garrison guitar

[ollaimh]

there is a garrison guitar at the local pawn shop for $185. a made in newfoundland model. odd back and sides wood, might be birch. and spruce top. it's got a few dings and one short side crack.

quite the cannon.

i was wondering if the made in new foundland ones are more desirable. ?? therer were some made in china which are not sought after in these woods.

i will probably not buy, but a deal for some kid. well set up, i started on a worse than crap harmony with finger bleeding action. these kids don't know how good they got it eh?

[Jimmy Recard]

Originally Posted by ollaimh

there is a garrison guitar at the local pawn shop for $185. a made in newfoundland model. odd back and sides wood, might be birch. and spruce top. it's got a few dings and one short side crack.

quite the cannon.

i was wondering if the made in new foundland ones are more desirable. ?? therer were some made in china which are not sought after in these woods.

i will probably not buy, but a deal for some kid. well set up, i started on a worse than crap harmony with finger bleeding action. these kids don't know how good they got it eh?

There's a few Garrison guitars hanging in the local guitar shop. God knows how long they've been there for. Some have birch b&s and one or two rosewoods. They want a lot of money for them. I once probed to see if they might let one go cheap but they were adamant they were going to be collector's items.

[marty bradbury]

My G-10 was made in Canada, spruce over birch. I like it!

[Judson]

Garrison acoustics use a funky top bracing if I remember correctly.

[acoustic rabbit]

From what I remember about Garrison guitars: when they were first out they had like a full plastic frame inside for the top back and sides...I think the wood was just glued onto the frame...it was pretty interesting but probably not that interesting since they are no longer made...I think later on they switched to a plastic frame/bracing just for the wooden top...and then Gibson bought Garrison, and made a few Gibson's in Canada, and then closed up shop...I used to work in a music store that sold some of the last Garrisons...in fact, I used to tell customers that we probably had the last new Garrison guitars in the world (maybe not true)...and we had one Garrison that kept on getting sold and coming back...RIP Garrison Guitars!

[wa3nko]

I had a Garrison G4...spruce over sapele. Bought in 2003 or so. Never really played though. Bought it cause it was the best sounding guitar in the store under $1000 (to my ears). Think it was $700. Anyway, life got in the way and it just sat. Fast forward to about 3 years ago. I signed up for some lessons and started playing. Tried my instructors guitar...seemed to play about the same. Played a couple other guitars in stores also...all played about the same. About 6 months in, he shows up with an early 50's Martin...I think it was an 00-18. WOW. Went to stores, and seriously played a bunch more guitars (higher $$$) and bought a Larrivee. Then it took about 9 months to sell the Garrison. Never figured out why it was trouble to sell. Bottom line, I never bonded with it. It still sounded good (to me) though. Also, I found it to be quite heavy...perhaps that fiberglass/plastic (whatever it is) bracing.

[Earl49]

I was always intrigued by Garrison guitars. I thought the integrated bracing, end blocks, and binding was a clever idea to save time on labor intensive task, from a manufacturing point of view. They just attach the sides back in top.

But the company was bought out and shut down rather than being left to compete and survive on the marketplace. All of the Garrisons that I've ever tried were decent mid-priced guitars with various feature levels.

[Dru Edwards]

I have an all solid wood Garrison. I had no idea some were made in China - I believe they were all made in Newfoundland. Mine is Nfld.

Many models have birch back/sides. Some of those are whitish in color and others are stained dark (like mine).

Nice guitars. What's the model? Is it all solid wood? Not sure about the crack but I'd pay $185 for a Garrison if it played well in my hands.

[$ongWriter]

My son has one. We got it at Gruhn's guitars years ago. I thought the technology was intersection. And his sounds great. It was an early one with the entire black bracing front and back. Wish they were still in business.

