Advice on buying a new guitar

[ggrimes9001]

Hello everyone!

First post here, but I'll get right to it. Looking for some advice/recommendations for a second acoustic. Been playing for about 10 years now and would like to upgrade my arsenal Looking at around $1000, new, and preferably solid wood. I'm currently leaning most towards a Martin D10e or D12e, but I haven't had a chance to play one yet. Current guitar is an Ovation Celebrity, so I'm thinking a dread will give me some sonic variety.

Hoping to be able to gig (when those start back up) and do some songwriting/home recording.

Also wondering how often members here buy guitars online without playing first? Part of me wants to pull the trigger on the Martin, but in my research on the forum, I've seen too many other options in the price range to go in blind. You can only hear so much through a YouTube video. The Seagull SWS seems great, but my local shops don't have a whole lot of inventory right now.

Appreciate any advice or recommendations are welcome and thanks for reading.

[Lkristians]

Welcome to the AGF! You'll get a lot of opinions, but ultimately you'll have to make your own decision. Many members purchase on line without playing, and there are many who won't. You'll find mostly favorable reviews (if you search) of folks who purchased from other member here in our Classified section. Many have been members for a long time with a lot of credibility.

If you want to post a ""Wanted to Buy" ad in the classifieds, you can join by becoming a Charter member for only $25 per year. That way, you can say what you're looking for and ask if there are any sellers in your area so you can check it out prior to buying (if the seller agrees to meet).

Either way, it's a great place to look and some might agree that the journey is as much fun as the purchase. Good luck, and again welcome to the AGF!

[Bob from Brooklyn]

Hello and welcome. There are so many choices. Are you in an area where you can go out and play some?

[YamahaGuy]

Yamaha A3M or A3R.
Stay away from the Martin if you're plugging in. You'll spend half your budget more adding stuff to get a decent plugged in tone. Sorry. Yamaha Red Label FGX3 would be good too.

[dnf777]

Eastman and breedlove have some great guitars in that range. They will be imports, but fine quality, nonetheless. I respectfully disagree with yamahaguy’s advice to avoid Martin. You may have trouble finding one in the $1k range that you like, but they have many fine offerings.

[ggrimes9001]

Originally Posted by Brooklyn Bob

Hello and welcome. There are so many choices. Are you in an area where you can go out and play some?

Usually, but our local Guitar Center is pretty sparse right now and the other local stores are definitely more electric focused and don't have large selections. I'm not too far from LA so hopefully going to take a weekend soon to do some testing

[Fishermike]

Since you're near LA, make an appt. with Ted at LA Guitar Sales. Carries a broad selection of Martins, Eastmans, and more. If you go with a Martin, make sure to ask for their "best price". Not sure what that price will be these days, but they can sell well below the advertised price.

If you're willing to come further north, Guitar 48 in in Ventura carries Larrivee and Guild - both of their factories are just across the freeway from them. Not sure what his stock is like at the moment due to pandemic production shutdowns, but in pre-pandemic times, Rob let me, no, encouraged me to play almost 15 different factory-fresh Larrivees and a couple of Guilds one afternoon, all in a setting that's more like a living room than one of GC's acoustic rooms. Not many places in SoCal that can offer that.

Many other great shops in the LA region of course, just wanted to throw those two out in particular.

[Bubbalou88]

Originally Posted by YamahaGuy

Yamaha A3M or A3R.
Stay away from the Martin if you're plugging in. You'll spend half your budget more adding stuff to get a decent plugged in tone. Sorry. Yamaha Red Label FGX3 would be good too.

I just got my new 2020 A3R ARE yesterday morning. The ARE treatment on the top wood sounds like it has been played for couple years or so. Really opened up the sound.

[Silenus]

I recently bought a Martin 10e (3 weeks ago) without playing it beforehand. Youtube videos and anecdotal stories had me leaning toward a Martin so I decided to go for it. Haven't played much in the last 20 years but got the itch. That and I had $500 in Amazon bucks to spend (a good start).

I'm very happy with my purchase. It doesn't lift my mediocrity but does inspire me to play just a bit more. The warm tone is enough to keep me trying. The Sapele looks great, as well. Slowly getting those lost callouses back. I also found this forum and while I will most likely lurk it seems like a good place to do so.

[Macpage]

Originally Posted by ggrimes9001

Looking at around $1000, new, and preferably solid wood. I'm currently leaning most towards a Martin D10e or D12e.

Appreciate any advice or recommendations are welcome and thanks for reading.

Welcome to forum! It's a great place with really nice folks!

It's hard to go wrong with a Martin. For other candidates, it's hard to give recommendations without your playing preferences, but I'll join the others with some general ones in your range. Of course, the usual caveat here is try to audition or buy with return policy.

Eastman has some nice dreads in a host of tone woods if you like fuller necks and 1.75" nut width. Yamaha models with varying necks and either 1.69"/1.75" nut width if you are patient with current inventory. Alvarez Masterworks if you like a thinner neck with 1.75" nut, and they will have a rosewood dread to join their mahogany model soon. Breedlove Organic series imports will get you a thinner neck with 1.69" nut. Lastly, you might be able to get a used Larrivee 03 series right at your mark with thinner neck and 1.75" nut. I'm sure others will add to the list.

Enjoy the forum and your auditioning. It's a great time to be looking at guitars in terms of quality. Hope you find one that fits.

Best,

Mac

[DCCougar]

Originally Posted by ggrimes9001

...Looking at around $1000, new... leaning most towards a Martin...

Do some research into Blueridge.

[ggrimes9001]

Originally Posted by Macpage

Eastman has some nice dreads in a host of tone woods if you like fuller necks and 1.75" nut width. Yamaha models with varying necks and either 1.69"/1.75" nut width if you are patient with current inventory. Alvarez Masterworks if you like a thinner neck with 1.75" nut, and they will have a rosewood dread to join their mahogany model soon. Breedlove Organic series imports will get you a thinner neck with 1.69" nut. Lastly, you might be able to get a used Larrivee 03 series right at your mark with thinner neck and 1.75" nut. I'm sure others will add to the list.

The more I read through this thread and others, it seems like the general consensus is that, at this price range, there are a lot of great import options. I haven't looked into acoustic guitars in a long time and i think i had it in my head that if youre going to spend this much or more, it HAS to be a Martin/Taylor/etc. Really appreciate everyones advice in this thread. Definitely think im going to broaden the spectrum a bit and hopefully get to audition a few guitars in the coming weeks before making a purchase.

[LakewoodM32Fan]

One more plug for Ted at LA guitar sales. Bought several guitars from him. If only he carried bourgeois and huss and dalton, then I wouldn’t need to go to any other dealer

[rick-slo]

Play before you pay if you're at all picky about tone and playability.

[Bob from Brooklyn]

At $1K I'd seriously consider a used Martin 15 series.