Hi Garry,
    Happy New Year!  :-)
    Sorry I didn't get back to you sooner but I was out of town from
 late November, right through till Christmas.  It's taking me a while
 to catch up with everything....
 =-> Quoting Garry Lawson to Martin Ridgley re: Canadian Guitars:
 GL> Hi Martin many thanks for your reply..., being in Melbourne
 GL> Australia, we get many brands of guitars from O/S's. The local guitar
 GL> shop had the Simon and Patrick also the A&L on sale..., and was
 GL> thinking of getting one of them as a knock around guitar, like if I
 GL> travel..., I can just toss it on the plane or train with out worrying
 GL> to much about it being damaged. ...the above seem to be good quality
 GL> for money, but undecided as the brand names I have not heard of.
   Yeah, from what I've seen and heard they appear to be reasonably good
 quality instruments for the price.  But I'm not an authority on them by
 any means, though.  I play acoustic guitars a lot myself, but I don't
 actually own a top quality instrument.  I take a Fender acoustic every-
 where - even on aeroplanes - and I've never had any serious problems.
 It's not an expensive model, so I don't worry about it too much but it's
 my main instrument for song-writing so it *has* to travel with me!  ;-)
 GL> It would be much aprecciated if you could help with information on
 GL> the Canadian guitars, mainly quality and value for money.
   My good mate and song-writing partner recently went shopping for an
 acoustic guitar and we played a few Simon & Patrick instruments.  They
 were generally of decent quality, but not quite as good as what we were
 looking for.  I don't know if they have any mid-priced models ($700 to
 $1,000 Cdn.) but we didn't see any and I seem to have temporarily
 misplaced my trusty Guitar & Bass Player Buyers Guide.  ;-(
   FWIW, my friend ended up buying a Takamine - mainly because he needed
 a stage instrument.  The Takamines seem to have pretty good built-in
 electronics and are reasonably priced.
   Btw, did you see the replies to me from Lee Waun re: Canadian Guitars?
 He claimed to have recently bought one of the instruments you were asking
 about.  I suggested that he should write to you, but I don't think he's
 done so yet (at least not in this echo).  Anyway, he didn't volunteer
 much information at first, but after some digging I discovered that he
 got a Norman guitar, which I *don't* recall as being one of the makes
 you asked about!  ;-\
   I thought I'd pass this on anyway in case Normans are available in
 Australia.  Lee Waun seems to have bought his at least partially because
 it contained some maple, which is a wood he is apparently quite fond of.
 GL> P.S. the guitars I own are Hohner Pro 71 (SG) lead, Washburn elec
 GL> lead (lovely neck on it), old Rickenbacker elec, and a Ibanez acoustic.
   I love the jangly sound of some of those Rickenbackers, but I've always
 found the necks a bit too small.  Is yours the same?  Are all `Rickys'
 the same in that respect?
      Cheers,
               Martin
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