What's been your experience with vintage acoustics?

[LessPaul]

I can't stop thinking of questions so I'll limit this thread to just the actual guitar and try and ask open ended questions.

Have you owned more than one? What were your favorites and why? How did you find them? Pretend I'm an interviewer or a psychologist waiting with long drawn out pauses trying to extract greater detail. I want to hear anything and everything about your experience.

I'm starting a piggy bank for a dream guitar. I'm hunting a great white buffalo - solid wood 30 years or older that got tuned up and played regularly. I'll likely have to sink a fortune into repairs.

I only get one shot at this. I'm not going to be able to try a few out or wait for a Taylor to age. There aren't really great resources out there for this kind of thing so any morsels you have will be greatly apprciated!

[Looburst]

I've had pretty extensive experience with them over the last 30 years. Ask plenty of questions, neck reset, cracks, etc. What has been replaced, if you can't tell. But I would only buy if I could play the guitar in person first. Too many hiddens unless you really know your stuff. Know your budget and if there is any work that needs to be done, add that into your cost. My current fav is my Gibson J45 from 1964, it had a crack on the top but I knew it could be cleated easily so I jumped on it. The guitar was bought new in 1965 and was never played, sat in a closet for 55 years. The wood was already dried out and with the lack of damage, other than that crack, it was a great find.

[pdx]

Vintage is cool and can sound amazing, but mainly from amazingly dry and aged wood. I have played some older guitars and have their sound in my head. Occasionally you can find a newer guitar that has 90% of that sound. I played a new D-18 6-8 months ago that haunts me, sounded like a much older guitar. Try lots of guitars. Taylors have a modern sound. Your Taylor will never sound like a vintage guitar.

[riverrummed]

"Your Taylor will never sound like a vintage guitar". But I bet in 75 years it will sound like a vintage Taylor guitar. Forever is a really long time and never is constantly proven to be an illusion.

[MikeD]

I own a bunch of prewar guitars (Martins and a Gibson) along with quite a few modern built guitars (both traditional and modern in tone), and for me there is no substitute for a great vintage instrument. My suggestion is to start out on the Unofficial Martin Guitar Forum (UMGF) in their "vintage" section. You can search and pull up most anything related to vintage acoustics there, and there are always some good threads going on discussing instruments from the 1800's right up to the 1970's. They just don't discuss Martins either. There are plenty of threads about Gibson, Harmony, Stella, etc. on there as well. The member base there is extremely knowledgeable and the archives are quite extensive. The YUKU server can be tempermental at times, so just be patient if it takes a while to pull up pages.

[LessPaul]

Originally Posted by MikeD

I own a bunch of prewar guitars (Martins and a Gibson) along with quite a few modern built guitars (both traditional and modern in tone), and for me there is no substitute for a great vintage instrument. My suggestion is to start out on the Unofficial Martin Guitar Forum (UMGF) in their "vintage" section. You can search and pull up most anything related to vintage acoustics there, and there are always some good threads going on discussing instruments from the 1800's right up to the 1970's. They just don't discuss Martins either. There are plenty of threads about Gibson, Harmony, Stella, etc. on there as well. The member base there is extremely knowledgeable and the archives are quite extensive. The YUKU server can be tempermental at times, so just be patient if it takes a while to pull up pages.

"I own a bunch of prewar guitars" "I own a bunch of prewar guitars" "I own a bunch" ..."of prewar guitars" ...It just keeps echoing in my head over and over again. What?? What's your favorite? Which ones are close? Are we talking golden era guitars? Do you still acquire vintage guits or is the collection complete?

Thanks for pointing me to UMGF!! The Vintage corner is massive!! I'll be on there quite a bit today

[6L6]

FWIW, I don't play Bluegrass.

Mostly I play fingerstyle with a plastic thumbpick and two metal fingerpicks.

The only vintage guitars I've played that really made me want to own them are three of the four Pre War D-45's I've had the honor of playing (one was a sonic dud).

If 47 years counts as vintage, my 1970 Martin D-28 is an instrument I find truly inspiring to play. But, basically, I find present day guitars to be my favorites. That's lucky for me because it's a LOT cheaper than having to focus on vintage instruments!

My 1970 D-28 (K&K Pure mini equipped. New neck reset and SS frets from Gryphon):

[Brucebubs]

'Worn in' comes just before 'worn out'.

