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  #46  
Old 09-12-2018, 08:17 AM
Muddslide Muddslide is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Tico View Post
No.
I'm not with you.
I prefer dreadnoughts.

But, so what?
Preferences are as old as humans.
Why even bother starting such a contentious thread?

Are you under the mistaken (but very common) impression that a group that is the largest group is the most-correct group?
Good luck with that.

Preferences are merely that, preferences.
I didn't intend the thread to be contentious. I don't enjoy being contentious and certainly wouldn't willfully start such a thread on a forum full of as kind, knowledgeable and helpful people as this one.

I intended it to just be a discussion and was interested to hear what others considered the pros and cons of this guitar, or their personal experiences with them.

I tried to make it clear in the first post that my meaning wasn't "dreadnought guitars are inferior" or anything of the sort.

I sincerely apologize if I've caused any offense to anyone for any reason. I would never purposefully do that.

PS-- I agree wholeheartedly with what you say about preferences. I guess I was just curious about the preferences of others and how and why they arrived at them.

PS2-- Man, there are some beautiful pics of dreads on here!

PS3-- I also don't tend to believe certain guitars are meant for certain styles, such as dreads not being conducive to finger style. That has not been my experience.

PS4-- I love rockabilly and old country (along with all kinds of other music) and the majority of those cats rocked a dread. I'm not against them, just don't really get why I don't "get" them when I have one in my hands.
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Last edited by Muddslide; 09-12-2018 at 08:28 AM.
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  #47  
Old 09-12-2018, 08:21 AM
HHP HHP is offline
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You guys are forgetting the main advantage of the dreadnaught, it makes you look slimmer.
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  #48  
Old 09-12-2018, 08:36 AM
davidd davidd is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by HHP View Post
You guys are forgetting the main advantage of the dreadnaught, it makes you look slimmer.
Then I need to buy another Jumbo.
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  #49  
Old 09-12-2018, 08:38 AM
rpatkin rpatkin is offline
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I (very) briefly had a Guild dread in the 70's that I traded towards a Tele. Just thought it looked like what guitars looked like, big and square. Next acoustic was a Gurian S3R, nicer looking (and sounding) I thought. Forward to five years ago, when I got back into guitar playing as a retirement activity, Dreads (and everything bigger than 000s) just looked like they had been on a high carb diet, and sounded "unbalanced" for my repertoire (American standards, Porter, Gershwin, Rogers and Hart, etc., melodies, no singing), way too bass-y. At this point am mostly playing a Martin 0-21, which fits the sound I'm looking for incredibly well. Also play a Taylor 322 12 fret for finger style, otherwise it seems a bit "boomy" compared to the Martin. Now, if I was a bluegrasser ....
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  #50  
Old 09-12-2018, 08:54 AM
J Patrick J Patrick is offline
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....I only played dreads for nearly thirty years...then i got into smaller bodied guitars and eventually got rid of the fine dreadnaughts I owned....for over a decade I didn’t own one...then a couple years back i rediscovered the venerable design....a good one can do it all...and do it all well...I now consider my Dread to be my most versatile guitar and the one I take out to play at jams when the music is gonna be eclectic...
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  #51  
Old 09-12-2018, 09:02 AM
DrJamie DrJamie is offline
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I like both ends of the size equation. Love my J-45, and my LG-2 3/4 size. I'm old, and small. Luckily no physical issues playing whichever to get the job done. They look like Schwartzenager and Devito next to each other. My only issue is with neck shapes. I like 1 11/16 nuts, or thinner 1 3/4 necks. But, that is a "feel" issue more than anything. I sound amazing on anything I touch!
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  #52  
Old 09-12-2018, 09:16 AM
gjtalis gjtalis is offline
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No not a fan.... has nothing to due with the sound they produce but the size.... they are uncomfortable for me to play, I’m not a big guy so I prefer a concert or parlor size guitar.... If I was six inches taller would be another story
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  #53  
Old 09-12-2018, 09:34 AM
reeve21 reeve21 is offline
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I like almost all guitars, but dreads are my favorites. These days I mostly fingerpick, and I prefer to do it sitting down on a dread with a "narrow" nut. I don't use picks and I really like the bass thump I can get on a dread (I play a lot of blues). I guess some of that goes against the current conventional wisdom about the "right" guitar for fingerstyle.

