wanna get a great semi acoustic

cartman

i wanna upgrade my acoustic to a a very good semi acoustic pref one with a little mic inside it so i can pre-record voice to play while strumming if you know what i mean, im intending this guitar for a good few years so im gonna be spending between 500-700 eurons,

could some point me to the right guitar,

thanks,

cartman

Eoin Madsen

Eh, don't know what you mean "pre-record voice to play while strumming"?

You won't get a guitar with a mic in it for 500-700, certainly not in this town. You can get some respectible electoacoustics that have piezo (bridge) pickups in them in the various music shops. Look in Perfect Pitch, Musicmaker, and Musician Inc. In that price range (first hand) you can get a good guitar, but not a very good one, if you know what I mean.

Fitz knows the acoustic guitar brands pretty damn well, so I'm sure he'll be along with more specific advice.

fitz

If you intend to sing into the guitar and record the output, well, that's jsut a really bad idea.

Mic's in acoustics will either be expensive, or poor quality.
It'd be cheaper to buy a crappy dynamic mic for 30 yoyos in maplin just to muck about with.

In that price range, you can get some nice stuff.
If you order over the web, you can save more cash, and get something a bit nicer.

Don't be adverse to getting a guitar without a pickup.
If you can afford to get a good instrument without a pickup, you're better off doing that and getting one fitted when you can afford it.
Common sense really.

Fishman Natural piezo pickups are fantastic, and will do a quality instrument justice.

As for the guitar itself, wood is important.
If you can get all solid wood, you're better off.
Solid top at the very least, you want the guitar to mature.
In this kinda price range, you're likely to get a solid top with laminate back and sides.

Spruce tops will give a clear, clean, musical tone.
Cedar will give a warm, round full tone.
Try both out, see which suits your style more.
The fretboard should be rosewood or ebony.
I'd lean towards ebony myself.

DON'T BUY A TAKAMINE.

Some brands to check out are:

Avalon, Tanglewood - Musicians Inc.
Martin, Stanford, Tanglewood - Perfect Pitch
Simon and Patrick, Taylor - Musicmaker

Avalon are a Korean-based Lowden subsidiary, and are fantastic hand-made guitars.
Build and sound quality are superb, a beautiful instrument.

Stanford are another hand-made brand from the Czech Republic, and are equally nice.
Again, well built and great sounding.

Martin are reliable workhorses, sound really good, play really well.
Not the same kind of character as the Avalon or Stanford, but worthy nonetheless.

Taylor, like Martin, make gorgeous sounding high-end hand-made offerings, but like Martin, their entry level guitars, geared toward the more modest budget, are seriously good. Really nice tone.

Simon and Patrick are Canadian as far as I'm aware, and are shockingly good for the price. Astounding build quality, lovely tone, very nice to play.

Tanglewood offer guitars that also good value, nice to play, and sound pretty good.
I wouldn't go for one, but they're in this price range.

The Stanford and Avalon prices will start at the top of your price range, the Martin and Taylor options will be a little cheaper, the Simon and Patrick will look really cheap by comparison but won't sound it or feel like it, and the Tanglewood brings up the rear.

Pick out something which suits your sound and then price it on the web.

Aim as high as you can. I'd try and look at the Stanfords, Avalons, and Taylors, but that's me.

Check out some stuff here:

http://www.furch.cz/st/index_an.htm

http://www.avalonguitars.com

http://www.mguitar.com

http://www.simonandpatrick.ca/

http://www.taylorguitars.com/

http://www.tanglewoodguitars.com/

You can pick up a Taylor Big Baby model on http://www.thomann.de for €419.
That'll give you an idea of what you can get for the price.

Good luck, and let us know how you get on...

Zoton

Why the disdain for takamine fitz?

fitz

They have an extremely over-inflated reputation.
Also a very dull, flat characteristic.
Very plastic sounding.
And they don't play nicely either. Build and woods are inferior to similarly priced models from any of the brands I mentioned.
Very old ones are okay, but not superb, and the new ones are muck being successfully pedalled to the masses cause of brand recognition.
At the end of the day, they're a guitar that a band can plug in and not worry about, cause it'll always sound the same, it'll always behave.
It's consistent, but is consistency good when the tone of the guitar is so lifeless?

cartman

thanks for that fitz, i forgot to tell you im left handed will that be a big problem, iv been looking at them avalon's, what would be the best model for my price range??

thanks,
cartman

[nicK]

hey guys, i'll just hop on in here.

i'm also looking for a new guitar, also within cartmans price range. I'd probably stretch it to 900 if i felt it was perfect.

Those avalans do look sweet alright. And being a subsidary company of the famous Lowdens makes them all the more desirable.

But would it be better to buy a bottom of the range Avalon than say a 'middle of the range' Simon and Patrick?

