Willie-O and McMoo, you can reduce the deficit by one more - a cedar top. Interestingly I played in a competition a few years ago with a German guy with one straight from the factory. We swapped at rehearsals and on stage several times and neither of us could tell the difference, exdcept that his bug was much better than mine.

The large Lowden shape is a 'Jumbo'. I don't see much point in comparing brands; Lowdens have their own character, but I respect their consistent clarity over the whole fretboard. What blows away most players though is their huge dynamic range in the hands of a good performer. Played acoustically they are awesome, but when you play them hard you run the risk of overloading the front end of indifferent quality PA systems.

Regards, John