Feel & Sounds

Anything built from wood naturally wants to shrink, expand and shift in any number of ways. But modern facilities such as those of Barnes & Mullins’ production partners in Indonesia, and the selection of properly seasoned and kiln-dried timbers, go a long way to ensuring stability in new instruments. So it is that the action on all three Twenty Series models is set all but identically, ensuring predictable playability across the range should you try one in your local dealer.

The necks themselves are an unobtrusive medium-sized C section that sit comfortably in the palm. Actions on all three are low and easy, their wide bone nuts offering plenty of chording space in the open position, with middle-of-the-neck barre chords easy to hold down. Both Earth and Neptune models feature soft cutaways, which, of course, facilitate improved access, so licks up to at least the 15th fret are perfectly viable.

Where each instrument might differ – and indeed what might turn your head to one particular model – is in body size (and cutaway or not, of course). The smallest OM-sized Earth is perhaps the most stage‑friendly, with its smaller, shallower body making it ideal for upright performance. The drop-shouldered dreadnought Mars on the other hand is the bulkiest, and with no cutaway your upper-fret rock licks might have to be curtailed.

That said, many players prefer the non‑cutaway dreadnought look, and if upper-fret access is rarely required then this big, bold beast might be just the ticket. That leaves the mini-jumbo Neptune, the latest design in the Legacy Series and drawn by Patrick himself. On paper, and in reality, this is the perfect compromise between the two – a great sofa noodler that’s ready to hit the stage when you are.

To sum up the three acoustically, it’s exactly what you would expect. The smallest Earth provides the least top- or bottom-end but produces a focused middle that, while it can slightly veer towards ‘boxy’ when compared with the others, is probably the obvious fingerpicker of the trio.

The dreadnought Mars model handles all you can throw at it, with strong bass tones, sweet highs and a slightly scooped middle. This balance makes it the perfect strummer (try a lighter pick), but also the light mids don’t fight with a solo vocal, making it a fine singer-songwriter’s tool.

Again, that leaves the Neptune, whose dreadnought-width body kicks out bass oomph and fat trebles but with perhaps a little less scooping in the mids. Played acoustically its perfect balance means it’s probably our pick of the three.

Now, of course, these descriptions are a ‘broad brushstroke’ view, and one’s style of playing and other external factors will make you prefer one sound over the other. And with all three looking spectacular in subtly different ways, in the end it could all come down to that. So no guitar here is the loser.

A quick mention of the electrics. We’ve tried Fishman’s excellent Matrix in many different guitars, and the discrete condenser mic and under-saddle piezo pickup of the Flex M-Blend as fitted to all three guitars offers a superb range of sounds.

The ability to blend mic and under-saddle pickup gives you the choice to tailor your exact tone, from brighter for an in-the-band mix, to more broad-shouldered for solo instrumental work, and a nice mix of the two for voice accompaniment.

A general tone sweep pot (all controls are tidily housed on the upper bout) adds to the versatility, and a simple back-lit guitar tuner completes a fine system that few pros would find wanting.

Verdict

When our late lamented, funny and talented writer Ed Mitchell reviewed the original Faith Legacy acoustics on which these Twenty models are based in 2018, he said: “Where the Legacy Series Earth is a fingerpicker’s delight, the Mars is more of an all-rounder with a big voice and an impressive amount of depth and clarity.”

Regarding our Neptune (Ed only had the two) we’d simply add that its ‘baby jumbo’ body size sits bang in between the two, both physically and sonically.

It’s very difficult to fault any of these guitars. Yes, compared with the big, open-sounding drop-shouldered Mars dreadnought, the smaller OM-sized cutaway Earth sounds more constricted, but by dint of that it’s also perhaps more sonically focused, and on stage would certainly be a lot easier to throw around.

The baby jumbo Neptune provides the perfect compromise – a great sofa noodler and a guitar that wouldn’t disgrace itself down at the local open mic or under the gaze of a sold-out London Palladium.

Build-wise would we have preferred a non-scarfed headstock and one-piece heel? Of course, but then you’re adding considerably to the guitars’ price while not necessarily improving anything other than aesthetics.