Acoustic Guitar Characteristics

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Traitorous Usurper
I'm going to be buying a new one soon and so far, it's been a crap shoot trying to figure out what I like and don't like about certain acoustic guitars. I figured this might be a good resource for anybody to strut their knowledge about acoustics rather than me sitting here saying "gee, I want one that's bright, yet dark sounding" etc.

There are things I'm wondering about as far as the impact of specific body styles on the sounds, what tonal qualities are involved when using different woods on bodies and necks, anything noteworthy to look for in a bridge...you get the idea. I'm being very picky about what I want, yet I don't know which guitars I should instinctively write off, other than "hey, that rounder shape sure is neat." I have no idea what is different about spruce, koa, mahogany, plywood/balsa/dried cowshit, whatever.

So whaddya think?
 
I'm gonna spend about 500, maybe 600. I guess I'm not really looking for "hey this particular guitar is nice"...more of a "here's what all this stuff adds up to."

Where's Light when ya need him?
 
At that price range you're looking mostly at solid wood vs non solid wood guitars. You're just getting out of the nicer laminate guitars and into the lower end solid wood guitars. That's a gib thing to keep in mind because solid wood guitars have much better tone and playability than laminate guitars do. Especially the tone.

You will probably be choosing between guitars that are laminate and have glossed up finishes, binding, inlays, and look nice versus solid wood guitars that may be satin finished, and are sparing in extra adornments. It's when you have to decide for yourself if it's about the Tone or the Show of the guitar.

What kind of music are you playing and what are your playing habits? Rock, country, folk, jazz....hard strumming, fingerstyle, soft strumming, sole vocal accompaniement.

H2H
 
H2H is right on the money here. Another thing to keep in mind is that a solid wood guitar will "open up" with age and generally improve tonally.
 
Good to know. I guess most of what I'll be doing with an acoustic would be thrown in the rock genre, but I'm not just a chord strummer. I like doing quite a bit of frilly stuff a la Steve Howe, Buckethead, Rik Emmitt, etc., and I enjoy playing all over the neck. Sometimes classical style ficker plucking chords (don't want another nylon string though), sometimes Chris DeGarmo style moody arpeggio picking...basically I'm looking at trying to be as versatile as possible.

Thanks for coming in, guys. It's amazing...16 years of playing guitar (and not too shabby at it, I hope) and I know absolutely zilch about what I should be looking at. Solid woods, laminates, etc...that's exactly what I'm looking to find out about. All I know for sure is that I definitely need a cutaway, since I play up there quite a bit.
 
What about the various woods and how they affect tone? I realize that this is pretty subjective, but everybody seems to agree on how specific microphones affect various sounds. (BWWAHAHAHAA!!!) :D
 
ok, so far you have you want solid wood, a cutaway, I'm guessing you're playing live so electronics built in? Rock music is going to lean towards a Jumbo or grand auditorium. They both go well with electric guitars and drums. A drednaught has a little more boom that gets in the way of rock music sometimes, and a smaller guitar is good for delicate fingerstyle, but can get easily overpowered by a band, even plugged in.

I would suggest definately look at used, you will get so much more for your $. And if you stay with quality name guitars you will have a good guitar for years to come.

The brands that come to mind with all your qualifications so far are Seagulls, regarded as one of the best values out there. Tacomas, which you can find if you look really hard and are patient. The Yamaha CPX15, this is the one model they make that outshines anything else they make, you will have to look hard to find one in your price range but you can find them. A Gibson CL-10, it's a small jumbo cutaway with electronics, no frills but can be had used for $600, I used to have one and really liked it. There is also a Guild small jumbo that you may be able to find, but I forget the model number. You may be able to find a Larrivee for the upper end of your scale, too.

Your price range puts you right in the range where, when you start looking, you're going to be saying "If I only had a little bit more". Just scan places where used acoustics turn up and keep what you want in mind.

H2H
 
Remember..."everything affects everything" Headstock mass and pitch will change the tone and responsiveness of your instrument, as will construction and wood choices. As far as wood goes, spruce is a known tone wood and is used for tops - satin finish also will sound different (softer) than gloss. Mahogany, sides and back have a nice full sound with a lot of mids, while a rosewood back and sides will have a sweeter high end and a bit more bottom. Ebony adds a more pronounced high end when compared to rosewood as a fingerboard and bridge wood. Maple sides and back will be the brightest sounding of the bunch. Hope this helped... :) :eek:
 
Woods. I think more of it is snake oil than not. There are some generalities with your basic woods.

Tops will generally be spruce or cedar. You're playing rock music, you want a solid cedar top. There are several types of spruce, but in all honest truth leave it to the delicate fingerstylists to fight over which really sounds better. Cedar is softer, and very responsive but can be overdriven with agressive strumming. I have a cedar 514ce Taylor, and it is nice, but I'd rather have spruce.

As far as back and sides, there are 3 basics. Mahogany, maple, and rosewood. Mahogany is your most basic tonewood I think. It is pretty even and warm. Maple guitars are nearly always brighter and louder cause maple is so much harder. Rosewood is loud, too, and is known for being the nicest tonewood. Lots of harmonics and overtones and,,,,,blah, this is rock music. You don't really need alot of that, honest.

My personal rock preference? A spruce top, maple back and sides jumbo. There I said it :)

H2H
 
Hard2Hear said:
Your price range puts you right in the range where, when you start looking, you're going to be saying "If I only had a little bit more". Just scan places where used acoustics turn up and keep what you want in mind.

H2H
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Kind of what I'm thinking, too. I guess if I want this purchase to be the good one, I'm definitely feeling that it's worthwhile to save up and do some more research. As always, Mike, thanks for your help. I'll check out the brands you mentioned.
 
Whoa, and SteveK...thanks to you as well. 3 posts just all popped up at the same time.
 
In a band situation, whether it's acoustic with an upright bass, or with drums and electric bass, the $160 Yamaha APX-6 I picked up used does it for me live, without the need for a DI box, or the bullshit 'acoustic' processors I've seen players farting about with prior to a show. The Yamaha plays as well and sounds (through a PA) as good as any Taylor I've sat next to in a live setting. Actually, even acoustically, the APX-6 has a nice, balanced tone, though it's no Taylor in this respect, for sure.

If raw acoustic tone is also very important, then I guess you should be thinking about tone woods and bigger budgets.

And Steve Howe's a favourite of mine, too, so I guess you're alright!

Awaken.
 
hmmmmm

money is a thing which in the acoustic market you can spend all amounts of it.
i am thinking you want to stick with something along the lines of a Takamine they have a really nice jumbo acoustic with solid top and really nice pre amp about $600 (i think) i am not sure what model it is right now i can check though.
i have watched some big name musicians do our shows with them and they sounded good. the other thing you can check out even though they may be out of your price range. is the Taylor website and see what all they have about acoustic guitars there lots of info if nothing else. although you say you want a cutaway the Taylor 110 & 214 guitars are really nice(less than $750 for the 214 and i think the other one is less than $550) for the money and some of them have pickups. now for the cutaway on these Taylors if you can find one of the early ones with the first neck joint you will not need a cuaway much. the neck joints got a small profile and you can reach high frets easy enough with out the cutaway.
 
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