Slope-shoulder dreadnoughts are among the most iconic of classic American steel-string guitars. The design is offered by many manufacturers, but recently, Farida Guitars, a Chinese company with a 40-year history, has produced some noteworthy and highly affordable versions of the instrument for the American market. We demoed Farida’s wide-necked OT-65 Wide VBS earlier, and in this video we demo the more traditional OT-62 VBS.

Like most vintage slope-shoulders, the OT-62 VBS has a spruce top and mahogany back and sides. In this case, the top is solid wood, while the back and sides are made from a laminate, which is a common choice on budget-friendly guitars. All the body woods impressed with great visual quality, including tight, even grain on the top and attractive figure on the back. The guitar has the short scale used on most slope-shoulders, and its neck has the standard width of 1¹¹/₁₆ inches. The attractive guitar’s reddish sunburst finish is complemented by light-brown coloring in the acacia fingerboard and bridge and a vintage-style tortoise pickguard.

The OT-62 VBS is a fun guitar to play, and its tone and feel are more than reminiscent of the instruments it’s inspired by. It has the slightly dry tone that slope-shoulders are known for, and sounds good regardless of how it’s played. The guitar would work particularly well for strumming and backup duties, but held its own on flatpicked single-note lines, and offered a nice, even response when it was fingerpicked. At a price of well under $500, it would be hard to imagine a better value. The OT-62 VBS offers a satisfying dose of classic slope-shoulder tone at a fraction of what a vintage instrument or high-end contemporary version would go for.

SPECS: 14-fret slope-shoulder dreadnought. Solid Sitka spruce top. Mahogany back and sides. Nato mahogany neck. Acacia fingerboard and bridge. 24.7-inch scale. 1¹¹/₁₆-inch nut width. Three-on-a-strip, open-gear “arrowhead” tuning machines. Made in China. $444. Faridausa.com

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