hi evrybody
in the last years i got crazy about acoustic guitars and started to buy " first class" intruments ( a lowden myrtle 035, a lowden 025c, a bourgeois JOM).
I use the lowden 025c for gigs and sessions ; i play the other two only at home.
I fear i have got the AGAS ( acoustic guitar acquisition syndrome) as i start to think to buy another one......
Help me please
Anyway , what is the guitar you would like to buy ? Which is the best one you ever tried?
Good music
Marco
You are doing pretty well to have the guitars you have - you must have severe GAS.
check out:
Martin D18 Golden Era - best value in the entire range
Santa Cruz "Vintage Artist" or the Pre-War D
www.chrislarkinguitars.com
I have one of Lowden's Japanese guitars that's basically the same as the O series. I also have a 1929 Martin 000-18. I've never found guitars I like better than these. My weakness is banjos. I keep buying ones hoping to trade them in on an Epiphone Recording B or a Silver Bell. But saying I have BAS isn't nearly as much fun as saying I have GAS.
I currently have a Taylor 814ce and hate it. It sucks for sessions, etc. I don't play gigs, so I don't need the electronic connectivity of the Expression System.
I'm looking to sell the Taylor for $$$ to order a custom Dermot McIlroy acoustic-jumbo or maybe one of his prototype dreadnaughts. I have played both the Martin D-18 Golden Era and the Santa Cruz D/PW and enjoyed both. The Martin had a great vintage vibe with the bite of mahogany, but I was told by the strore owner (Acoustic Roots in Bryn Mawr, PA) that Collings makes the consummate mahogany dread, so I should hold off....The Santa Cruz was great! I still may pick one up to replace the Taylor; it's a dread with the styling and punch of a Martin with the sonic brilliance and ballance of a Taylor. BTW, I tried the rosewood variety.
I have also wondered about ITM on a National Resophonic or a Dobro. I heard of someone playing a National at sessions for volume.
Oh, but I think the McIlroy would be perfect for me! Exquisite woods, dazzling Celtic inlays.....I just need to get rid of this Taylor.
hmmm. Dobro. Besides guitar I am also a dobro player. I've worked out Shebeg & Shemore (sorry about the bad spelling) on it (changed the key though).
Pete Grant is another reso player from northern California (where I live). His goal is to be the best ITM dobro player (admits not much competition). He was just in Ireland performing with a bunch of famous folk. He's more successful than me at it 'cause he plays a dobro tuned to D. Mine's in the usual bluegrass G tuning.
I myself have decided to focus my ITM efforts on guitar (easier than learning a new tuning plus I get to use my fingers). I love the tunes! (latest is Humours of Lissadell; been working on Wise Maid for 2 years and can finally get through it. hard stuff)
I have a 1991 Santa Cruz OM that kicks butt in sessions and just about anywhere else (I recorded a bluegrass/old-time country album with it several years ago). It's my only guitar. By rights, I should have a roomful of guitars, but I don't. Perhaps the syndrome just hasn't matured within my body yet. I love Lowdens, Collins, Bourgeois, etc. just fine, but, well, I don't know, maybe it's like mates. You find a good one, you hang to him or her as long as you can. Maybe you might find a better one eventually, but most people just flit from flower to flower endlessly, and then the children get confused and frustrated...but we were only talking about guitars, eh?
Smaller-bodied guitars are wonderful. They fit us Euro-size guys (and most women) better, they're smaller to carry around, and a good one is really loud and well-balanced, particularly within a small acoustic ensemble (or a session). If you plug yours in, then it probably doesn't matter, but I think an OM is just about perfect in every way.
I’ve had a several close friends who were guitar dealers, a few who build them and a couple who collect and buy and trade incessantly, so I’ve had the luxury and misfortune of playing a huge number of fine guitars. The experience has both enlightened and handicapped me so that it takes me forever to choose one for myself. There are just *sooo* many combinations of tone, responsiveness, unique voice, comfort, etc. that I’ll never be satisfied with just one. Or two, or however many I have now.
