Ultimate-Guitar.com Review: The Painted Lady 2020 review by Goldfinch

Features — 7
The Goldfinch Guitars Painted Lady is an awesome, stripped down guitar meant to be super accessible and fun to play. What it may lack in features and controls it more than makes up for in quality of what is there. This 24.75" guitar features a stylish reverse headstock, single humbucking pickup, a volume control, and an eye catching design. Available in a ton of color options (I received a beautiful Redburst model), the Painted Lady comes with a gloss Maple neck and fretboard with beautiful black block inlays. The tune-o-matic and stop tailpiece also make it very easy to add a tremolo or Bigsby arm. Made from Paulownia body is light weight and tone rich and is well connected to the set neck for maximum sustain.

Sound — 8
Again, the Painted Lady is not the most feature rich, versatile guitar out there. But it does sound really great considering the price and no-name humbucker. The single humbucker sounds a bit more mid-rich than most humbuckers, giving it a full, responsive sound that responds well to the volume control. You can easily go from a power-chord chugging tone at full volume to a more nuanced, chimey tone at around 70% rolled on. This kind of sweep and tone control is certainly not common on most import, affordable models. The pickup is also very quiet, with almost no noticeable buzz or hiss. With chorus, tremolo, and reverb drenched on top the Painted Lady really felt at home covering Alternative and Indie rock tones.

Action, Fit & Finish — 9
I was generally really impressed with the guitar out of the box. The strings are high quality, as the company replaces the cheap Chinese-made strings when they import the guitars. They also check intonation and action, meaning you get a supremely well setup guitar for the sub-$400 price tag. It feels far superior to the action and feel of most Squier's or Epiphone's right out of the box. All the hardware was well installed, the pickup was properly adjusted, and the neck feels fast and smooth. Unfortunately reaching the higher frets is a bit harder than most guitars as a result of the shape, but this guitar is designed for riffing and chording more-so than shredding anyways.

Reliability & Durability — 9
The tuning stability has been incredible solid despite seeming to have cheap tuners and nut. It just goes to show that when foreign factories are held to high standards they can produce really quality products without having to slap a big-name Grover or Seymour Duncan brand name product on. I haven't had to re-tune the guitar in the week or so that I've had the guitar and I would really like to take the Painted Lady on stage asap. It's well built and I trust it to get the job done while catching a ton of eyes in the audience.

Overall Impression — 10
There are a few things that make the Painted Lady so special and worthy of high marks despite such simple construction and features. First off, it's incredibly accessible and marketed as a beginner option from the fairly new Philadelphia-based company. However, this guitar shouldn't be limited to beginners. The short scale and small body makes it excellent for students, players with small hands, or anyone who wants a guitar that they can easily pickup and strum. Quality wise it is far ahead of many other beginner models. Lastly, it's designed to be super easy to modify. Just flip the strings, nut, and bridge and you're good to go as a lefty. Plus, the cavity has a swimming pool rout, letting you add any pickups you could want with ease. I will 100% be hot rodding this wonderful little guitar and detailing the whole process. The Painted Lady is worth your immediate attention!