[Goat Mick]

A vintage guitar can be your dreams come true or a holy nightmare to get into proper playing condition. I've got a 59 J-45 that is my pride and joy. It was my dads guitar and has been in my family since 1959. Right now it needs to have some braces reglued because the top is buldging a little and the bridge is lifting. But I can't afford to have the work done right now so all the tension is off the strings and we're waiting for me to be able to afford getting the work done. That's life with even the nicest vintage guitar. Stuff will need to get fixed.

I also have a '94 Taylor 710 that I bought new and while it was built to modern specs and will never have vintage tone it sure has gotten really sweet over the years. I love the sound and feel and dark Amber tint to the top. It's just a great guitar.

All that being said I don't feel like I'm qualified to be the judge of if a vintage guitar is going to be a smart purchase. Id have to have someone more knowledgeable help me.

[SpruceTop]

I've played quite a few vintage acoustics in my favorite guitar shop. To me, generally, they feel looser than most new guitars in that they seem to take a bit less effort to get the top moving. Also, in general, they don't seem to sound any better than a good new guitar of the same model. Often, they're much higher-priced than a factory-fresh model but along with the higher price you usually get dings, scratches and repaired cracks, and if you're really lucky, a beat-up looking OHSC that's falling apart. If someone really likes and wants to buy vintage guitars, I'm cool with that too.

[Long Jon]

Wow SpruceTop ! Time to move those ancient Rainsongs of yours ! Especially the 2009 model, that must be completely clapped out by now !

[H165]

To me, generally, they feel looser than most new guitars in that they seem to take a bit less effort to get the top moving.

This pretty well sums up my general feelings about "vintage". BTW, my definition is "before 1970". No logic to it; just an outgrowth of the Braz/EIR switch at Martin. That year is close enough to various other changes that it's an easy benchmark for me.

Now to answer directly:


Have you owned more than one? A. About 125 or so.

What were your favorites and why? A. 000 size - mostly Martins.

How did you find them? A. Daily perusal of every source I could find where they were for sale. Most were local personal sales.

You have a large potential list of inexpensive vintage stuff from which to choose; the best of them being Harmony and Sovereign guitars; some old Washburns, and many old Martin D-18s.

...,solid wood 30 years or older that got tuned up and played regularly.

describes many of these things, and the Harmonys and Sovereigns are $100-$250 before fix-up and $375-$650 ready to play. There are $1200-$1500 Martin Ds all over the place if you're looking hard and have cash. For a few dollars more, Look at Guitar Center Vintage pages.

[gitarro]

Just imagine how good our guitars will be in 80n years time...hopefully our grandchildren will be raving about our boutique guitars to us but vintage guitars to them...

[hojo199]

Originally Posted by MikeD

I own a bunch of prewar guitars (Martins and a Gibson) along with quite a few modern built guitars (both traditional and modern in tone), and for me there is no substitute for a great vintage instrument. My suggestion is to start out on the Unofficial Martin Guitar Forum (UMGF) in their "vintage" section. You can search and pull up most anything related to vintage acoustics there, and there are always some good threads going on discussing instruments from the 1800's right up to the 1970's. They just don't discuss Martins either. There are plenty of threads about Gibson, Harmony, Stella, etc. on there as well. The member base there is extremely knowledgeable and the archives are quite extensive. The YUKU server can be tempermental at times, so just be patient if it takes a while to pull up pages.

Yeah. I second that. The UMGF is the go to source.

I bought two '60's Martins last year -- a '64 D18 and a '65 000-18. I went to the store and played them -- hour and a half away. Those I didn't buy on Reverb.com! I also own a couple of vintage Gretsches. Yes, there is nothing like that TONE old, seasoned instruments project....

However, I own a 2009 custom shop Martin D18 with a red spruce top and two Guilds with red spruce tops built in the New Hartford plant (2009, 2010), and here is what I think about the vintage vs modern discussion:

I absolutely believe we are in a golden era of guitar building now. Back in the 80's, 70's, new guitars were not very good. You had to go older to get quality. Today that isn't the case. But either way, it will cost you -- to buy a higher end new guitar of a vintage piece like you are considering.

I say, it's all good. I love them all. They all have their distinctive voices. I love the Guild D40 probably the best for tone. And it was built in 2009! But that doesn't minimize the thrill of writing songs on that '65 Martin 000-18!

Life is way too short to play shi**y guitars!

[ewalling]

Vintage instruments have no interest for me. There seem to be so many nice new or nearly new guitars about that I don't see much point in burrowing around for some beaten up old affair that probably costs an arm and a leg in 'mojo.'