March 04, 2008
Good acoustic guitars
After my teaching session at Music Centre Canada yesterday, I stopped by the acoustic room and took pretty much all the guitars there for a spin. They have brands like Martin, Crafter, Yamaha, Washburn, Ovation, etc. I liked the Crafter and the Yamaha sounded surprisingly good - the rest were okay or so-so.
I have a decent grab and go guitar in my SX DG-50. Some day I might want to get a really good sounding quality acoustics, and I know where to look...
Because I played a couple of Martins at the store. There were the "cheap" Martins. $900 or so. But Wow. All guitar players knows the fame that surrounds Martin guitars. I haven't tried their high end models, but the "cheaper" Martins I tried in the store blew all the other 10 or so guitars I tried away. Martin obviously know how to build good sounding acoustics. I played a Martin DR and it resonated so beautifully and full, all over the neck. The lesser quality guitars just don't have the full sound, so I guess you get what you pay for in acoustic guitars.
I will see if I can find some Taylor guitars to try. I know they are really good too, but I am sure there are many other brands worth checking out. If you have any suggestion, add a comment will ya?
It seems it is more costly to make a quality acoustic guitar, compared to electric guitars. I mean, just look at the many low cost guitars made in Asia today. Many of them are quite good sounding to start with, and can be made even better by upgrading the pickups and and some hardware. That isn't quite the case with an acoustic.
I am no luthier, but I realize that the selection of wood and combinations of wood make a huge impact on the overall sound. Not to mention the techniqe used to put the whole thing together. So the effort to create a quality, good sounding acoustic is obviously much higher than for an electric guitar. At least this is my personal view on this. I am well aware of the fact that a high end Suhr, Fender, Tyler or similar guitar will be a way better guitar than a Squier or Jay Turser, but the huge differences in quality between high-end electrics compared to average costing electrics are not as apparent as they were, say 15 years ago. As for acoustics, I argue that the differences between higher-end acoustics and average costing acoustics are still quite apparent, just as they were 15 years ago.
For now, I'll do fine with my SX acoustic, but down the road, a nice Martin would make a fine companion for me.
You can get a high quality acoustic guitar from Musician's Friend
The
Martin J-40 Jumbo Dreadnought Acoustic Guitar is a top notch guitar. One of the better ones out there, no doubt. Martin guitars are great.
Taylor also makes some fantastic guitars. Just don't let United Airlines see you've got one! :)
By Robert Renman - www.dolphinstreet.com
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