Lowden Signature Series Richard Thompson Guitar

AA3305

Lowden Signature Series Richard Thompson NEW IN!

Introducing the Lowden Richard Thompson Signature Collection acoustic guitar - a masterpiece designed for exceptional musicians. Crafted with Ziricote back and sides and Red Cedar soundboard, this guitar offers a full-bodied, loud, and clear response. With a comfortable GL standard neck profile and an elegant Ebony fingerboard with Maple bindings, this guitar delivers unparalleled playability. Impeccable craftsmanship is evident in its Old 35 style inlay, Tasmanian Blackwood binding, and Gotoh Gold 510 tuners with Ebony buttons. Elevate your playing with the epitome of high-quality and precision - the Lowden Richard Thompson Signature guitar. Hicox hard Case Included.

Richard Thompson Signature model – Interactive Guitar Magazine Review

Put together Irish luthier George Lowden and the songwriter and guitarist Richard Thompson and the result is likely to be spectacular.Gary Coopergives the background.Michael Casswelldoes the hard part.

Lowden acoustic guitars are widely held to be among the best. They have been serious contenders for any professional or wealthy amateur’s money since they first began to appear, during the mid-1970s, when George Lowden began making professionally in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Since those days, Lowden has had a complicated history. Starting out in Northern Ireland during a violent and depressed era was a stroke of ill-fortune in itself, soon to be compounded by enormous fluctuations in the acoustic guitar market, which has gone from the depths, during the synth-obsessed 1980s, to the peaks today, where the acoustic guitar is at a peak of its popularity. For a time, Lowden worked in Japan, where guitars were handmade in a specialist craftsman facility. Later he established a factory in Ireland. Later still, he moved to France. Now he is back in Ireland again, overseeing a small team once more in a family-owned business. There have been commercial spills and tumbles on the way (the full story is on the company’s website) but consistently throughout his career, Lowden’s reputation has been spread by devotees who have numbered his guitars among the best in the business.

Ironically, part of the attraction of buying a handmade guitar like a Lowden is that each one is an individual instrument – even if it is built to a specific model or design. The woods will vary, minute changes in build all show and, above all, what you start out with might not be what you end-up with, because real acoustic guitars – the best ones – change with age as they mature.

We borrowed a Lowden Richard Thompson model to be our introduction to the Lowden family.

The guitar we have here is a Richard Thompson signature model, also known as the F35-C-RT (writes Michael Casswell). Folk rock guitarist Richard Thompson has played Lowdens for many many years, so Richard and George got together to make this signature model. Richard being a very accomplished acoustic player, and George being a superb luthier, it was bound to be winner.

The top is AAAA grade cedar (that’s a lot of ‘A’s), and the back and sides is Ziricote. Ziricote is a wood I’m not familiar with (apparently it’s Central and South American Cordia dodecandra – also used in furniture making – Ed)but it certainly has a lovely look to it. The neck is five-piece laminate of mahogany, rosewood and walnut and the overall finish of the guitar is a natural satin. There is an ebony fretboard (in common with much ebony today, surprisingly light in colour) and the gold Gotoh tuners reinforce the ebony theme, having buttons of the same wood.

As you would expect from a guitar of his quality, it’s the little details that show the difference. The centre back seam is made of strips of rosewood, mahogany, sycamore and walnut, the headstock overlay is bookmatched Ziricote, the purfling is sycamore rosewood and mahogany – there has been a very great deal of work put into this guitar and it shows.

Internally, Lowden uses bracing he calls ‘Dolphin Back’. When you look inside you can see each brace is thinly scalloped (like the back of a Dolphin), making it lighter and more resonant. A very nice touch.

I am a big fan of Lowden guitars, and have played four or five in various sessions or situations. This particular model, though it’s a signature guitar (some players are put off by that) and though it is far from cheap is, apparently, a best-seller for one of the UK’s top acoustic specialists (Sheehan’s music from Leicester) who also told us that Lowdens in general are among his best selling premium quality acoustics. We’re not surprised!