Cheapest all solid guitar

[Fatstrat]

Originally Posted by newbie888

Thanks for answering the question
How these match up:
- cort vs recording king
- blueridge vs recording king

Thanks

IMO pretty much comparing apples to apples. Pretty much same quality and design. About the only way I could choose one over the other would be a hands on comparison.
I've never played a Cort. But I own Silver Creek, and have played Recording Kings and Blueridge guitar in the guitar shops. I don't believe either of them is inherently better than the Silver Creek. At least not mine.
The one Chinese made of this ilk that did stand out to me was the Eastman. Best of the bunch IMO.

[nm10430]

try out the epi masterbilt line. awesome all wood guitars. sound great and nicely constructed.

[Gostwriter]

Simon and Patrick which is cousin to Seagull may have the lowest priced all solid wood guitars and from what I have been hearing about them they are excellent guitars, utilizing almost all of the same features as the Seagull but I don't think they use the reverse headstock as Seagull does. You can go on both websites and compare. There's plaenty of both on Ebay if you want to get a lok at teirh prices too.

http://seagullguitars.com/intro.htm

http://simonandpatrick.com/intro.htm

[Idaho John]

Originally Posted by Fatstrat

IMO pretty much comparing apples to apples. Pretty much same quality and design. About the only way I could choose one over the other would be a hands on comparison.
I've never played a Cort. But I own Silver Creek, and have played Recording Kings and Blueridge guitar in the guitar shops. I don't believe either of them is inherently better than the Silver Creek. At least not mine.
The one Chinese made of this ilk that did stand out to me was the Eastman. Best of the bunch IMO.

and I would not have agreed with this up to this year but have noticed that Blueridge is starting to fall behind in terms of customer service and quality control - still, in my opinion much better than Cort, but that's only my opinion. Recording King started out building tanks - beautiful overbuilt boxes. Now they are getting much better - again my opinion only - the guitars have lightened up quite a bit, quality control is much better, customer service is very good, workmanship and quality is as good as or better than Blueridge. The designs are similar in that they are both designed around Golden Era Martins and in RK's case - Gibson products as well. RK shows some interest in designing out of the box - Eric Schoenberg's small body cutaways for example. If you are willing to put in a bit of extra work - have the guitar set up professionally and do some add ons (bone pins for example) and try different sets of strings, you get a remarkable guitar for a very small amount of money (Blueridge, and Recording King).

Should any of my friends with Blueridges think I am not a fan - I still hunger for the BR-143A...Adi top/mahogany back and sides OM.

Silver Creek's are cheaper than both RK and Blueridge and the same holds true - if you are willing to put some work into it, they give high value for the dollar spent.

I agree that Eastman is the cream of the MIC crop, and well worth their asking price.

john

[Gostwriter]

Correct me if I'm wrong but the difference I think between most of these brands and the Seagull or Simon & Patrick is that the rest are Made in mega factories in China or Korea and Seagull and Simon & Patrick are made in Canada and New Hampshire in much smaller, and more much more hands on facilities with expert luthiers.

Not to say they are not trained well or do a decent or very good job but I do think there is a difference when a room full of talented luthiers is putting your instrument together as compared to an assembly line.

[guitargabor]

Originally Posted by Gostwriter

Correct me if I'm wrong but the difference I think between most of these brands and the Seagull or Simon & Patrick is that the rest are Made in mega factories in China or Korea and Seagull and Simon & Patrick are made in Canada and New Hampshire in much smaller, and more much more hands on facilities with expert luthiers.

Not to say they are not trained well or do a decent or very good job but I do think there is a difference when a room full of talented luthiers is putting your instrument together as compared to an assembly line.

Agree!

Not to mention the positive economic impact of buying a North American made product!

[paulchevin]

One brand that nobody seems to have mentioned yet is Walden guitars. They are in my opinion amongst the best of the Far Eastern guitars, with a character all of their own.

Walden produce a number of high quality guitars that might fit the bill.

If you're happy with "just" solid top and back, the Natura 700 series are very good guitars at a very affordable price.

