When Did Buying An Acoustic Become So Confusing???

[colchar]

Originally Posted by RGWelch

Why spend more for a Gibson/Martin/Taylor if you can get what you like in a Seagull or S&P for less money? The only reason I can think of is possibly for a higher resale value, maybe. But are you looking for a guitar to resale? Or one you hope to keep? Definitely look at the higher end of the Godin guitar lines, you may find exactly what you want. I did in Alvarez, and for hundreds less than I'd have paid for a Martin I got exactly what I wanted. I'm not getting an investment for retirement here. I'm looking for something I'll be happy to play the rest of my life.

I am looking for a lifer so resale means nothing. And you are right, as were others, in that I shouldn't limit myself to certain brands. If I find a great Seagull then why not go for it right?

[Bridgepin]

My advice to you is play as many guitars as you can and as many different body styles.

Learn what tone you like, do you like more bottom end, more mid range, or the high end sparkle, or very balanced.

Learn what neck profile fells good in your hand and nut width 1 11/16, 1 3/4, there are other sizes to.

Now we can simplify this, play as many as you can till one really stands out, you like how it sounds and it feels comfortable to play.

Most importantly enjoy your quest in finding it.

[colchar]

Originally Posted by mcduffnw

Hi colchar

What is your budget for this guitar you want to buy?

$1000-$2000 (Canadian). I would go a bit higher if necessary.

I assume you are happy to look at used guitars as much as new?

Yes, I am definitely willing to look used. A store near me has a D-28 for $2499 and I am seriously considering it.

If you are interested in used, how clean of condition cosmetically does it have to be in for you to feel comfortable with buying a used guitar?

As clean as possible. If I am getting a lifer, I want to be the one to put scars on it!

[FrankHudson]

It generally a good thing that there are so many makers making so many different kinds of acoustic guitars, but your dilemma shows one drawback of that otherwise wonderful world.

We can't tell you what kind of guitar to buy, we can only add new options to consider, which may increase your "analysis/paralysis."

You can't tell yourself what kind of guitar to buy, because you are still undeveloped as a player. You may find a" lifer," you may not , and nothing will assure this. You're going to have to go into this with, if not blind, sight-impaired, faith. Given that you have some anxiety about future guitar purchasing funds, I'd say the safest choice path has these guideposts:

Buy toward the upper end of your budget range (and if possible buy used), and with a brand that has the easiest resale (Martin, Gibson, Taylor) and take good care of it. If a year or two from now you find that your new playing skills seem to lead you in another direction, you'll take some hit with resale, but at that point you may still have the funds for the sale of your first try to buy a value brand.

The salesman that is aiming you at midsized guitars is also trying to aim for the center of the target, so that if you are a little bit off you still hit something. I'd probably give the same advice, but if you're heart is set on a dreadnaught, get one.

If you have neck preferences like nut width, profile or scale length pay attention to that and don't settle. That's one thing were the large variety of guitars presently available helps tremendously. Particularly is you seeking inspiration as you learn, that's as important, if not more so, than how good the thing sounds.

Lastly, though it's easy to obsess about differences until we start to bring into our concerns smaller and smaller differences, one can play just about anything on just about any acoustic guitar, even your existing Yamaha. You want a guitar to inspire you, I understand that, but inspiration is even more subjective than the music we make on these things. So try to enjoy your search as much as you can.

[jazzguy]

Perhaps counter-intuitive, but I suggest you consider your choices in this order:
1. Comfort to play
2 Tone
3 how it looks

At the end of the day, buy the guitar you want and that motivates you to play, not what me or anyone else thinks you should play. Glad you are getting into acoustic.

One other suggestion. Play some really nice and expensive guitars to establish a benchmark in your head of what a fine guitar sounds like. Then go search for that sound with less expensive guitars if you are $ sensitive.

[hbg]

Originally Posted by jazzguy

Perhaps counter-intuitive, but I suggest you consider your choices in this order:
1. Comfort to play
2 Tone
3 how it looks

At the end of the day, buy the guitar you want and that motivates you to play, not what me or anyone else thinks you should play. Glad you are getting into acoustic.

One other suggestion. Play some really nice and expensive guitars to establish a benchmark in your head of what a fine guitar sounds like. Then go search for that sound with less expensive guitars if you are $ sensitive.

That is the order I go with when buying guitars also (and I guess budget would be first because if I can't afford it I can't buy it). Especially with your wrist pain, it's a good idea to place comfort high on your list.

I find the smaller body size is easier on my wrist and hand, I think due to the angle of my elbow and shoulder on the strumming hand.

It doesn't matter how nice the tone is if you never hear it because it hurts to play. And with so many options, as you've seen, you can probably get close to the tone you love with a guitar that fits you to play.

[Mycroft]

When did buying an acoustic guitar become so confusing? Just because you have just discovered that it can be does not mean that it hasn't always been so. Christopher Columbus was credited with "discovering" the Americas when to point of fact it had always been there.

Jeeze, per your OP you come from the electric guitar world and then claim that the acoustic guitar world is confusing?

Originally Posted by colchar

$1000-$2000 (Canadian). I would go a bit higher if necessary.

