First post - Desireous to order an Olson....

[guitarsanyone]

Originally Posted by ljguitar

Hi asg…
Sorry to get to the party a bit late - been busy.

No, Olson Dreads and/or Jumbo are not boomy, nor are they like Martin or Taylor in tone, response, resonance or sustain.

I have had my Olson Dreadnaught EIR/Cedar for nearly 18 years now, and it is one of the most balanced guitars I've ever played.

It has full-fat-warm sound without the bass dominating but the bass is still a real presence in the mix.

I played a Brazilian Rosewood/Spruce Jumbo at his shop in 2005 and it was amazing. It still had the balance I'm used to in Jim's guitars, but power like I'd not imagined possible.

I have played over a dozen Olsons in the past few years and they are a breed unto themselves, and hard to compare to guitars built by other makers...not in terms of quality, but tonal balance and projection.

I hear and feel some of the same things in some of Kevin Ryan's guitars - particularly those made of traditional wood combinations. And also in guitars built by Michael Bashkin.

An interesting aside is that at least 7 of us who own Bashkins also own Olsons which we owned before commissioning Bashkins. And none of us led any of the others to Michael...we all ended up there by ourselves without being aware of the others.

I've spoken with all 7, and we all experienced, felt and heard things in the Bashkins which reminded us of our Olsons, involving tone, resonance, playability, and projection - - - yet none of us was trying to acquire a lower priced version of an Olson. We just wanted an additional guitar to compliment our Olsons with sufficient quality to warrant another instrument.

+1 on Larry's advice.... his answers are always so well thought out. He is 100% accurate on the tonal balance and projection that Olsons exhibit on the few I have played and the one I own. I am seriously considering commissioning an Olson as well. Looks like the class of 2011 is going to be great!

[pooomba]

I had 30 years of playing Gibsons, Guilds, Ibanez, Martins, Taylors andTakamines and eventually settled on a high end Larrivee as my main instrument.
4 years ago I decided to shout myself an Olson simply because it is Phil Keaggy's guitar of choice.
It is the most incredible instrument I have played. I would never go back :-)
It's the second one down at http://www.olsonguitars.com/rs_5.php