See the video review of the Crafter TMC035/N

Crafter has come a long way since its humble beginnings in the 1970s, when Hyun Kwon Park began making classical guitars in the basement of his home in South Korea. By the 1980s, Park's company had become an ascendant player in the international marketplace—building on a well-deserved reputation for affordable quality that has since made Crafter fans out of a number of star players, including Taj Mahal.

Currently run by Park's son InJae, Crafter now builds a line of guitars that range in size from parlor to dreadnought in a multitude of styles. The TMC035/N, however, combines several prewar flattop styling cues and construction features with modern electronics and a cutaway to create a good-looking and highly playable OM with a few tricks in store for the performing guitarist.

TRADITION AND INNOVATION

The TMC035/N borrows more than a few moves from Martin's OM—mating a 000 body with a long-scale, 14-fret neck featuring a 1 3/4-inch nut width. The "snowflake" inlay position markers on the neck, upscale abalone purfling on the body, beautiful Engelmann spruce top, richly grained Indonesian rosewood back and sides, and mahogany neck (which is assembled from three pieces of wood) give the TMC035/N the look and feel of a fine mid-century instrument. In a departure from OM tradition, Crafter chose a slotted headstock for the TMC035/N. My only gripe about the design is that the modern "Crafter" inlay on the headstock looks a bit incongruous with the old-fashioned torch inlay.

Other features are designed with a modern performing fingerstylist in mind. There's no pickguard, a smooth Venetian cutaway curves up to meet the neck at the 16th fret, the neck sports 21 frets, and the guitar is equipped with an L.R. Baggs undersaddle pickup system.

By most standards the Crafter is a very well-built instrument. The gloss finish on the body and headstock is even and not overly thick, frets are perfectly seated and polished, the inlay work is flush and precise, and the nut and saddle are both tidily cut. The same attention to detail is apparent inside the body. And though some of the bracing and the access to the truss-rod nut could have been sanded a bit more smoothly, the traces of over-applied glue seen on so many affordable axes were absent.

BALANCED ACOUSTIC AND AMPLIFIED SOUND

The TMC035/N was a delight to pick and strum right out of the case. With medium action and light-gauge strings, the guitar was smooth and playable over the whole neck. The 1 3/4-inch nut width helped enhance the guitar's comfort, and the intonation was dead on.

A fine OM tends to have very even resonance across registers, from a deep bass to clear trebles, and the TMC035/N did not disappoint on this count. It was well balanced from the low, open E string to the 21st-fret C# on the high E string. And the uniformity of volume, rich chord voices, and warm, crystalline tones made the Crafter equally suited to fingerpicked country-blues, strummed bluegrass, or chord melody—style jazz.

Powered by a nine-volt battery, the L.R. Baggs LR-T Pro onboard preamp and pickup system features a handy built-in tuner as well as bass, mid, and treble controls and a scoop that helps reduce midrange feedback. Like the guitar itself, the LR-T Pro is clean and balanced sounding, if a little on the hot side. You may need to set the volume on your preamp and/or mixer pretty low, as I did when I ran it through my Fender Acoustasonic amplifier. On the other hand, the LR-T Pro lends very little undesirable color to the TMC035/N's rich tonal palate, and very few EQ tweaks are required to get a sound that reflects the instrument's balance and range.

THE WRAP

Handsome, well-built, and elegantly dressed, the TMC035/N is an OM almost any discerning fingerstylist would enjoy. And its wide tonal spectrum, transparent electronics, and playability make the Crafter just as suitable for a performing songsmith. With its excellent quality-to-cost ratio and many thoughtful construction and design details, the TMC035/N comes across as a guitar with a little something extra—no mean feat in the crowded mid-price guitar market.