Budget Guitar equivalents that no one wants you to know about....

[HHP]

Originally Posted by $ongWriter

I'll take a 42 over a 45 anyway...they have different bracing and I like the 42 bracing better....the 41 is the same as a 45 but with less bling....I've never played a 41 I like and never played a 42 that I didn't want to bring home!!!

You're just rationalizing liking the cheaper guitar.

[$ongWriter]

Me thinks the new Taylor 200 series and especially the Academy series "for the money" sound great!!!...I would not trade them for my Taylor 12 frets..(which I think is the best guitar BY FAR that Taylor has ever made) but they really sound TOO GOOD...for the money.

[HHP]

Guitars are like sex, get it too cheap and you won't appreciate it.

[TNO]

Originally Posted by HHP

Guitars are like sex, get it too cheap and you won't appreciate it.

You paying for top-shelf HHP?

[MrHooligan73]

Yamaha’s 800 series are seriously good as well as the open pore Ibanez all mahogany’s for $200. Really hard to beat sounds for the $. Make sure to get one setup correctly for you and enjoy. It’s no secret however.

[HarryQ]

I have a Parkwood all solid 000-18 copy that sounds and plays better than a 1945 Martin 000-18 i used to have. I was able to compare them side by side. The Martin's gone and the Parkwood is still here. I had to do some crack repairs on the Parkwood. I think I paid about $80 for it.

[Goat Mick]

Ok back to the original question of sleeper budget guitars that just excell. Some of the best sounding guitars I've had a chance to hear or play are the solid wood Alvarez offerings from the 70's. There are some amazing specimens out there. Ran into another one Thursday night at a songwriter's round. Strong beautiful complex tone.

[TBman]

Originally Posted by grinningbanjo53

Blue ridge
Eastman

I promise you that epiphone AJ-45 isn't even close to the tone of a waterloo. Completely inferior.

Paul is right.

If someone offered you a waterloo jumbo king or a epiphone AJ-45 you'd take the Waterloo every time.

If you don't you are tone deaf. Not to mention one plays like an expensive guitar, the other feels much cheaper.

Waterloo jumbo king
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=9eLF1gY5Q_k


Cheap epiphone
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=3c9sIAr8mmQ

Not so sure...

https://youtu.be/WjROzj8hq5M

[Ed-in-Ohio]

Originally Posted by zombywoof

Personally I do not ever use "for the money" as a qualifier. You either like a guitar or you do not. Case in point, I love Harmony Sovereigns and own three of them. Are they a great sounding guitars you can score on the cheap - you betcha. In my opinion as a rhythm guitar I would take the Harmony over a Martin D-18. Would most agree with me? Probably not. But I have owned and gigged with both. At the end of the day the Martin went bye bye. That first Sovereign is still with me. Then again, I would take my Sovereigns over any Epi AJ-45 I have ever played.

Big +1. If one appreciates the bright, 'out front', fundamental rich, ladder braced tonal character of the Sovereigns, they are hard to beat for value. Harmony gets my vote too.

• H1260 Sovereign Jumbo
• H1203 Sovereign Orchestra
• H165 all-Mahogany Orchestra

[grinningbanjo53]

Originally Posted by TBman

Not so sure...

https://youtu.be/WjROzj8hq5M

I was comparing apples to apples. Now you're comparing apples to oranges. That Waterloo has a much smaller body and short scale.

The Waterloo still sounds like the better guitar.

[grinningbanjo53]

Originally Posted by Ed-in-Ohio

Big +1. If one appreciates the bright, 'out front', fundamental rich, ladder braced tonal character of the Sovereigns, they are hard to beat for value. Harmony gets my vote too.

• H1260 Sovereign Jumbo
• H1203 Sovereign Orchestra
• H165 all-Mahogany Orchestra

Yup! +10000

Just picked up a harmony h1203 sovereign. Luthier had a new sinker redwood top put on it, neck reset, frets redone, new tuners, new bridge, boned out. French polish all around.

Kept original ladder bracing.

$250

This guitar would blow away any taylor. I'm talking any.

The tone of this guitar would run circles around the best.

[zmf]

Originally Posted by grinningbanjo53

Just picked up a harmony h1203 sovereign. Luthier had a new sinker redwood top put on it, neck reset, frets redone, new tuners, new bridge, boned out. French polish all around.



The tone of this guitar would run circles around the best.

wow........

[TBman]

Originally Posted by grinningbanjo53

I was comparing apples to apples. Now you're comparing apples to oranges. That Waterloo has a much smaller body and short scale.

The Waterloo still sounds like the better guitar.

Hmm. I should play a Waterloo first.

[crikey]

Originally Posted by TBman

I've played an Epiphone AJ-45 that I swear sounds just like Martin's Whiskey Sunset and certain Waterloo guitars. The Epi is considerably less.

The Whiskey Sunset and the Waterloos sounded like slope dreads?

[TBman]

Originally Posted by crikey

The Whiskey Sunset and the Waterloos sounded like slope dreads?

No the bluesy sound of the Epi reminded me of a Whiskey Sunset and a Waterloo.