Guitar Review Caroline Springs School of Music
Lag Tramontane T200 Acoustic/Electric guitar review.
First of all let us clear up one common misconception. An acoustic guitar with a pickup is an acoustic/electric guitar NOT a semi-acoustic guitar. Semi acoustic guitars, usually have f holes like a violin and are favoured by most jazz guitar players. Now that we have cleared that up the following is our review of one of our biggest selling acoustic guitars at our guitar store in Caroline Springs; the Lag T200 ACE.
As with all 200 series Lag guitars they have a lovely solid cedar top, mahogany sides and back all finished in French satin. The body is bound with rosewood and a thin border of maple. The rosewood and maple rosette inlay contains a stylized Occitanian cross. The comfortable neck is mahogany with a rosewood fingerboard which contains no fret position markers, only bird’s eye markers along the top of the neck. The rosewood bridge nicely matches the rosewood headstock (finished in linseed oil). The black graphite nut helps keep the guitar well tuned at all times, the intonation on all Lag guitars is superb. The black machine heads are very easy to use and are pleasing to the eye.
We thoroughly recommend auditorium sized guitars as opposed to dreadnought guitars, the playability of the T200 outweighs the slightly fuller tone of the T200D. We believe dreadnought guitars to be an anachronism every bit as outdated as the German battleships they were named after. Playability is a serious musician’s first concern when choosing a guitar.
The tone and timbre of the guitar played acoustically is very rich with great projection. I spoke to the maker Michel Lag-Chavarria at AMAC in 2010 and he explained the new bracing system in all Lag guitars greatly contribute to the vibrant sound of their guitars. Having played the guitar through Trace Elliot and AER acoustic amps we have found a great array of acoustic electric tones. The electric pickup system in the T200 ACE is the innovative StudioLag Plus. This is the finest preamp I have ever encountered on an acoustic electric guitar, the range of tonal variations is vast (ranging from folk to jazz sounds) and all have a pristine clarity beyond that of any other system I have used.
Many of our students and most of our guitar teachers at Caroline Springs School of Music play Lag guitars. Lag won guitar of the year at NAMM in 2010 and 2011 beating all comers, try one in our store and you will see why. The T200 ACE retails at $799, we believe you have to spend at least twice that in other brands to come close to the quality of the Lag. Next time you see the wonderful Caroline Springs School of Music guitar ensemble in action note how many of them are playing Lag guitars. If you are looking to upgrade your guitar, look no further.
by Brendan Hains
Principal Guitar Teacher
Caroline Springs School of Music
