FENDER SJ-64 S reviews
FENDER SJ-64 S
Reviewed by: Greg
Date: 2023
Looking for an acoustic in london, 1999, played it in a music shop for 30 seconds and I said to the sales person 'get me a really good hard case for this'. I still have it (SJ-64) and the Hiscox guitar case the guy found for me when I picked them both 10 days later.
The SJ-64 is a beautiful musical instrument (not just a guitar), if you play it right it will 'sing' for you. Forget strumming a 'Jumbo' these girls (SJ-64) have tone & harmonics in abundance.
I still have this beauty in 2023, and it still sings to me. I read somewhere that 150,000 were made. I think the Spruce top is the key to to tone, mahogany helps in the rest of the body. I feel very lucky to have one of these.
If you are lucky and come accross one for sale. Take it. I'm looking all the time for another. The action may be hard for some but you can get used to it and 'lites' are fine on it if you prefer, movement on the neck is fine and I play classical on this rather than a nylon as the tone is better (IMHO)
Link to review: view
FENDER SJ-64 S
Reviewed by: Ken
Date: 2018
I purchased a 1999 SJ-64S off Craigslist. It's a beautiful and great playing guitar. Having previously purchased a Fender acoustic that I enjoyed (DG-200SCE), I was on a mission to see if I could find another Fender acoustic that played just as well, while sounding different enough to justify it. I was pleasantly surprised when I first got to play this guitar and it continues to surprise me--several months later.
It has a very sweet and bright tone which I attribute to the combination of the solid spruce top and solid mahagony back & sides. It has wonderful sustain whether you're strumming chords or or playing individual notes. You can tell it has a solid design and quality Korean construction (a plus, considering Fender has nearly all of its acoustic guitars built in China or Indonesia now).
Even though it is a "Super Jumbo" (which does take some getting used to, if you're not accustomed to playing a large bodied guitar), the bass is not as deep or as loud as it is on my smaller, single-cutaway dreadnought from 2010. This may be disappointing to you, if you're looking for an acoustic that matches the bass and volume of other Jumbo guitars (such as the Gibson SJ 200 it's modeled after), or even solid rosewood guitars. In playing it over time, however, I discovered that it has a very balanced tone. It encourages you to strike the strings in different ways in order to get the sounds and volume you want from it.
The SJ-64S has a fast neck, covered in a natural gloss, that plays almost as quickly as an electric guitar. It's a beautiful guitar to look at from the front, back and sides. Even the split-block position markers along the fingerboard, and gold die-cast tuners, add to a sense of class that so many other guitars lack. Since purchasing it in March 2018, I've tried several other guitars that cost 2-10x as much as what I paid for mine ($300 case included). The only ones I've found that match or surpass the level of sound and playability from this guitar are quality Martins and Taylors that cost several hundred, if not thousands of dollars more.
If you come across this guitar, do not hesitate to pick it up and play it. You'll be glad you did.
Link to review: view
