Out of the box, the guitar strings are too loose, and rattle a lot. Tuning up to ADEad resolves this issue, but to really make the instrument pop you have to change strings to a higher gauge. The instrument is not built for high tensions, however, and there is a lot of flex in the lid when changing to stiffer strings. I use the instrument as a (to me) better sounding cittern, rather than as intended. Works great for me!
With the alternative DAEAD tuning it's got great tone and projection. It's almost 12 dB louder than my solidwood Harley Benton guitar (the only similarly priced guitar I own), and around the same volume as a Furch G21-SW. A great orchestra guitar, in other words. The sound is balanced, but being a smaller guitar is lacks a bit of low end (which can easily be EQ'd if you mic the instrument or can be made up by a bass instrument).
The build quality has room for improvement. There are a couple of bad cuts (one in the heel, one in the bridge and one between the neck and fretboard), but none affect playability. The body also has plenty of scuff marks both on and under the finish. The fretwork is good enough, although I'll see how long the zero fret holds up.
The neck joint is not entirely flat against the body, but the neck is stiff and does not flex, and the truss rod works just fine. The tuners are not great and easily lose their tuning frustratingly easy, even when the screws are tightened more than they should be.
The finish is uneven, which gives the instrument a dirty look, and the wood choices are of course not premium and have a couple knots and discolorations. The sound hole was burned when drilled and has not been rounded off. Still, the walnut and wooden binding look great and at least on my sample there is no ripped wood on the body.
I'm sure there are plenty better and (subjectively) prettier viola caipiras out there, but once I changed strings this instrument feels and sounds great to play. Soundwise it sounds better than any budget 12-string I've played and many more expensive instruments. You could buy 4 of these and each would sound as good as a guitar costing that much. Maybe one of those four instruments will also have a visually great wood selection and proper finish. Trifles compared to the joy of playing this great instrument.
