Turner 40-000 and 84CE Turner 40-000 and 84CE Having been continually refined as a brand over several years, Richard Thomas discovers the new personality of these guitars’ body shapes and pickups. Will you be queuing to take your turn? urner Guitars have been steadily establishing themselves as a company able to provide very playable instruments at affordable prices. The company was established a few years ago by musician and guitar collector Terry Pack. Terry’s aim was to capitalise on modern manufacturing techniques and provide the best ‘machine-made’ (to use his phrase) guitars available at prices that would enable them to reach a wide market. Turner’s current catalogue reveals a wide product range in terms of both woods and body styles, which includes dreadnoughts, jumbos, grand concerts, grand auditoriums, 000 and 00 guitars. There really does seem to be something for everyone. At the very top end (the 90 series) Turner provide some beautiful guitars made from solid Hawaiian koa, topped with solid spruce. Remarkably, you can find these guitars in the shops (or direct from Turner) at prices well below £1,000! The models which are the subject of this review come from the 40 Series (one up from the lowestpriced series) and the 80 Series (one down from the highest-priced series). Both are fitted with pickups and preamps and the higher-priced 84CE also comes with a goodquality hard case. T Construction Turning my attention firstly to the lower-priced 40-000, I was pleasantly surprised to find that this instrument is, in fact, based on Martin’s traditional 000 design, with the slightly elongated body and a body-neck joint at the 12th fret. This is very much a modern take on the design, with a more contemporary feel to the neck and a solid headstock rather than the traditional slotted one, but it’s a welcome addition to the relatively small number of similarly styled instruments available at this price point. The guitar features a solid spruce top, with some nice cross-silking evident through the gloss finish. Decoration is relatively simple with 5-ply black and white top purfling and a 3-5-3 ply black and white soundhole rosette. The rosewood bridge has a slightly Tayloresque appearance, and I suspect that there’s a strong Taylor influence in much of the Turner range. This is no bad thing, of course, given the impact Taylor have on the acoustic guitar scene, and the innovations they have introduced. The body is bound in cream plastic, which continues up the neck and around the headstock. Peeking inside the guitar reveals a reasonably neat interior in terms of construction, but a few extra minutes in 66 Turner 40-000 and 84CE “There’s a more prominent, almost piano-like bass and ringing trebles, with a slightly scooped mid range” 67 Turner 40-000 and 84CE Turner ‘40-000’ Model: ‘000’ Price: £215 Manufacturer: Turner Guitars Built in: China Body Size: Non cutaway ‘000’ Depth: 104mm. Lower bout: 386mm Woods used: Top: Solid Sitka spruce Back & sides: Onangkol Neck: Solid mahogany Fingerboard: Rosewood Frets (No. & size): 20 frets, joins body at 12th fret Tuners: Grovers, diecast. Nut Width & Scale Length: Bone 45mm . Scale: 648 mm Onboard Electronics: None Left handers? No Gig Bag/Case Included: No The quality of finish, even on the budget model is excellent manufacturing, cleaning up the interior and removing stray sanding debris and dust, would not go amiss. Flipping the body over, one is immediately struck by the strong grain pattern of the satin-finished ovangkol back and sides. Indeed the striped-grain pattern is particularly strong on the sides of the instrument. The appearance may not be to everyone’s taste, but ovangkol (laminated in this case) is a goodquality tonewood, with many of the same tonal qualities of rosewood, and has been used to great effect by Taylor in their 400 series. In fact, my first really good acoustic guitar was a much-loved Lakewood M-18, with ovangkol back and sides, and was a really beautifully toned instrument. The mahogany neck isn’t the straightest-grained example I’ve ever seen, but the separate heel is a perfectly sensible cost-reducing compromise. Access for truss rod adjustment is provided at the headstock, which sports kidneybuttoned Grover tuners. I’ve always found Grovers to be pretty good, but these feel a little stiff and scratchy in operation at the moment; perhaps a few months use will take care of that and they will