Early Verdict
A successfully original new take on an old design.
Pros
- +
Looks and plays like the 60s - at a modern price.
Cons
- -
Harder rockers will miss their humbuckers.
MusicRadar's got your back Our team of expert musicians and producers spends hours testing products to help you choose the best music-making gear for you. Find out more about how we test.
Already a big name in the Far East, Farida has achieved lift-off in Britain this year with its range of Chinese electrics. TG picked the 32N for its striking thinline format, historical appearance and competitive price, plus the fact that its name sounds like a porn star's bra size.
Farida didn't reply to our emails, but seeing as the company's based in China, its hyperbole would probably have been lost in translation anyway.
More helpful was Dawsons, who has been Farida's distributor since 2004, watching the range blossom from entry-level models to mid-price stunners like this.
Skirting around the fact it looks pretty similar to a 50s classic, Dawsons alerted us to the chambered ash body and white pearl pickguard, pointed out the gorgeous gloss finish of the maple neck, and nudged us in the direction of the twin single-coils.
All evidence suggests the 32N is aimed at the guitarist who has a taste for the thinlines of the 60s, but has been financially crippled by a divorce.
Farida has been trading for over a decade, and that shows in the 32N's tidy build and features. We'd defy anyone to take issue with the natural cosmetics (wood beats badly applied paint any day).
Even as fans of its original US inspiration we were wowed by the chunky, old-fashioned neck profile and the careful finish to the frets.
None of that would matter if the tone was lame, but the 32N delivers a classy vintage punch at the neck, a useful lead tone at the bridge, and a halfway setting whose 'out-of-phase' honk stands comparison with models at twice the price. Farida's 32N is a tequila slammer.
“It’s kind of scary to go through these…like, ‘Oh I’m going to take that back!’”: Albert Hammond Jr of the Strokes is (reluctantly) selling a heap of his stage-played gear on Reverb, including a Guild acoustic from the Yours To Keep tour
“There’s three of us playing guitar in Foo Fighters… A lot of tone details can get lost, which is what drew me to the Cleaver – that P-90 cut”: Chris Shiflett on how he found his weapon of choice with his Fender Cleaver Telecaster Deluxe
“People have used it as their wedding song. I often think, ‘Hey, did you listen to the lyrics?’”: The classic number one hit with a sting in its tail
