Tanglewood guitar

[Lesmah]

Hi Guys, I have a nice Tanglewood AS39 semi-acoustic jazz guitar. Unfortunately it has no label or serial number and I'm finding it very difficult to find any information on it IE. where it was made and the type of woods used. Any help would be much appreciated. Thank you.

[Dad3353]

Tanglewood guitars are designed in the UK, and manufactured in China. Yours looks to be maple, but obviously can't be sure without more pictures. Hope this helps. 

[Lesmah]

1 minute ago, Dad3353 said:

Tanglewood guitars are designed in the UK, and manufactured in China. Yours looks to be maple, but obviously can't be sure without more pictures. Hope this helps. 

Thanks, I think this ones quite old although in excellent condition and thought it might've been made in the UK before production moved to China. I also thought that it was maple.

[EdwardMarlowe]

Were they ever made in the UK? I'm not sure. My understanding alwasy was that they were a UK owned brand - like JHS's Vintage - but were never manufactured here. I don't know if they started in China, but I do seem to recall that they wre getting rave-reviews about Chinese-built guitars long before a lot of the bigger names shifted to MIC from Korea and Japan.

Starting sometime around the midddle 90s they built up a reputation for making outstanding acoustics, especially when they started doing all-solid models like the (from memory) TW15. You do have to spend quite a lot more on an acoustic, imo, to get a better guitar (as an instrument). I've never owned one of their electrics myself, though friends have. Back in the day they were generally pretty decent "for the money", and shooting at the low end Hondo / Marlin/ Hohner Rockwood type stuff. More recnetly, they seem, especially with the semis, to be closing in on Epiphone and a lot of the better, mid-market "budget" names. Interestingly, I see they're noe repositioning themselves in the market, if their website is anything to go by, as a high-end acoustic brand as well as budget options.

I would guess that guitar to be most likely to be a maple or spruce ply on the top.... partly for budget, but also for design reasons: I recall reading even the high end Gretsches with a hollow body but built in (non-floating) pups and electronics were built with ply tops as once amplified it's less likely to feedback than a solid archtop.

Could be worth dropping the company a line - their contact details will be on https://www.tanglewoodguitars.co.uk/

[Lesmah]

Thank you very much for your very knowledgeable comments, much appreciated. 

I'm sure at one time they were produced in this country and it was for financial reasons that they moved production to China where initially they had problems with quality control but they seem to have sorted that out now.

I am of the same opinion to it being maple or spruce. I filled in the online query form but the photos I included were too large. Unfortunately I couldn't find an email address. Thank you.

[ezbass]

I know nothing about that guitar other than it's way cool!

[Lesmah]

Thanks, it's very nice to play and sounds great, it's also quite heavy.

[Mikeod]

IT looks nice and if it plays well, as the song goes 2 outa 3 , happy days

Mike

[Matt P]

hello, i don't think this is an early Tanglewood as the first ones had a different logo and headstock, i have what i an fairly sure is a fairly early thinline Tanglewood here and the logo is very different.

as far as i am aware production has always been in the far east somewhere, mine has no internal sticker (or any sign there ever was one) i know it was bought new back in the mid to late 90's by my friends father, the only markings are the branding on  the headstock and a label on the heel with the model number. apart from that there is nothing to say where it was made or any kind of serial number visible.

i have always been a bit of a fan of the Tanglewood electrics, the acoustics have a well deserved reputation for quality at a great price but the electrics are the same but don't get the recognition that they deserve. my one is certainly not going anywhere! the one you have looks an absolute stunner.

as far as laminated tops on  jazz guitars it's far more common than you would expect, even Gibson use laminated tops on things like the ES335, you do occasionally find solid tops on this kind of guitar but it's far more common to find laminated as it uses less materials and is far quicker to make especially with maple as it usually needs to be carved from a solid piece rather than bent, the bindings on the edges and the f-holes will cover up any tell-tale signs of a laminated top as well there are guitars with high 4 figure price tags that make no mention of a solid top and sometimes the maker is quite open about it being laminated, Gretsch make a Chet Atkins relic 6120 that retails at £8899 and it is clearly labelled as a laminated top.

 

Matt

 

 

 

[Dad3353]

There's not much point, really, in having a carved solid top on an electric guitar if it has a block inside for the pick-ups etc. A laminated top will be better for feedback suppression in any case. A solid top is used often enough on acoustic or electrified arch-top guitars if they are truly hollow-bodied. There are exceptions, surely, but a carved table would be a waste on a 335-style instrument.

