Another acoustic recommendation thread

LundiMardi

So, another guy asking advice on what acoustic to buy.

Budget €500 - €1000

What i'm looking for is a nice warm tone, preferably something with low(ish) action. At the moment i'm using my brothers epiphone and i find it impossible to play without using a capo!! Stupid big fingers:mad:

So what do yiz recommend? I will head into town over the next week or two to try out a few in musician inc and musicmaker.

Normally i'd have an idea of what i'd want but i'm clueless when it comes to acoustics so i need someone to point me in the right direction.

Cheers

Savman

I always liked Takamines, tried and tested in that price range.

Creamy Goodness

simon and patrick fo' sho'

LundiMardi

How about...

http://www.thomann.de/ie/martinguitars_ooo15_western.htm

??

It's listed as €1050 on musicstore.de. It looks good, i like the neck on it, seems fairly wide, lots of finger room. Comes with h/c.

Savman

can't go wrong with Martin

LundiMardi

Which would be considered the best out of Martin/Yamaha/Taylor/Takamine in my price range? Don't don't mind going up to 1100-1200 for the right guitar.

Creamy Goodness

LundiMardi wrote:

Which would be considered the best out of Martin/Yamaha/Taylor/Takamine in my price range? Don't don't mind going up to 1100-1200 for the right guitar.

if it was only out of them four in the list i'd go for martin or taylor.

that's because myself is a martin player but they both make excellent guitars.

LundiMardi

I'm only listing those four because of their reputation, what other brands would match up to them in sound/build quality in my price range?

fitz

Depends on the tone you're looking for.
If you're looking for a warm open tone, I'd steer well wide of Takamines.
Martin give good clarity, but I wouldn't say warm or deep primarily.
Taylor is probably out of your price range tbh.
I'd look at a high end Simon and Patrick or an entry level Avalon.

But all this is just postulating on what I think your meaning of warm is.

This goes for everyone who's looking for recomendations really:

Give an example of the tone you're aiming for.
Who's acoustic sound do you like.

Doing that would make it far easier to recommend a brand, and not alone that, to recommend tone woods.

Kenny_D

Generally for back and sides: Rosewood will have a warmer sound and mahogany/koa/maple have a brighter sound

For tops: Spruce has a brighter sound and Cedar has a warmer/mellow sound

LundiMardi

Ok, i'll go through my MP3 player and list some of the tracks i like the acoustic on...

Air - All I Need
American Hi-Fi - Another Perfect Day
Coldplay - God Put a Smile Upon Your Face
Eric Clapton - Old Love (unplugged)
Eva Cassidy - Wade In The Water
Jack Johnson - Better Together
KT Tunstall - Black Horse and The Cherry Tree
Morcheeba - Be Yourself
Pink Floyd - Mother
Radiohead - Fake Plastic Trees
Robert Plant - All the Kings Horses (really nice guitar tone!)
Simon & Garfunkel - Mrs Robinson
Smashing Pumpkins - To Sheila

Has that cleared anything up?:D

LundiMardi

Oh and as much as i hate him, i think i'll have to include Damien Rice on that list, the acoustics used on 'o' sound awesome. Whatever guitar(s) he uses on that i'd gladly buy without even trying out first:)

Savman

LundiMardi wrote:

Eric Clapton - Old Love (unplugged)

*drools*

I believe that's a combination of a very high end Martin and a life of the blues

Kenny_D

Ah I love Old Love (especially the piano solo in the middle). Yup he has some great martins in his stock. He uses mostly a combination of Sitka Spruce top and Indian Rosewood back/sides. Damien rice uses a Lowden (expensive)

LundiMardi

I was thinking of going with Avalon. What would they range from regarding price? Could i pick up a decent one in or around the 1000 mark? I'm going to head into Musician Inc next weekend to try a few out.

Are there any online Avalon dealers that would compete with Irish prices? Or would there be much of a difference anyway? Considering they're made in Ireland? I've checked eBay but there's not a great selection.

Hmmm, so many questions:)

Yeah that piano solo is really good:D

Kenny_D

I've played a few Avalons in Perfect Pitch and they did nothing for me at all. The martins were nicer. Was also one of the days they had a McIlroy in stock and the Avalon that cost the same as the McIlroy sounded pure ****e in comparrison

Right I'm gonna recommend a Martin or a Takamine. You dont need an expensive guitar by the looks of it and you can get a very good guitar for about a grand. Since you mentioned Clapton and a warm kinda sound I'm gonna recommend this:



With shipping, a hard case and all import fees that should cost about €1000. Considering it has a really good pickup and tuner built in I'd say its perfect for what you want

This is also about the same price:



http://www.ishibashi.co.jp/u_box/ubox.cgi?T=syosai&sline=4175&print=1&keys2=sakae%40ishibashi%2Eco%2Ejp&tid=list3

Here's the specs: http://www.musik-service.de/Guitar-Takamine-Limited-Edition-2002-prx395534081en.aspx

If the taks dont take your fancy I'd probably hold out and try pick up a second hand Martin 000-28. They're about €2000 new on thomann so you could prob pick a second hand one up for 1200 if you're lucky

LundiMardi

Cheers for the recommendation man.

