My new guitar sounds very tinny - is it just how it goes?

[DukeX]

I did just a little research on this guitar. I think you paid a lot of money for bling instead of actual quality/tone.

You can go ahead and try to convince yourself that the tone will grow on you...but it really won't...and when you finally decide to unload it and purchase a better guitar you will get half of what you paid for the Luna.

[Tigro]

Thank you all for yet another portion of great insights! I think I'll just pop by the few music stores that are nearby in the upcoming days, tell them my budget and play some instruments to get more experience in what I can actually expect in this price range. Having played only three or four acoustics in my life, I'm now again basing my judgmenet on some weird vague ideas about what I _could_ hope for in other guitars of that range and I don't want to blindly get rid of the Luna only to find out that yet again I took a gamble and yet again I'll lose, this time by having to choose a guitar sounding 10% "better" to me while looking 90% worse After playing everything the staff throws my way I'll at least know the playing field and will be able to make a more educated decision as to whether it makes sense for the Luna to stay or if it's so far inferior to the other instruments I may get for that money that I'm basically paying $300 for the guitar and $700 for the looks by letting it stay.

[buddyhu]

Originally Posted by Tigro

Thank you all for yet another portion of great insights! I think I'll just pop by the few music stores that are nearby in the upcoming days, tell them my budget and play some instruments to get more experience in what I can actually expect in this price range. Having played only three or four acoustics in my life, I'm now again basing my judgmenet on some weird vague ideas about what I _could_ hope for in other guitars of that range and I don't want to blindly get rid of the Luna only to find out that yet again I took a gamble and yet again I'll lose, this time by having to choose a guitar sounding 10% "better" to me while looking 90% worse After playing everything the staff throws my way I'll at least know the playing field and will be able to make a more educated decision as to whether it makes sense for the Luna to stay or if it's so far inferior to the other instruments I may get for that money that I'm basically paying $300 for the guitar and $700 for the looks by letting it stay.

Take your Luna with you. If you discover you like some of the guitars, pull out the Luna and do A/B comparison of how they feel and sound.

[Mirosh]

Good advice above.

Next time I'm in a store shopping for a guitar, after finding some that look/sound/feel good to me, I'll ask someone else play them while I listen.

[jdinco]

Maybe try and tell the crew here on the forum what tone you are looking for, what you like to play etc. There's a lot of experience here that will gladly make some suggestions. From what I have read so far....Yamaha pops into my mind. Good Luck sir....i suspect most of us have been in the same boat as you one time or the other. I know I have.

[Tigro]

Originally Posted by jdinaz

Maybe try and tell the crew here on the forum what tone you are looking for, what you like to play etc. There's a lot of experience here that will gladly make some suggestions. From what I have read so far....Yamaha pops into my mind. Good Luck sir....i suspect most of us have been in the same boat as you one time or the other. I know I have.

Thank you, sure! I'm mainly playing simple (as in: a few chords with a rhythm I can wrap my head around) songs I can sing to - rock and roll classics, campfire classics. I'd consider myself a beginner (been playing for a year now) so I just know the basic chords, barre chords and a few scales; I don't play any fancy stuff though I'm trying to get there What I'm looking for in a guitar is a warm, deep tone. I don't like these loud, screaming acoustics that sound harsh at the same time. I'd much rather have something with a mellow tone that makes you feel all cozy inside The sound of the Luna I showed is precisely what I do not want - and to be frank, the Taka's sample is too! I've gotten a bit used to it and I certainly like it better than the Luna's but it's still way too harsh for me with way too much ear-piercing treble quite often.

If this convoluted description rings a bell as to what guitar I may be looking for for anybody, shoot!

[zmf]

Originally Posted by Tigro

I think I'll just pop by the few music stores that are nearby in the upcoming days, tell them my budget and play some instruments to get more experience in what I can actually expect in this price range.

Since you're in Poland, and most of us are not, we might be of more help if you mentioned the guitar brands available in the stores you'll visit.

[Tannin]

If I lived in Poland, I'd want to have a very good reason to go past one or other of the various local makers.

In most parts of the world you pay a premium for imported instruments, typically between 20% and sometimes as much as 50%. For the same money, you'll very likely get the best guitar if you look at ones made near you. I'm on the other side of the word but even here I've heard nice things about Furch and Dowina. The Italians have been making fine wooden instruments for hundreds of years, and as for Spain, well, they invented the guitar there.

Chances are that you'll find something of high quality for a reasonable price if you look for something made somewhere nearby.

On your budget, you probably won't be able to afford a guitar made in the UK, the USA, Australia, Canada, or Japan. Imports from outside the EU in your price range will almost certainly be made in China, Indonesia, or another low-wage South-east Asian country. (But often badged by an American, European, or Japanese brand - e.g., Epiphone of the US; Faith of the UK; Sigma of Germany; many others.) Of these, the first ones I'd look at would be the major Japanese names: Yamaha, Takamine, Ibanez. You won't get their best made-in-Japan guitars at this sort of price, but you will very likely get something reliable and pretty nice.

So look first at your local makers, also consider the Japanese brands, and pay a lot more attention to how it feels and sounds than how it is painted!

[jdinco]

I'm guessing that even the entry level Martins are out of the question?? Sounds like you are having fun playing, that's what it's all about.

[Italuke]

Originally Posted by lowrider

Send it back. You shouldn't be playing a guitar that sounds bad to you. This happens to people who buy guitars online without trying them live. You really can't tell anything from online videos.

It's just my opinion but Luna guitars seem like they are made to be looked at first and listened to second. For the price of that one you can get a really good sounding guitar from any of the major guitar companies.

This. Online clips are useless to determine sound.

[Tigro]

OK, first of the music stores down, two to go! Sadly, they didn't have many of the huge manufacturers, told me it was due to COVID causing order problems. Hence, I didn't have the chance to play any of the Yamahas or Epiphones in that price range

Basically all I tested was a bunch of Takamines and Ibanezes in various price ranges, and a local manufacturer called Morrison. I think the Ibanez AVC11CE-ANS was what suited me most, because of its darker tone. But to be honest, saying it suited me _more_ than my Taka would be a huge overstatement... Sure, these have completely different tones and I have my gripes with the Taka but I had just as many with the Ibanez. Or maybe to phrase it better, I'm not really satisfied with my Taka and I wouldn't be with the Ibanez either Maybe that's because, all things considered, they're basically the same price range, the Ibanez is just a tad more expensive because of the electronics (which I have no interest in as I'll never use them anyway). Certainly it wasn't anything I'd say "WOW, that's good!" about.

The Takamines, even those twice or almost thrice the price of mine, were giving me a very familiar vibe to that of my unit. Sure the tone was a bit deeper, maybe it wasn't _that_ harsh to my ear as mine is - but it wasn't like it was 10% the harshness, more like 80% for the more expensive ones. And I don't really feel it being justified to pay thrice the price of my Taka to get another Taka with the same problems I have here, just some of them a bit less pronounced

All in all, after today's visit, the closest thing I am to is returning the Luna (with a crying heart ) and just leaving my Taka for now. There was nothing that would justify the step up in my mind. Design-wise, none of them came close to the level of freakiness I like (think that of Luna's), tone-wise none of them were "better" enough by my ear to justify paying three times as much as I do for what I have now. That said, there was a ton of brands they did not have - I didn't have the chance to play even one Yamaha, Epiphone, Gretsch, Taylor or Martin. The search continues - in the umpcoming days, I'll pay a visit to the bigger stores in nearby city, those megastore kinds of places with a whole floor dedicated to guitars. Hopefully then something will strike me

To answer the questions:

Originally Posted by zmf

Since you're in Poland, and most of us are not, we might be of more help if you mentioned the guitar brands available in the stores you'll visit.

I wish I knew that myself! As said in the post above, the store nearby didn't even have Yamahas or Epihpones, which are pretty commonplace around here.

Originally Posted by Tannin

If I lived in Poland, I'd want to have a very good reason to go past one or other of the various local makers.

(...)

So look first at your local makers, also consider the Japanese brands, and pay a lot more attention to how it feels and sounds than how it is painted!

A very good point about the local makers and being able to afford a better instrument if you skip the additional costs that overseas import brings! I only had the opportunity to play Morrison so far (which is even Polish I think) and it was alright but nothing special. I'd love to try Furch or Dowina, I'm sure one of the stores nearby will have them! Thanks for all the info!

Originally Posted by jdinaz

I'm guessing that even the entry level Martins are out of the question?? Sounds like you are having fun playing, that's what it's all about.

Never played a Martin I also think that they may be hard to get nearby as I never came across one on the stores' websites. May be tough to test one out, then! And I certainly wouldn't want to take another blind gamble after the Luna situation