A few years back, I pleaded, pestered, flattered and pleaded some more until Lowden finally built me an F-25 with a custom neck. I love this instrument. It has an amazingly broad tonal pallette and it never sounds like a Martin. So naturally, I’ve been missing the Martin voice. Now I’m jonesing for a 000-28VS with a custom neck. So what can I sell to finance it? [Looks around the house] Herself doesn’t play her piano all that much. Hmmm…
It occurred to me that the palette I meant has just one ‘l’. I looked it up. With two ‘l’s, it means the armpit of a suit of armor. I did not know that.
oh, forgot to spill re: the guitar...I'm a Martin fan (being of the bluegrass pursuasion--but perhaps I shouldn't confess that here). Oh well, probably should get it out now. I have 2 dreadnoughts and a O-18, which should be the best for ITM but I can't keep from the big ones. I just like the sound--especially in ITM because it adds a bit on the bottom end. I tried a Santa Cruz OM but lots of the newer guitars have wide fingerboards/string spacing and I don't care for that.
The dobro is an Allen resophonic--locally made here in northern California (http://www.allenguitar.com/). Randy also makes mandolins and guitars.
Speaking of Dobros etc.The great Adie Harper of Wick Scottish Dance Band fame was able to play dance tunes on some sort of lap guitar as well as being a very good fiddler.I have a few of their L.P`S and it sounds nice.
A friend of mine and his brother, who builds guitars around the Knoxville, Tenn. area, decided they would visit the Martin factory in Nazareth, PA to learn some guitar-building techniques. My friend told me the automation in that factory is unbelievable(not a compliment). It is a cookie-cutter operation that produces 800 guitars a week!
I bought a new D-28 about 10-12 years ago and spent an additional amount of money on it to get the braces shaved, etc. to get a half decent sound out of it. In hindsight, to do all over again I would get a good handmade guitar from a small builder, and probably not spend as much as money as I wound up spending on the Martin.
Martins are factory guitars, no question about that. The investment in technology has helped them build better guitars and make them in a consistant manner. (Taylor upped the ante in this regard).
Everyone needs a Martin AND a custom hand built guitar!
I have a video clip I downloaded from somewhere of Dan Beimborn playing a few reels on a resonator tenor guitar. Made me want to rush out and buy one, but on reflection I think I greatly prefer the tenor banjo sound. Still, the resonator had a lot of novelty value!
I am so lucky to own two old american guitars, and though greed pushes me on to acquire more, i am luckily held back by a small flat and my SO, not to mention lack of capital.
However, why should one want more than an old Guild D25, and an even older Martin 0017 ?
However, all compliments to those who keep the modern set of hand-builders in business - I would follow you if I could.
I used to have a 1983 150th Anniverssary Edition D28. You can hear it as my open tuning guitar on a couple of my old live concert recordings (except for the fact that you can't hear those. Trust me. We're both better off that way).
Never liked it much. Traded it in on a 50s factory 5 string banjo. The only Martins I've ever really liked are between the wars small bodies.
". . .AND a custom hand built guitar!"
A luthier friend of mine (Kovacik: http://www.guitar-repair.com/lwspdhm.htm) and I have been planing my custom made for years. 00 body, Florentine cutaway, walnut back and sides, red cedar top, some tastefully understated inlay work here and there. . .
All I need is money.
The last time I went to Mandolin Bros. in Staten Island there was this one pariticular Santa Cruz OM. . .
Did someone mention lack of capital?
Speaking of modern hand builders, I mentioned awhile ago that a shop in Saratoga Springs had a Tenorcaster for sale that I was thinking of acquireing. The last time I was in town I went in to see what they wanted for it, but they had just sold it on ebay.
So I started playing around with a Larrivee parlor guitar they had had hanging on the wall and chatting about how I prefer smaller bodies for finger picking and they shoved a used Collins 00 into my hands.
Ooooooooooooh my Lord!
His website rather boldly proclaims his guitars to be the "The Best Fingerpicking Guitars." I cannot gainsay that claim.
I ran right home, but as it turns out I didn't happen to have a few grand hiding under my sofa cushions.
I have my eye on the Yamaha Silent and would like to try the acoustic Variax . What the hell, they're comparitively inexpensive.
I normally keep two or three steel-stringers at a time, plus a classical. I tried for many years to be satisfied with one guitar for both fingerstyle and flatpicking, but it just doesn't work for me.
Fingerstyle guitar is the only thing I'm much good at so I invested in a Lowden for that, but I often want a dryer, more traditional sound, so I'm thinking 000-28. For plectral plucking (say that fast three times), I'm currently trying out a Blueridge BR-240 (the best D-18 for the money - worth three times the cost).
"00 body, Florentine cutaway, walnut back and sides, red cedar top, ..."
Now that should be sweet!. A friend of mine built something very similar a few years ago - walnut/cedar, small body. Nick Lucas body instead of 00, though. Very tasty voice. Walnut is a fine tonewood. The ones I've played sounded somewhere between rosewood and mahogany.
