2007 Crafter SA-QMOS Slimline Acoustic Electric with Upgrades,

Description

Very highly regarded copy of the Taylor T5 with playability on par with the best T5’s I’ve had – plus mods to the electronics that make it much more versatile than a stock model. As shown in this comparison pic, the stock model has only a neck lipstick pickup and saddle piezo pickup, with preamp controls on the top/side of the guitar. We have added a bridge pickup, plus volume, tone, and 3-way switch (up=neck, middle=both, down=bridge) for the magnetic pickups – and incorporated this into the preamp so when you slide it toward the “Lipstick” setting, you can use any combination of the two pickups with its own control for level and tone. The result is a guitar that’s twice as versatile as the stock model. The stock electronics are quality stuff with a L.R. Baggs Element saddle transducer, Kent Armstrong lipstick neck pickup, and a blend fader to mix the acoustic and electric tones. The original output jack has been bypassed and plugged, with a better quality jack handling all the sound output. The preamp also includes controls for volume, mute, phase, bass, middle, and treble. Other features include finely quilted maple veneer top finished orange sunburst, solid back and sides, sound chambered body with dual bound f-holes, mahogany neck, Indian rosewood fretboard with mother of pearl inlays, 1 11/16″ nut, 25 1/2″ scale, 18:1 deluxe tuners, Indian rosewood bridge, gloss finish, and dovetail neck joint. This guitar isn’t mint, but the worst flaw is just some buckle scratches on the back (shown here), with no cracks or structural issues. Frets are perfect so I don’t think it’s seen much actual playing time, just a careless owner. This guitar sounds fantastic with quality acoustic tones from the Baggs Element and electric tones from a Tele style lipstick pickup that’s great for country or jazz, and a GFS Dream 180 (link) that can handle your harder rock tones. The bridge pickup has loads of mid-range honk, more than any guitar I can think of. Great for ZZ Top tones or any time you want your guitar to stand out in the mix. Combine the bridge pickup and Baggs, and you’ll get a tone that sounds very much like a banjo! There isn’t any feedback issues with the magnetic pickups except in extremely high gain settings and the acoustic tones are quiet thanks in part to grounding tape neatly installed on the back of the bridge (pic). Overall, this guitar performs flawlessly. Most remarkable is the setup Martin put on this guitar. The action is as low as it gets with no dead spots anywhere. This is a great neck. A stock SA-QMOS will run you $839 ($1199 list) and while this one definitely doesn’t look new, we put around 4 hours of bench time in outfitting it with mods that will make it more desirable to the pro player and I can guarantee you won’t find a better playing one. I consider it an exceptional buy at $639. Includes a clean original brown case.