Best acoustic guitar brand

[Light]

Hi everyone!
I'm about to buy a new acoustic guitar, probably a Taylor, and I just want to know what is the best acoustic guitar brand on the market. I heard that the "Arts & Lutheries" are damn good.

Your opinion on which brand is the best?!

Play them all, and let your own ears decide. Any other advice is worthless.


Light

"Cowards can never be moral."
M.K. Gandhi

 

[Light]

Of all the production line guitars and I have several I would have to say Martin with Taylor coming in a close second, I really like Taylors expression system if you want to plug it in though.

The Taylors are so highly engineered you have to baby them to much.
Plus I think Martins smell better if that means anything to you

That's glue you're smelling...

No, it's the lacquer. They both use pretty much the same glue.



Light

"Cowards can never be moral."
M.K. Gandhi

 

[tdukex]

Screw Canada. Real acoustic guitars are made in the good old US of A.

*please don't count Taylors as real American guitars.

I'll take my Canadian mades over ANY similiarly priced American guitars!

 

[gordone]

Taylors are ok, a bit too bright for my taste. They are put together really nicely and play great (slim necks). If you're really looking for the "best", I'd set your sites a bit higher than Taylor. Look into -
Santa Cruz
Collings
Goodall
Huss & Dalton
Froggy Bottom
Bourgeois
Ryan
Omega
Olson
Wingert
<and many other small brands/luthiers)
Martin does have alot of nice models in their Vintage Reissue and Marquis lines. Much better than their standard D18s/D28s etc...

I've owned a Santa Cruz OM/PW for almost two years and it is a great guitar. My friend has a Collings OM2H. If you could afford ~$3000, these would be two to take a look at.

Larrivee's are a great bargain, especially their 03 series. I own a OM03R which cost me around $700. Probably the best guitar under $1000 I've ever played.

 

[therage!]

Taylors are ok, a bit too bright for my taste. T

I got some of that from Taylor's I've played until I ran into this all Koa 420 I picked up. This thing has incredible low end, but it's still fairly balanced.

 

[Phoneboy]

Alvarez puts out a good guitar for the $$. The QC seems pretty tite.

JMHO

 

[noisedude]

I'm with Light. Acoustics more than any other guitar or rock instrument are something you need to see, feel and hear for yourself. Not leastly because every single one is a different piece of wood and that makes way more difference than on a solid-body guitar (where I can pick out an EMG active or an SD Invader by ear regardless of guitar type).

The Canadian brands are all pretty good though ... S&P, Art et Lutherie and Seagull are all part of the Godin stable, FWIW. Oh, and if electronics matter to you, B-Band systems sound much more natural than any of the various transducers from LR Baggs, Fishman etc, and I think they stomp on most of the blending systems as well.

 

[iwantmypie]

I've had the same black Fender acoustic for a good 10 years now and it's still kicking ass

 

[gibsonsg64]

It really depends. I was playing some acoustics with my dad and picked up a 700 dollar taylor, followed by a few 2000 dollar Taylors and Martins, and i loved the sound of that 700 dollar one. I am somewhat biased towards Martins. These are the two most common consumer brands.

Martin: Bassey and mellow
Taylor: Easy playing, clear and bright

 

[jfrog]

Oh, and if electronics matter to you, B-Band systems sound much more natural than any of the various transducers from LR Baggs, Fishman etc, and I think they stomp on most of the blending systems as well.

what's a b-band system?

 

[noisedude]

what's a b-band system?

It's a make of pickup/preamp/EQ things for acoustics. Finnish company. Rather than a piezo transducer it's like an electret film with tiny bubbles in it or something. Anyway, they sound absolutely superb and I have heard an average guitar (e.g. Tanglewood, Washburn) sound much better than a Taylor, Takamine etc when plugged into a PA. They are natural and not honky, and not brittle in the highs like so many pickups.

 

[hixmix]

Acoustics more than any other guitar or rock instrument are something you need to see, feel and hear for yourself. Not leastly because every single one is a different piece of wood and that makes way more difference than on a solid-body guitar (where I can pick out an EMG active or an SD Invader by ear regardless of guitar type).

Well, one of the things I look for in a solid body electric is a good unplugged acoustic resonance. Even an unplugged solid body electric should sound and feel "alive".

 

[noisedude]

Well, one of the things I look for in a solid body electric is a good unplugged acoustic resonance. Even an unplugged solid body electric should sound and feel "alive".

Totally ... but in my experience I can order in a dozen mexican strats and they will all sound almost exactly the same, and a dozen of any model of acoustic and they all sound subtley different.

 

[hixmix]

Totally ... but in my experience I can order in a dozen mexican strats and they will all sound almost exactly the same,

That's why I'd never buy a Mexican Strat.

 

[Crash ©]

No, it's the lacquer. They both use pretty much the same glue.

Stick your nose in my Martin DXK2... Not a bit of lacquer on that thing anywhere (not much real wood either for that matter).. I could bury my face in that thing for days on end.. Only three things that could be making that wonderful aromma.. The wood braces, the HPL laminate or the glue...

Rob