Ashton SL29CEQ Electro Acoustic Guitar

Top - Flame Maple, wooden soundhole rosette
Body - Sapele
Neck - Mahogany
Fingerboard - Rosewood
Machines - Chrome Die Cast
Bridge - Rosewood
Pickup - Prener SPII pre-amp
Controls - 4 band EQ with sweepable mid, built-in tuner

The Ashton SL29 is a slim bodied electro acoustic guitar, in the Yamaha APX mould, but only about half the price!
OK, I'm not going to say it sounds or plays quite to those heady heights, but for under £150, this guitar offers remarkable value for money, with a Flame Maple top, Sapele body, 4 Band EQ system with built in fully chromatic tuner and a quality finish.
The SL29CEQ has a small and compact headstock, with a coloured face, matching the front of the guitar, fully bound in 5 ply cream and black, and Ashton's logo on top in smart looking Abolone.
Around the back, we have 2 rows of slightly offset chrome die-cast Machine Heads keeping the string in pitch perfectly well.
The neck is Mahogany, it's fairly slim, made for smaller hands, a shallow D profile. Nut width is 44mm. The fingerboard is Rosewood, with large white dot position markers, and it's fully bound in cream plastic.
The action of this model straight from the factory is about 3mm across the 12th fret, so it's set up pretty nicely, and playing the SL29 is very enjoyable, the small body and slim neck make things very comfortable.
The neck joins the Sapele body at the 14th fret on the bass side, and 17th on the treble, the cutaway body here giving access up to about the 19th fret.
The back of the neck joint, the heel, has a useful strap hook, whilst the top of the SL29 is fully bound in 5 ply black and cream plastic, the back also in cream and there is a thin cream centre join running down the back.
The top edge is where you'll find the Prener pre-amp, very good it is as well, giving good sound performance when amplified, with a 4 band EQ to shape your sound, presence and volume controls, all on sliders, and an excellent automatic chromatic tuner with a clear and easy to see LCD screen.
The front of the guitar has a Flame Maple effect, very stripey, and a proper wooden inlaid mosaic soundhole rosette, no cheap transfers here, this is impressive for a sub £150 instrument!
Sounds wise, the SL29CEQ is bright and cheerful, with plenty of sustain and character. The bass is maybe a little thin for my heavy handed strumming, but this is more than made up having so much clarity and warmth in the mid and higher end.
In all, an excellent guitar considering it's bargain basement price, with a very nice finish, Flame Maple and proper wooden rosette, a very good EQ with chromatic tuner and an impressive sound.

Just £139