Anyone who has visited the Pacific Northwest can attest to the incredible diversity of landscapes in this region of the United States. My home state of Washington is a prime example. To the West you have the Pacific Ocean and the Cascade Mountain range, which includes the infamous Mount St. Helens. As you move to the East you find rolling wheat fields and desert terrain. The area I want to mention in this review is the west coast peninsula. This are is known as the Olympic Peninsula.

The Olympic Peninsula includes the smaller and less known Olympic mountain range and the Olympic national rainforest. You may be wondering why I would bring you here for a guitar review. The simple answer would be the vast quantity of trees in this territory. A large percentage of the wood used in guitar construction comes for the Olympic Peninsula including curly and flame maple used in highly figured tops. The most impressive however are the huge and majestic cedar trees that are native to this area.

On a recent camping trip with my family, I decided to bring the Remington OM13-CE that Samick sent me for review. I always like to bring a guitar with me on trips like these, so I put it in the RV before we left. As I was sitting in camp one night, my eyes were drawn to one of the large cedar trees and I realized that a tree like this very one was used to build this guitar. In fact that tree probably came from this very region. I find myself wondering if I just brought a part of this guitar home after a long trip around the world.

The Remington OM13-CE




Some players aspire to play guitars that are very ornate in nature, while others like an understated, more natural style of guitar. The OM13-CE was designed for the latter, with its clear-cut yet stylish design.

The Remington is from the Greg Bennett series of acoustics which has received many favorable reviews. It is a cutaway orchestra model acoustic/electric. It features a solid natural cedar top with a wine red striped mahogany back and sides. The contrast between these two colors is very appealing to the eye. I have seen the wine red back and sides on other guitars, but they will usually have red or light natural top. The slightly darker shade of the cedar top gives this guitar a fresh and unique aesthetic.



The only real "bling" you will find on this guitar is the classic abalone sound hole rosette on the cedar top. Even the fret markers are small, as to not attract your attention away from the entire guitar as a whole. Chrome Grover tuners and a 6 ply reverse binding help the Remington OM13-CE culminate into a guitar which gives the discerning guitar player a wonderful balance between visual appeal and distictive sound.



The Remington also incorporates a scalloped bracing design which gives the top more power and responsiveness. This translates into a commanding sound that will get even better as the cedar ages over time.

On the electronics side, Mr. Bennett has upgraded this guitar with the "Clear Wave 50" preamp by Fishman. This is a very nice upgrade when compared to the “Classic 4” preamp that was standard on most Greg Bennett guitars in the past. I really like having a built in tuner on guitars, and this is standard with the "Clear Wave 50". The three band EQ give you plenty of tonal control for your amplified sound and the built in notch filter works well to knock out feedback issues that are common with acoustic/electric guitars.



The Sound Test

The OM13-CE has a very comfortable feel. The smaller headstock along with the thinner body give this guitar a balance that works well for playing while standing or sitting. The construction feels very solid and I found no flaws in the workmanship on this guitar. The action was slightly higher than I would prefer, but after a few simple and minor adjustments, I was quite satisfied with the overall responsivness of the guitar. I tuned it up using the onboard tuner, and took it for a spin.

Starting with a flat pick, I ran through some simple strumming patterns and arpeggios. The first thing that struck me was the projection of this guitar. The OM13-CE is exceptionally loud for its size. The mahogany back and sides projects a bright tone that is nicely balanced by mellow lows and mids offered by the cedar top. For each string, the tonal response was clear and articulate yielding a very full and balanced sound with light to medium strumming. However, as I moved into more aggressive strumming, the highs seemed to be accentuated, and the sound became a little too bright for my personal taste. This is typical for the OM body style and did not concern me since orchestra model guitars are really designed for finger picking, and this is where the Remington OM13-CE shines.

As I just mentioned, this guitar really starts opening up when you put down the pick and start playing fingerstyle. With this style of playing the cedar top becomes the prominent driver of the tone with its warm lows and mids. The highs calm down and you obtain a wonderful, balanced tone. While this phenomenon is quite common when comparing finger picking to flat picking, I felt that the Remington demonstrated greater distinction in this area than most other guitars I have played.

Plugged in, The "Clear Wave 50" offers a very good representation of the unplugged sound. I did not find it to be as tinny and unnatural as many piezo systems on the market. While a microphone is still the best for getting an amplified acoustic sound, companies on the market making these under saddle piezo systems are really starting to get close to replicating the real sound of the guitars. I really appreciate the work that Fishman has done with the "Clear Wave 50", it is a great sounding unit.

As a side note, I decided to compare this guitar to the Greg Bennett Rio Grande that I reviewed several months ago. Both guitars are orchestra models, and are virtually identical in size and shape. The obvious difference is the ovankol back and sides on the Rio Grande. I found that the Rio Grande had a much more laid back sound while the Remington was more lively, as well as louder. Even with their similarities, these guitars offer two very distinct personalities. If you are looking for an OM model, you may want to try both of these models to see which one fits your style best.

Closing Thoughts

For some reason, of all the acoustic guitars I have played over the years I've not had many opportunities to play one with a cedar top. I can’t think of any reason for this other that the fact that I tend to gravitate toward lighter colored woods on acoustic guitars. So it's possible that I rarely pulled them off of the music store wall. Since I have now reviewed two Greg Bennett acoustics with solid cedar tops, I have become a fan of the warm, rich tone that cedar offers. I have even gained an appreciation for the darker color of the cedar. Being a softer wood, the cedar ages faster, and aged wood gains more resonance. These guitars only get better over time, but really sound great right out of the box.

I recommend the OM13-CE as a great intermediate guitar, but with a price tag of under $500, it is easily in range of most beginners. This is a better sounding and playing guitar than most beginners will ever start out on. This is the kind of guitar, that you don’t mind taking on a camping trip to play around the campfire. It would also be a great guitar for taking to the local coffee shop for an evening of open mic.

I keep thinking back to those huge cedar trees on the Olympic Peninsula. I find myself wondering what a cedar tree would want to be someday if it could have aspirations. I think that they would want to become a Remington OM13-CE. But that’s just my speculation. When I put it all together, it comes down to quality construction, beautiful sound, and outstanding value for the dollar. This guitar is everything I would expect from Greg Bennett, and therefore receives the Rig Ready award and the Guitar Gear Heads Approved award for 2006.



Gary Allen

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