Have you ever had a chance to compare sounds of a Brook/McIlroy/Lowden? If so, care to venture any (personal) sound characteristic descriptives?
I've played only two Lowdens and one McIlroy. The Lowdens were both Os and I was comparing them to a Gibson J-150 which I subsequently bought (and have now sold). The McIlroy I played was at a Festival round about the time I was getting close to guitar saturation point, and I don't even remember which model it was*.
Without playing Lowden, Brook and McIlroy side by side, I'm not really able to compare. The closest I've got to playing Lowden and Brook side by side was at The Acoustic Music Company in Brighton where I played about eight Brooks and a Lowden O-32 12-string. I would happily have walked out with all of them, but the Brook that stood out on the day was their dreadnaught, the Teign. The Lowden was the best 12 I've played thus far too - I never knew they could be that easy to play! Still, comparing a 12-string to a six is not really of much use either :(
Incidentally, I've just posted a short video review of the Bovey on my site. I ought to have introduced it better and mentioned that the BO is pronounced like in BOvril, not like cam-BODia as I previously though. All Brook guitars are named after rivers in Devon.
Video Review of BoveyCams
*Note to self: write things down next time!
