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Old 02-22-2012, 12:58 AM
jseth jseth is offline
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Join Date: Dec 2008
Location: Oregon... "Heart of the Valley"...
Posts: 10,831
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I have a 6 month old Goodall Grand Concert (James asserts that his GCs, OMs, and OOOs are the same size...); mine is a redwood top with mahogany, and it is EXACTLY what you are wanting... you can NOT have mine!

I don't know about the <$5k figure, not for a new order - unless you go for one of James' "Aloha" models and then added the cutaway and the redwood top as an upcharge. The Aloha models are NOT something inferior, just fewer of the appointments that his full price models have...

The redwood top gives an IMMEDIATE response, and a warm clear tone; it's captivating, actually... I still get entranced by the sound of the guitar and get distracted from the song I'm playing! VERY dynamic and sounds equally good played softly or strongly. I'm sure that the same instrument with a spruce top would be wonderful, but for my playing (flat pick/fingers - a hybrid mishmash) the redwood is perfect.

I played a guitar built by Mark Angus (the Guitar Shoppe, Laguna Beach, CA) for over 30 years before this one; my Angus was maple and spruce w/ a Florentine cutaway (the Goodall has a Venetian cutaway)... and it served me very well all those years. Basically the shape/size of a Guild F-40, similar to most builders Concert Jumbo size... it, too, excelled at the tone/playing manner to which you allude...

So, something curvy, not a dreadnought... a CJ would have more bass, but the GC is not lacking, in that department either...

Funny, melody chording seems a lot easier on my 175 than either of my two acoustics; I'm pretty sure the nut width is narrower on the 175. Do you have a preference for the width of the nut/neck?

You're looking at a lot of great instruments... Good luck on your choice!!!

play on......................................>

John
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