Whilst I’ll be the first to admit to not being much of an Ed Sheeran fan, the guitarist in me was intrigued when I heard he’d paired with Northern Irish acoustic maker Lowden to start making his own brand of guitars. Lowden has a great reputation for making excellent quality acoustics, so regardless of whether or not you’re a Sheeran fan, there’s good reason to check out this new line.
The Sheeran by Lowden W05 is a compact acoustic guitar based on Sheeran’s first custom Lowden. The ‘W’ stands for ‘Wee’, a reference to this pint-sized acoustic's small size and portable stature. Designed to bring some accessibility to the more typically expensive Lowden acoustic guitars, this guitar isn’t an outsourced version of the real deal, but is made in Northern Ireland alongside all the other Lowden’s.
Sheeran by Lowden W05 review: Features
The small body features a solid Redwood top in a satin lacquer finish, giving a lovely sheen to the wood's natural grain. A bevel on the lower bout forms an armrest for added comfort, revealing a lighter wood color. The sides are a 5-piece laminated Indian Rosewood, offering a darker hue to complement the Redwood top.
The neck is Mahogany with a 21-fret Ebony fingerboard that joins the body at the 14th fret. Simple, skinny white dot inlays guide your way over a 24-inch scale length that should prove comfortable for any guitar player. It features a Graph Tech TUSQ nut with a comfortable 43.5mm width at the headstock.
On the back side of the headstock, you’ll find a set of high-quality Schaller tuners, with a very simplistic ‘Sheeran by Lowden’ logo on the opposite side. Moving to the other end we’ve got an ebony bridge with a Graph Tech TUSQ saddle. Lowden’s own strings are mounted through the bridge rather than using bridge pins.
Finally, you get an LR Baggs EAS VTC under saddle pickup for your electronics, activated by plugging in via the dual strap pin and input. The volume and tone controls are mounted on the top of the soundhole in a position that’s easily accessible while you’re playing. What’s not accessible however is the battery pack, which is in a little velcro’d package nestled inside the guitar body. You need to loosen the strings to get to it, so you’ll want to make sure you’ve got a fresh one in before you take on any important gigs.
Sheeran by Lowden W05 review: Playability
Picking up the W05 to play, the first thing I noticed was how neck-heavy it is. The guitar immediately wants to lean to your left when you balance it on your knee, I’m guessing due to a combination of the heavier Mahogany wood used plus the chunky Schaller tuners. It doesn’t really affect the feel as you play though, due to the counterweight of your arm resting on the bevel. Still, it’s a bit annoying if you want to take your hands off the guitar to use your mouse, or type up notes for a review.
The neck feel is cosy due to the shorter scale, which will take some getting used to if you’ve been playing regular-size acoustics. The action is decent out of the box, although barre chords further up the neck will give beginners some difficulty. At the business end, it feels really nice with open chords being easy enough to utilize.
Whether fretting chords or playing licks, the neck feel is very slick, with a comfortable profile that makes it easy to get your thumb over the top. I tried various pieces from fingerpicked chords to more bluesy musing with some leads. It feels nice overall, although I reckon this particular guitar would benefit from a setup to really get the most out of it.
Sheeran by Lowden W05 review: Sound
Sound-wise, I’ve got nothing but superlatives for the W05. It was the sustain that first caught my attention, ringing out really nicely even when plucked gently. Up your picking arm force and you get an appropriately increased ring too. There’s a lovely mix of overtones once you’ve strummed the chord too, perfect for a musical ring out to finish your song on.
The overall tonality of it is nicely balanced, a little lacking in the lows which is understandable due to the size, but the lows don’t get massively overpowered by the higher strings either. That’s to say it’s nicely balanced, and warm in its tone rather than the brighter sound of a spruce-topped acoustic.
It’s loud enough to fill a living room when strumming chords, as well as when playing arpeggios with a pick. Fingerpicked, it gives you a more muted voice, but no less lovely. The warmth here really suits the attack of your fingers on the strings, retaining that balanced sound but allowing the lows to shine a little brighter than when played with a pick.
Plugged in the LR Baggs pickup delivers a decent recreation of the guitar’s unplugged sound, but nothing that’s going to blow your socks off. As with most under saddle pickups I’ve played, there’s a lot of that ‘plink’ sound when you play the treble strings, and not enough depth and complexity to compete with the natural sound of the guitar. For a gig, it’ll do a fine job, but if you can arrange one, the W05 will sound a lot better in front of a microphone.
Sheeran by Lowden W05 review: Verdict
Overall, the Lowden by Sheeran W05 is a great little guitar. The solid redwood top delivers a stunning sound, with bags of sustain and a complex tonal profile. The neck dive makes it a little awkward to handle at times, but admittedly you don’t feel it when you’re playing. It’s very well made, without a single blemish I could see and for a guitar made outside of the Far East, the price makes it excellent value for money.
During my time with the W05, I couldn’t help but compare it to the Taylor GS Mini, which for me is the standard of small-scale acoustic guitars. The Lowden exceeds it in sound quality, but I found the Taylor to be more playable. That said, the Lowden might well catch up in this department with a good setup.
Sheeran by Lowden W05 review: Specs
- PRICE: $1,630
- ORIGIN: Northern Ireland
- TYPE: Parlor acoustic guitar
- TOP: Solid redwood
- BACK/SIDES: Indian rosewood
- NECK: Mahogany
- SCALE LENGTH: 610 mm (24")
- TUNERS: Schaller
- NUT/WIDTH: Graph Tech TUSQ/43.5 mm (1.71")
- FINGERBOARD: Ebony
- FRETS: 21
- BRIDGE/SPACING: Ebony bridge with Graph Tech TUSQ saddle
- ELECTRICS: LR Baggs EAS VTC
- LEFT-HANDERS: No
- FINISH: Satin lacquer
- CONTACT: Sheeran by Lowden
