Norman B18 anyone?

[kdamien]

Any reviews by owners?

[Antonio Salieri]

I'm sorry to say that Norman guitars are rare in my neck of the woods.

[bndxu]

Haven't played a Cedar topped Norman,from the website it looks like they're all dreads which would be good for strumming.Add the cedar top and you will have some nice overtones for picking with fingers or a pick.Sorry but I only have experience with a b20 folk model which has a spruce top.Try to find one in a music store if you have one near you,I can't say i know of any dealers who carry them around where you are.On the website all the b18 models are cedar topped(solid) with laminated cherry back and sides.The only difference between them would be the finish and cutaway with electronics on some models.
Of course when you are buying an acoustic it pays to play before you buy,every guitar has a slight difference between each other,regardless of model number.I took a gamble on my b20 folk and bought it blind since it was one of those rare lefty's,i got lucky.Then again all Godin products have a great reputation behind them so to me it wasn't that big of a gamble.
Try one if you can.

[bfloyd6969]

I haven't played one either (no dealers of Norman around me), but considering they are from the Godin family, and I've played, and love Seagull, Simon and Patrick, and Art and Lutherie (own three), I'd say that they are going to be just as great

[kdamien]

Haven't played a Cedar topped Norman,from the website it looks like they're all dreads which would be good for strumming.Add the cedar top and you will have some nice overtones for picking with fingers or a pick.Sorry but I only have experience with a b20 folk model which has a spruce top.Try to find one in a music store if you have one near you,I can't say i know of any dealers who carry them around where you are.On the website all the b18 models are cedar topped(solid) with laminated cherry back and sides.The only difference between them would be the finish and cutaway with electronics on some models.
Of course when you are buying an acoustic it pays to play before you buy,every guitar has a slight difference between each other,regardless of model number.I took a gamble on my b20 folk and bought it blind since it was one of those rare lefty's,i got lucky.Then again all Godin products have a great reputation behind them so to me it wasn't that big of a gamble.
Try one if you can.

thanks man. if you don't mind, could you please elaborate what do you mean by overtone?

probably, I'll get one and review it here

[bndxu]

Kind of hard to describe the tone but I'll give it my best.Think of a piano made in Europe.Why Europe?European spruce has the "overtone" similar to cedar,and most piano's are made with a euro spruce soundboard.
It's a little like playing a guitar that's very fundamental(boring/bland) and adding some piano bell like tone to it giving you that sound.If you play electric try using a chorus effects pedal straight into the amp on a clean setting,that's what cedar can bring to the tonal quality of an acoustic.
Hope that helps

[bfloyd6969]

In my experience - cedar is known for a softer and warmer tone. Spruce is known for a bolder, more focused tone. I prefer spruce myself but I also have a couple cedar topped guitars. A good cedar or spruce guitar will have nice overtones. Overtones are after-picked or strummed artifacts to the original sound. Think of it as - you pick a string and the original sound of that string sounds. As the string vibrates, additional sounds come after in a slightly different timbre. This gives the original sound a bigger sound because it is changing as the sting vibrates away. Really good guitars will have a few of these different overtones sounding as the strings fade away. On a dud guitar, or overbuilt guitar, the sound will fade away before many overtones are allowed to sound through. Different strings can also have a factor in this. Usually phosphor bronze strings can add some pizaaz to a heavier built guitar. I use phosphor bronze on my Art and Lutheries and find they work better on these guitars (two cedar topped and one spruce top).

Now, having said that, I haven't played any Norman guitars, only Seagull and Art and Lutherie. The Art and Lutheries seem more heavier built and thus have less of these overtones, IMO. Don't get me wrong, not a bad guitar by any means and I like them quite well. The Seagulls I have owned and played seem to have more overtones and might be rightly so because they are a bit more costlier. I don't know where the Normans fall into this category, but I can tell you that it will be a well made quality guitar, coming from the Godin factory. You're really going to need to get your hands on them to see how you like them...