Being somewhat more restricted in finances than many of the rest the contributors here, I own but two guitars. One is a a Taylor 814ce that I have been very happy with. It has served well as a compromise for the fingerstyle, flat picking and strumming that I demand of it. At the other end of the spectrum, I also own a Seagull Grand for dangerous places (especially when I play around children in the Sunday school class that I help teach) or if I want a small voice sound. It is totally unsuitable for use in a large group, but is great for small settings like the band I usually play in. Actually, the Seagull sounds amazing when plugged in (I installed a Baggs I-Beam in it), although that's not something that would work at a session. This "relatively" inexpensive solution left sufficent funds to buy a Crump zouk.
Bob, as a belated reply to your question, I bought a D28 and had it turned into an HD28. They were making the HD28's at the time. My only point is that many of the old Martins(I won't try to define old) sound good, but I would not buy a new one without a lot of consternation and advice from a good judge of guitars. I bought a fair sounding Martin hoping that it would "open up" with some playing time. It never did before the brace shaving, and then it lost the little bit of punchy D28 sound it had.
From the description I got of the Martin building process, it's a wonder they ever produce a good sounding guitar. But they do-sometimes. I hear that now most of the guitar people are buying mahogany instead of rosewood guitars.
“My only point is that many of the old Martins(I won't try to define old) sound good, but I would not buy a new one without a lot of consternation and advice from a good judge of guitars.”
Point taken, and I believe I *am* a good judge of guitars. I know that Martin has had problems with consistency – more than the reputation would suggest – but when they get it right, it’s hard to beat.
I would strongly prefer to buy an older guitar that’s already been through most of its voice changing, but because of an injury, I have some ergonomic needs that call for a neck that’s chunkier than 99.9% of the necks in the world.
Realistically, that means either I buy something that sounds good and find a luthier to make a custom neck for it (a big extra expense), or I order a new instrument and specify the custom neck. I know some luthiers and none of them want to do the neck replacement, even if I could afford it.
Apparently, guitar players are beginning to appreciate not just mahogany, but several alternatives to rosewood. This is a good trend. Ask any rosewood tree.
what acoustic guitar would u like to have?
what acoustic guitar would u like to have?
hi evrybody
in the last years i got crazy about acoustic guitars and started to buy " first class" intruments ( a lowden myrtle 035, a lowden 025c, a bourgeois JOM).
I use the lowden 025c for gigs and sessions ; i play the other two only at home.
I fear i have got the AGAS ( acoustic guitar acquisition syndrome) as i start to think to buy another one......
Help me please
Anyway , what is the guitar you would like to buy ? Which is the best one you ever tried?
Good music
Marco
# Posted on August 3rd 2005 by pizouki
Re: what acoustic guitar would u like to have?
You are doing pretty well to have the guitars you have - you must have severe GAS.
check out:
Martin D18 Golden Era - best value in the entire range
Santa Cruz "Vintage Artist" or the Pre-War D
www.chrislarkinguitars.com
# Posted on August 3rd 2005 by Cuso
Re: what acoustic guitar would u like to have?
I'd like to have whichever is the most valuable so I can sell it to buy myself a full set of pipes and maybe a holiday in Ireland. ;P
# Posted on August 3rd 2005 by Eldarion
Re: what acoustic guitar would u like to have?
Eldarion, you'll want Maybelle Carter's Gibson L5 - see www.gruhn.com
Would you get a set a pipes and a holiday in Ireland for half a million dollars?
# Posted on August 3rd 2005 by Cuso
Re: what acoustic guitar would u like to have?
I have one of Lowden's Japanese guitars that's basically the same as the O series. I also have a 1929 Martin 000-18. I've never found guitars I like better than these. My weakness is banjos. I keep buying ones hoping to trade them in on an Epiphone Recording B or a Silver Bell. But saying I have BAS isn't nearly as much fun as saying I have GAS.
# Posted on August 3rd 2005 by dwdeacon
Re: what acoustic guitar would u like to have?
I got three guitars - one classical, one Seagull for sessions and "dangerous" gigs, and one custom-made Furch for good gigs.
I don't want a new guitar. I just want to have an access to a house of a wealthy guy with AGAS, where I would be able to test out new ones.
It's good to be a cheapskate.
# Posted on August 3rd 2005 by Janek
Re: what acoustic guitar would u like to have?
I wonder what it would be like to play ITM on a Dobro...?
# Posted on August 3rd 2005 by Innocent Bystander
Re: what acoustic guitar would u like to have?
