Long-time player - first serious purchase. Advice please!

[phydaux]

Originally Posted by Brooklyn Bob

Welcome to the big show! It sounds to me like Eastman guitars are readily available over there. I love my little E2OM-CD. See if you can find one to test drive.

I second Eastman. Either an E6 OM (mahogany) or an E8 OM (rosewood).

[davidd]

Just get a Yamaha LS16 and be happy. They are truly great guitars and the deeper body separates them from some of the quieter OM models. I've had a ton of great acoustics over the years but of all of them the Yamaha bang for the buck wins out.

[Jim Comeaux]

I have just taken delivery of an LL-16 ARE, you know the non bling version. The LL-16 is not a real dreadnaught. By that I mean the size. It is more like a southern jumbo. The lower bout is about the same as on a full dread, but the upper bout feels more like a slope shoulder dread when you hold it in your lap. The 5 piece neck is absolutely LEGIT! The action is low, low, low all up and down the fretboard and no fret buzz. Finger pickers will love the action. I am a flat picker and a beginner, and I probably get a bit too aggressive with the attack, but still no buzz!

[Charmed Life Picks]

Originally Posted by roylor4

First - don't bother with the cheaper Taylors - they all have a 1 & 11/16 nut width and lean strongly towards the "bright" category (IMO). The 3 series and up are good and a standout for the money (though still not cheap) is the 324 and 322. The Mahogany top and Blackwood back and sides really give great tone and add warmth to the typical Taylor sound.

Second - Never played a Furch, though they are highly regarded here and elsewhere.

Third - The 16 series Yamahas are quite good. If you can find one, go with a Rosewood b&s one. Rosewood provides more bass than Mahogany and will add warmth as well as some overtones. I would avoid the LL's, as they are a slope shoulder dread and will not offer better ergonomics than your current guitar. Look at the LS.

Seagull still offers some models with a 1.8 nut width and they are well built, though not really a step up for you. If Eastman is available in your area, they are worth looking at.

Good luck in your search.

I'd second Roylor's suggestion on Yamaha. Just a fab company with the best Q/C in the industry. Also a bit thumb's up on Eastman -- a LOT of guitar for the money.

Welcome on Board,
Scott Memmer

[Jwills57]

The Yamaha guitars I have played in that price range have been absolutely fantastic. Several of my students over the years have purchased one flavor or another, so I have had the chance to play and evaluate Yamaha offerings. Sweetwtarer.com is the big Yamaha retailer in the US. In bigger guitars in that price range would be the LL6 ARE, LL16 ARE, and the LL16 D. The Yamaha Red Label FSX3 looks to be a great choice in a smaller-bodied instrument. My most recent student just bought a LL6 ARE. Think he paid around $550. This guitar, in my humble opinion and considering the price, is outstanding. The set-up was great, the fit and finish of high quality. Played and sounded great. I wish, 40 years ago when I was really starting to get interested in guitars, that I would have had the choices that are available today. Frankly, most of the guitars back then were terrible, unless you could afford a Martin or a Guild, maybe a Gibson. Not much was around for $300-$400 dollars. I ended up with a Yamaha which saw me through a lot of years of learning. It was a decent guitar but not nearly as good as similarly priced Yamahas today. Good luck with your search.

[ljguitar]

Hi Sundance

The last time I went on a guitar 'search' I had these parameters in play.

• No buying on time…had the money to buy it outright available that day.
• Would not buy if it was just close to my wish list…had to have it all.
• Went out of my way to visit builders, and stores when we traveled.

As a result, I spent between 5-6 yrs looking.

I played hundreds of guitars (at length)…maybe over a thousand. Five-six years is a lot of time, and I was actively seeking a complimentary guitar to my Olson, of playing and recording. I kept notes.

I now know a lot more about styles, sizes, tonal characteristics, etc of many of the top guitar makers in the USA including SantaCruz, Froggy Bottom, Collings, Sheppard, Applegate, Somogyi, etc.

I still played Martins, Gibsons, Taylors etc.

My advice to you…
Take another player with you to play for you so you hear what it sounds like when you sit across from it and listen.

Have the money with you to make a deal on the spot. If you fall-in-love with a specific instrument, buy it. A particular make and model often will not sound as good as the guitar you just played.