What model is that? Just so i can compare it to some European prices. Don't know about the second one, may sound good but not pleasing on the eye:)

Buy the way, another thing I'd prefer is a cutaway, probably should have mentioned that earlier.

Kenny_D

Takamine TAN76c

I prefer the look of the first one as well. Was originally gonna buy it myself off chris but went with another tak he had in stock

Here's the non-cutaway version: http://www.guitarampkeyboard.com/options.php?id=70900&my_currency=1

The cutaway option usually adds a few bucks

LundiMardi

Have a look at the price difference in these!!! Same guitar, huge difference... Is this a bargain?

Musicstore - http://www.musicstorekoeln.de/is-bin/INTERSHOP.enfinity/WFS/MusicStore-MusicStoreShop-Site/en_EN/-/EUR/ViewProductDetail-Start;pgid=TOZgS8fSZObR00000000000000006BKCswJI?ProductUUID=WOPVqHzlBg4AAAEOnL0Yj8dG&CatalogCategoryID=hI7VqHzlOl0AAAEOwXAxe6fF&JumpTo=OfferList

Thomann - http://www.thomann.de/ie/takamine_ef261scan.htm

?

What would the TAN76C retail for in Europe?

Eoin Madsen

Damien Rice played a Lowden on O, so an Avalon is going to be the closest thing to that tone within your budget.

Eoin Madsen

Broadly comparing brands is a futile exercise anyway. And I'd be more than a little reluctant to judge a company on a single guitar. Even two guitars of the same woods made by the same company will sound a little different - no two pieces of wood are alike. I've never heard a Takamine that was remotely Lowden-like tbh, but to be fair I haven't heard every model and wood selection of Tak or Lowden, let alone every actual guitar.

To clarify my previous comment - Avalon used to be the part of Lowden that made their budget (the sub €2500 range) guitars until it became a seperate company. So trying some Avalons might be a good place to start.

Fitz played with Damien Rice a few times so he might remember what woods his Lowden was.

Kenny_D

LundiMardi wrote:

What would the TAN76C retail for in Europe?

About €1700 from the likes of Thomann. About €2289(RRP) in a shop I'd say since they always seem to charge the euro equivalent of the american retail price

LundiMardi

cool, i'll give chris a call during the week, hopefully it will stay available..

Does anyone have any idea the kind of charges incurred to wire transfer that kind of money to the U.S? If i decide to buy it of course.

Thanks for the advice Eoin.

Kenny_D

Ask chris as many questions as you can think of since you cant play the guitar before you buy. He offers a 10 day money back guarantee though if you dont like it. If you paypal him the money its about 4% of total price. Also ask him will he mark down the value of the package to about $400 so you'll pay a lot less import fees. He'll prob cut you a deal on a hard case as well

LundiMardi

erm.. Paypal don't like me right now, so i can't use that account. It would have to be money transfer. I could *maybe* provide credit card details over the phone but bank transfer would be my main option.

Kenny_D

Ah I see. I wouldnt say it will cost too much anyway. I transfered money to Germany a while back but cant remember if it cost anything. Its easy to do though

Eoin Madsen

It's in the region of €20-€45 to transfer money to a US bank account.

It wasn't me!

If you're looking for a full, rich, warm tone, I'd really suggest avoiding cutaways, frankly, takes a lot of the earthiness out of a guitar to be honest.

Eoin Madsen

The top is stiffer with a cutaway than without, but I don't think you can really make that generalisation all the same. I recorded a particularly expensive acoustic with a cedar top and mahogany body and neck, and tbh, it's still much too warm and "earthy" for my personal taste, despite the cutaway.

Ebony fingerboards ftw btw.

It wasn't me!

Not a huge acoustic player personally, so was making very much a parttime player's generalisation there, but I do feel that a cutaway sucks richness from the tone, tends to make it very sharp.

Fingers Mcginty

It wasn't me! wrote:

Not a huge acoustic player personally, so was making very much a parttime player's generalisation there, but I do feel that a cutaway sucks richness from the tone, tends to make it very sharp.

definitely agree!

Eoin Madsen

It's a fair observation if you're talking about laminate guitars, since it's the only thing that makes one sound different to another... But generally it's not at the top of the list of tone setting factors. It's another thing to bear in mind of course, but I wouldn't go so far as to exclude a guitar on the basis of it having a cutaway. Play it first!

It wasn't me!

Oh, but of course, I'd never refute that. Just saying, I find it a defining characteristic, but by all means play the thing. I feel that's a given for an acoustic as for no other instrument on earth.

Fingers Mcginty

a lot of the bass frequencies tend to be missing on cutaway guitars. I've owned a few

Eoin Madsen

There's as much or more of a difference between dreadnaught vs jumbo, cedar vs spruce, different types of bracing etc.