[SpiderTrap]

Had the G 20 G20CE G30 G50

20s were birch & Solid Cedar tops G30 Gave to Grandson long ago . didnt like the G50 too Twangy G 20s were the bomb Carbon fiber interior bracing top & Bottom .. VERY LOUD GUITARS . I wore both out long ago after playing them about 10 years and sold them ...Think Gibson bought the company out .. Too bad as they were really up and coming ...Solid instruments for sure

[ollaimh]

well i couldn't resist. it bought it. it's a g 50. a dark wood back and sides but if it's rosewood it is an odd rosewood. same colour inside as outside so it's not dyed to look like rosewood. it has a few features that look like pau fero. i have an irish bouzouki made with pau feroand it's a great tone wood.(it's called bolivian rosewood but it isn't a dalbergia genus so it's not rosewood but another tropical hardwood).

but i bought it because it's a cannon. big big tone. for 215 bucks canadian including tax etc, the best cheapo i have ever found and i've found quite a few.it's especially loud and punchy in standard tuning. (i play a lot of dadgad- which is good as well)

the bracing is the wierd fibre glass one piece, and the next block as well. a very interesting idea, too bad gibson shut them down.

i have seen a few made in china, they have almost no re sale value around here. but then this one is an unknown name around here as well.

i'll have to research the wood .

[ollaimh]

so what was the backandsides wood for your g 50?

Originally Posted by SpiderTrap999

Had the G 20 G20CE G30 G50

20s were birch & Solid Cedar tops G30 Gave to Grandson long ago . didnt like the G50 too Twangy G 20s were the bomb Carbon fiber interior bracing top & Bottom .. VERY LOUD GUITARS . I wore both out long ago after playing them about 10 years and sold them ...Think Gibson bought the company out .. Too bad as they were really up and coming ...Solid instruments for sure

[chitz]

Originally Posted by ollaimh

well i couldn't resist. it bought it. it's a g 50. a dark wood back and sides but if it's rosewood it is an odd rosewood. same colour inside as outside so it's not dyed to look like rosewood. it has a few features that look like pau fero. i have an irish bouzouki made with pau feroand it's a great tone wood.(it's called bolivian rosewood but it isn't a dalbergia genus so it's not rosewood but another tropical hardwood).

but i bought it because it's a cannon. big big tone. for 215 bucks canadian including tax etc, the best cheapo i have ever found and i've found quite a few.it's especially loud and punchy in standard tuning. (i play a lot of dadgad- which is good as well)

the bracing is the wierd fibre glass one piece, and the next block as well. a very interesting idea, too bad gibson shut them down.

i have seen a few made in china, they have almost no re sale value around here. but then this one is an unknown name around here as well.

i'll have to research the wood .

Okay, let's see some pics!

[Dru Edwards]

Congrats!!! Send Gibson an email (yes, Gibson). I sent them an email when I bought my used GGC-20-CE a few years and they replied within 2 days with the specs. It was a couple of years after they acquired Garrison.

Originally Posted by ollaimh

well i couldn't resist. it bought it. it's a g 50. a dark wood back and sides but if it's rosewood it is an odd rosewood. same colour inside as outside so it's not dyed to look like rosewood. it has a few features that look like pau fero. i have an irish bouzouki made with pau feroand it's a great tone wood.(it's called bolivian rosewood but it isn't a dalbergia genus so it's not rosewood but another tropical hardwood).

but i bought it because it's a cannon. big big tone. for 215 bucks canadian including tax etc, the best cheapo i have ever found and i've found quite a few.it's especially loud and punchy in standard tuning. (i play a lot of dadgad- which is good as well)

the bracing is the wierd fibre glass one piece, and the next block as well. a very interesting idea, too bad gibson shut them down.

i have seen a few made in china, they have almost no re sale value around here. but then this one is an unknown name around here as well.

i'll have to research the wood .

[GeorgedeA]

i think they may have been one of the first acoustic guitar manufacturers to adopt the Buzz Feiten Tuning System ?
Guitarist Magazine here in the UK reviewed one or two I seem to remember and they got excellent reviews .