00:00Hey what's up it's Paul from Guitar World and today we're going to be looking at two
00:13fantastic acoustics with premium appointments and perfect playability right out from its
00:19fiberglass molded hardshell case. These are the Mike Lawson's signature line of acoustics
00:26from the Pearl River Company. What I have over here is the ML-8000 GCB and over here is the ML-800D.
00:36For the purpose of this review I'm just going to call this one the 8000 and that is the 800.
00:43All right let's check it out.
00:49So you must be thinking right off the bat who is Mike Lawson and what is the Pearl River Company?
00:54So Mike Lawson is well known in our music industry. He's a veteran who has published many books on
01:02recording and producing but more importantly Mike Lawson has recorded and performed with
01:09countless artists actually legendary artists like Merle Saunders, Jorma Kalkinen and Bob Welch and
01:17he was approached by the Pearl River Company to design his own line of signature guitars
01:24because he's had decades of experience of performing with those legendary artists that I just mentioned
01:31before. Now the Pearl River Company is well known in China because they have a bunch of stores that
01:36specialize and invest in music education as well as lessons. So let's think of it as an Apple store
01:44to go to for your music education and there of course the Pearl River Company also specializes
01:52in pianos, guitars, ukuleles so all that stuff is there to be utilized. So when the Pearl River Company
01:59approached Mike Lawson to design these guitars he wanted out-of-the-box playability as well as
02:05premium appointments as I mentioned before so that these guitars look as timeless and as classic
02:13as some of your favorite brand name acoustics. Not to mention he also designed these guitars meant
02:18for working-class musicians. So whether you want the top of the line 8000 which is essentially a grand
02:26auditorium cutaway or the tried-and-true and more affordable Dreadnought, either choice you can't go
02:35wrong. These are amazing acoustics out of the box. So let's talk about the guitars themselves starting with
02:42this the 8000 this is as I said before the top of line premium acoustic. You know usually when I get a
02:50lot of import guitars my first inclination is like I know what to expect from an import guitar as far as
02:58quality and playability. The thing about these Pearl River Mike Lawson signature line the first thing I
03:04noticed was right out of the box these are stunning guitars these play amazing they sound great it
03:12doesn't feel or play like an import guitar like this plays just as great as any of my brand name acoustics.
03:21So right off the bat I was just totally impressed with that I mean it's not just me saying it but you
03:27can see it in the details and the craftsmanship of these acoustics. So starting with this the 8000 grand
03:35auditorium shape cutaway this thing came perfectly set up out of the box. The one thing that was very
03:42cool is that Mike Lawson tried to keep a lot of the features and appointments almost local. For example
03:50this comes with string joy strings these are a coated string and string joy is an American string
03:57manufacturer. Mike was actually blown away by these strings and these strings feel great and even though
04:02these are a phosphor bronze set that comes standard on the signature line they are coated but it doesn't
04:07feel coated so these strings perform flawlessly just fantastic. The other thing you'll notice is of course
04:15these wonderful sunburst finishes personally I love the darker fades of sunbursts like this particular
04:22one and you can see on that I just love that smoky look and they suit these guitars really well but
04:29the more important thing that Lawson wanted for his acoustics is that he wanted nitrocellulose finishes
04:35because generally import guitars come with very heavily lacquered poly finishes and if you know
04:42anything about acoustics those kind of finishes tend to choke the tone out of the guitar the nitro
04:48finishes allow the guitar to breathe and over time they start to really look fantastic. The other cool
04:54thing on this particular guitar is it comes with Grover locking tuners and the reason for that is Lawson
05:02is still a performing and recording musician and especially when you're out there playing and you're in the
05:08heat of battle and you need to change the string fast nothing's quicker than getting a locking
05:12tuner you put it in lock it up cut the string you're ready to go so he was looking for efficiency
05:18and he had to have the Grover locking tuners on both of his signature models here so that's a very
05:24cool thing you can see the really beautiful inlays on this ebony fretboard there's also the ebony bridge