There's a tiny bit of dobro on "If the Cap Fits"
# Posted on August 3rd 2005 by BegF
Re: what acoustic guitar would u like to have?
has anyone tried one of the models in the Breedlove Atlas line?
# Posted on August 3rd 2005 by bobgordon
Re: what acoustic guitar would u like to have?
I currently have a Taylor 814ce and hate it. It sucks for sessions, etc. I don't play gigs, so I don't need the electronic connectivity of the Expression System.
I'm looking to sell the Taylor for $$$ to order a custom Dermot McIlroy acoustic-jumbo or maybe one of his prototype dreadnaughts. I have played both the Martin D-18 Golden Era and the Santa Cruz D/PW and enjoyed both. The Martin had a great vintage vibe with the bite of mahogany, but I was told by the strore owner (Acoustic Roots in Bryn Mawr, PA) that Collings makes the consummate mahogany dread, so I should hold off....The Santa Cruz was great! I still may pick one up to replace the Taylor; it's a dread with the styling and punch of a Martin with the sonic brilliance and ballance of a Taylor. BTW, I tried the rosewood variety.
I have also wondered about ITM on a National Resophonic or a Dobro. I heard of someone playing a National at sessions for volume.
Oh, but I think the McIlroy would be perfect for me! Exquisite woods, dazzling Celtic inlays.....I just need to get rid of this Taylor.
Sean Earnest
# Posted on August 3rd 2005 by DADGADLad
Re: what acoustic guitar would u like to have?
hmmm. Dobro. Besides guitar I am also a dobro player. I've worked out Shebeg & Shemore (sorry about the bad spelling) on it (changed the key though).
Pete Grant is another reso player from northern California (where I live). His goal is to be the best ITM dobro player (admits not much competition). He was just in Ireland performing with a bunch of famous folk. He's more successful than me at it 'cause he plays a dobro tuned to D. Mine's in the usual bluegrass G tuning.
I myself have decided to focus my ITM efforts on guitar (easier than learning a new tuning plus I get to use my fingers). I love the tunes! (latest is Humours of Lissadell; been working on Wise Maid for 2 years and can finally get through it. hard stuff)
# Posted on August 3rd 2005 by kbar
Re: what acoustic guitar would u like to have?
I have a 1991 Santa Cruz OM that kicks butt in sessions and just about anywhere else (I recorded a bluegrass/old-time country album with it several years ago). It's my only guitar. By rights, I should have a roomful of guitars, but I don't. Perhaps the syndrome just hasn't matured within my body yet. I love Lowdens, Collins, Bourgeois, etc. just fine, but, well, I don't know, maybe it's like mates. You find a good one, you hang to him or her as long as you can. Maybe you might find a better one eventually, but most people just flit from flower to flower endlessly, and then the children get confused and frustrated...but we were only talking about guitars, eh?
Smaller-bodied guitars are wonderful. They fit us Euro-size guys (and most women) better, they're smaller to carry around, and a good one is really loud and well-balanced, particularly within a small acoustic ensemble (or a session). If you plug yours in, then it probably doesn't matter, but I think an OM is just about perfect in every way.
# Posted on August 3rd 2005 by Audeamus
Re: what acoustic guitar would u like to have?
I play a National Resophonic, it's a great instrument. I can play with a very light touch and it still has plenty of volume.
# Posted on August 3rd 2005 by bt
Re: what acoustic guitar would u like to have?
I’ve had a several close friends who were guitar dealers, a few who build them and a couple who collect and buy and trade incessantly, so I’ve had the luxury and misfortune of playing a huge number of fine guitars. The experience has both enlightened and handicapped me so that it takes me forever to choose one for myself. There are just *sooo* many combinations of tone, responsiveness, unique voice, comfort, etc. that I’ll never be satisfied with just one. Or two, or however many I have now.
A few years back, I pleaded, pestered, flattered and pleaded some more until Lowden finally built me an F-25 with a custom neck. I love this instrument. It has an amazingly broad tonal pallette and it never sounds like a Martin. So naturally, I’ve been missing the Martin voice. Now I’m jonesing for a 000-28VS with a custom neck. So what can I sell to finance it? [Looks around the house] Herself doesn’t play her piano all that much. Hmmm…
# Posted on August 3rd 2005 by Bob himself
Re: what acoustic guitar would u like to have?
It occurred to me that the palette I meant has just one ‘l’. I looked it up. With two ‘l’s, it means the armpit of a suit of armor. I did not know that.
