Cole Clark FatLady 2AC – electroacoustic guitar.
COLE CLARK – this sounds like something out of an American gangster movie. Thanks to the Polish distributor - INTERTON - we know, It's an Australian guitar company, both acoustic and electric. We will now deal with a specific model of the COLE CLARK acoustic guitar – Fat Lady 2AC. This is the middle model of the "Fat Lady". At first glance, the guitar seems to be special. A look at the price confirms it, it's a top notch instrument. Does the sound of the instrument and performance also confirm this??
Budowa i wykonanie.
The body of the guitar is probably the most important part of it. Here we are dealing with a dreadnought body with a cutaway. Before I give technical specifications, I would like to point out a revolutionary novelty in the construction of these guitars. Hmmm… revolution is perhaps too much to say. It's actually about going back to the roots. To obtain a great guitar sound, the manufacturer decided to use "chopped plates" - both the lower and the upper. We remember the legends about the best sound of the Stradivarius violin? Well, there, too, the plates were dug. The whole secret of this sound lies in the use of the same solution. Despite, that "picking" as well as the entire process of creating a guitar is done by a computer, the sound effects are amazing.
The guitar in its appearance is quite ascetic. It does not seethe with mother of pearl or on the body, not on the flu. However, it seems like she is in the CUSTOM class. The top plate is made of one solid piece of wood decorated with rings. It is solid AA spruce or solid bunya wood. The bottom plate is also bunya wood with that, that it is made of three layers separated by thin light bunya strips. The sides are also solid bunya wood, selected clone (quennsland) lub blackwood. It looks beautiful. The grains and semi-matt varnish are perfectly matched. The bottom and top plates are glued to the sides directly, without any visible lateral internal ribbing. Because both boards are chiseled from a rather thick piece (about 1 cm) so a natural lateral ribbing was created. This combination made it possible to use your own, not a foreign binding. Only a thin line is marked around the entire periphery of the plate and the soundhole. Inside on the bottom plate and the top there are still after 4 cross slats - apparently it is also an innovative solution. The whole is beautifully finished with a plastic pickguard plate with a logo, which protects against scratching the top plate.
Bridge.
The bridge is a very rare construction in the case of the tested guitar. Although at first glance it does not differ from the others… but you can see two hexagonal screws on it. And this is new. Well, without any fear, we can lower the bridge and adjust it to our needs and the comfort of the game. I have experienced many times myself, what is the problem with lowering the strings in an acoustic. Every time I sanded the bridge with sandpaper, I lost signal on some strings. It is enough to slightly bend the sawing and the pressure of the bridge on the pick-up is uneven. Here this danger has been completely eliminated. Two moves with the key and that's it. The distributor also offers lower stems for even greater comfort. The entire bridge is made of rosewood.
Strong
It was made of four pieces of selected maple (quennsland). The head is glued in with a special three-prong cut, which is interestingly milled with the marked company logo. The keys are the legendary GROVERY - very precise nickel-plated "machines" that hold the tuning perfectly. The next part is a piece glued into the body. We know, that often in the acoustics this fragment bulges and nothing can be done about it, making the guitar chime on the last frets. Inevitably, the bridge needs to be raised, and this reduces the convenience of the game. Here the neck is glued to the very end of the overlay, which resulted in the appropriate hardness of the connection. Of course, there is also a screw straightening the neck, but quite hard to come by. A special socket wrench is required for this, which, unfortunately, the manufacturer did not include with the guitar! And, of course, a rosewood overlay with twenty perfectly stamped and even frets and a scale of 25.5″.
The fingerboard is rosewood. The markers are equilateral mother-of-pearl diamonds with cross-shaped notches. The fourth part is a block glued to the end of the neck from the body side and glued together with it into the body of the guitar. It is cut from the same wood as the back plate and sides of the guitar. A belt clip is screwed to this part from the bottom. A very practical thing!
Electronics.
The electronics of the tested guitar is a special solution. As far as I know, only TYLOR guitars use a similar solution. Microphones are installed inside the guitar! So, so. In addition to the typical piezo transducer, there is also a special microphone glued to the top plate and the previously mentioned ribbing of the top plate. So we have a Face Brace Sensor microphone and a piezo in the bridge (9 sensors + 6 piezo transducers)! The higher model Fat Lady 3AC has two microphones! It's a fantastic combination, which resonates perfectly with the piezo and microphone balance! Of course, a pre-amp patented by the manufacturer was also used here. The preamp equalization is a three-band equalizer. Three bands is high as usual, mid and low frequencies and piezo balance / microphone and volume control. The whole thing is powered by a 9V battery.
Sound
And here we have no illusions. What we hear from the box itself leaves no doubt. It is an absolutely top-shelf instrument. The sound is beautifully juicy, deep, warm. The guitar is quite loud, with a very even classic sound. Sounds like it's hooked up to a stereo amp! It's amazing, what sounds come out of this box. A very inspiring guitar.
The guitar connected to any amp or directly into the line also sounds wonderful! Thanks to the innovative - as the manufacturer assures - the preamp system, you can squeeze various timbres out of the sound. An "electrified" guitar sounds like this, what the guitarist wants. When testing this instrument, I had an impression, I have a couple of different guitars at my disposal. One thing must be admitted - FatLady 2AC is very versatile. It can handle several styles of music. Perfect for country, blues, jazz, flamenco, popu, rock etc.. I am enchanted with this instrument. The guitar was tested on an IBANEZ TROUBADOUR amplifier 35 i AER COMAPCT 60. From the entire collection of acoustics, which I played, this one is the BEST in every way!!!
Summary.
We have at our disposal a top-class instrument for a reasonable price - in this range, of course, because its price is an expense 1290 net EUR… Considering the perfect workmanship, loading frets, comfortable but quite thick neck, amazing tuning no… and that sound… I recommend this guitar. Considering the relatively short period of Cole Clark guitars on the market and the quality of this instrument, there is hope, that this brand will soon become a worldwide hit. You know my house, the company is already working on a new JUMBO model. The fact completes the whole thing, that in my opinion the best strings in the world ELIXIR are put on the guitar! The guitar is sold with a hard aesthetic plastic case. Deciding to buy this instrument, we can be sure of one thing - we are joining an exclusive club of exceptional instruments.