Ozark 3372C

[Cliff D]

I'm thinking about buying one these: if anyone has experience of same their comments would be welcomed!

[Cliff D]

So here is the review. Funny thing how you can see a picture of something & overlook the obvious: I thought that this would be smaller than the usual guitar, but the body is bigger & deeper than some full sized acoustics. It came with a case included in the price £295 (GBP) which, interestingly, the promotional material did not specify - not that I am complaining!

Generally it looks well made & the finish is a thick, hard transparent laquer: I know of late there has been a trend towards minimal laquering, but a tough finish is a plus in my book. The neck is a little clubby & the strings are shade wide apart at the nut, & maybe at some point I will make changes here, but pro tem I can live with it. Frets are on the small & low side for my taste, but again adequate: they could have been polished a little more as there was some "scraping noise" during string bending, but it is playing in acceptably now.

But what of the sound, you ask? Well it is advertised as a "soft tone, good for both strumming & lead work" to which I thought, yea, yea, cover all the bases, eh? I am now less sceptical. Picked chords are delicious, & I still have not fitted phosphour bronze C & G stings. Overall action is a little high & again I may address this at some point.

The piezo & on board preamp produce a reasonably crisp sound & there is a notch filter (centred around 1,000 Hz, I believe) which can be engaged to help defeat feedback - I have yet to test this aspect. There is the usual problem which seems endemic to piezos: uneven string volume between strings, although using the onboard 4 band eq this can be minimised to acceptable levels.

I understand that this is a relatively new addition to the Ozark range & that it is selling well: This does not surprise me. The Ozark brand has possibly not had the greatest of reputations in the past, but this I submit is a good value for money instrument which appears well built, even if it does not have the greatest set up straight out of the box. Just don't expect a parlour sized instrument if you order one!

[ARK]

It looks like there is a shortage of Ozark reviews. So, with apologies for opening an old thread, and hoping that it doesn't annoy the core membership ...

I bought an old model Ozark 3372C two weeks ago. I paid £180. There was a receipt for £295 from Eagle music, dated 2010.

The model which I bought is a solid spruce top Sunburst. The varnish is heavy and robust. I don't know how that affects the tone.

I saw that Ozark has now replaced my model with a cedar top guitar, without the sunburst and with a more curvaceous body... confusingly also called the 3372C and selling for £369 more or less. You can still buy the previous model, however, but I don't know for how much longer.

Yes, it's big, it's chunky and it's heavy. Unlike many tenors, it won't fit into a three-quarter size hard case. The neck is wide and deep. The relief on the neck was just right. It feels strong.

A lot of effort has gone into the appearance of the 3372C. The varnish is dark and solid. There are a Florentine cutaway, which looks rather ostentatious, wavy edges to the fretboard and headstock, a wide elliptical soundhole and wooden binding around
the body. I have seen many tenor guitars and the 3372C is very different from the usual light and simple design.

The tone is solid and resonant. If the Ibanez was a wiener schnitzel the Ozark is a rib-eye steak. The bass strings ring like a full-sized guitar's. The trebles are not shrill. It is a notch louder than my Ibanez parlour, particularly in the low register,
which allows for more delicate finger-picking to produce an adequate volume.

The action was ridiculously high, with notable sharpness on the second fret, and I wonder how the previous year owners managed to play it. I lowered the saddle by 3/32" and now have a comfortable action with perfect intonation. I could probably have
taken off more had I been brave enough. The frets are smooth and level. The tuners turn smoothly.

The fretboard and the string spacing are significantly wider than usual for a tenor guitar. It takes a minute or two to adjust when I go from my Ozark to my Soares.

The pick-up and equaliser are certainly not of the best quality. However, if I dial down the bass and treble to zero and push up the mids I can get a decently sweet tone through my Vox amplifier.

The problem, and it's a big one for a singer, is that I have tried 4 capos , including a 6-string one by Paine, and I cannot make any of them work above the second fret. The neck is just too chunky, too wide and too deep.

Would I buy a 3372C again? Yes, for its tone, it's playability and it's durability and maybe even for its unusual looks. I just wish I could solve that capo problem. Someone kindly recommended the Jim Dunlop 6-string classical guitar capo. I'll try it.