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The CB-Rose Plus offers a choice of solid backs.

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• Review

Crafter's position in the UK market is a far cry from the company's humble beginnings. Starting life with a team of just four working in a basement flat in April 1972, the company produced classical guitars under the brand 'Sungeum', primarily for the Korean domestic market.

A decade later, production was expanded to include acoustic and electro-acoustic models, at which point the guitars began to develop international appeal.

With the understanding that Sungeum wasn't the easiest brand name with which to take on the world, 1986 saw the company rename its products Crafter. The 140-strong workforce now produces in excess of 60,000 guitars per annum, with the UK being Crafter's biggest market, apparently taking 10,000 guitars annually.

"Inside, everything is clean and tidy, with no signs of dust, loose wood or excess glue."

Our review guitar, the CB-Rose Plus, is one of two models marking Crafter's 39th anniversary. Both feature an elaborate fingerboard overlay picturing a pair of crane birds spanning nine frets.

The anniversary models come with the option of either a solid rosewood or solid mahogany back. The inclusion of a solid back differentiates the CB-Rose Plus from the laminate on previous anniversary models.

The CB-Rose Plus is a Grand Auditorium body shape with a smooth Venetian cutaway, which provides access up to the 21st fret - one more than many Grand Auditoriums - giving a high C# in standard tuning.

The CB-Rose's soundboard is bookmatched Engelmann spruce, edged with a strip of abalone (which we suspect to be a thin overlay). This has also been used to edge the wood soundhole rosette and top the bridge pins that flank the Indian rosewood bridge.

The two-piece solid rosewood back features a parquetry-like overlay, which has been fitted across the centre join. Crafter has chosen a laminate for the sides, no doubt in an effort to keep the guitar affordable. The two- piece mahogany neck is fitted using a dovetail joint and is bound to match the guitar's front and back.

Inside the CB-Rose everything is neat, and the patented scalloped T-Brace pattern is clean and tidy with no signs of dust, lose wood or excess glue. In truth, the high- gloss finish is a little over enthusiastic and can, on occasion, feel a bit gloopy.

Overall the CB-Rose is very well presented, comfortable to play and underscores why Crafters are so well-liked by retailers and players alike.

Electrics are handled by the re-voiced LR Baggs LR-T DX Tuner Preamp, which is mounted in the shoulder position. Simple and easy-to-use twin rotaries and four sliders operate the unit's key features, although the smaller push-button tuner, mode and phase knobs could do with being slightly larger.

Handily, the tuner works whether the guitar is plugged in or not.

Sounds

Despite its smaller body size, the CB-Rose pushes a fair amount of air and produces a full, bright tone with good volume. There's good overall note separation and the ever-present mid-range gives strength to single-note runs and solos.