more to tune them...meaning the gear ratio is better, although they are the same size. Well done to Journey for this design all round!!.. The GIG bag is the BEST one I have ever seen!!... would I prefer a solid case... possibly. But This case has so much going for it... it is obviously designed to just throw over your shoulders and go. With this in mind they seem to have thought of everything pockets everywhere; good zipper quality etc etc... would have to be worth $100 just by itself at LEAST!!.. Very surprising bonus. (I mean I knew it was with a bag when I bought it...and the reviews say the same "It's awesome" etc etc.... but it's not until you get a hold of it in your hands that you can really appreciate these guys went out of their way to think of everything when they designed it. Very cool. Would I recommend this guitar?.... Well If you play finger style (finger pick) that would be a gigantic YES!!!.. The only down side I can find here is that there is no PRE-AMP in the guitar ... (So you can NOT adjust the volume etc etc from the guitar)...BUT the pick-up that IS built into it can connect directly into an amp and you can of course control all of that from the amp itself, so it's by no means a reason not to get it. At first... when I started to play it. I ~thought the action may have been a tad high... but after a few hrs, I actually had to admit to myself that this is not the case. It plays so easily and allows me to get more volume when I need to pick at it harder; so I can not fault this at all.!! This is a FUN guitar to play!!.. It sounds fantastic, looks fantastic, is crazy impossible cheap to buy!!...You know what... I like this guitar so much...when I actually go to reach for a guitar to play (I have several)... I will probably be reaching for this one first..despite it being literally 10X cheaper than some of my others!!... and that my friends is when you know you have something special. If you are on the fence, I whole-heartedly recommend grabbing one. There is a fold up one available as well.... but I am in this for the sound only and that feature was not an issue for me.. I am old-school and kind of prefer the thing to not come apart, and would happily travel with this guitar as it is :) Thank for reading my rant, I have never been inspired to do so on ANY product I have ever bought on Amazon before.... but this might just encourage someone to try one, and I would doubt for this kind of money that ANYTHING would come close to the experience. Cheers!!This review is for the JF410. I've included a photo to show the build quality that is exceptional, note the straight grain solid spruce top with mahogany rosette, wood binding on the top, back and fret board. The sold mahogany neck is for me a perfect C shape with a very smooth satin finish. I set this guitar up with GHS silk and steel strings with a low action (high E at 1.7mm and low E at 2.2mm at the 12th) with just .05mm neck relief and it plays perfectly up and down the neck with no string buzz. The nut was well cut from the factory and I only had to lower the A string a bit. The 1.75" nut width is great for me but if you have small hands you should consider the JF410N as it has a narrower nut width. Tone is bright and clear with these strings and intonation is very good. I was surprised to get such a fine instrument for such a low cost. Thank you Journey!I was looking for a small guitar with bigger sound than its size, when I came across the Journey. I was somewhat familiar with the company's detachable neck guitars, but I really didn't need that option. So when I saw the fixed neck model, at a very reasonable price for a solid-top guitar, I decided to grab it. It has turned out to be a good decision. I love the "wedge" body on the guitar, and it really is more comfortable than just about any other guitar I own. The guitar is really well-built, a quality instrument in every sense. Obviously, it's not going to deliver the tone and power of a full sized Martin or Taylor, but it is definitely superior to other 3/4 size guitars I've owned and played. It is well balanced across bass, mids, and treble, and it's easier to record than a full size boomy guitar. Not only was the guitar a great deal from my point of view, but Journey packs it in a really top quality gig bag that provides excellent protection for the guitar, and has plenty of extra storage space. Now, one other very positive consideration for me was the fact that there was an error in the description of the guitar. It was listed as an acoustic-electric model, when in fact it is an acoustic only model. So why positive? I sent a note to the company to report the error, and almost immediately, I received a reply from James Brawner at Journey with an apology for the error, and an offer to send me a pickup for my guitar at no extra cost. Sure enough, in a few days, the pickup arrived. From my point of view, this is really great customer service, and all things considered, I couldn't be happier with my guitar. For anyone who's looking for a really nice travel sized guitar, I'd say this one would be hard to beat.