operate more smoothly in time, but I wouldn’t like to guarantee it. The rosewood fingerboard is decorated with medium-sized pearloid dot markers, which are offset from the centre. This always looks a little odd to me – perhaps it’s just a personal dislike of asymmetry – but plenty of guitar makers, from Gretsch to Tanglewood, have used similar arrangements, and it’s a matter of personal taste rather than a real criticism. Frets are well finished and the guitar comes with a heel-mounted strap button, so it’s ready to strap on and play. The location may not suit everyone but I had no problems with it. The guitar comes complete with on-board electronics in the form of the Fishman Ellipse VT system, with simple tone, volume and phase controls accessed through the soundhole. As usual this arrangement has the merit of not needing to cut holes in the side of the guitar to mount the preamp. The downside is that access to and adjustment of the controls is a little more secluded. As you might expect, the more expensive 84CE shares many constructional features with the 40000, including the scalloped bracing, bone nut and saddle, Tayloresque bridge (ebony in this case) and fingerstyle-friendly 45mm nut width. However, this is quite a different instrument. Firstly it’s a cutaway grand auditorium – around 20mm wider than the 000 at the lower bout and 7mm deeper at the deepest point. Essentially it’s dreadnought width, but the tighter waist makes it more comfortable to play and tends to contribute to a less boomy, more balanced sound. It’s a style I like very much – think Taylor 14-style and you’ve got it. This guitar is an all-solid-woods instrument, with back and sides of some richly grained rosewood – East Indian I suspect, though not unlike some of the more modest Madagascar rosewood I’ve seen. The top is, of course, spruce. It’s not the tightest-grained example I’ve seen, but the milky colour suggests that it might be Engelmann rather than the more usual Sitka. The top is finished with 3-ply black and white purfling, whilst the soundhole rosette is a little more decorative, sporting an abalone ring. The body is bound in plain maple and, overall, finishing is to a reasonably high standard. Certainly there are areas one could criticise – the interior finishing isn’t quite as good as one might expect on higher-end guitars and, as with the 40-000, you can find areas where the stain of the back and sides has bled slightly under the gloss finish and, more obviously, there’s a little lacquer build-up at the neck-body joint. However, these guitars are built to a budget and you would certainly have to scrutinise Contact Details Turner Guitars Tel: + 44 1253 798370 Web: www.turnerguitars.com What we think Pros: An affordable working instrument Cons: One fret marker on the fingerboard on top models Overall: A nice budget guitar which will appeal to players looking for a smaller-bodied instrument ACOUSTIC RATING OUT OF FIVE Acoustic Ratings Exceptional Excellent Good Average Poor 68 Turner 40-000 and 84CE Turner 84CE Model: 84CE Grand Auditorium cutaway electric/acoustic Price: £484 Manufacturer: Turner Guitars Built in: China Body Size: Auditorium. Depth: 111mm. Lower bout: 405mm Woods used: Top: Solid Sitka Spruce Back & sides: Solid Indian Rosewood Neck: Solid mahogany Fingerboard: Ebony Frets (No. & size): 20 Frets, joining body at 14th fret Tuners: Grover diecast Nut Width & Scale Length: Bone, 45mm. Scale 652m Onboard Electronics: Piezo with B Band A3.2 pre-amp Left handers? Yes Gig Bag/Case Included: No them quite closely to spot such things. Slightly oddly, the striped ebony fingerboard – undecorated apart from two offset snowflakes at the 12th fret – is bound in cream plastic which, to my mind, looks odd combined with the body’s maple binding. However, it may well be a practical issue – the plastic is less likely to be discoloured by sweaty hands than the maple, and a similar combination of maple and plastic binding is used by much higherend makers, notably Larrivee. It would also have been good to have continued the binding around the headstock which would have provided a more finished look at very modest cost. The 84CE features the highly regarded B-Band A3.2 pickup and preamp system, with the latter mounted on the upper bout. I don’t think that the black plastic battery access port on the upper bout looks very appealing, but perhaps it’s a matter of personal aesthetic