Art & Lutherie A&L Legacy Concert Tennessee Red CW Presys II no bag/case

The Legacy CW from Art & Lutherie is a concert sized acoustic that is built for modern-day pickers, hobbyists and performers alikes. The generous cutaway gives you easy access to the high frets and the Fishman Presys II on board electronics makes it ready to rock whether you're on stage or under the stars. Underneath its tastefully rustic finish, the Legacy CW features a solid spruce top with wild cherry back and sides for a dynamic voice that is both authoritative and harmonically rich.

The A&L Legacy CW guitar features:

• Pressure tested Sitka Spruce Top
• Wild Cherry back and sides made with 3-layer lamination
• Silver Leaf Maple neck
• Rosewood fingerboard and bridge, 24.84" scale, 1.72" nut width, 16" radius
• Fishman Presys II electronics and tuner
• 18:1 open gear brass finish tuners
• Graphtech Tusq Nut and Saddle
• Dual Action truss rod
• Hand-crafted in Quebec, Canada using 95% Canadian wood
• Optional Godin Padded Gig Bag

A&L is one of Godin's younger brands but they have really made a name for themselves in the world of affordable acoustics. They are built with the attention to detail that we have come to expect from our Canadian friends, and they have put an impressive focus on environmental stewardship, building their guitars with 95% Canadian wood with no clear cutting, meaning they reclaim wood from fallen giants.

A&L also uses high quality construction techniques to insure great tone, long life and great playability. These features include quarter-sawn spruce bracing, a compound curved top, reverse grain kerfed headstock, maple dowel-fortified heel, and Graphtech nut, bridge pins and compensated saddle.

The Legacy CW is a comfortable concert sized with a look that is both retro and pleasingly hip. They really go all out on the aesthetic at A&L, combining beautiful rustic finishes with vintage open gear tuners and interesting pickguards. The top is solid pressure-tested Sitka Spruce and the back and sides are a special 3-part laminate of Wild Cherry. Spruce tops are the norm on acoustics for their bright snappy response, but Cherry is an excellent alternative tone wood that Godin has used with great success. Cherry wood has a tonal profile somewhere in the middle of Mahogany and Maple. If Goldilocks played guitar Mahogany would be "too dark", Maple would be "too bright" and Cherry would be "just right". The low and midrange frequencies are assertive, with a clear and percussive character and reasonable low end extension. The combination of the Spruce top and the "maple-esque" properties of Cherry make the high end of the Legacy absolutely sparkle, which bring out great dynamics especially suitable for finger pickers. We really like it, and it's nicely detailed but less "dry" sounding than some maple guitars. And while it won't punch out the type of low end you'd get with a rosewood dreadnought, the guitar projects well and has impressive volume for a moderately priced concert size guitar.

The Legacy CW looks, sounds and feels broken in right from the start. Even though these guitars come in at a great price-point, the A&L Legacy CW has tons of character and is suited for both beginner and more experiences players. As a daily player, songwriting companion or Coffeehouse workhorse, it's a very satisfying and attractive instrument. Affordable acoustics have come a long way, and the A&L Legacy makes no apologies. Do yourself a favor and try one today.