If you order it because it's cheaper, you may be disappointed by the results (particularly true of manufactured instruments). Guitars can look identical and exhibit an entirely different sound characteristic.

If you are going to drop a major amount of money, you probably want to end up with a guitar that makes you happy for a long time!

[Aimelie]

<< “ I'm not very experienced with different types of acoustic guitars so I've been doing a lot of research on this forum, and elsewhere, to try and understand the features I should be looking for. Unfortunately I do not have access to any local guitar shops (even pre-lockdown) as I live on a remote Scottish island. If I can manage to make a shortlist, I hope eventually I can go to the mainland and try them out before I decide.” >>

<< “I have decided I would like a cedar-top, GA body shape and pickup, so I have a shortlist of:

Furch Blue
Dowina Sol (Chardonnay)
Dowina Ceres (Cabernet)

These are all available with pickup for about £1100 which is probably my maximum budget.

The Furch has mahogany back & sides, the Sol is walnut and the Ceres is rosewood. From everything I've read and listened to, I think rosewood would be my preferred choice but I'm open to opinions on the others options, especially walnut. I play mostly folk songs with travis-style fingerpicking.

Aesthetically, I think the Dowina guitars look nicer, especially with the clear pickguards. However, Richard's guitars told me they could remove the pickguard from a guitar if I wanted.

Can anyone offer any advice about these guitars? Furch seem to be more popular and I've read so many good things about them. I would have no concerns buying a Furch. Dowina don't seem so well known, which may even be a good thing, but it's hard to really get good independent opinions on them. I would really appreciate it if anyone is able to advise on how Dowina compares with Furch. “>>

_———_—————————————————————————————————-



Seriously, it’s as if folks didn’t bother to read this person’s earlier posts …

I’d love to hear if anyone actually has an answer to the question asked. I’ve pored over the internet this afternoon and am having a hard time finding something concrete (other than on a French language forum discussing Dowina’s “Antique” line—which I’m not sure even exists anymore—as being partially built in China, but the comments date to 2009 or so).

As for ordering from Richard’s Guitars, Mr. Cholerton seems to be a very sincere individual running a great shop. I’ve exchanged emails with him in the past on the subject of Furch and I was left with a good impression of confidence in the man and his establishment.

[YamahaDave]

Faith guitars are worth a look mate. All solid woods and UK designed (Indonesian built?).

[blakey]

My 1 pence.
I played an Auden Jumbo a couple of months go and thought it was OK. Played very nice but thought the tone was a bit indistinct.

Had a Road series Martin for a while but the Richlite always felt clunky to me.

To my ears the Furches sound a bit like the Audens and lack bollocks.

I am heartily going to recommend an Eastman. They totally blew me away after taking a gamble on one sight unseen.
They just ooze build quality (I have a E1ss Ltd). For 1k you could pick up something pretty spectacular from their range I'm sure.

[Tony Burns]

You can have fun with this- take your time .
play everything with strings that you can get your hands on .
gain the experience by playing different instruments .
you may find something you may of never considered -
or get the deal of a lifetime.

[blakey]

Originally Posted by *Sundance*

Wow, thanks so much for the replies. It's great to hear so much good advice and it's reassuring to know that my own thought process regarding what to look for seems to be roughly on the right track.

It's interesting that the Eastman E2 OM has been mentioned as that came up a lot during my previous research. It's certainly budget-friendly and I hope I can manage to try one out sometime soon.

I'm happy to disregard the Taylors at this point. I never felt too enthusiastic about their looks anyway and from what I've read the lower end models aren't ideal for my needs.

Of course, the Yamaha LS body shape makes more sense than the LL models but I am put off my the Engelmann spruce top. However, I wasn't aware of the Red Labels and am interested in the FS5. I love the classic appearance and it sounds great in the YouTube videos I have watched. It's probably the first spruce top I have really warmed to.

My real favourites at the moment though are the Furchs. The Blue CM seems to have everything I am looking for: solid cedar top, solid mahogany back & sides, beautiful simple looks and excellent reviews. I just wish it had a transparent pickguard like the Yellow series! There is a Blue Plus CM model which has it but I can't seem to find it in any shops. The Yellow series look even better but I think that is stretching the budget too far!

