Best fingerstyle guitar money can buy?

[hatamoto]

Originally Posted by leo12

What is the best un biased fingerstyle guitar money can buy? "no budget"

I am looking at froggy bottom or lowden but open to others and not sure which models are best for fingerstyle from them. I want to buy 1 guitar and keep it forever hopefully it will even appreciate in value down the road.

Honestly, I think the best guitar is the one that will respond best to your playing style and the sound you're after. Both mentioned guitars are great and I've tried both. I have the Lowden and it's really articulate and sensitive to touch.

[richie1959]

That is the larrivee sd50

the best doesn't exist, the one that sounds and plays best for you is the best!!

[Shadowfox]

a Custom Furch would be Fun! Or at least a Red Series.

I think a Cedar/Cocobolo, Alpine/Cocobolo or the most interesting would be a Cedar/Ebony guitar.

[Guitars44me]

I really believe You need to be hanging out in the AGF custom shop. If you haven't done so already, get over there ASAP.

it's a lot of fun

Paul

[davidd]

Considering Bert Jansch played a Yamaha LL11 no need to go all boutique. Plenty of great sounding guitars in the mid priced range. It's in the hands...

[George6654]

Originally Posted by AndrewG

The 'best' is what you pick up, play and say to yourself, 'this is the one', and not what an anonymous forum poster decides for you, and which is invariably a subjective opinion.

I agree, it’s the one that talks to just you.

[ljguitar]

Originally Posted by davidd

…Plenty of great sounding guitars in the mid priced range. It's in the hands...

Hi davidd…

Technique resides in the hands, but tone is in the construction.

The scale length, setup, and construction of the guitar either impart or limit characteristics which are really important to certain styles of fingerstyle.

There are mid-line instruments which can be setup mechanically great which do not have the responsiveness, resonance, projection or sustain necessary for certain types of fingerstyle.

I taught intermediate and advanced fingerstyle guitar locally for 40 years.

The average person who wants to learn fingerstyle doesn't have a clue that there are many categories of fingerstyle.

They are often fans of a certain player and want to learn his/her style.

[waterlooz]

Determined you are...eager to spend whatever.

Play many guitars you must..

then you might know...or you may not?

-Yoda

[davidbeinct]

The top one…
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[Aimelie]

Originally Posted by Shadowfox

a Custom Furch would be Fun! Or at least a Red Series.

I think a Cedar/Cocobolo, Alpine/Cocobolo or the most interesting would be a Cedar/Ebony guitar.

Yes!

Or how about a sinker redwood/cocobolo?

(I want one! )

[colins]

Originally Posted by davidd

Considering Bert Jansch played a Yamaha LL11 no need to go all boutique. Plenty of great sounding guitars in the mid priced range. It's in the hands...

And Pierre Bensusan sounded amazing on his Ryan on Altiplanos, as does Tony McManus on his Greenfield or his PRS. Or Al Petteway on his Tippin. Or Larry Pattis on his custom Fay. Why stop them playing boutique guitars that they enjoy and sound great on?

We each have our own price point and preferences. What we need to recognise is that our fellow players may have different price points and preferences, with perfectly valid reasons for doing so. Guitar playing is all about enjoyment and some people get a lot of enjoyment out of “boutique” guitars. It’s in the hands as you say, and it’s also in the subtleties that these guitars can offer for some fingerstyle playing in particular, as well as the different playing situations and what the player is listening for.

[musicman1951]

I would definitely have a maple MWD model Kostal on my list.

[GuitarsFromMars]

It is interesting to me that Brian Applegate has not been mentioned to this point. He builds a well voiced guitar in several styles, that works remarkably well for fingerstyle. YMMV.

[richie1959]

So....... , now you know...
What's it going to be??

[jojobean39]

Originally Posted by ljguitar

Hi BB

I own an Olson, and it is an amazing fingerstyle guitar. Mine is the 3rd best guitar I've ever played.

The other two were…

Best - Somogyi OM 2005 - Brazilian Rosewood/German Spruce
Second - Gerald Sheppard 2005 - Small body Brazilian Rosewood/German Spruce

I played both at the 2005 Healdsburg shot in SantaRosa, California. Absolutely the two best I've played before or since.

And one costs more than an Olson, the other less.

I played my first Somogyi this summer. I may get stoned for this, but I was underwhelmed. Not that it wasn’t an amazing guitar. It was. It played great and sounded great. But it was nearly twice as much as the most expensive Olson I’ve played and it didn’t move me like the Olson did. In fact, I felt really bewildered by the fact that it was just as good (to me) as the guitars around in the $8-10k range.

With that said, maybe there was some magic I just didn’t understand. I think my expectations were just so high that maybe they couldn’t be met. I think what made the experience unbiased was the fact that, when I played it, I didn’t even realize I was playing one.

Anyway, by no means am I saying it wasn’t a great guitar. I’ve just played a few guitars that really spoke to me in my life and every Olson has been up there. This one was not and I was really surprised.