05:32over here on this 8000 that has an inlay and you'll see the little gold detail on top of the string pegs
05:38over here Lawson also wanted hand cut nuts and saddles and for the most part these guitars are
05:46pretty much handcrafted this one has a solid Sitka spruce top east indian air dried rosewood back and
05:54sides a one piece mahogany neck and you'll see this guitar is an amalgamation of a lot of different
06:02classic guitars you'll see the diamond volute on this particular guitar here you'll also notice
06:08that there is also wood binding multiply wood binding that is throughout this particular guitar
06:16you'll see the arm bevel over here with the east indian rosewood as part of that bevel and then the
06:24rosette it's inlay just gorgeous so everything about the guitar is pretty amazing Lawson also
06:33selected the fishman sonotone gt2 pickup system that is equipped on both guitars other details i
06:42should mention these guitars are 25 and a half inch scale finally the really cool thing about these
06:47mike Lawson's signature acoustics is that each one whether you get the 8000 or the 800 they come
06:53with a deluxe fiberglass molded case now usually something like that costs almost a thousand
07:01dollars and that comes standard with these guitars so you really get the red carpet treatment on these
07:08guitars and even better mike Lawson also demanded that it comes with a certain case candy or a chef's
07:18kiss if you will each of these guitars if you look with the case candy there's a spare
07:239 volt battery not only just a 9 volt battery but a spare Duracell 9 volt battery it had to be that
07:30so there's a lot of very cool american touches with these chinese made guitars and as i mentioned before
07:39these are just premium handcrafted guitars and just fantastic so you'll know what i'm talking about if you
07:46ever get a chance to actually pick up one of these let me just play a little bit on this just to let
07:52you hear it again the fishman sonotone electronics are just simple straightforward really great sounding
08:00system and again this guitar the action on this is perfect the strings are great i mean just take a listen
08:07let's take a listen
09:16There you have it.
09:17These things really just play themselves.
09:19They're just really responsive to however you pick or finger style.
09:23Here we go.
09:53This guitar is great.
09:55Wow.
09:56Let's move on to the Dreadnought, which is equally as fun to play, and it'll be a bigger sounding,
10:03more like a Canon.
10:04It may not have the nuance of this Grand Auditorium, but it'll be pretty close.
10:09Here we are with the 800.
10:21This one is just slightly different from the 8,000.
10:25This, of course, is the Dreadnought shape.
10:26A solid spruce top.
10:28Same thing, East Indian rosewood that is kiln-dried, back and sides, wood binding.
10:35I mean, just gorgeous.
10:37A one-piece mahogany neck.
10:39Grover tuners.
10:40You can see the diamond volute up here.
10:42Love the headstock shape.
10:44He also did sort of the gold foil for his signature on top here at the headstock.
10:48Hand-cut nut and saddle.
10:51Same thing on the string pegs.
10:53You can see the detail on these string pegs just looks great.
10:56Also, you'll see the inlay.
10:58Now, this one happens to be a rosewood bridge, as opposed to the 8,000, which has an ebony
11:04bridge.
11:04And this one has a rosewood fingerboard.
11:07The other thing I should mention is that I believe Mike Lawson had patterned the neck
11:12shape on these particular acoustics after one of his favorite Les Pauls.
11:16And it shows, because this is an incredibly comfortable profile.
11:21So that's why it's so easy to play.
11:23And again, like I mentioned with the 8,000, the setup is perfect.
11:28String joy strings, phosphor bronze things that are coated, but don't feel coated.
11:33This thing, just to my ears, has a little more brightness to it.
11:36Maybe because it's the satin, sort of the nitro satin finish that contributes to that.
11:42But again, this is a guitar that's incredibly well put together.
11:45So, take a listen.
12:06Yeah.
12:07Thanks.
12:16Yeah.
12:16Yeah.
12:16guitar solo
12:46It's like you can just really hear how the note naturally decays and just the sustain of these guitars. Just great.
13:16The Pearl River Mike Lawson Signature Line of Acoustics, the ML-800D over here and the ML-8000GCB are stunning acoustic instruments.
13:36Out-of-the-box playability, set up perfectly, incredible tone. These are instruments you definitely want to take out on the road with you, record with.
13:47These are the kind of guitars that you can count on lasting a lifetime and giving back exactly what you put into it. Definitely check them out.
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14:09Oh, my God.
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