Acoustic 6-String

[LowDown Hal]

I'm thinking about picking one up to do some chord work, strumming etc.

I'm a little clueless about the world of Acoustic Guitars. Some guys I jam with are Taylor Fanatics. I played a few today. The 314CE felt and sounded good.

Actually I tried a 110CE, a 210CE, a 214CE, a 310CE, and a 314 CE. I also tried a Fender and a Recording King, but don't remember the models.

Any advice, comments, suggestions, hints, etc.

Thanks

[JTE]

I managed a guitar store for 11 years, and if I could only have one musical isntrument, it'd be an acoutic guitar. Here's what I always say about acoustics. There's apt to be as much difference between two of the same model as there is between similar models from different manufacturers. To me it's critical that you play the exact individual guitar you buy, becuase there ain't another one just like it.

Play as many as you can get your hands on. Pay more attention to sound than to the elusive combination of attributes called "playability". Don't pay so much attention to the name on the headstock, or where it was built. Play stuff way out of your price range, on both sides. That's because you might find that the sound of one a bit higher than you planned on is worth the investment. Have a good idea of what a great acoustic guitar sound is to you.

For me, a great acoustic guitar sound centers around Stephen Stills, Neil Young, Rodney Crowell, and Bonnie Raitt. My personal favorite acoustic guitars are Guilds, OLD Yamahas (FG-150 & 180 from Japan and FG-160 and 200 from Tiwan), Martins, and Larivee's. Personally I've never, in about 30 years I've been around them, played a Taylor that SOUNDED great. They sound OK and they're easy to play, but they aren't amazing to me, and I think for Taylor money you can find a lot of better sounding guitars.

However, if that ubiquitioius Taylor/Fishman amplified acoustic guitar sound (e.g almost any country artist these days) is what YOU want, then look at them. But, play a lot of them. Like basses, there's a lot of inaccurate generalizations about wood. Rosewood dreadnaughts do have a particular sound (that's the sound of bluegrass acoustics rhythm guitars, Stephen Stills on "Suite: Judy Blue Eyes", et.). But mahogany dreads also have a wonderful sound too that might be exactly what you want. I prefer small bodied rosewood guitars (e.g Martin OM-28, 000-28, Guild F-30 R, A-50) because they're wonderfully balanced fingerpicking guitars.

On a dreadnaught the bass can ovewhelm the trebles if you're fingerpicking. Gibson acoustics tend to have a particular sound of their own, which is great if you want to sound like The Beatels or Pete Townsend. If that's not your sound, you may not like Gibsons at all. My impression is that Gibsons are very well built, but tend to be over-built and don't ring. Plus the company is a pain to do business with and the prices don't reflect the quailty of the gutiars. They're great guitars if you like the sound, but they're stupid expensive too.

Martins are also great, and I tend to like the way they sound better than Gibsons, but you have to play a lot of them to find the ONE. Not that they're bad, but the difference between "Wow, this is great" and "HOLY CRAP THIS ONE IS AWESOME!!!" happens a lot with Martins.

Guilds are criminally under-rated on the market, and the persistent problems with marketing (which pre-dates Fender's 1995 purchase by decades and includes just about EVERYONE who's owned the company) has severely limited their appeal to dealers and hence thier exposure to buyers.

So, in summary, PLAY a bunch of them with a good idea in your head what you want it to sound like. Have someone else play it too, so you can hear what it sounds like out front.

And, BTW, unless you need to amplify it, I'd suggest getting one that's striclty acoustic. All those lovely nuances and overtones that make a great acoustic guitar sound so alive and rich in person are the very things that conspire against it being a good stage guitar. Unless you have the money, equipment, and crew that a Jackson Browne, Stills & Young, or Eric Clapton have, I've found it better to have a real acoustic and a stage one.

And the two most important bits of advice- Enjoy the search, and don't get in a hurry. Even though I managed a guitar store, my acoustic was a Yamaha FG-160. That was my acoustic from 1974 until I got my Guild A-50 in 1995. I knew exactly what sound I wanted and didn't see any reason to compromise until I got the one I wanted. I'm not saying it's better to have no acoustic than the one you want, but be patient!!!

John

[Philbiker]

You don't mention price - I think most Taylors are kind of expensive.

Taylors are very very nice and very well made. IMO they are the "Paul Reed Smith" of the acoustic guitar world. They are excellent, play great, have a great sound to them. They are also kind of generic sounding, without a whole lot of the difficult-to-define "character" aspects. I've never heard a bad sounding Taylor, by the same token I've never heard a Taylor that blew me away either. Same goes for PRS in electrics. Taylors tend to record very easily.

I'd suggest doing a google search to find acoustic guitar forums and ask there. There are a lot of them and the people are helpful.

That said, I recommend that you look at all the guitars manufactured by Godin in Canada. Brand names include Seagull, Norman, Godin, Simon and Patrick, and a few others. Their guitars use some unconventional woods, but they play and sound very, very good for the most part. I have a Seagull S6C with a Cedar top, Mahogany neck, and Cherry back and sides, and it is a wonderful guitar.

I agree with JTE that if you don't need to plug in, don't get a guitar with a pickup installed. I'd go even further to say do not get a built-in pickup/preamp of any kind unless it the pickup is a K+K transducer. The K+K "Pure Western" and "Pure Western Mini" transducer pickups have IMO redered every other acoustic guitar pickup scheme obsolete (something you will find easily verifyable with a search of internet acoustic guitar forums). And it is easy to install, to boot.

I also agree with JTE that Guild brand guitars are un-appreciated. Under Fender ownership they are as good or better than they ever were, particularly now that they are manufactured in the old Ovation factory in Connectuicut. If they are in your budget and you have a dealer nearby, definitely check out Guild guitars.