Body size, tonewood choice - describe your evolution as a player

[Irish Dave]

Roylor:

Kind of a combination:
I certainly like the added low-end of the 12-fretter (especially on these smaller body styles) and the narrower, but more elongated upper bout is both very comfortable and, to me, aesthetically pleasing as well.

Both my OM and 12F 000 have 13/4 nuts and very similar neck profiles, but I do find the relatively shorter nut-to-body distance to be quite comfortable

Still have several guitars in different sizes, but am finding the 12F 000 getting a larger and larger percentage of my playing time all the time.

Hope that helps.

[roylor4]

Originally Posted by Irish Dave

Roylor:

Kind of a combination:
I certainly like the added low-end of the 12-fretter (especially on these smaller body styles) and the narrower, but more elongated upper bout is both very comfortable and, to me, aesthetically pleasing as well.

Both my OM and 12F 000 have 13/4 nuts and very similar neck profiles, but I do find the relatively shorter nut-to-body distance to be quite comfortable

Still have several guitars in different sizes, but am finding the 12F 000 getting a larger and larger percentage of my playing time all the time.

Hope that helps.

Thanks. I have a 000 12 fret too and find it quite comfortable but for some reason keep gravitating to the 14 fret OM's. Just trying to learn stuff about the people in our little community here.

[DanR]

My first decent acoustic was a Yamaha FG-300. It was a dread and I felt that the tone was more pleasing than any of their mahogany guitars. I was a big fan of dreads until I saw David Bromberg on TV (PBS) with his converted F style Martin which seemed to excel on single note accompaniment. After the Yamaha, I got a D-35 that I really liked. But a year after getting that, a friend offered to trade me his '67 000-28 for my D-35 (I got extra cash in the deal) and I went for it. It was a great guitar for fingerpicking, but after a year, we reversed the trade.

I have preferred dreads since the early 70's until a few years ago when the OM body style seemed to be my favorite. I played a Gibson AJ not long ago and realized I was missing something by not having a dread, so last year I picked up an HD-28. I have allowed a little over a year for the honeymoon phase to subside, but if I had to pick a favorite between my OM and HD, the HD would win.

I also have been a mostly rosewood back and sides lover. I've had a few mahogany back and sides guitars the I purchased because they 'spoke to me', but the majority of the time, I still prefer rosewood.

[kydave]

Dan,

If you haven't, you owe it to yourself to play one of the M or 0000 guitars that Bromberg helped add to the Martin lineup.

Dave

[zplay]

I'm enjoying this thread; it feels like to me as if it is performing a trick akin to psychosis of externalizing what has been an ongoing internal rumination about guitars into commentary apparently originating in the outside world - in this case, the AGF community.
I started out with a Martin knock-off dreadnought during my first brief phase of playing in college and grad school and then got a real Martin - a D-1R - when I started back up in my late 40s. Took me a while to stumble onto the advantages of fingerpicking on a wider nut and have since been all over the place in terms of body types and body woods - leading to question about my ability to focus and come to logical conclusions - while staying true to relatively generous string-spacings. I've had more GA/SJ/deep OM models than anything else, but lately am enjoying accompaniment of voice moreso than pure fingerstyle instrumental pieces, so am drifting back toward dreds!
So I play a Gibson J-29(Sitka/IRW) a fair bit and am thinking about either a Martin D-18(can it really be that America's Luthier is now offering 1 3/4" nut on a standard dred?!) or a Collings D-1(Spruce/mahogany). But I still mix in play on a Lakewood grand concert(Engelmann/BRW) and Collings deep OM(Sitka/Sacha) and Guild GAD F-40(Sitka/maple). I've had only one cedar top - a Seagull S-6 - and not planning on another cedar ..... but wouldn't altogether count it out.

[The Bard Rocks]

My starting point was a Kay archtop. NOT what I wanted, but what my parents surprised me with. Awful thing. Then I bought a cheap Czech classical, a bit better. The 0018 was a real step up for me, even if it only set me back $275. I think I'd appreciate it more now than I did then.

[51 Relic]

Over my fifty years of playing and I counted this up the other day , I have owned 51 guitars . Started with a classical to learn on then on to copy fenders in my youth then knocked at the door of Strats and better still Teles .

My first love was a Burns Marvin so I still have two UK Custom shop versions of those .

Second I love the playing of Jerry Donahue so I have a Jerry Donahue Fret King

Classical guitar I always love so a Yamaha NTX 1200 R is a keeper

Now on to my new love affair the Acoustic Guitar a GSMiniE in Rosewood is a great sofa guitar and I use it live all the time In church most Sunday's

My last purchase was a present from my dear wife , a new Gibson J45 for our 33rd wedding anniversary

Now I play acoustic guitar 95% of the time for the last five or so years so if I had to choose two guitars the Marvin and the J45

If you pushed for one guitar easy the J45 if it's good enough for Ralph Mc Tell then it's good enough for me

[roylor4]

Interesting backstories - keep 'em coming. I really enjoy positive threads.

[ObiWanSymbian]

Well... when I was young and stupid (naive?) I wanted a black guitar.
I haven't even noticed it was an acoustic - a change from the nylon string classical I had been making my first steps with.
At that time there was not much choice in terms of body shapes, nor was I aware of what difference they make.
Over time I have developed thirst for certain tonal characteristics, which I could not describe, until I found my current axe.

To sum up - I am a declared worshiper of my own guitar.

If I was to choose something to replace her I will go for a cedar topped dread.

[DanR]

Originally Posted by kydave

Dan,

If you haven't, you owe it to yourself to play one of the M or 0000 guitars that Bromberg helped add to the Martin lineup.

Dave

Thanks! Coincidentally, I played a 0000-28H a few years ago that might have been the best ever (IMO, of course) sounding guitar for someone who alternates between strumming with a pick and fingerpicking. I was very impressed but was only in the 'tire kicking' mode at the time.

[MBE]

I started out on small guitars, got caught up in the jumbo-body arms race for a bit, and then realized that bidy size and tone wood really don't matter much to me. If the neck profile, nut width, and scale length fit me (I have small hands), all I care is that the guitar is responsive and well-built. I have cedar over maple. Englemann over BRW, Sitka over mahogany, and other combinations, from 00 to jumbo. I sound like me on all of them, and if I could only have one, the wood combo or body size would not be the deciding factor. To be honest, the builder has so much more to do with the tone and volume than body size or wood combo. Once I finally accepted that, I found it liberating as I no longer got caught up in specs.