Larry Carlton G5N Natural

I wish I could recommend this guitar, if only because I have a real respect and liking for Thomann as a supplier of musical instruments. Unfortunately I can’t. I decided to keep the guitar, assuming that I would be able to improve it with a decent set up. I rarely fail but on this occasion I can’t perform a miracle. When the guitar arrived the battery carrier kept rejecting the PP3 battery supplied. I noticed the battery was a bit on the fat side so I fitted a good quality replacement. No joy, it would close properly but wouldn’t stay locked in place. I applied a little heat to the carrier locking mechanism to improve the locking tab engagement. Success. The PP3 and holder stay in place and are electrically engaged. The battery carrier is of poor quality In my opinion. I’ve never had to resort to that kind of repair work before. Singularly unimpressed. The on board mixer is quite effective so it is possible to maximise the overall sound of the amplified instrument, accepting that this is not an expensive instrument so the outcome is relative to its cost. Unfortunately there’s no means of balancing the output of each string so the E A and D strings tend to dominate. The action set up was appalling on delivery but I was able to improve this using the truss rod adjustment as this was without any tension applied to it. Sadly the action is still a little high but I’m loathe to make any reduction to the bridge insert as there isn’t much room for manoeuvre here. The last problem is the worst one and that is how bad the intonation is particularly after the twelfth fret. With the existing fixed bridge there is no way of correcting this. Two very poor choices remain ; replace the fretboard or replace the bridge. Not really what I’m used to from Thomann but I was the fool who decided to keep it so it’s my poor choice that I must live with. Spend more and get something better, this isn’t worth its money.