Doug Young - Mountain View, California

The workmanship is impeccable, and the neck is especially smooth and easy to play, but it's the tone that's the big draw. Fat, warm, round, juicey. Fat trebles, a big bottom end, and yet balanced ... there's an amazing consistency between the upper strings ... The Harmonics pop out ...

Woolson Audio Review ♫ Missing You ♫ Month of January
Off to California ♫ Shenandoah

Fran Guidry - Walnut Creek, California

It actually looks smaller (and cuter) than a Martin 00 ... I can say that this Woolson LG is professionally and beautifully crafted ... The quality of the sound is very pleasing, sweet and round and full without sacrificing clarity. No honk, no shriek, no thud, just lots of juicy notes flowing from the instrument ... the guitar sounds very very similar to the player and the listener ...

He Aloha No `O Honolulu ♫ Ka Makani `Olu`olu

Alan Porton - Clovis, California

I was impressed with how well this guitar stood up and responded to light fingerstyle as well as more aggressive picking/ strumming ... When you close your eyes, it's hard to believe this wall of sound is emulating from such a small body! ... Paul's craftsmanship is first rate, and his LG shines! ... I've had the pleasure of playing about half a dozen of Paul's guitars, and I can definitely say this is (IMO) his greatest achievement as a builder! ...

♫ 'Tis So Sweet (video) ♫

Larry Jacobsen - Cheyenne, Wyoming

The guitar has amazing response at all volume levels both fingerstyled and strummed with a pick ... it gives a nice growl on the bass notes - especially noticeable in dropped tunings on open strings ... It produces crystaline and pure sounding overtones with the lushness of Cedar mixed in ... Sitting across from it and listening, it is a very clear and full sounding instrument that can adapt to the playing styles of different players and produce a variety of tones. It can go from crystal clear with nails to punchy with a ragtime fingerstyler and very nice jazzy fat-full high end with a chord melody jazz player ...

Road Trip Noodling ♫ Water is Wide ♫ Cut Capo (Esus Position)

Edward Hamlin - Boulder, Colorado

The Woolson is a petite guitar with a surprisingly big, woody sound, especially when close-miked. As I'm used to playing standard and jumbo body styles, it took me a little time to adapt my right-hand attack to the guitar, but the process of doing so helped me discover some musical nuances in the tunes - a great thing ... I test-drove this guitar on some material that one would not expect to be in its sweet spot: tunes with heavier rhythmic attack ... Many small-format guitars would stumble with that kind of material, getting "slappy" or overdriven and losing intonation on the lower strings. I was surprised to find that the Woolson met the challenge beautifully! ... On quieter and more restrained pieces it just shines, with a rich throaty sound of great natural warmth ...

The Great Migration ♫ Forgotten Question

Ken Cleveland - Littleton, Colorado

The sound coming out of this smaller guitar is truly amazing, to say the least. I have always shied away from small guitars because of, well… they tend to sound too small & nasally for my taste. This guitar pleasantly surprised me! ... If you heard a blind recording of this guitar and you did not know it was a smaller guitar you would swear you were listening to a much larger guitar. This guitar elicits that mature, opened up kind of sound ... The neck profile is so comfortable …along with the set up…this guitar plays like butter ... The fit and finish is right up there…its top notch ... I particularly liked the “circle” fret markers on the edge of the neck. Most fret markers tend to be solid dots but these were actual “circles”…very nice touch.

Note: The songs below were performed by Ken's friend, Stephan Hume.

Get Well ♫ Christmas Memories Medley ♫ This Old Guitar

Scott Smith - Tampa, Florida

It's an absolutely beautiful guitar with the coolest cocobolo back & sides that I've ever seen. The grain pattern in the back is just gorgeous - the photos barely do it justice. The rosette and "S" shaped tail inlay both share that same grain pattern, which is something that you might not have noticed in the photos ... The fit 'n finish is top notch, with nice clean lines throughout the guitar ... The inside of the guitar is also super clean, as you'd expect from a builder of this caliber ... The action was nice 'n low, making the guitar very easy to play ... It sounds fantastic! A guitar this small should not have such a big voice! It's like a mid-sized guitar trapped inside the body of a cute little almost-parlor guitar! The bass, although not *quite* as deep as what you'd get from a larger guitar is still really nice and the trebles are creamy smooth. Those thick trebles are probably my favorite thing about this guitar.

Born in the Sea ♫ Ragpickin' ♫ Redeemed

Marc Durso - Miami, Florida

What a marvelous little guitar with such a big voice ... What I find so interesting is the transparency of the design, in that as "exotic" (non-traditional, though historical) as the double top is, it still reveals the intrinsic sound properties of the woods used, and this cedar topped guitar expressed all the qualities for which that lovely wood is known: "quickness and overtones", and from personal experience, the ability to be over driven with my ham handed percussive playing style ... This is an instrument for a truly lyrical player, one with command and grace in their playing style to reveal the richness of each and every note. To quote again from the Pantheon Guitar's website in description of cedar: "lush, dark-toned, and bursting with flavor", that's what you get with this Woolson, with a big voice!!! So the power of spruce; the tone of cedar. The best of both worlds.

Dave Raak - Marysville, Ohio

It has wonderfully figured cocobolo sides, along with the very high quality build, design, and finish that characterize Paul's guitars. It has a noticeably arched back, which may contribute to its deep, rich tone. And like his LG model generally, it is a deeper body than a typical 00 guitar ... In tone, as I mentioned, it has a deep, rich, and full sound, more like a mid-sized or larger guitar than a typical 00 ... The Woolson has excellent sustain and lovely overtones, with a lot of warmth. It has, as others have said, thick trebles. It is responsive to a light touch (my usual playing style) yet handles more aggressive playing easily and well ... The bottom line on the roadtrip double-top: a wonderful guitar with a big, full, warm sound.