Shortly before Christmas '09, I finally succumbed to purchase a guitar I'd been eyeing for most of the year. The problem with it primarily was that although I could find some information on the guitar, I hadn't seen one in the flesh, so to speak.
The guitar in question is the Fauna Dolphin guitar from Luna Guitars. I can't recall where I first came across it... perhaps in a brochure from Celtic Renaissance Music. I fell in love with the look of this guitar from the first glance... it's so different visually. But there didn't seem to be a dealer of Luna guitars in western Canada, from what I could see, and thus I waited. In the end, I drove to Bellingham, WA, and was lucky enough to find that not only did Mojo Music carry Luna, but they had a Dolphin in stock. It was pretty much everything I'd hoped it would be, so I had it in the car before we headed home at the end of the day.
;)
At left is a picture of the guitar I brought home. It has a lovely sea-blue wavy maple top, with three dolphins inlayed around the sound hole. The fingerboard has moon phase inlays for the dots, which look really nice.
The guitar is relatively small in size, which appeals to me. It's also relatively thin bodied, and has a somewhat narrow neck. Overall, very comfortable for smaller players, but perhaps not for those with really large hands. I find the guitar very comfortable to play. It is well balanced, and comfortable on the hands.
When played acoustically, the guitar sounds relatively nice, but has a bit of an odd tone to it. Perhaps the guitar is young, and will mellow a bit with age. I don't mind the sound, but in some parts of the register, it sounds more like a cheaper guitar than a more expensive one, in my limited experience. We have a few Ovation guitars in the family, and I find the tone somewhat like the CC-28 Ovations, which are similar in price to the Luna. My CK-047 Ovation has a richer tone across the board. However, interestingly, the Luna has a certain sparkly brightness in some areas that's quite endearing and gorgeous. Other areas are a bit more "honky-tonk", as one friend described it.
Plugged in, I found the guitar sounds really good. Certainly much nicer than the CC-28 Ovation, and perhaps nicer than the CK-047 as well. Certainly again there's a bright sparkle that comes through even better with the pickup, and sounds really great.
The guitar has a built-in tuner, which I find very easy to use. Much nicer to read than the Ovation tuners, particularly in a darker room. Unfortunately, I don't think the tuner is quite as precise as most of the other tuners in my home, but that's more of a gut feel (ear) than something I've measured.
;)
Overall, the workmanship quality on the guitar is very nice. The frets and nut are well finished and don't have any sharp areas, nor gaps under the fret ends. I'd say the finish is better than the Korean Ovation guitars we have. I was also playing an Ibanez classical (similar price) at Mojo Music the day I bought the Luna, and the Ibanez had quite rough fret ends, which really disappointed me. The one concern I've had about the finish is that a couple of screws were loose where the jack enters the guitar. I didn't notice it at the shop, and since I rarely play plugged in, I haven't dealt with it yet.
This is the most beautiful guitar in my stable, and I'm very impressed. Luna brings a new angle to guitar building, making visual art at a level rarely seen in the industry. The bonus was that the guitar is also really nice to play.