Artist studio concert hall

bluetele,

Sounds a good deal, but I wouldn't have the bottle to buy at that price without playing it, same principle as not buying a car without a test drive.

bluetele , I had 2013 Artist Studio dreadnought which sold new for around the same new price you quote (though I'd bought mine used for less than a grand). I have no experience at all with the smaller Concert Grand size, but the dreadnought Artist Studio was a decent-sounding instrument... but not so decent that I didn't sell the Studio a few months back to finance buying an Eastman E8D dread (also Spruce over Rosewood) which for a smidgen over $1,000 new utterly blew away my Seagull in sound and finish.

Unlike some here in the Cabin, I'm not entirely averse to buying something without playing it, though I prefer to play before buying and that's absolutely the better way to do it. But (like you, evidently) I live in an area where I often can't find the specific brand and model in which I'm interested, so sometimes I've taken the "buy unplayed" route. In fact, all four of the current acoustic guitars I have were originally bought unplayed by me (two used and two brand new).

It helps, though, to be slow and careful buying that way. Ask questions of the dealer about the guitar you're interested in, request detailed pictures of the actual instrument (some dealers, like Sweetwater, do that already, but others just post 'stock' photos from a catalogue), ask them to play the instrument for you and send you the sound file, get referrals from other people (if possible) on how reliable that dealer is, and make sure you know the return policy in case the guitar you receive isn't what you expect/wanted. In short, do your research before buying an instrument unplayed and you'll significantly lower your chances of getting burned -- but there's always still a risk going that route and you have to be willing to take it.