Obviously it's each to his own, but spec wise what would be the better option? .. if that makes any sense at all..

i'll be heading over to dublin tomorrow to have a look at my options

[nicK]

btw, alan.. what make/model is dave's guitar? Also, try and get that vid of him playing in yer sitting room to me.

fitz

Originally posted by cartman
thanks for that fitz, i forgot to tell you im left handed will that be a big problem, iv been looking at them avalon's, what would be the best model for my price range??

thanks,
cartman

Well, you shouldn't have much choice, cause your price range maximum is roughly where their prices start from what I remember.

Best bet is to go in and check them out.
The guys in Musician Inc. are very helpful, as for Roger, he'll point you in the right direction.
Left-handed...not sure about the price impact of that.
Again, check it out in there.
If it means saving for another while and expanding your budget, I'd recommend doing that.
You'll be happier in the long run...

fitz

Originally posted by Scrappy]-[Nick
i'm also looking for a new guitar, also within cartmans price range. I'd probably stretch it to 900 if i felt it was perfect.

Those avalans do look sweet alright. And being a subsidary company of the famous Lowdens makes them all the more desirable.

But would it be better to buy a bottom of the range Avalon than say a 'middle of the range' Simon and Patrick?

Obviously it's each to his own, but spec wise what would be the better option? .. if that makes any sense at all..

i'll be heading over to dublin tomorrow to have a look at my options

Well, the things to look for are woods and build quality.
The top on my Lowden is about 7mm thick.
Lowdens use split wood, not sawn wood, if Avalon do the same, I'd be inclined to say that's a plus for them, unless S. & P. do aswell.
At the end of the day, which ever one feels, plays and sounds best should be the main considerations.

The Lowden reputation goes a long way mind you...
You should check out Taylors on the web at that price too, then try them out in Musicmaker.

bovril

how come Taylor guitars are not for sale on the likes of samash and music123? I was just checking to see if I could pick one up cheaper than thomann if I bought one in the US...

fitz

How come Gibsons aren't on sale in Musicmaker?
Distributors.

Obviously the stores don't have a deal with Taylor, or a supplier who has a deal with Taylor.

You can't expect every shop to have every brand.

Check out www.musicstorekoeln.de
Good prices for Taylor.

[nicK]

Originally posted by fitz
At the end of the day, which ever one feels, plays and sounds best should be the main considerations.

The Lowden reputation goes a long way mind you...
You should check out Taylors on the web at that price too, then try them out in Musicmaker.

That's exactly what i done today. And i gotta say.. i do love the Taylors. Was playing with the Big Baby today for a good half hour in musicmaker which almost convinced me to go ahead and order it from http://www.thomann.de for 419, excluding delivery. Musicmaker were doing them for 500.

The Simon and Patrick i was playing with, which was also 500euro, also felt and sounded sooo good. (a luther, not exactly sure of the model)

So a day of visiting most of the music centres in Dublin in search of my next guitar has left me with 2 options. The Taylor Big Baby or that Simon and Patrick model.
I've got to say that i'm pretty pleased that both are around 500euro.

*note: Musicmaker sold their last Big Baby as i was leaving. More stock in 3weeks.

cartman

S Series - S6+ CW Cedar

this is the guitar im gonna get, the brother has a older model of the s series and its the nicest best sounding guitar iv heard i need a price now tho cant find the model anywhere

fitz

What brand?
I think that's a Seagull model number.
I didn't include them for consideration cause no-where in Dublin sells them, so you wouldn't have been able to try one out...

cartman

i think im gonna go for a taylor big baby, tried it out last week, sounded cool but i was playin a right handed [ only finger picked a song] as i am left handed, i need to know where i could get a left handed one of these??

i then think ill get a nice pickup fitted, any recomendation [not too dear]

cartman

[nicK]

the place that sells taylors in dublin had 5left handed taylor big babys when i was in last about 2weeks ago (although he had no right handed ones)

forget the name off hand but fitz quoted it on the other thread

[nicK]

musicmaker (500euros inc. carry bag)

jm2k

...and what about those of us who have slightly smaller budgets, what would anyone recommend for €200-€250 ?

Sleepy

Buy a decent acoustic instead. You simply can't buy a good semi-acoustic cheaply.

jm2k

Originally posted by Sleepy
Buy a decent acoustic instead. You simply can't buy a good semi-acoustic cheaply.

What would you recommend then?

Sleepy

Tanglewood and Art & Luthrie do nice ones at that price range imho. To me, all that you should look at when buying a guitar are two things:

is it comfortable to play?

and

does it have the tone you're looking for?

If the answer to both of these questions is yes and the guitar is within your price range, that's the guitar to buy.

jm2k

Originally posted by Sleepy
Tanglewood and Art & Luthrie do nice ones at that price range imho. To me, all that you should look at when buying a guitar are two things:

is it comfortable to play?

and

does it have the tone you're looking for?

If the answer to both of these questions is yes and the guitar is within your price range, that's the guitar to buy.

many thanks, i'll take a look out for those