Earlier this year we caught up with a new and (relatively) affordable Lowden guitar, the bolt-on F-12, which, along with the F-10, kicks off the acoustic range at £3,400 – approximately $4,500.
From the 12 models you move up in numbers and specification until you land here: the 50 Series, which tops the Lowden line (with the exception of the ultra-limited Master Series). Prices for the line start at around £8,000, or roughly $10-11,000 in the US.
George Lowden places the guitar in context: “Our F model, which is our mid-size guitar, was actually the second guitar I designed, way back around 1980, then I adjusted the shape at the end of the 80s. The ‘F’ was originally used because I designed it specifically for flat-picking; I was hoping to get a little bit more punch.
“I wanted the F model to be a little bit more focused and more suitable for flat-pickers. But plenty of fingerstyle players will choose the F, as well. It’s turned out to be our most versatile body size and is still probably our most popular model, despite what I originally designed it for,” he laughs.
“The ‘50’ level uses the choicest of all the woods we have and it has quite a lot of tasteful inlay work around the binding and so on,” George continues.
“I would say around 25 per cent [of the guitars the company manufactures], possibly a little bit more, perhaps 30, are the 50 Series. It seems to be the end of the market we have excelled in and built up a reputation in.”
Offering the key Lowden body sizes, from the smallest WL to the largest O, the 50s can be ordered in a variety of Master-grade wood combinations that pair some nine different back-and-sides woods with a choice of six top woods.
This is augmented by cutaway and onboard pickup options, plus left or right orientation. Ours is a cutaway sinker redwood/African blackwood combo.
“I discovered African blackwood probably around 20 years ago,” remembers George. “The first guitar I made with it was paired with a cedar top and the volume blew me away. That combination produces an incredibly loud guitar!
“With the redwood top, however, you keep the power of the blackwood and the purity and cleanliness of the sound that the blackwood gives you, but the redwood warms that up. It’s a very nice combination.”
Our acoustic guru David Mead agrees: “The sinker redwood seems the perfect foil for the African Blackwood as the combination sums into an acoustic sound with plenty of harmonic complexity but with a considerable amount of warmth at the same time. Chords ring out and sustain well, and fingerstyle playing benefits from clarity, sweetness and plenty of punch.”
- See Lowden Guitars for more
- This article first appeared in Guitarist. Subscribe and save.
