When Did Buying An Acoustic Become So Confusing???
 

I can't play acoustic (most, myself included, would say the same about my electric playing!), so I figured I should devote some effort into becoming better at it. I currently have a nice Yamaha LL6 acoustic, but I've decided that I want to get a higher end all solid wood acoustic. My thinking is that if I spend some money, not only will it encourage me to practice but I will also be getting myself a guitar which is a lifer before I have a reduced income in the fall due to impending surgery, and then have to devote funds to other things come the new year.

I am considering Gibsons, Martins, and Taylors but had only been thinking about dreadnoughts. I can be somewhat stuck in my ways and, to my mind, a dread is what an acoustic should be. Earlier this week I started considering guitars with cutaways (this was a big step for me!), and today I stopped by my local guitar store to check out what they had in stock. I am friendly with one of their managers and he was giving me a hand. Since he is exclusively an acoustic player himself, he was the perfect guy to help me. The problem is, that he now has me thinking beyond dreadnoughts. He thinks that for what I will be doing a grand orchestra, a grand symphony, or grand auditorium would be a better choice - unfortunately I can't remember now which of those three he specifically recommended! That has opened up a whole new world of acoustics for me and it is confusing as hell! There are so many options out there that one could easily become overwhelmed, particularly when one starts considering the woods used!

I liked some of the 300 series Taylors I checked out, but I want an all gloss body which is not available in the 300 series so I will have to look at the 400 series and above. I will also continue looking at Gibsons and Martins. I don't want electronics, but if they are included and are unobtrusive like in my Yamaha then who cares if they are there.

Whichever guitar I choose I plan for it to be a lifer so I need to get this decision right, but man this is so confusing!!!!

Then my advice is to continue playing "guitars". Not dreads, OM's, GC's, GA's - or any other specific size. Just play until you find a guitar that rocks you and your socks. In other words, buy something you really like.

You don't say what you play? What style, type of music, strumming, fingerpicking, solo instrumentals, accompanying singer(s), playing in a band?

It's not really possible for one guitar to fit all needs ideally. Dreadnaughts are good guitars all around, but have some limitations. First, they are big to play solo, at least on a couch, but generally they are on the large size for many people, and it can hurt even to sit in certain positions for a long time playing one. It also has a boomy and loud nature, not as good for more subtle, quiter playing. There are more responsive Dreadnaughts than others, so it depends a lot on the guitar. But generally speaking, to make a Dread "sing", they usually want you to play them hard, with effort to get the sound they are really made for out of them. What they really excel at are for accompanying a singer or other instruments, they play well with others, as it were.

I have guitars of various sizes, a few Dreads, some OM size and couple of Parlor guitars. Each has it's strength, and what they are good at they are better than the others. The ones that are the closest to "Jack of all trades" would be the OM guitars, in particular an Alvarez Yairi I own. It is small enough to play comfortably in a chair or on the couch for many hours. It's responsive enough to play lightly and get beautiful tone. It's strong enough to play it hard and it continues to produce good tone. It's loud enough to sing with, and has good bass. It's not really booming bass, though, and it probably wouldn't really cut through a band/orchestra of other instruments as well as a Dreadnaught or Jumbo size guitar. It comes close to having enough volume, though, very close.

The Parlor is also an Alvarez, a Masterworks series, and it's not going to produce enough volume to play with many other instruments unless it's a more delicate arrangement. It does have electronics installed, so I could play it amplified to get around that. But I'd play the OM or a Dread anyway. So the Parlor is more for unaccompanied fingerpicking, not strumming really. I haven't really strummed it hard and I don't think it would even hold up well to heavy handed strumming, not like a Dread I'm sure. But when I play it with subtlety, it responds with great rewards. It's my favorite for Ragtime picking type tunes, though I can play those on the OM to great effect as well, but the Parlor really sings with that and is easy to play with the short scale. Such songs on the Dreads would probably be too much, kind of heavy sounding, not what that kind of music calls for.

So it helps to really know what you will be playing, and if you play different styles and situations, it may be helpful to have different guitars. For instance, will you be playing open tunings? Often you want a full scale guitar for that. But if you like the feel and sound of a short scale, you may want one of those too.

Yes, buying an acoustic is confusing. But to answer your question, it's always been that way. You have probably just started thinking about it more, and realizing there is more out there than just a standard Dreadnaught, and for good reasons. My recommendation is to not just look at Martin, Gibson or Taylor (definitely not just Taylor...Lol). Expand your inquiry a bit and you'll find there are some fine options in more than a few other brands as well, ones where you might get more of what you want in a price range that is more to your liking. Nothing wrong with those three (well, maybe the Taylors), but why limit yourself so that you might miss out on something that you'll really wind up loving. I was stuck on Gibsons for most of my life, then I discovered Martin and understood there is a difference in sound...and then I discovered Alvarez/Yairi and realized there are some fantastic guitars out there I wasn't really aware of before.