[EdwardMarlowe]

On 22/06/2020 at 11:44, Matt P said:

hello, i don't think this is an early Tanglewood as the first ones had a different logo and headstock, i have what i an fairly sure is a fairly early thinline Tanglewood here and the logo is very different.

as far as i am aware production has always been in the far east somewhere, mine has no internal sticker (or any sign there ever was one) i know it was bought new back in the mid to late 90's by my friends father, the only markings are the branding on  the headstock and a label on the heel with the model number. apart from that there is nothing to say where it was made or any kind of serial number visible.

i have always been a bit of a fan of the Tanglewood electrics, the acoustics have a well deserved reputation for quality at a great price but the electrics are the same but don't get the recognition that they deserve. my one is certainly not going anywhere! the one you have looks an absolute stunner.

as far as laminated tops on  jazz guitars it's far more common than you would expect, even Gibson use laminated tops on things like the ES335, you do occasionally find solid tops on this kind of guitar but it's far more common to find laminated as it uses less materials and is far quicker to make especially with maple as it usually needs to be carved from a solid piece rather than bent, the bindings on the edges and the f-holes will cover up any tell-tale signs of a laminated top as well there are guitars with high 4 figure price tags that make no mention of a solid top and sometimes the maker is quite open about it being laminated, Gretsch make a Chet Atkins relic 6120 that retails at £8899 and it is clearly labelled as a laminated top.

 

Matt

 

 

 

Very nice. I have a vague memory of seeing that version of the logo onthe first Tanglewood I ever encountered: a £100ish acoustic a friend at school owned in.... I think 1990ish. The modern logo was around by the time I bought my bowlback electro acoustic in 1994.

You won't see many with the headstock that's on this one; I'm pretty sure Gibson went after them for that! If their website is anything to go by, they've more or less givne up on the electric guitar market now, with just one model of electric bass and three (hardware wise) vaguely Strat-type but original designs. Not to my tastes, but there you are. Clearly it's been their acoustic ranges that have taken off, and it does seem the acoustic world is a bit more open to new ideas than the electric world. so.

Another model worth looking out for a vintage one if you like Teles was their Quomaster, a short-lived Tele model based on Francis Rossi's famous Tele. A Toploader (like Page's 56...), which appealed to me at a time as I'd have lokely instally a bigsby. They sell for £100-£150 usually. I've also seen a very nice burst '62 Custom' version with string-thru traditionsal bridge, though I';m not sure that was a Quomaster (as seller claimed) rather than a different Tanglewood T type model.

I have heard that at one time they were looking hard at donig a high end line of electrics to go along with the "Master built" acoustics, but while the sample guitars turend out great, the retail price was gonig to e too high for what they could sell the brand at the time.

 

[Matt P]

21 minutes ago, EdwardMarlowe said:

Very nice. I have a vague memory of seeing that version of the logo onthe first Tanglewood I ever encountered: a £100ish acoustic a friend at school owned in.... I think 1990ish. The modern logo was around by the time I bought my bowlback electro acoustic in 1994.

You won't see many with the headstock that's on this one; I'm pretty sure Gibson went after them for that! If their website is anything to go by, they've more or less givne up on the electric guitar market now, with just one model of electric bass and three (hardware wise) vaguely Strat-type but original designs. Not to my tastes, but there you are. Clearly it's been their acoustic ranges that have taken off, and it does seem the acoustic world is a bit more open to new ideas than the electric world. so.

Another model worth looking out for a vintage one if you like Teles was their Quomaster, a short-lived Tele model based on Francis Rossi's famous Tele. A Toploader (like Page's 56...), which appealed to me at a time as I'd have lokely instally a bigsby. They sell for £100-£150 usually. I've also seen a very nice burst '62 Custom' version with string-thru traditionsal bridge, though I';m not sure that was a Quomaster (as seller claimed) rather than a different Tanglewood T type model.

I have heard that at one time they were looking hard at donig a high end line of electrics to go along with the "Master built" acoustics, but while the sample guitars turend out great, the retail price was gonig to e too high for what they could sell the brand at the time.

 

thanks for the info nice to know that it's older than i had thought, i wish Tanglewood would give  more info on their website, they don't really give much backstory which is a shame, they always seemed to get rave reviews whenever they appeared in magazines. If it were me i would be making some fuss like "30 years of 5 star reviews" or similar, they might not have 100 or 50 years of history but 30 or so years is doing pretty well considering how many companies have disappeared in the last 10 years.

i bought this one from my friends father, he is an artist and musician and bought it new as far as i know and said it wasn't that cheap, it certainly plays and sounds very nice. i have a bit of a hankering for one of the warrior basses they made as well, either the humbucker one or maybe the j-j version. a lot of warwick vibe for a pocket money price tag. i tried out the Overwater by Tanglewood basses they made a few years back too, really wished i had bought one as they were excellent.

i have a massive stash of guitar magazines from he early 2000's in the loft, there are quite a few favourable reviews of Tanglewoods in there.

One Tanglewood i am actively looking for is a TW-15 Baby, which is an all-solid travel guitar, i missed one on ebay last month that went for about 80 quid, amazing value for an all solid guitar.

 

Matt

[EdwardMarlowe]

Yeah, I have a TW15 full size I bought nearly twenty years ago for £150. I'm assuming it's not the same guitar as the one they're currently selling for RRP £700, but it's a hell of a guitar, all solid, for rally not very much money at all. I remember the Baby coming out not long after the Taylor Baby (ironically, I was torn between the Tanglewood TW15 and the Taylor Big Baby until I got a deal on the TW at half hte priceo f the Taylor.... never regretted it.).

It's a shame they've dropped off the electric, but may it was just too much competition. They are supposedly "Britain's best selling acoustincs", though, so...