James from Carson City reviews their MacKenzie and Marr Opeongo OO
James
From Carson City
Reviewed Product:
Opeongo 00 Small Body Acoustic GuitarI've played my new MacKenzie & Marr Opeongo for a few days and I'm liking it a lot. It is fun to play! It has a good setup out of the box, level frets, plays well. All tuners (Grover Sta-Tite18:1) worked w/o issue, the tuning is stable. The frets could use a better polishing, but there's zero buzzing.
I have to say this is a nice sounding guitar. It has a strong and warm mahogany/spruce tone. It has ample bass evenly balanced with the mids and trebles. It is resonant. It is not at all boxy sounding. It is very responsive to a light fingerpicking touch and has a wide dynamic range. It kept up with strumming fine. It takes a capo well w/o any tonal fade.
The build is clean and very light, with a thin open-pore finish. This one weighs just a skosh over 3 pounds. The bridge and neck joints are tight, the workmanship inside the box is clean. The neck set is good and it shows good saddle height. The slot head is cleanly done.
The neck profile is a C with a slight flat at the back of the neck. I would call it a medium feel overall. It’s a bit of a different feel than typical Martin or Taylor necks..a bit more toward a crossover classical neck (with a 1.75" nut).
The woods seem of good quality. She has a nice silky quartered sitka top with no runout, and typically unflashy banded mahogany B/S and mahog neck. The binding is subtle (looks like Pau Ferro perhaps). The Pau Ferro bridge and fretboard have nice wood grain...a touch of oil should darken them up nicely. The x-bracing is not advanced…the x junction sits a bit south of the soundhole.
The finish is cleanly done but thin. I can feel the texture of the woods and herringbone through the finish. There is a bit of buffing compound in one corner of the headplate. It’s not a boutique finish, but it certainly works.
It came with a good branded archtop HSC which fits like a glove.
Overall…I’m kind of blown away. This is a lightly built long scale guitar…it’s got a lot of power and surprising sustain. There is real depth and character to the tone. The warmth of the tone is traditional, but the sustain and power give it a slightly modern “kick”. It’s kind of like a mini 000-12 with a bit more snuggle. Also kudos to MacMarr for using the Grover tuners…solid!
Thanks for a nice guitar and huge bang for the buck!
I have to say this is a nice sounding guitar. It has a strong and warm mahogany/spruce tone. It has ample bass evenly balanced with the mids and trebles. It is resonant. It is not at all boxy sounding. It is very responsive to a light fingerpicking touch and has a wide dynamic range. It kept up with strumming fine. It takes a capo well w/o any tonal fade.
The build is clean and very light, with a thin open-pore finish. This one weighs just a skosh over 3 pounds. The bridge and neck joints are tight, the workmanship inside the box is clean. The neck set is good and it shows good saddle height. The slot head is cleanly done.
The neck profile is a C with a slight flat at the back of the neck. I would call it a medium feel overall. It’s a bit of a different feel than typical Martin or Taylor necks..a bit more toward a crossover classical neck (with a 1.75" nut).
The woods seem of good quality. She has a nice silky quartered sitka top with no runout, and typically unflashy banded mahogany B/S and mahog neck. The binding is subtle (looks like Pau Ferro perhaps). The Pau Ferro bridge and fretboard have nice wood grain...a touch of oil should darken them up nicely. The x-bracing is not advanced…the x junction sits a bit south of the soundhole.
The finish is cleanly done but thin. I can feel the texture of the woods and herringbone through the finish. There is a bit of buffing compound in one corner of the headplate. It’s not a boutique finish, but it certainly works.
It came with a good branded archtop HSC which fits like a glove.
Overall…I’m kind of blown away. This is a lightly built long scale guitar…it’s got a lot of power and surprising sustain. There is real depth and character to the tone. The warmth of the tone is traditional, but the sustain and power give it a slightly modern “kick”. It’s kind of like a mini 000-12 with a bit more snuggle. Also kudos to MacMarr for using the Grover tuners…solid!
Thanks for a nice guitar and huge bang for the buck!
