Gee, Ma, look What Followed Me Home...

Got the Mitchell cleaned up and restrung with Dean Markley Helix Extra-Lights...that's definitely improved the sound, but not as much as I'd hoped it would. It's still jangley to my ear, much more so than the Crafter TRV, and lacks bass punch, even for a parlour. I had a good look around inside while I had the strings off, and I think it's just overbuilt - the ribs and braces are really chunky...hard to see how that sitka top can vibrate to any great extent. The 1.625" neck is a tad tight for my fingers, but would suit someone with smaller hands well. Comfortable little guitar to hold for sure, and it looks really sharp, but I think the AMI and the Crafter have kinda spoiled me for the small body sound. The video Derick posted gives a pretty fair idea of how the Mitchell comes across...and oh, yeah, the tuners are about one step up the scale from wooden pegs through a hole...crunchy, erratic and prone to slipping...

Still, for $60 (Cdn) and the price of a set of strings, I'm not hard done by, and it'll make a great gift 1st guitar for a child or a small-fingered starting guitarist in the family. In the meantime, I may semi-permanently mount a little Markley 'bottlecap" pickup on it, and see how it sounds pumped thru an amp.