guilds, gibsons

[1934]

When I was in the market for an acoustic guitar, I had no pre-conceived notions about brand, size etc. Having played electric (Les Paul's) up until last summer when I decided to buy an acoustic, the main guitar I was interested in was Gibson. I went to 2 of the Mega-Stores here in the Cleveland area to shop around. Takamine-forget it. Ovation-picked it up, set it in my lap & that bowl back immediatly slipped, back on the rack it went. Alvarez-nice, but foreign. Guild-a nice 12 string, but I was in the market for a 6 string, & the 6 strings in the stores did not impress me. Gibson-the one's the stores had looked like they'd been through a war, too many people playing & thrashing them. Martin-Great guitar, good action, nice tone, but just not what I was looking for. Taylor-played a 310CE for about 15 minutes & took it home. Brought it back the next day & traded it for the 714CE. From the manufacture date on the tag inside the guitar, the guitar could not have been in the store for even a week. Fantastic instument, a bit pricey I feel, but then again, you get what you pay for.