Any Favorite Acoustics?

[DrewPeterson7]

My bandmate got hisself a lower level Martin - can't remember the model number - mahogany...

In under a year the finish is wearing off the back and he's very careful with what shirt he wears - weird. Sort of put me off them a bit.

I own a Martin MC series, which sounds an awful lot like your buddy's guitar. I've owned it seven or so years now, and I bought it used. The worst thing that's happened to the finish in this amount of time is in a couple places the matte finish has gradually glossed up a little from contact. I think your bandmate's is a fluke, and definitely not the norm.

On the cheap, I like Alvarez and Seagull. You're looking to spend a fair amount of money, but it wouldn't hurt to play a few of their nicer ones just in case.

Personally, I'm a Martin owner - initially, mine sounded a little restrained compared to the Taylors on the wall next to it, but as I kept playing, "restrained" gradually tuned into "balanced," and the Taylors sounded kind of hyped by comparison. That said, the nicest acoustics I've ever played have almost all been older Gibsons - my dad has a parlor sized B-25 from the early 60s, and an ex of mine's dad owned a gorgeous 70's Jumbo. If I had that kind of cash, a Martin D-series or a Gibson would be where I'd begin my search. Not necessarily where it'd end, but at least the starting point...

 

[philboyd studge]

I'm starting to look for something I probly don't deserve in the $1500-$2000 range. Martin, Taylor, Gibson. I'm leaning towards a cutaway with a pickup.

You can't go wrong with the usual suspects of Martin, Taylor, Gibson and Guild because you can always sell them for a decent price if you buy used. You might try the classifieds of the forums of those respective names or the Acoustic Guitar Forum in peticular....I've had great experiences buying and selling there to established members. Right now I see a Gibson J-150 dropped to $1300...pretty good deal.
http://www.acousticguitarforum.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=17&order=desc

 

[tascamprisoner]

acoustic guitar choice

one of the great acoustics out there are the Guilds...... although they are out of production last I heard.... the newest ones are as nice as the vintage...I have a 1965 f47...... they arnt as flimsy as the martins and as clunky as the gibsons.... never liked the sound of taylors compared to the Guilds....

mellonhead

 

[TelePaul]

I'm just going to row in here with my 2 cents. The guy in my local guitar shop is a die-hard Taylor fan...he'll push really bright sounding guitars that do very little for me. When it came to buying my first acoustic, I was ready to go high-end after playing electric for five years. The guy had me play a huge number of Taylors, which all seemed a little on the sweet side...what he was calling 'bright', I was calling an over-inflated treble-response. I went to another store and picked up a D15 by Martin and it just sounded much richer, a fatter low end and a richer mid-range without the excessive trebles. That was five about years ago at this stage but it's only in recent times that I'm come to trust my ears and my instincts over what I read in a guitar magazine, or what I see on an internet forum, or what the sales-guy says.

I'd also check out some of the Breedlove kit if possible, great guitars for reasonable money.

 

[jimistone]

I have a guild DV 52. I haven't found a Gibson that stacks up yet and the Martins that stack up are 4000 bucks.
Guild DV 52 are no longer in production and are the sleepers in the used market. #should be able to get one for 1200 or less. The prices of them are climbing though.

 

[cephus]

I got rid of my gallagher. It was a really nice guitar, but I just didn't play it that much. I got what I had into it plus a supposedly top of the line yamaha that I don't play very much either.

The gallagher was really loud and sounded really full, but it was a bitch to play. I have a couple recordings of it and I recognize it right away. It was good for that. It just was too heavy duty and expensive to gig with.