MusicRadar

• Review

The unlikely setting of a small workshop beside the Bay Horse Pub in Glasgow's Pollokshaw's Road serves as the home of one of the UK guitar industry's best-kept secrets.

Jimmy Moon of Moon Guitars has been building a fascinating array of both electric and acoustic instruments – including mandolins, dulcimers, bespoke multi-string hybrids and 'regular' six-string acoustics – since 1969, when the first Moon issued from a small workshop on the Island of Arran off the west coast of Scotland.

Moon Guitars celebrates its 30th anniversary in 2009 and all models produced this year will carry a commemorative label in recognition of this. Notwithstanding its humble roots, Moon has built and repaired guitars for some of rock and pop's most popular names, including Franz Ferdinand, Del Amitri and one of folk's elder statesmen, Dougie MacLean.

Moon's RD3 dreadnought model has also found favour with the stars and current users include Bryan Adams, his longstanding axe-man Keith Scott, Trevor Rabin and Paulo Nutini.

In the case of the former, the story goes that the guitarist in Mr Adams' support act was using a Moon onstage and, being so impressed with its sound, Adams promptly tried to purchase it out of his hands. The guitarist in question declined and politely suggested that Mr Adams should get his own. So he did.

Moon's compact range of guitars falls into one of two series – the Standard series and the Master series. The RD3 issues from the Standard series and was first launched some five years ago. However, over the years the RD3 has undergone a degree of development and refinement that has resulted in the model presented here for review.

Check it out in action in the following audio demo: