Heavy strumming guitar!?!

[jwellsy]

IMHO the largest body strummer that you can comfortably play will be an Emerald carbon fiber. They have 3 features to accomplish this.
- an arm bevel
- a belly bevel on the back that that tucks the body back into you
- the lower side valley doesn't go straight across, it's angled to tuck the body back into you.

Even their jumbo X30 is so ergonomic you may be able to play it comfortably. They sound fantastic and you don't have to worry about temperature/humidity changes or neck resets/belly bulges.

I would suggest posting over in the Carbon Fiber Forum and see if there's anyone near you willing to let you try an X10, X20 or X30.

The X30 is a jumbo that feels like a really comfortable dread.
The X20 is a dread that feels like a really comfortable OM.
The X10 is an OM that feels slightly larger than a parlor.
The X7 is their parlor or travel size.

They all stand up to heavy strumming (and light touches) extremely well. My fan fret X30 has better tone and volume than a D35. It'll punch through any bluegrass tunes.

Good luck finding the right one for you and enjoy the journey.

edit: Fair warning though, Emeralds are addictive. Few people can have just one

[mattd]

Martin M-36

[raybklyn]

Originally Posted by mattd

Martin M-36

Emeralds Gibson Taylor Guild Martin - I am going to be buying a lot of guitars.

As a lefty there aren’t many options locally so I really appreciate the insight.

[AH Acoustic]

Edited by member.

[BluesBelly]

Martin M-36. Jumbo sized rosewood body with the depth of an OM.

Blues

[Kyle215]

CEO-7 punches way above its weight in terms of projection and handling heavy strums, IMO.

[Cromwell]

Gibson songwriter, amazing strumming guitar and I'm sure it's not a full sized dread, could be wrong though.

[Colt45]

I can’t speak for the new Martin OM’s, but my current Martin OM28V (2006) is a great guitar for pretty much anything. Very comfortable and one of my favorite necks.
Good luck!

[cliff_the_stiff]

Martin J-40
Martin Grand J-35
Gibson J185
Gibson SJ-200

[Martin_F]

I am not sure about any particular guitar, but if you really want to strum a lot I think the tension on the longer scale 25.5" guitars are better for serious strumming. Given this, any OM sized guitar or something close to that would likely do the trick and still sound great. The strings on the shorter guitars are a little more slack, so might not stand up to "heavy" strumming as much as something with a longer scale (mind you, they still sound great strummed).

The way you describe your strumming as a tsunami, it might not be stretching the imagination too much to think of why your rotator cuff is in bad shape! hahaha..

My opinion..
Martin

[CopyCat]

Not sure of your budget but Gruhn’s has a new line of Martin custom shop 28-style models, spec’ed like their popular sinker mahogany custom line.
Their 0000-28 would be biggish body but as narrow as an OM, with an Adi top. They also have OM-28s etc. For hard strumming the adi tops are great. The 28 style customs are a little over $4k

[Brucebubs]

Originally Posted by cliff_the_stiff

Martin J-40
Martin Grand J-35
Gibson J185
Gibson SJ-200

That's a good list - I'd throw in the rosewood Guild F-55 and maple F-55M jumbo's too.

[Eryc74]

I have a Bourgeois OM that holds up to the heavy strum - not at much as Dread - but the sounds doesn't devolve into crap - I can wail on it.

I've also played several Martin OM-28's that also hold up.

These are slightly smaller than a dread and might work for you. I have a 00 that does it for me too but if I'm really wailing it sounds better on the OM or a dread.

I suspect if a dread is too big, a Jumbo will be too.

[blacknblues]

Another vote for Guild jumbos.... I had a Guild J55 that could handle the heaviest of hands and give back enough volume to bring the house down.

[Rosette]

I agree with the jumbo recommendations, and would also add smaller jumbos like the Collings SJ or Santa Cruz F are also worth considering.

My F is much more comfortable to play than a dread, feels sort of like a slightly larger and deeper OM since the upper bout is fairly small. Sounds excellent strummed.

Here's a demo of an F, first few minutes is strumming