# Posted on August 3rd 2005 by Bob himself
Re: what acoustic guitar would u like to have?
oh, forgot to spill re: the guitar...I'm a Martin fan (being of the bluegrass pursuasion--but perhaps I shouldn't confess that here). Oh well, probably should get it out now. I have 2 dreadnoughts and a O-18, which should be the best for ITM but I can't keep from the big ones. I just like the sound--especially in ITM because it adds a bit on the bottom end. I tried a Santa Cruz OM but lots of the newer guitars have wide fingerboards/string spacing and I don't care for that.
The dobro is an Allen resophonic--locally made here in northern California (http://www.allenguitar.com/). Randy also makes mandolins and guitars.
# Posted on August 3rd 2005 by kbar
Re: what acoustic guitar would u like to have?
Speaking of Dobros etc.The great Adie Harper of Wick Scottish Dance Band fame was able to play dance tunes on some sort of lap guitar as well as being a very good fiddler.I have a few of their L.P`S and it sounds nice.
# Posted on August 3rd 2005 by cos
Re: what acoustic guitar would u like to have?
A friend of mine and his brother, who builds guitars around the Knoxville, Tenn. area, decided they would visit the Martin factory in Nazareth, PA to learn some guitar-building techniques. My friend told me the automation in that factory is unbelievable(not a compliment). It is a cookie-cutter operation that produces 800 guitars a week!
I bought a new D-28 about 10-12 years ago and spent an additional amount of money on it to get the braces shaved, etc. to get a half decent sound out of it. In hindsight, to do all over again I would get a good handmade guitar from a small builder, and probably not spend as much as money as I wound up spending on the Martin.
# Posted on August 3rd 2005 by griffith
Re: what acoustic guitar would u like to have?
Martins are factory guitars, no question about that. The investment in technology has helped them build better guitars and make them in a consistant manner. (Taylor upped the ante in this regard).
Everyone needs a Martin AND a custom hand built guitar!
# Posted on August 3rd 2005 by Cuso
Re: what acoustic guitar would u like to have?
I have a video clip I downloaded from somewhere of Dan Beimborn playing a few reels on a resonator tenor guitar. Made me want to rush out and buy one, but on reflection I think I greatly prefer the tenor banjo sound. Still, the resonator had a lot of novelty value!
# Posted on August 3rd 2005 by grego
Re: what acoustic guitar would u like to have?
Did I spliff this or did Messrs Finn and Piggot play some tunes on resonator guitars on a De Dannan recording?
# Posted on August 3rd 2005 by Bob himself
Re: what acoustic guitar would u like to have?
Griffith, was that a D-28 or HD-28 (braces pre-scalloped)? Were they making the HD at that time? I don't remember when it started.
The Martin custom shop will put together just about any pre-existing features for you, but I don't know what it costs.
# Posted on August 3rd 2005 by Bob himself
Re: what acoustic guitar would u like to have?
I am so lucky to own two old american guitars, and though greed pushes me on to acquire more, i am luckily held back by a small flat and my SO, not to mention lack of capital.
However, why should one want more than an old Guild D25, and an even older Martin 0017 ?
However, all compliments to those who keep the modern set of hand-builders in business - I would follow you if I could.
# Posted on August 4th 2005 by Guernsey Pete
Re: what acoustic guitar would u like to have?
"Everyone needs a Martin. . ."
I used to have a 1983 150th Anniverssary Edition D28. You can hear it as my open tuning guitar on a couple of my old live concert recordings (except for the fact that you can't hear those. Trust me. We're both better off that way).
Never liked it much. Traded it in on a 50s factory 5 string banjo. The only Martins I've ever really liked are between the wars small bodies.
". . .AND a custom hand built guitar!"
A luthier friend of mine (Kovacik: http://www.guitar-repair.com/lwspdhm.htm) and I have been planing my custom made for years. 00 body, Florentine cutaway, walnut back and sides, red cedar top, some tastefully understated inlay work here and there. . .
All I need is money.
The last time I went to Mandolin Bros. in Staten Island there was this one pariticular Santa Cruz OM. . .
Did someone mention lack of capital?
Speaking of modern hand builders, I mentioned awhile ago that a shop in Saratoga Springs had a Tenorcaster for sale that I was thinking of acquireing. The last time I was in town I went in to see what they wanted for it, but they had just sold it on ebay.
So I started playing around with a Larrivee parlor guitar they had had hanging on the wall and chatting about how I prefer smaller bodies for finger picking and they shoved a used Collins 00 into my hands.
