The Kirkland models are copies of a german guitar maker’s model, also called „Balance“ His name is Johannes Vogel and he still makes the originals, he’s a nice guy and will be able to help you if you’re interested in getting one of his guitars. See his website for further information: http://www.vogel-guitars.com

I was not completely satisfied with the original pickup and bridge (an old Shadow piezo), so I had the preamp, bridge and pickup replaced at basslab (http://basslab.de). It was a complete makeover including a custom made bridge and six seperate piezos that have seperate volume controls on the preamp. It was a bit costly, but I think the guitar’s sound and playability has improved a lot since the makeover. We also removed the magnetic pickup that the guitar came equipped with.

If you can get your hands on one of the cheap Kirkland copies, I’d say: Get it. They’re cheap and especially for live looping they’re great workhorses, no feedback whatsoever and a decent acoustic sound, even with the original piezo pickup. Good luck finding one, I’ve seen four of them during the last 10 years 🙂