If you have really set your mind on an all solid acoustic, the Supranatura series and the all-solid Concorda guitars are really outstanding for the money. These also come with an excellent fitted hard case.

My other top recommendation would be Eastman. Again, most of these don't fit into a particular category (ie. not Martin clones!) and again, they come with an excellent hard case.

To be honest, I don't think you can go wrong with either the Waldens or the Eastmans and you certainly shouldn't be put off by the fact that they are made in China. With both of these brands you would have to spend at least twice as much to get a comparable Western guitar.

If you can't afford the above, I suppose the Recording King and Silver Creek guitars will be your best bet. Living in the UK, I've never played a Silver Creek, but I have owned a number of the Johnson Carolinas that they are based on. You certainly get a lot of tone for your money with these guitars!

Paul

[darrinc]

I too have been shopping around for an all solid wood guitar with a price tag of under $700. I'm not interested in any electronics or other features just the best new guitar that fits into my budget. While I see the best value is to buy used its been rather frustrating for me to spend time to meet up with the seller of a guitar to play it and nearly immediately hear, see or feel that its not for me. If anyone has the time then go used but play them first and save youself a bundle.
For me the leading contender is the Maritime SWS series. Second runner up would be the Parkwoods. I'm from British Columbia, Canada and buying Seagull supports local industries from the lumber extraction to manufacturing of these fine instruments. If not for that bias I see little difference with the SeaGulls and the Parkwoods.


Wood Quality
I'm no expert in grading wood but the highest quality spruces come from old growth trees which produce a very strait fine grained wood. Compare the grain spacing of spruce tops along a wide range of prices and see how many top guitars have widely spaced wavy grains. Get familiar with what spruce grains look like on high end guitars and then use that mental image to compare guitars like the SeaGulls or Parkwoods. If you don't see much difference then the chances are that there isn't.

Precision Cuts
Computer driven laser cutters are known for making consistent precision cuts and computers don't care if its Monday morning or the last hours of a long work week.

What does "hand-made" really mean? (as taken from SeaGull's site http://seagullguitars.com/faq.htm )
We recently came across a disposable plastic lighter that was being promoted as a “Limited Edition”. Likewise we find ourselves surrounded by products that are touted as being “handmade” and when it comes to guitars you’ll have a tough time finding one that isn’t described as handmade. Our dictionary defines handmade simply as: “made by hand, not machinery”. If you accept that definition then it’s safe to say there is no such thing as a handmade guitar! In any case our recommendation would be to forget the whole “handmade” thing and focus on more relevant considerations such as: finish material, type of wood used (and whether it is genuine), and most importantly how does it feel and sound to you.

Training
Training on taking those pieces and assembling them is probably the most critical area where things can go wrong. If the factory is serious about competing then they should have the training to build great guitars. SeaGull and Parkwood appear to have that part covered as well. Many other factories have good raw materials, make consistent cuts and are highly trained...and there unfortunately plenty that are sloppy.

My suggestion is to take the list of guitars that people have suggested and play them, examine the wood and look for imperfections. If attention cannot be put into making the exterior look perfect be suspect of what's on the inside.

Darrin

[New2Guitar]

I bought a new Yamaha A Series A3R, a cutaway dreadnought Solid Rosewood back and sides, with a solid Sitka top, and their new SRT system for $690.00. I bought it when GC had their 15% off sale and told them to keep the guitar case, I only wanted the guitar.

GC doesn't have them in stock yet.

I know people on the east coast who have taken delivery of them and have nothing but good things to say about them. If you can wait a couple of more weeks, I'd try to wheel and deal on an A series guitar.

If you like the all mahogany back and sides versus the rosewood, it's a $100.00 cheaper.

[leehop71]

Originally Posted by sachi

You'd be surprised how many people don't think to do that.

One problem that can arise with playing them before buying them, is that even GC stocks a limited number of makes and models. We have a pretty decent size GC here, and the makes that they have the most of are Martins and Taylors.
The Taks, Gibsons, Ibanezs, Fenders, Deans, Seagulls, Breedloves, Epiphones, Yamahas, and Ovations they stock have a very limited number of models.
If someone is interested in buying something outside of those makes/models you would be hard pressed to find one to play.