This review was submitted by Guitar Jar contributor: SlackDogDay
I just started a new project, a duo with a female vocalist and realised that my trusty old Eko Ranger with under-saddle Piezo and no on board pre-amp was just not up to the job. Checked out Fender, Tak, Yamaha, Freshman, Epiphone, Finlayson and a whole string of others but kept coming back to the Faith range.
…inspires me to try all the styles I know, from blues to country to folk to traditional Irish and Scottish…
Tonality and playability are, in my opinion, way above these other brands in the mid-price range. Would like to have tried a Sigma (Martin’s entry level range) but could not find one.
Having settled on Faith, the next question was which one? The final showdown was between the Saturn, the Neptune, both dreadnaughts, and the Jupiter which is a Jumbo shape. The dreadnaughts almost took it on sound, but cost and playability swayed me to the Jupiter.
Laquered, Solid spruce top. Solid Indonesian Trembesi back and sides, satin finish. Elegant abalone rosette and name inlays, Macassan Ebony fingerboard, headplate, heelplate, bridge and bridge pins.
Fitted with a Shadow NanoFlex II under-saddle pickup and Shadow SH863 preamp system, equipped with volume, bass and treble hideaway pots, with a phase button.
The Faith also comes with a rather well made classy looking dark brown solid case lined with thick lush imitation fur, featuring a generous storage compartment for strings, capo, beer… all the gigging essentials.
Light weight, beautiful to play, well set up straight from the factory. The electronics are a cinch. If you are used to dreadnaughts, the jumbo shape takes a little getting used to, but it is still very comfortable to play.
I have hardly put it down since I got it and the lovely sound inspires me to try all the styles I know from blues to country to folk to traditional Irish and Scottish.
For the price range the sound quality is absolutely excellent, punchy yet mellow with a lovely deep bottom end and crisp top end.
Lovely smooth ringing tone when strummed, clear, resonant when picked.
Could not have asked for more.
I only tried two other guitars that came close, a Martin and a McElvoy, both sadly out of my price range, but the sound was not that much better than the Faith.
Brand new, only had it a few days, so cannot say yet. I suspect the satin finish on the Trembesi may require the gentle touch, i.e. care with belt buckles etc, but time will tell.
Highly recommended. I see Faith guitars going the way of Simon & Patrick… best kept secret as amazing value high quality guitars – until word gets round, then the prices will start to rise.
This review was submitted by Guitar Jar contributor: SlackDogDay
Guitar Jar Contributors are random members of the global playing community who have contributed to Guitar Jar by submitting reviews & articles to share with fellow musicians.
2:13:23 pm
I’m with Slackdogday with regard to the Faith Jupiter. I have had mine a couple of years now and love the clarity of tone. I tried several guitars way above it in price including the bottom of the Martin range and even a Lowden and while I liked the Lowden for it’s full tone and shout found the Jupiter not far short of it in sound yet more playable ‘out of the box’.
I bought mine at an offer price and see it now sells at twice as much. Still good value at that I reckon.
I found though that without electrics it was limited in use so have just installed a piezo pickup and four-band EQ. Tone seems unaffected so it’ll now get out more.
I also use an old Takamine EN-20 which is a much more refined machine more suited to chord work.