Crafter TRV23 (Natural)

Description

Review: OK as a travel guitar - I bought a Crafter TRV23N after playing my daughter's Yamaha JR2S. I was surprised at how easy the little Yamaha was to play ... and how good it sounded. It wasn't particularly loud, but the tone was remarkably good. I found that I kept picking it up to play. It was small, cute and just so much fun. But, my daughter wasn't impressed, so I started looking for a little guitar of my own. I looked into travel/parlour guitars and there were several that kept popping up. Some of them were well known, like Baby Taylors, but also well out of my price range. There are some 'dedicated' travel guitars like the Washburn Rover, but I didn't really like the funky shape. I came across the TRV23, and it looked to be perfect. So, I bought one. I have to say that it is a nice little guitar. It's pretty much the same size as the JR2S. They're both small and really easy (and fun) to play. They both look very nice, although I think that the Crafter looks a little better. It has less of a shine and the wood seems so much richer. But, it definitely doesn't sound as good. I put (light) Martin strings on both of them, and the Yamaha definitely sounds a lot brighter than the Crafter. It's noticeable. Of course, all guitars are a little bit different, and they're both new. With time, they will sound different as the wood matures. It also could be that we got a particularly good Yamaha and a particularly bad Crafter, but right now, I would definitely choose Yamaha over the Crafter. The Yamaha's less expensive too.