I was about to ask that question. Although I don't know what the current US-CA exchange rate is.

Originally Posted by colchar

Yes, I am definitely willing to look used. A store near me has a D-28 for $2499 and I am seriously considering it.

Here is the thing. Buying used you should be able to get much more per dollar spent than when buying new, as someone else has already taken that new-car deprecation hit. You say that you are looking for a "lifetime" guitar. Then why settle for a mass-produced factory guitar when under your budget you could get something like this used from a well-thought of small builder and scratch your Canadian source itch at the same time? (Note the price differences between new and used)

https://reverb.com/brand/webber-guitars

Originally Posted by colchar

As clean as possible. If I am getting a lifer, I want to be the one to put scars on it!

And 10 years from now will you really know which scratches are yours or which came on the guitar? I've never understood the math, seen around here quite often, that someone would rather spend the same amount on a pristine but lesser instrument instead of a better instrument but with purely cosmetic dings and doinks. Good luck with finding a pristine '62 Strat.

As to what body? The reality is that you need to figure out that one for yourself, as a number posters have said. But if asked, I'd point towards something in the 000/OM sized range, as they seem to be a good "do a bit of everything well" guitars. (Personally, I lean towards the 00 sizes, although I have two 000s and a Small Jumbo too. I don't like Dreads; too boomy and uncomfortable to play seated. I mostly fingerpick, including strumming chords with my fingers)

Go forth and play a bunch of guitars. Let us know what you wind up doing.

TW

[RJVB]

Originally Posted by colchar

Assuming the used guitar is structurally sound and correct, does it also have to be super clean or can it show signs of cosmetic use and wear, and how much is acceptable to you?

Are you asking or is that a dangling quote from someone else's question?

In the end only you can answer that question, under the condition that the instrument is structurally sound.

Coming from a world where buying used instruments is the norm I'd say that every sign of wear and use is a notch in some kind of bed post that marks an event or tells a story. I find such marks easier to accepts than the ones I make myself, usually. Well, until the instrument starts to look like Trigger, or Nikki Lauda, that is

EDIT

Then why settle for a mass-produced factory guitar when under your budget you could get something like this used from a well-thought of small builder and scratch your Canadian source itch at the same time?

Good question, supposing you can find one within your buying window. If not, factory guitars may not have the same quality or character but what they do have is consistent.

[donlyn]

Originally Posted by jazzguy

Perhaps counter-intuitive, but I suggest you consider your choices in this order:
1. Comfort to play
2 Tone
3 how it looks

At the end of the day, buy the guitar you want and that motivates you to play, not what me or anyone else thinks you should play. Glad you are getting into acoustic.

One other suggestion. Play some really nice and expensive guitars to establish a benchmark in your head of what a fine guitar sounds like. Then go search for that sound with less expensive guitars if you are $ sensitive.

Not counter intuitive at all.

Pretty much included in post #19 to this thread, plus more stuff, but I added a budget phase before starting, and a budget reconsideration phase after doing some searching. ;-)

Don
.

[RGWelch]

Originally Posted by RJVB

I'm tempted to say that the maybe is very much to the point here. Instruments made by the likes of Stradivarius and del Gesu are investment choices, possibly rare and old Martins, Taylors or Gibsons too, but you don't get those for playing (yourself) typically, and I expect they cost a fortune in insurance too.

Having a known name on the instrument probably does make it easier to sell it off for a decent amount, but in the end I am not convinced that you recuperate more of the sum you spent than with a similar quality instrument that cost a lost less initially too. And this is bound to become worse as the quality of "cheap" guitars continues to increase.

It's recurrent advice here just to get a M/T/G and of course that's the easy & safe approach if you have the budget. But where's the fun and satisfaction? To me that lies in trying and searching and trying again, and then finally finding that rare pearl which maybe costs a lot less than you had planned to spend. I'm convinced you develop a completely different relationship with such an instrument than with what you *could* call an expensive mail-order bride.
SPending a few hundreds more to get A Big Name? I'd ask myself how many strings I could buy for that money instead, or possibly a suitable (de)humidifier to keep the instrument(s) in optimum shape.

Yes, there is a comfort in buying one of the 3 big name brands (though I'm old school and to my mind Guild is more deserving of that status than Taylor, but that's just me). Maybe someone wants to feel like they own a status instrument. I know I felt that way when I bought my first Martin. But then I learned to appreciate each guitar for it's own merit more, and realized it's not the name on the headstock or even what I paid for it that makes it valuable to me. It's what the guitar does for me when I play it that's important. As for investment, one crack in the top, or even a deep scratch, and your investment just took a huge drop. There are better investments, like gold coins...but all you can play with a gold coin is poker.

[RGWelch]

Originally Posted by colchar

I am only a home player, and will never play out. I just play as a hobby, so am just using an acoustic to either play songs I like that were done on acoustics (classic rock, country, '50s rock, roots rock, etc.) or to play acoustic versions of songs that I like.

So I will be doing a combination of strumming, lead playing, etc. but all just for fun.

I am also in the process of switching from playing with a pick to playing with my fingers (using thumb for downstrokes and index finger for upstrokes) so won't be doing any flatpicking.

