Build and features

Compared with the more Martin- like styling of the other guitars, this curvier-profiled Natural Series Faith resembles a scaled- down mini-jumbo and, aptly perhaps, has the deepest rims on test.

Originally the model, save for the gloss headstock overlay, was totally satin-finish, but now features a gloss top, which nicely lifts the whole ambience. Build quality and detailing are impressively clean and precise; the all-solid spruce/mahogany body is bound with maple, while the bridge, fingerboard and tuner buttons are all ebony.

Kicking off at 43mm, the neck is a pretty slim affair, with only modest broadening further up and slightly tight string spacing at the bridge. However, it’s an easy, slick general-purpose player and the medium-depth ‘C’-cum-’D’ profile neck cups very obligingly in the hand.

Next: Faith FV Venus sounds, pros and cons