Tanglewood TW15H-E review

  • £859
Reviews
By
( )
published
The TW15H-E's only real drawback is its lack of a case or bag.

MusicRadar Verdict

A picker-friendly dread with winning sounds and looks to match.

Pros

  • +

    Punchy performer acoustically and powered; deluxe trim.

Cons

  • -

    No case or gigbag.

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.

Tanglewood's Heritage Series TW15H-E comes very well appointed. The gloss body is handsomely bound in walnut, adding coachlining around the rims and herringbone top purfling and rosette, and a similar centre strip down the back.

Walnut also edges the neck, continuing around a peghead toting vintage Kluson-style tuners. The ebony fingerboard carries abalone slot-diamond markers. The only minor mark-down is a pickguard that's lifting slightly around the edges.

Kicking off at 44.5mm at the nut, the satin neck is relatively deep towards the heel turn, but it remains comfortable and, allied to airy bridge string spacing, is an excellent picker. Ignoring its separate heel portion, the TW's neck is a one-piece affair.

Sounds

This is an enjoyably punchy dread, combining deeply pinned lows and sunny highs with excellent dynamics and subtly forward mids that aid projection without over-hardening the sound. The Presys Blend preamp dishes ample gain, with responsive EQ ranges.

The only necessity is to cut some middle to banish hints of nasality. With mic-based blenders, a little goes a long way before artificial ambiences appear, and the preamp's mic-gain trim pot helps. Set that fairly low and you've a good musical range to play with on the blend rotary.

In short, this guitar greatly impresses for its enthusiastic dynamics and projection. The Presys Blend is very capable and adaptable, and it's an excellent instrument for fingerstyle courtesy of its wider neck and string spacing.

Jim Chapman