OM or Dreadnought?
 

Hello,

I am considering purchasing my first quality acoustic guitar. I mostly play finger picking with fingerpicks (think Simon and Garfunkel), mixed in with a lot of strumming (heavy and light). I want a guitar that can project, and has a balanced, warm-er tone. Maybe something with less of a sharp attack, and more balanced mid-range.

Would you recommend an OM/000 or a Dreadnought model?

Thanks!

Based on all of your posts, you're going to need to get to a guitar shop.

Yes, was about to write the same thing. You seem to be all over the place for, perhaps, a lack of experience? We've all been there, and the only way for you to have ANY kind of direction is to play as many acoustics as you can. Best advice I can give you. Traveling might be worth it, too.

hi mcvc, i had sent you a private message on agf ref your OM quest. a few days ago :)

As others have said, you really need to demo some guitars to hone in on what works for you. Based on your description, a dreadnought, OM or 000 could work, even a 00. A guitar you might want to keep an eye out for in your travels is a Martin 000-15SM. It has a lot of the qualities that you describe. But that’s just one of a dozen or more guitars that I could recommend just as a start.

Both are suitable for strumming and fingerpicking and I own both an 000 and dreadnought and wouldn’t part with either. You really need to test them out to find your preference.

I gave up my D28 some years ago and made a rosewood Martin OM my main performing guitar. OM's are very versatile, much more comfortable to play and have the same long scale the dreadnaughts do. But the advice to go play some guitars is pretty good.

As always, so much depends on:

- budget
- are you open to buying used?
- how important is resale value?
- have you settled on/boxed yourself in to certain specs or dimensions yet? Nut width, scale length, tonewoods, country of origin, etc.
- what kind of music and which artists interest you the most?
- will you only play at home or will you play out?

And lots more. I can echo the advice about a 000-15SM. I bought mine used earlier this year and live it. But I also love my Eastman E2OM-CD that I bought used a few years back for nearly one third the cost.

I typically spend many months travelling to places with a large selection and variety and spend many hours trying a bunch of guitars before I decide IF I want another instrument, and then if so WHICH ONE do I want? In my 50 years of playing I've owned 9 guitars. I still have 8 of them, and not looking for anything else currently.

If the question is OM or Dread, the answer might be 0000 / M36 / OM Grand / JOM.

I have a wonderful custom D28 Engelmann topped D28 that is a fabulous fingerstyle guitar (and also fabulous for strumming and flatpicking). I love a good dreadnought for fingerstyle playing (I don't love all of them, but that goes for all other styles of guitars too).

I just stumbled onto a Martin OM21 though, and I'm blown away by this guitar for fingerstyle. The sound is surprisingly big and clear, with very strong midrange, and the sustain is sort of off the charts. And it is a joy to play.

These two guitars I talked about above are both great, but they are different, I love them both.

Based on my limited experience with OM's (sample size of 1 - just the guitar I just bought), I'd say definitely try these out (along with the dreadnoughts and others) if you have a way of doing so.

As others have said, there is no subsitute for actually trying out the guitars in person. This is easy for people to say though who live close to good or great guitar stores. I realize that depending on where you live, this might not be feasible without doing some traveling to destinations with great guitar stores.

Does it help?

Have you considered a sloping shoulder dreadnought? It's almost like having both models on the same guitar.

Great advice from all the AGF-folks here - I'll add my two cents:
Yes, try as many guitars as you can get under your fingers.
I play OMs and dreads and slope shoulder guitars and 0 and 00.
A nice Gibson J45 could be your ticket, the new Martin 00016 street master is an incredible versatile and warm sounding guitar and offers VTS Adirondack top at a very reasonable price - just to drop some models.
But again, try as many as possible. You'll find out, and it's great fun, too.

This is great advice for new or experienced guitar buyers. Play them ALL and use discretion in finding just the right one. And if you do find that ONE, you'll keep it for perhaps a lifetime. This is what I aspire to do, and it sounds like the right way to go about it.

Some people like the smaller bodied guitars because their easier to physically play, especially for a smaller person.


I been looking at these for years. Kind of a "best of both worlds" type thing

http://www.proulxguitars.com/omd.htm