Originally Posted by colchar

Yes, I am definitely willing to look used. A store near me has a D-28 for $2499 and I am seriously considering it.

As clean as possible. If I am getting a lifer, I want to be the one to put scars on it!

Assuming the used guitar is structurally sound and correct, does it also have to be super clean or can it show signs of cosmetic use and wear, and how much is acceptable to you?

I'll put this out there to give you something to chew on. Eric Clapton brought acoustic guitar playing back to the limelight with his MTV unplugged session using his 1939 Martin 000-42. He could play any guitar he wants, for free. But he played probably the biggest gig in the second half of his career with a small bodied acoustic. He probably played it because it was comfortable for him and he could get the sound he wanted. Granted, it was a vintage Martin that was subsequently sold at auction for 3/4 million $USD, but that was more because of the history behind it. I would dare say my Yairi OM size guitar is nearly as good (to me) and a very similar guitar, and I paid a little over $2k for it, new. I bought it new because I wanted the warranty, I wanted this guitar, which is indeed my "lifer", to be brand new and no risk of any hidden issues I might have to deal with down the line. I'll allow that in other guitars, but this I knew would be the ultimate guitar for me. I've played long enough to know I'd be happiest with this, over any other guitar. Yes, I'd trade it for a vintage 1939 Martin 000-42, of course. But nobody is ever going to take me up on that, and any modern new Martin the equal of my Yairi would cost at least $3k or more. So I could maybe get a used Martin, the equal of my Yairi, for what I paid for my Yairi (FYM66HD, if you want to look up the model specs). Sure, if I resold my Yairi, i wouldn't get what I paid, and if I resold a used Martin, I'd get closer to what I paid. But that is of no concern. What I got was as good to me as a used Martin, but no risk of hidden issues, I don't have to worry if the bridge might start coming up, if the guitar had been left for a period of time in a low/high humidity situation and is a time bomb ready to crack, or if some braces might come loose. Less chance with a new guitar. Besides, there are Martins all over the place, everyone has a Martin. I've got a Yairi, can you say that? Maybe you can find the equivalent high end Simon & Patrick or Seagull that you'll feel that way about, and don't be surprised if it's not a Dreadnaught, from what you've said about how you plan to play it.

[tippy5]

I have bought and sold 60 acoustics. It is a mystery as to which one covers all the markers one needs to play with guitar confidence over and over, year after year. I went through tonewoods, sizes, strings. I learned a lot. I have two lifetime guitars (maybe?) a Gibson J 45 rosewood with its powerful scooped palette and no nasal high notes. I have a perfectly balanced Goodall GC Sitka / Koa that has a huge sweet spot for different genres and approach (and FAT highs!).

But buying acoustics is not a science.... and Luck Be a Lady Tonight.

[justonwo]

It’s complicated because we have so many choices right now, but you can make it very simple:

1) Be patient

2) Keep playing guitars until one grabs your attention. You will know.

3) Don’t get stuck in the mentality that you need a specific body shape. Try them all.

[zhunter]

Originally Posted by colchar

I can't play acoustic (most, myself included, would say the same about my electric playing!), so I figured I should devote some effort into becoming better at it. I currently have a nice Yamaha LL6 acoustic, but I've decided that I want to get a higher end all solid wood acoustic. My thinking is that if I spend some money, not only will it encourage me to practice but I will also be getting myself a guitar which is a lifer before I have a reduced income in the fall due to impending surgery, and then have to devote funds to other things come the new year.

The encourage to practice excuse is commonly cited reason for upgrading to a more expensive instrument. While here on an enthusiast page the percentages may be higher, I find this way more often than not doesn't work. An expensive guitar is just as likely to wind up in the closet as an inexpensive one for most folks. Either you are encouraged and inspired to play or you are not. That comes from within you.

The practice bump you get from spending money is typically short lived. While the lifer sentiment has merit, any guitar can and will become a lifer if you dedicate yourself to it. So first thought is use what you got. Make sure it is set up to play well and focus on musical goals, not guitar buying goals.

And I am all for buying when you want to buy. Just don't expect it to turn your practice around for long. It is really simpler than you think. Solid wood, gloss finish in a size that you find comfortable and looks good to you. Cutaway is totally optional for all but a rare few acoustic players.

hunter

[Bridgepin]

Originally Posted by colchar

$1000-$2000 (Canadian). I would go a bit higher if necessary.




Yes, I am definitely willing to look used. A store near me has a D-28 for $2499 and I am seriously considering it.





As clean as possible. If I am getting a lifer, I want to be the one to put scars on it!


Assuming the used guitar is structurally sound and correct, does it also have to be super clean or can it show signs of cosmetic use and wear, and how much is acceptable to you?

At this price point for a USED Martin D-28 I would highly recommend you call two of are forum sponsors and ask them there price on a NEW D-28 or HD-28 ( SERIOUSLY )

Jon at my favorite guitars

Maury at Maury's Music

These guys are great people to work with, tell them that you are a member here at AGF. There are many forum members here and on UMGF that have praised how happy they were in dealing with them.