Super Natural

One of the few Guitarist Gold awards we handed out last year went to Auden’s cracking Austin 12-string acoustic, so it was with a keen sense of anticipation that we took delivery of the six-string version – the Austin Artist, along with an intriguing parlour acoustic named the Emily Rose. Both guitars are made with Auden’s hybrid build process, in which the woodwork is done in a small nine-luthier workshop in China, but the final neck-set, finishing and setup is completed at Auden’s HQ here in the UK at Higham Ferrers in Northampton.

You wouldn’t necessarily notice straight away that the Austin we have in our hands now is almost the same guitar as the 12-string we tested last year. The latter’s stealthy ‘smokehouse’ finish is replaced here by a