I've got a couple of OM guitars with wider nuts, and move back and forth between them and my dreads with no difficulty. I can feel the difference, but adapt pretty quickly. I agree with those who say the tone is more balanced, and understand why they prefer them over dreads for certain styles. And yes, they are slightly more comfortable for my old shoulder injury.

One size I haven't been able to bond with is a parlor or travel size guitar. Maybe I just haven't played the right one, but I don't like the feel or the tone of the ones I've played and owned for a short time (but they were all budget models).
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  #54  
Old 09-12-2018, 09:55 AM
Montesdad Montesdad is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Muddslide View Post
I intended it to just be a discussion and was interested to hear what others considered the pros and cons of this guitar, or their personal experiences with them.
I believe the point of your OP was that you had little love for the dread and that you just don't ever 'get on' with them.
Can't see where you really solicited others pros and cons for them.

That's ok with me and probably fine with many here - glad you found a safe place to express your feelings.

My best to you with smaller bodied guitars, many here like those too.
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  #55  
Old 09-12-2018, 09:57 AM
s2y s2y is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by HHP View Post
You guys are forgetting the main advantage of the dreadnaught, it makes you look slimmer.
I'm 5'5" on a good day and ~125lbs. Most of my guitars make me look like a dwarf.
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  #56  
Old 09-12-2018, 10:02 AM
TokyoNeko TokyoNeko is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by bradbs99 View Post
I will say dreadnoughts are excellent-in their place. I do not like dreads for solo work or light playing. They are too full and lush and don't have the note articulation of an OM. Also I find them too large sounding for fingerstyle; I love a GA for fingerstyle, oddly enough, which isn't terribly smaller than a dread but doesn't have quite the powerful sound.
A while back, I read an article somewhere written by the highly-esteemed Ervin Somyogyi about this. If I remember correctly, all else being equal, the waist has a lot to do with it. Because the dreads have wider waists, they produce louder and boomier sounds than comparably-sizes guitars with narrower waists.
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  #57  
Old 09-12-2018, 10:03 AM
hairpuller hairpuller is offline
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Don't know if there's a better looking guitar than a great sunburst slope-shouldered dread. However, after playing 00, 000, and OMs I will never go back to a dread...just feels uncomfortable after many many hours behind a smaller bodied guitar.
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  #58  
Old 09-12-2018, 10:08 AM
zmf zmf is offline
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Dreads are indispensable to me. Big, rich sound. As long as they're the right dreads, which for me are the ones that response easily to fingerpicking without fingerpicks. The wrong dreads are those that seem to be waiting for a flatpick.

I'm lucky enough to have two of the right kind of dreads, and they couldn't be more different. They only share the same body shape, which -- obviously -- makes them both dreads.
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  #59  
Old 09-12-2018, 10:28 AM
Sagebrush Tom Sagebrush Tom is offline
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My first 3 guitars i owned were all dreds. Then one day i was at music store and just out of curiosity i pick up a 000 model sat down with and discovered how comfortable it was to play. i immediately went home came back with my dred and spent the next 2-3 hours playing small body guitars then switch back to the dred, and switch back again. I traded in my dred on that day for my first small body guitar and in the last couple of years have added a single 0, another 000 and finally a 00.

And the switch wasn't done because of physical limitations but purely for comfortability and in my case at the time my desire to play was starting to wane, small body guitars definitely fueled desire to play as much as i could.
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  #60  
Old 09-12-2018, 10:44 AM
Muddslide Muddslide is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Montesdad View Post
I believe the point of your OP was that you had little love for the dread and that you just don't ever 'get on' with them.
Can't see where you really solicited others pros and cons for them.
You are right--I didn't phrase any of the original post terribly well or clearly. In my defense I'll just plead that it was late, my mind (and fingers) were rambling, and I'm stuck laid up after recent foot surgery.

I guess my ham-handed attempt at generating interesting, productive discussion came from this part of my post:

Quote:
Anyone care to pick up this topic and run with it? Sympathize with my stance? Convince me I'm just a plebian to whom the wonders of the dread are lost?
...but I have to say that sounds glib and borderline snarky to me now, re-reading it.

This doesn't have to continue; I am sincerely interested in why different players like what they like and hearing what they feel are the relative merits, strengths and weaknesses of various guitars.

I am always eager to learn and talk gear!
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