Bourgeois/Collings/Martin OMs
 

Any thoughts on the pros/cons of the OMs made by Bourgeois vs Collings vs Martin for fingerstyle and light strumming?Any forum members favor one over the other for specific applications?This isnt intended as a detrimental thread to either as i realize that all are very high quality builders.Thanks,Mike S.

All great guitars, as you say. I find the smaller the guitar, the more lightly braced I like it. I like big guitars to handle hard strumming and a fat flatpick with a heavy hand, but a small one is more likely (for me) to be a fingerstyle or fingerpickin' guitar, so I would prefer a lightly braced one.

That would point me to Martin or some of the wonderful Santa Cruz smaller-bodied guitars. But you can't really do much wrong with any of those builders, if you find one that has tone and response that you love.

My two cents..... Martin, Bourgeois, Santa Cruz, Huss & Dalton, and Collings are cousins, Goodall is a little more modern voiced but very nice too. This is also the order I would list them in from dark/woody to bright/bell-like.

There is no better, all are excellent, it depends on your ears and what you are looking for. I'm a Martin geek, but I wouldn't be upset owning a Bourgeois or Santa Cruz, my personal big 3.

Audition everything you can but my Martin recommendations would be:

OM-18GE (wonderful hog)
OM-28 Marquis (adi top)
000-28 EC (short scale fingerpicker)
OMC-Lawrence Juber (deluxe fingerpicker)

Play everything you can find, your ears will do the rest. Happy shopping.

My personal favorite but very expensive, Martin's Carpathian/Madi 000-42MEC, best new small body I have ever played.

As no one is better than the other, I will only say what I would take...

Bourgeois OM with an Adi top over Madagascar RW, hands down. I have played 3, and all have been exceptional, either with a flat pick or finger picked. They possess power and finesse, in look, feel and sound. They are musical, and beg you to play them. Time slows down and you are able to play more distinctly and passionately than ever before.

That covers my checklist!

I would second what Ron said. I have Collings, Martin and Bourgeois OMs and I like the Bourgeois OMs the best.

In my opinion, generally, the Bourgeois OMs are more balanced and have an inherently sweeter tone than either the Colllings or the Martin OMs. However, like everything else regarding tone, preference is in the ear of the listener.

I do believe that the Collings and Bourgeois are higher quality builds than most any stock Martin.

All are fine guitars and there are advocates for each brand. I suggest you listen to the many clips of these at http://www.dreamguitars.com/preowned_instruments.htm

Then see how many you can try hands on for any final decisions.

Rick

I've played a limited number of each: probably a dozen or so Martin OM's, 4 or 5 Collings OM's, and 4 or 5 Bourgeois OM's.

Obviously, from my signature, I went with the Bourgeois. I would echo what has already been said. I loved the Collings that I played, but I personally preferred the Bourgeois. The Bourgeois had plenty of head room but was really responsive when played lightly as well.

Unless you're going for a higher end Martin, you could probably get one considerably cheaper than either the Collings or Bourgeois... but if it were my money, I'd go with a Bourgeois (first choice) or a Collings.

I have a Bourgeois OMC with an Adirondack top and Padauk sides and back. It was a little thin at first, but is a really fine guitar now. Collins makes great smaller guitars.

I visited the Bourgeois shop 8 years ago or so and believe you get much better TLC on guitars from a small shop. Dana actually tapped some wood for me and we chose a top!

Definitely try a Goodall. It's tone may be what you're looking for. They are another small shop that build great guitars. James and Jean Goodall are great people and the guitars come from the Big Island.


Play some of these guitars to see which one hits your fancy. Use our inputs sparingly and let your gut tell you which one to get.

Good luck.

for martin, you'd be looking at the marquis and golden era instead of the standard ones.

and there's really no sure way to tell which one you like better until you've played all of them. so i hope you'll get the chance to try them all out, and see which one you like the sound and feel.

i went for the martin OMC-28 Laurence Juber. i like the sound and feel, and it is the cheapest adarondak over madagascar combo OM in the market. for the same money, i'd probably only get a sitka over EIR from those other makers you mentioned. and i enjoy the sound very much, so i went with that.

I wouldn't claim to be an expert but I do happen to have a Martin 000 18 GE, a Collings stock OM1AC and a Bourgeois customized OM that's kind of a cross between his OMC and Vintage OM meaning it has a cutaway, Adi top and EIR back and sides. Any of these cars would easily fill your bill and to me they sound "wondeful" (whatever that means) but they are quite different instruments.

The Martin is short scale and has, as you would expect, a more punchy sound perfect for finger style blues, rags etc. not as good if want to play in say DADGAD tuning. Its a great flatpcking guitar as well with typical Martin strong fundemental tone. But it sounds different than any 25.5" scale Martin OM that I've played so....

The Collings, well Pete Huttlinger among other uses one so it probably passes a tougher fingerstyle test than I would give it. This and the Martin are my two guitars that I most play out with. I really have this guitar set up more for flatpicking w/Martin SP med/light strings that really added a lot of projection over the lights it was delivered with. Whether fingerpicked or flat picked this guitar has a lot of "cutting power" especially in the upper mids and trebles and is very responsive whether plucked with finger or pick.

The Bourgeois, well if I have a favorite its this one, it just does everything well. I used to think I knew what string-to-string separation and note definition were before I played this guitar but this one's on another level. Also I don't know if its the rosewood or how Dana builds OMs but the bottom end is much more solid and defined on this guitar than the other two or most any other OM I've played. Right now I'm on a kick to learn some DADGAD and I have it strung with Pearse (we're praying for you John) new mediums which are really medium E B & e strings with light A D & G strings and are perfect for this tuning. Anyway the guitar puts out a D note that makes your chest vibrate (incredible for this body size) and at the same time has great sustain and just a little of the shimmer you hear in more "modern" voiced instruments. I love flatpicking this guitar as well ala Sean Watkins.

That's enough for now. good luck with your search

here's a link from a while ago. you're probably looking at guitars one league above these, but it's cool for general reading
http://www.acousticguitar.com/issues...eature127.html

Hi,

I have neither seen or played the others, but i set out to procure a Martin OM45 and ended up with through sheer luck and God's grace with a Bourgeois Vintage OM Madagascar. She was born on 26th Feb 2007 and spent 9 months in BB store when she caught my eye and i made her mine, from 1000s miles away!!.

She is now set up for soft finger style with a low action of 2/32" on the 12th fret. The Sound of the Adi top with the premium Mad Rose back and sides is beyond description, with great balance and string separation. Stunning in all respects.

Here are the pictures
http://i168.photobucket.com/albums/u161/keyshore/2.jpg
http://i168.photobucket.com/albums/u161/keyshore/1.jpg

This kind of figured Mad Rose is now no longer available.

IMHO Dana has a way with Adi tops as they sound open when they are new. He seems to have a found a way to voice them tp perfection.

Best,

Keyshore

Keyshore,

Beautiful guitar, there is a Vintage OM locally that I came so close to pulling the trigger but a Madi Martin (000-42MEC) came home with me. Had the Bourgeois been Madi it might have been the other way, I love Dana's guitar, like custom shop Martins to me.

Enjoy that Vintage OM, Adi/Madi is wonderful !!

Beautiful Bourgeois, Keyshore!

I would include Santa Cruz guitars for consideration. Wonderful balance, and lightly built, reminiscent of golden age Martins.