Which guitar disappointed you the most?

[Rosewood99]

For me it was a 522ce 12-Fret 12 string. I had read so many glowing reviews and videos about how easy it was to play and how great it sounded. Ordered one last month and was severely disappointed. It wasn't easy to play and the tone was uninspiring. Sent it back.

Over the weekend I went to my local music store and they had just got in a 522ce and I tried it out just to make sure the one I had ordered might have just been a bad one. Same thing.

I'm going to resist the temptation to be swayed by reviews and videos from now on. While it's not always possible in the smaller town I live in I will try and play one first (or make sure there is a liberal return policy if ordering online).

Live and learn.

[Tiga1]

Product reviews have become an industry unto themselves. Hard to separate the wheat from the chaff.

[Shades of Blue]

Most disappointing acoustic ever for me was the Martin GPCPA1 Plus. It is just way overpriced for the acoustic tone I was hearing. I was SOOO excited for that guitar too, and I waited 2 months to get it.

I also might lump my 814ce in to that camp as well. I loved it so much at first, but after finally getting to use it plugged in, all I can say is "meh." I'm just on the fence about selling it. I've got one of the new D-28s coming in and with the upgrades it will have, as long as the sound is amazing I may just do it.

[PorkPieGuy]

I would have to say the vast majority of Martin D28's I've tried have sounded like absolute duds.

Keep in mind that I'm a terrible guitar player, and my ears are garbage.

Also, our church put together some money and ordered our worship leader (at that time) an Alvarez that was oozing with inlay. Sounded like absolute garbage, both plugged in an acoustically.

[CT77]

For me there were 2:

Alvarez MFA66 - love the ways these look, wanted so much to love the way they sound. Far too bright and chimey for an all-hog guitar. Tried 3 (one CE model) and many different strings. Didn't matter - sound character was unfixable.
All had noticeable finish flaws as well. All were returned.

Martin OMCPA4R - looked like the perfect working man's Martin on paper. Tried 2 of these as well. Didn't know an all-solid American Martin could sound so thin, but these do to my ears.

The OMC-15E I ended up choosing addresses both disappointments nicely.

[billyfamilyvide]

Well, although I didn't expect much going into it- the backpacker still managed to disappoint me.

I gifted it to my s/o's nephew. He loves the thing. Different strokes I guess.

[jmjohnson]

NIB HD-28...eventually it opened up, but took a bunch of weeks.

Taylor 815ce - beautiful what with the florentine cut-away and not really bad, but sort of meh - hard to find a 'definitve' use for it.

[AndrewG]

Gibson SJ200. Toneless, off-centre back strip and the cheap and nasty screen printed pickguard with flowers that wore off within weeks. Horrible, overpriced and cheapened by unnecessary corner-cutting. A mistake I won't be committing again, and I really tried to give my dream guitar a chance. Such a disappointment.

[kayakman]

EVERY GIBSON I OWNED.......

[AndrewG]

Originally Posted by kayakman

EVERY GIBSON I OWNED.......

My experience too; except for an outstanding AJ which was much closer to a Martin, tonally, than the awful, dead, dry 'thump' that Gibson owners seem so enamoured with.

[Mr. Paul]

Originally Posted by kayakman

EVERY GIBSON I OWNED.......

I can understand the first one being disappointing.

[Mr Fingers]

A whole lotta Gibsons. While one of my all-time favorites is a '36 00, it is definitely the exception when it comes to the Gibsons I've played. I'll confess that I don't even try the new ones anymore, and it look like they may be making them nicely, finally, but over the course of 30 years I played new Gibson after Gibson in the hopes of buying a Dove or SJ200, and I never found one that was even good, let alone exciting in any way. Those SJ200s were like a human giant who could speak only in whispers... ridiculous, dead, tight, awful things. I hope the reports of Gibson's build changes in the last few years are true, because I love good Gibsons -- which means I dislike 90% of what they have churned out in the modern era. It's rather amazing.

[Jambi]

Played a used lefty Taylor 4 series (forgot the specifics but it was a cutaway) at Guitar Center that they were still asking 9 bills for.

45 seconds in and I was relieved and overjoyed with the fact that I had 2 guitars at home which both blew it away.

The name on the headstock don't mean much to me anymore.

[tippy5]

A good percentage of all acoustics, to me, fall into this dud category.
Now some of them might open up after years and be incredible but for the money a great Gibson slope (if you can't afford the Kopp, Fairbanks, etc..) is very rewarding.

For consistent modern, harmonic laden bold tones I still have to say James Goodall will give most buyers that increased palette on a consistent basis with a very durable build.

If you can afford a 5-25K guitar then you should have a field day finding, or commissioning, a dream guitar that sits far outside the "dud" category.

An Ovation Celebrity that I bought to use as a gigger about ten years ago. The guitar itself was adequate for the purpose, but the electronics had a glitch - which was built in to it on purpose. Like any barn-door onboard tuner, when you turn the tuner on it kills the signal. However, the signal turns back on on a timer rather than the normal "signal turns back on immediately when the tuner is turned off" industry standard. Waiting for the guitar to time back on while the rest of the band was waiting was beyond frustrating.