Ooooooooooooh my Lord!
His website rather boldly proclaims his guitars to be the "The Best Fingerpicking Guitars." I cannot gainsay that claim.
I ran right home, but as it turns out I didn't happen to have a few grand hiding under my sofa cushions.
I have my eye on the Yamaha Silent and would like to try the acoustic Variax . What the hell, they're comparitively inexpensive.
KFG
# Posted on August 4th 2005 by KFG
Re: what acoustic guitar would u like to have?
I normally keep two or three steel-stringers at a time, plus a classical. I tried for many years to be satisfied with one guitar for both fingerstyle and flatpicking, but it just doesn't work for me.
Fingerstyle guitar is the only thing I'm much good at so I invested in a Lowden for that, but I often want a dryer, more traditional sound, so I'm thinking 000-28. For plectral plucking (say that fast three times), I'm currently trying out a Blueridge BR-240 (the best D-18 for the money - worth three times the cost).
# Posted on August 4th 2005 by Bob himself
Re: what acoustic guitar would u like to have?
"00 body, Florentine cutaway, walnut back and sides, red cedar top, ..."
Now that should be sweet!. A friend of mine built something very similar a few years ago - walnut/cedar, small body. Nick Lucas body instead of 00, though. Very tasty voice. Walnut is a fine tonewood. The ones I've played sounded somewhere between rosewood and mahogany.
# Posted on August 4th 2005 by Bob himself
Re: what acoustic guitar would u like to have?
I want a Lute, and the talent necessary to play it
# Posted on August 4th 2005 by wormdiet
Re: what acoustic guitar would u like to have?
Being somewhat more restricted in finances than many of the rest the contributors here, I own but two guitars. One is a a Taylor 814ce that I have been very happy with. It has served well as a compromise for the fingerstyle, flat picking and strumming that I demand of it. At the other end of the spectrum, I also own a Seagull Grand for dangerous places (especially when I play around children in the Sunday school class that I help teach) or if I want a small voice sound. It is totally unsuitable for use in a large group, but is great for small settings like the band I usually play in. Actually, the Seagull sounds amazing when plugged in (I installed a Baggs I-Beam in it), although that's not something that would work at a session. This "relatively" inexpensive solution left sufficent funds to buy a Crump zouk.
# Posted on August 4th 2005 by rob zouk
Re: what acoustic guitar would u like to have?
Don Musser handmade (about 10/year). Owned by Bob Dylan, Tom Petty, Eddie Van Halen and Bono.
# Posted on August 4th 2005 by kkrell
Re: what acoustic guitar would u like to have?
Bob, as a belated reply to your question, I bought a D28 and had it turned into an HD28. They were making the HD28's at the time. My only point is that many of the old Martins(I won't try to define old) sound good, but I would not buy a new one without a lot of consternation and advice from a good judge of guitars. I bought a fair sounding Martin hoping that it would "open up" with some playing time. It never did before the brace shaving, and then it lost the little bit of punchy D28 sound it had.
From the description I got of the Martin building process, it's a wonder they ever produce a good sounding guitar. But they do-sometimes. I hear that now most of the guitar people are buying mahogany instead of rosewood guitars.
# Posted on August 4th 2005 by griffith
Re: what acoustic guitar would u like to have?
“My only point is that many of the old Martins(I won't try to define old) sound good, but I would not buy a new one without a lot of consternation and advice from a good judge of guitars.”
Point taken, and I believe I *am* a good judge of guitars. I know that Martin has had problems with consistency – more than the reputation would suggest – but when they get it right, it’s hard to beat.
I would strongly prefer to buy an older guitar that’s already been through most of its voice changing, but because of an injury, I have some ergonomic needs that call for a neck that’s chunkier than 99.9% of the necks in the world.
Realistically, that means either I buy something that sounds good and find a luthier to make a custom neck for it (a big extra expense), or I order a new instrument and specify the custom neck. I know some luthiers and none of them want to do the neck replacement, even if I could afford it.
Apparently, guitar players are beginning to appreciate not just mahogany, but several alternatives to rosewood. This is a good trend. Ask any rosewood tree.
# Posted on August 4th 2005 by Bob himself
Re: what acoustic guitar would u like to have?
Lakewood?
# Posted on August 5th 2005 by bodhran bliss
Re: what acoustic guitar would u like to have?
without a doubt, an older Martin
. . . but if it was a car, i wouldn't necessarily go for an older Aston
# Posted on August 19th 2005 by lisaniska