The guitar that changed me

[jdelin86]

Great thread & stories!

My experience began when I saw James Taylor’s ‘One Man Band’ concert on tv. I couldn’t help but notice his lovely guitar sound. That sent me down the luthier-built rabbit hole, but with the cost of entry being as it is, I never treated it too seriously.

Then I heard Tony McManus play his Greenfield & I realised I was in trouble. Having seen a TNAG ad for a similar model, I winced but paid Mr Watts a visit. I pretty much ordered one on the spot. For me, Mikey G’s is *the* sound I love. Four guitars later & I feel the same way…

Joel

[colins]

MT, your thread makes me think of a few “milestone” guitars over the past twenty something years. Each one had an important role for me as I worked out what attributes I wanted in a fingerstyle guitar.

After a break from guitars I got back into playing almost by accident. Following a work meeting with a guitar-playing forestry professor, he took me to a music store in Athens, Georgia. It was the Larrivees that I remember. And I’d caught the guitar bug again.
A few years passed, and the very first Goodall I played was a used CJ, European spruce over ziricote. It opened my ears to modern fingerstyle guitars, particularly for sustain, treble response and overtones. I had some serious reservations about such a major guitar purchase, but I bought it and it stayed with me for ten years.
On my one and only trip to TME, I chanced on a used Baranik. Wow! Conversations with Mike B ensued and two years later he finished a guitar for me, which I still have after 17 years.
And then, catching up with Kathy Wingert at Healdsburg 2013. Well, I now have this guitar – https://www.acousticguitarforum.com/...d.php?t=480228

Most recently, I learnt about Ed Claxton. If there is one guitar that I would like to have it is this beauty - https://luthierscollection.com/guita...-fret-malabar/ I have played it and am simply amazed at how good it sounds. What gitarro and deft tungsman and others say about Claxtons? It’s all true!

[jerrydlamme123]

Originally Posted by MTguitars

I’ve been playing guitar for about 4 years now. The pandemic allowed me to put my practice into overdrive as I was single and living alone. For two years I was able to practice for a few hours every day. It was amazing to say the least.



I also began buying guitars at this time. Short scale, long scale, 00, 000, new, vintage. I was so curious about it all. Having money for the first time in my life I began buying and selling guitars. I must have bought and sold 15 guitars during this time period.



I learned a lot. But it wasn’t until my playing style began to develop that I was really able to start to understand what I wanted for a guitar.



Like many new players, I’m told, I was drawn to power early on. If you can’t play well at least you can hear and feel the instrument.



I was drawn to Martin dreads and got my hands on a couple from the early 50s. As my playing turned more and more to the use of fingers and a desire for nuance I started researching bespoke builders and of course watching everything I could from Dream and TNAG etc.



So when I happened to have the opportunity to buy a used Greenfield G2 I did so. I sold most of my collection to pay for it. But, I had never heard such power from a guitar that was also clear as a bell. And if you played it softly it was equally good or better. It blew my mind and began what is now an obsession with luthier built guitars of this level.



Have any of you had a similar experience with a guitar?

G2 is just like that...I dont have best ears but I can immediately tell a g2 from treble side from any other guitars. I am thinking of commisioning a g2 but that big price tag is really a problem.

[jaymarsch]

What opened my hands and ears to a whole other world of acoustic guitar was attending my first guitar festival back in 2003. The guitars of James Olson and Linda Manzer were revelations. I couldn’t afford either but lucky that another fine luthier was there that made astonishing guitars and hadn’t brought her price tag in line with her skill yet: Kathy Wingert. I was very fortunate to find a used Wingert to play while saving some money and selling my Martin M38 to cover the cost of my first custom built guitar: 12 fret Model E grand concert cutaway. It will be 19 years old this fall and I am still inspired by it!
A complete joy to discover handmade acoustic guitars and a wonderful community of luthiers, many of whom post here on the AGF. Tim McKnight, Lance McCollom, Judy Threet, Bruce Sexauer, Randall Kramer (I have a couple of his fantastic instruments), Michael Bashkin, Gerald Sheppard, Mike Doolin, Mishi Matsuda, Tony Yamamoto, Willie Carter, Jason Kostal, Isaac Jang, and Michael Greenfield, to name a few.
Best,
Jayne

[Deft Tungsman]

The first guitar that truly expanded my understanding of how refined, musical and rewarding a steel-string acoustic could be was a Traugott 00. I played it for about 15 minutes at TNAG when they were still in Fulham. The only thing wrong with it was the price, twenty grand in British Pounds, and it was a used guitar! A couple of years later I had the chance to play an equally impressive Buendía 00 right before Leo shipped it off to his client.

While those two guitars left a deep impression on me, the guitar that really changed me is my Claxton Traditional OM. I have sung its praises many times here on the Forum over the past four years. I have never bonded with a guitar like this one. Playability, tone, expressiveness, and sheer MUSICALITY, the Claxton rules on all fronts. I have played quite a few top-tier guitars by some of the world's very best builders since then. None has managed to impress me more. It is so inspirational that my playing has improved by leaps and bounds.

[justonwo]

There were a number of guitars that heavily influenced my current test. This was the beginning of the shift in thinking.

https://www.acousticguitarforum.com/...d.php?t=303586

[fitness1]

Not nearly in the stratosphere as the instruments mentioned above, but...

In 2007, after playing Taylor, Martin, Larrivee and a few other factory builds for the previous 30 years, and having a couple customs built, I took a chance on a guitar built by David Webber.

I'd never heard of him previously, but it was obviously well built and had a 1 13/16 nut (wider the better for me!) so I gave it a run.

It was lighter and more resonant that anything I'd played before and had a more shallow neck profile (another thing that fits me well) I ordered a custom from him shortly after and probably had a couple dozen of his guitars over the years since.

About a year later, and almost simultaneously, I played guitars by Tim Mcknight, Bill Wise and Lance Kragenbrink, and found yet another level of sonic inspiration.

As an addendum - I just realized that before the Webber experience, in the winter of 2005, there was a gathering in Jacksonville I attended and met our late friend Ricks (Rick Skeens) for the first time, and he brought a Mahogany/Sitka Goodall GC for me to play that day. I was mesmerized - and it led to me going through more than my share of Goodalls later on as well. It didn't come to mind right away because it wasn't one that I owned!