judgement. available from the instrument. As is quite often the case with 000sized 12-frets, the mid range is quite prominent, underpinned by a solid bass – resonant, without booming or dominating the sound as you sometimes find it does in larger-bodied instruments. The 40000 is certainly not a one-trick pony. Strumming those open campfire chords produces a pleasant, open sound. But it’s in fingerpicking that this guitar’s major strength lies. At present it sounds and feels a little tight and lacking in warmth, but a few months regular playing may well open things up and add a touch more warmth. Almost as an afterthought I tuned the guitar to open G and ran through a few slide licks, which revealed hidden depths – in the guitar, sadly, rather than in my playing. The mid range really comes into its own here and it was relatively easy to produce a convincing bottleneck blues sound – a nice bonus and I could see this guitar making a good buy for slide players on a budget, or as a second guitar, set-up for open tunings or slide. The Fishman Ellipse system does its job reasonably well for such a simple system. It’s a little over-bright, if anything. The simple volume and tone slider controls limit the amount of tone shaping one can achieve, and attempting to reduce the brightness can easily lead to a slightly muted tone overall. Nevertheless, 000 electros at this price point are far from common and Turner have definitely delivered a worthwhile package in the 40-000. Contact Details Turner Guitars Tel: + 44 1253 798370 Web: www.turnerguitars.com In Use Players unused to the 12-fret format might find the 40-000 a little unusual when they first pick it up. The elongated body and 12th fret join give the guitar a slightly different feel. However, it’s easy to adjust to and the satin-finished neck is comfortable to play, being neither too wide nor too shallow. The action on this guitar was just a tad on the high side, but this may well contribute to the lively tone and pleasing amount of volume What we think Pros: Very playable fingerboard and good upper fret access Cons: You may not like the inlay minimalism Overall: A good, value-for-money package for players with smaller budgets ACOUSTIC RATING OUT OF FIVE Acoustic Ratings Exceptional Excellent Good Average Poor Picking up the 84CE I was immediately struck by the difference in set-up, which is much lower than the 40-000. If anything, I’d say that the action is a little too low. Whilst it might be appreciated by players who predominantly use electric guitars, it’s a little low for an acoustic. Still, it makes for an easy-playing feel. As you might expect, the 84CE is a little louder than its smaller stablemate. There’s a more prominent, almost piano-like bass and ringing trebles, with a slightly scooped mid range. Like the 40-000 it’s quite a bright sound, a little over-bright for me at the moment, it’s rather ‘crashy’ too, responding best to a light pick for strumming. At present it’s quite easy to get the sound to break up with more vigorous playing and I think a settling-in period will definitely be necessary before this guitar reaches its full potential. Having said that, I think there really is potential here. The bass string responds well to a bit of flatpicking, whilst fingerpicking draws out the mid range a little more, giving a balanced response across the frequency range. The B-Band system is one we’ve encountered several times previously and, as usual, it performs well, providing a reasonably accurate approximation of the acoustic sound. With separate rotary controls for bass, mid, treble and presence, as well as volume, the player has considerable flexibility in shaping the tone and it’s good to find a professional quality system like this in such a modestly priced guitar. Conclusion This is my first encounter with Turner guitars and I must say that I’ve been favourably impressed. The 40-000 is a welcome addition to the lower-budget market, whilst the 84CE, with solid spruce and rosewood construction, the B-Band system and a hard case, provides good value for money in its price range. I’d say that Terry Pack has gone a considerable way towards achieving his ambition of producing good-quality instruments at prices that will put them within reach of players without four-figure budgets, and I’d love to see the top-of-therange 90 series. Richard Thomas 69 Symmetrical in its form lends a balanced appeal to the head