#31
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Most of us are familiar with the general tonality of the brands we prefer. If you read the posts, Haasome had to order his C100 because he was an early adopter and the default neck is 1 11/16 nut. He wanted 1 3/4 so couldn't play that specific guitar beforehand. In my case with the 000-18A, there are only 96 in existence. I had not played one first, bought used after speaking over the phone to an AGF member, and didn't pay anywhere close to 5k.
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Merrill | Martin | Collings | Gibson For Sale: 2023 Collings D2H 1 3/4 Nut, Adi Bracing, NTB -- $4100 shipped |
#32
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Beautiful C100 OP
I'm over the moon with my recently acquired 1998 Larrivee D03R Bought on ebay, didn't pay much, didn't expect much...... I've had many high end dreads, ie: Martin , Gibson, Santa Cruz, Collings, Froggy Bottom, etc. and this Larrivee " is the one " |
#33
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Best, Jayne |
#34
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My Voyage-Air VAOM-06. I bought it sight-unseen directly from Harv (used) in 2010. I only wanted it for the neck profile. It is very close in every regard to the neck profiles of my Olson, and my Bashkin (which had it's neck profile copied by the luthier from my Olson's neck). In fact, had Harv had a used all-laminate for sale, I'd have bought that instead. When we travel, my guitar is along mainly for personal pleasure, occasional performance, and for practicing. Most travel guitars have necks which are vastly different in size from my main instruments. I was pleasantly surprised at how good it sounds, and three of my friends were impressed enough to buy one of their own. I've used it for small all-acoustic (no amplification) gigs and travel now for 9 years, and it's getting better sounding all the time. I attribute the improvement in tone to it having a solid Spruce top. |
#35
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Not to pile on, but to explain. In my case I’ve owned several Collings guitars over the years, so you are correct - I was expecting a great guitar. Otherwise I wouldn’t spend that kind of money on it. But the question was about beating expectations. Not every guitar you play and buy lives up to expectations. I guess that’s why so many used guitars are for sale. And in my case, the C100 had a mojo and presence I wasn’t expecting.
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#36
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My collection of guitars include a Martin, a Taylor, a Guild and a Yamaha.
These guitars are all Dreadnought size. They all met or exceeded my expectations. When I decided to look at smaller sized guitars, I played a lot of guitars including the brands that I own. None of these guitars met my expectations. That was until I played a Washburn Grand Auditorium guitar. The Washburn was only about 25% of the cost of some of the other guitars but sounded better than they did to me. It went home with me. The model is HG-27-SE. It is a Guitar Center custom order and cost $399.00. I love it.
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Happiness Is A New Set Of Strings L-20A |
#37
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My s yairi. I bought it because i wanted a wife's birth year guitar. Best $400 i ever spent. My favorite of what i own and that includes a d18 and d35.
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#38
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I typically do things in another order - I typically buy a guitar because it is great, and the "unexpected" part comes when I try the guitar. One example was a Taylor 12 fret short scale. Having short scale as my home base, I had been interested in whether Taylor was able to pull off its excellent intonation on short scale. I dropped into a local dealer with my wife on a vacation day and just happened to see a short scale guitar on the wall. The guy pulled it off for me and I immediately felt at home on the short scale. Yes, they got the intonation right and what's more, I liked the gentle sound and responsiveness of the 12 fret.
I was quietly soaking it up while my wife talked to the salesman when she suddenly stopped, turned, and said, "You are REALLY comfortable with that guitar, aren't you?" I said yes. We've been married thirty-nine years and she knows me. The salesman said the magic words, "It's on sale..." We went out to the car and my wife said, "We need to do whatever it takes to get that guitar for you." The next day I took in some trading fodder and walk out with a Taylor 312e 12 fret. Not fancy, not gaudy, but an amazing little guitar. I got the last year with the rosewood headstock veneer. Bob
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"It is said, 'Go not to the elves for counsel for they will say both no and yes.' " Frodo Baggins to Gildor Inglorion, The Fellowship of the Ring THE MUSICIAN'S ROOM (my website) |
#39
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For me it's my Stanford D5 vin that is made by Furch. Bought it on the forum for under a grand and it is always getting compliments on the tone. I've owned many fine guitars that have moved on, but this one gets the most work and has managed to stay, even in this perilous GAS environment.
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Listen to the music! |
#40
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I bought my 000-18 GE because I knew it was gonna check off a lot of boxes. What I didn't expect was for it to beat every guitar I have A/B'd it to!
Nothing has knocked it off its pedestal. We're talking Goodall, SCGC, Collings, Bourgeois, Fairbanks... Amazing guitar with tone to burn!! Can't even imagine playing an authentic, if it sounds much better than this! scott |
#41
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It would have to be the Yamaha FS800 - not the model, but the particular guitar. It plays with *soft* action, and still without a setup - the nut slots will go *way down* when I take it to my tech. I’ve had the FS800 before, but nothing like - this one rings out with no restriction on the plain string harmonics. I really like the electric guitar Les Paul equivalent string spacing for a change up too. With muted thumb strokes, it sounds like a fine plucked instrument of yore. I chalk up its performance to the quality of the braces and the book-matched top.
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#42
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Silver oak on my Larrivee OM. Not a common tonewood. I'd never heard of it until the shop owner said "you gotta play this one" and I took it home 2 hours later. It was just unexpectedly blown away by the tone of a wood I knew nothing about.
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#43
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OK, I'll add this one to the list;
It's a Custom Shop order, and it's the only J-17 ever made so while I was hoping for something special, I really didn't know what I was going to get. It was upgraded to Honduran mahogany from sipo. It doesn't sound like a DSS-17 and it doesn't sound like a Standard series. It sounds like a Martin but it has a focused laser beam like tone. So, yes it's more than I expected but it's hard to say that a Custom Shop guitar is surprisingly great! |
#44
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I'm pleased to say my more expensive guitars met my expectations but the guitar that really turned out to be unexpectedly good after a few easy, simple upgrades is my 2012 Epiphone EJ-200.
- Bone saddle - Bone bridge pins - DR Sunbeam lights (after some string experimentation) - Bought used for US$300 including hard case. Previous owner fitted a Planet Waves 'O' Port Sound Enhancer and I don't know if it does anything .. but I'm not touching it because the guitar is sounding so good!
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Brucebubs 1972 - Takamine D-70 2014 - Alvarez ABT60 Baritone 2015 - Kittis RBJ-195 Jumbo 2012 - Dan Dubowski#61 2018 - Rickenbacker 4003 Fireglo 2020 - Gibson Custom Shop Historic 1957 SJ-200 2021 - Epiphone 'IBG' Hummingbird Last edited by Brucebubs; 08-30-2019 at 05:23 PM. |
#45
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