Good luck with your search. Remember, the journey is the destination.

I am only a home player, and will never play out. I just play as a hobby, so am just using an acoustic to either play songs I like that were done on acoustics (classic rock, country, '50s rock, roots rock, etc.) or to play acoustic versions of songs that I like.

So I will be doing a combination of strumming, lead playing, etc. but all just for fun.

I am also in the process of switching from playing with a pick to playing with my fingers (using thumb for downstrokes and index finger for upstrokes) so won't be doing any flatpicking.

I would suggest looking at Larrivee's as well. Half the price of Martins and well worth the money with many options.
Good luck!

In that case, I would definitely look beyond dreadnoughts. Smaller bodies often are more responsive to a lighter touch.

I'm not sure they make any gloss finish guitars.

Then again, even if they did I don't know that I could bring myself to buy one. They are a Canadian company, but a couple of years back they moved all production out of Canada and to the US. As a Canadian, I don't know that I can support a company that pulled out of the country.

2 guitars.....

1 - a dread of your choice.

2. A Gibson J-45 or other slope shoulder with that sound.

Don't do that, you're going backwards. Either get better at flat picking/strumming, learn a little hybrid too maybe or go full finger style.

Not really interested in going full fingerstyle. And the reason behind the switch away from picks is medical - I have an issue with my wrist which is aggravated when using a pick (as well as doing other things, such as writing) but isn't when using my fingers.

Yes colchar, choosing a guitar has become a (potentially) complex and often confusing group of options these days.

Too many choices.

May I echo what DenverSteve said above: "... buy what you like."
It's easy to get lost in specs... nut width, scale length, body shape, body depth,
bracing, cutaway or not, let alone wood combinations and brands.

The four thresholds are these:

1) do my ears like it?
2) do my hands like it?
3) do my eyes like it?
then last and least..
4) is the money right?

You can change strings and somewhat alter the tone, but a guitars' tone isn't gonna change much.
It is what it is.

You can adjust a number of factors to improve playability of most every guitar, but do you like how it feels in your hands and under your arm?

Third important is the appearance.
Also not likely to change much, if at all, so hopefully you find one yalike the look of.

The money... it's last on my list because if the first three are on target, this one won't matter much.
Buy what feels good.
A hundred bucks either way, won't matter much when spread out over a decade or two.

Try to have some fun with this as well.
Good luck.

I can very much understand that. So why not use this as an "input filter", and look at the various offerings of the Godin brand family? Not only are they made in Canada (some, at least) but they also use local woods which is recommendable for more than "chauvinist" reasons.

There are very nice Seagull guitars that cost a whole lot less than the big M/T/G/F names and are probably just as enjoyable for your purposes. Something like their Performer series has a gloss finish, too, and you get a choice of the usual shapes but also the much less common mini jumbo which could be the perfect allrounder for you if I read you correctly.

Hey, a "good Canadian" should have at least 1 maple-backed guitar even if it ain't red, right? ;)

If you like your LL6 dread why not try the all-solid LL16 A.R.E. or maybe the new FG3? If you want a slightly smaller guitar then the LS16 A.R.E could be ideal. Here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tx8rVBIj2K8

It became confusing when we started having all the options that we have now.... :D

Thumb for downstrokes and index finger for upstrokes works well for playing single notes. For strumming, I'd suggest the opposite, unless the medical thing with your hand prevents it.

Then I'd suggest that a dreadnought , or even a jumbo (j-45) etc., is not actually necessary - they are BIG guitars designed for playing rhythm whilst standing with a combo.

I suggest that you look for a Martin (or other makers version of the 000/OM style). (in 14 fret - short scale and standard scale respectfully).

In 12 fret the 000 with wider fretboard is as near a perfect fingerstyle guitar as you can get.

Gibson do an l-oo style popular with blues pickers.

I know many performers use larger instruments when playing f/s and blues and such but why learnabout bad posurre the hard way? The above sizes can be played far more cofortably sitting down and still give you a rewarding tonal quality.

(Don't get a cutaway! - acoustic guitars aren't for playing up there!)

You told us what kind of music you like and want to play. Buy the guitar that will give you the closest thing to that sound that you can afford.
Too many people on here are trying to fit you into something they prefer. If a Dreadnought is what it takes, buy one. There are no rules about size or anything, just what works for you.
Incidentally, good luck with that "lifer" guitar thing.:D