Is there anything unique about musical instrument reviews? Obviously, a good review should discuss sound, playability, feel, construction, price and value. All these seem important but is one overwhelmingly important? Can you devote one paragraph (three to four sentences) to each and write a good review?

I think you can but are there other thoughts about this?

--Bob

To make this short, A review that short couldn't help, unless the instrument itself was very basic in creation and overall has similar views from everyone. i.e: a .99 harmonica or recorder. I think in my own opinion, the more complex the instrument in making it, as well as the broader range of prices helps determine how long any views about the instrument should be. Also popularity of the product as well as personal experiences will also determine this. A view on a Roland drum set should be more detailed and probably longer than an opinion on a pair of drumsticks, for example.

A good writer can generally explain things -- including his/her opinions -- in a few well-written sentences. However, I do agree that more complex instruments require more thorough reviews. As you said, it's one thing to review a $5 harmonica but quite another to review a $7,000 piano.

I guess I was fishing around for the kinds of things that people expect to see in a review of a musical instrument. Did I miss something in my earlier post? Do all guitar reviews need to list the instrument's weight? Do all piano reviews have to give the reviewer's opinion of the instrument's finish? Just throwing some things out there.

--Bob

Being not as short, I apologize. In the world of instruments in general, it is so complex, sometimes I will forget specifications i knew last week. When I started selling instruments on-line, descriptions of finishes and types of wood that were used was very important. Weight only had a significance If you were shipping, but for a brick and mortar store, I never had anyone ask me about weight. It never came up as a feature to help them decide whether to buy or not. On-line was a different story though.
A guitar, for example, would not only have a good description of the woods involved, but the finishes, tone quality, hardware, and list of accessories. The hardware would have descriptions on the type of metal, whether it was chromed, brass, or what have you. A great SELLING point (in my view) would have a description of tone or sound you would expect when playing the guitar,(whether it be an acoustic or electric). alot of sellers would often leave this out, not thinking about being on the other side of trying to buy it. they would often just list whether it was made with maple, rosewood, or any other type of wood associated with the guitar.
So, in my words, If you are going to review the instrument, the more details the merrier, whatever the max amount of words may come into play in some instruments. Especially for vintage guitars and rare instruments. Alot of sellers never explain to the buyers that there is that certain "scratch" on the body, or their justification of "mint" means it still plays o.k. with no scratches or very little. All in all, I think a good detail is sufficient, where a detailed description shouldn't be so long that the reader could nearly build one out of the specifications of a veeeeeeery long page of nothing but details. Sometimes you lose the customers by long descriptions alone. Opinions also count heavily on certain instruments, but not all. A good example; a fender dg-6. I have picked up seven of these and they are totally different from one another. There is one i like, so i usually show this one off first, knowing it will sell because of the sound it produces, but there are at least three i don't care for. In this case, i would offer my honest opinion.

I agree!

--Bob