One question I have about the Furchs is about the body sizes. Is there much difference between the Grand Auditorium and the OM? Would one suit be better than the other?

I'm on the Isle of Lewis in the Western Isles of Scotland by the way

Thanks again.

Get solid woods at all cost.

Engelmann spruce is great for fingerpicking!
Re: nut width. Most nut widths seem to rarely stray beyond 45mm as a max and I wouldn't lose any sleep over 2mm here or there less.

Furch have a pretty weird neck and truss rod design - I've seen a few issues with those on various Forums. For me I'd stick with something more conventional if your splashing the cash and want a safe bet.
Dowina have like one singular UK distributer!

Body shapes - If you bought a D28 you'd think christmas had come early so why piss about with GA's OM's and OO0's unless you are an octogenerian or have chronic arthritis.
Dreads and slope shoulders are fine for fingerpicking. And its great to have bass on tap if you want to dig in. Especially if you capo when fingerpicking.

So my recommends are (not in any order): Martin (road series), Taylor (2nd hand solid wood), Yamaha, Faith (legacy series), Eastman (anything), Guild (D140, D150 especially).

[Sigmadevotee]

I have an Eastman AC422ce that I bought for $900 US dollars new and it compares favorably to my Martin OM28 Modern Deluxe, Martin D42 and Taylor 814vs DLX.

[stillsteven]

Originally Posted by blakey

Get solid woods at all cost.
…
So my recommends are (not in any order): Martin (road series), Taylor (2nd hand solid wood), Yamaha, Faith (legacy series), Eastman (anything), Guild (D140, D150 especially).

Pretty solid

[bobster7]

Brands I would consider in this price bracket:
Eastman, Freshman (400, 500 and 600 series), sigma (only their all solid models especially their limited run guitars) and Faith.

Personally in this price bracket I would be looking at Eastman and Freshman (Higher end Sigma's are harder to find). Eastman need no introduction and the 400-600 series Freshman guitars are outstanding, you should be able to find new 400 and used 500 seres in your budget (the 600 series will likely be quite a bit more even used but you never know).

Faith make some nice guitars as well but their tone is very modern. Furch guitars are excellent but I think the best value is in their £2000+ guitars (much like Taylor and Martin). With Eastman and Freshman you get a lot of VFM at this price point.

Personally I'd avoid the low level Martin and Taylor guitars, really not much bang for the bang in materials or tone.

[*Sundance*]

Thanks for all the replies. There are so many options and I appreciate the advice.

I haven't completely ruled out spruce tops, and this does open up a lot more choice of guitars. It's difficult when some advise to avoid the big brands at my budget level and others say go for it. I had a look at Martins around £1k and they all seem to be laminate back & sides which puts me off them. Yes, I'd love to own a Martin, but maybe that is just because of the brand name, and I can't help feeling that a hand-made all solid Furch would be a better choice. Also, I really want to love this guitar as it will probably be the most I ever spend on an instrument!

Having said that, I am drawn towards the Yamahas. I like the understated looks and they are the first spruce tops which have sounded mellow to my ears. Maybe it's the ARE treatment they use. I particularly like the FS3/FS5 red labels (although these seem hard to find in the UK) but am also interested in the LS16. So, I'm adding these to my shortlist. I'm also less inclined towards the Dowina now simply because it feels more of a risk to go with a relatively unknown brand.

I do have another question about setups...I was keen to buy from Richard's Guitars because I believe they are meticulous in doing a proper setup before shipping their guitars. I don't have anywhere local where I can get this done and I'm not confident of doing it myself. However, I want to consider other guitars which are sold at other retailers in the UK, some of which may be larger, less personal, businesses. Can anyone advise how other UK retailers are for doing setups?

EDIT: Just seen an ex-display Yamaha LS16 ARE available here for £600 which is tempting. I'm not sure this would be my ultimate dream guitar (maybe I'd be surprised though) but seems like a great deal. Only concern is I've read that the nut width and string spacing are slightly narrower than the average 45mm nut guitar. My main problem with my current dreadnought (Simon & Patrick SP6) is the lack of room on the fretboard when fingerpicking. Should this be a concern?