What are your top 3 "Factory" made guitar brands

[Wade Hampton]

Of the guitars that I personally own:

1. Martin

2. Larrivée

3. Gibson


Of the guitar brands made now or formerly in Canada:

1. Larrivée

2. Simon & Patrick

3. Seagull


Of the guitar brands made now or formerly in the USA:

1. Martin

2. Gibson

3. Taylor

Honorable mention: Mossman, Ovation, Guild. Larrivées are all American-made these days, too.


Of the guitar brands made now or formerly in Australia:

1. Cole Clark

2. Maton

3. Cole Clark again!


Of the guitar brands made now or formerly in the UK or Ireland:

1. Brook

2. Lowden

3. Avalon


Of the guitar brands made now or formerly in Czechia:

1. BSG Guitars

2. Furch

3. BSG Guitars (they're worth a double mention!)


Of the guitar brands made now or formerly in Asia:

1. Yamaha

2. GAD Guild

3. Epiphone Masterbilt

4. Takamine

5. Ovation

6. Alvarez-Yairi & Yairi

7. Morris


And many more. If your favorites have been omitted, it's an oversight on my part. There are plenty of great guitars out there, and the happy news is that these days they greatly outnumber the crummy ones.


Wade Hampton Miller

[flaggerphil]

Oh guitars I have owned:

Taylor
Larrivee
Gibson (at least during the '60s and early '70s)

[00045]

Gibson, I love that Gibson sound, look and feel of my Gibson's. They are very
inconsistant on build quality. You have to find THE one.

Martin, Legendary tone and high build standard. For the number they put out very good quality and
easy to find a good one.

Taylor, I am not a huge Taylor fan. But I really love my 12 string. However,
nobody has the manufacturing down like Taylor. They are the most
consistant guitar one can buy. Loose yours, purchase a new Taylor and
it will sound the same as your previous one.

[DukeX]

Larrivee: value, quality, consistency, tone, playability
Taylor: see above
Martin: see above

[rmyAddison]

Martins are the only "factory" guitars I own or care about, and put my money where my mouth is.

Zero interest in Taylor, sorry, my personal preferences, and I owned an 814ce, long gone.

Gibson has some great guitars, but they are "iffy" IMO, the Advanced Jumbos can be very good.

Outside of "factory" guitars I have great respect for the vintage voice usual suspects: Bourgeois, Collings, Santa Cruz, H&D.....

Prefer what works for you, I'm an old Martin guy and love my Nazareth instruments, they give me all the variety I need.........

[FrankHudson]

I have no idea what the objective top 3 would be. I haven't played enough acoustic guitars to offer an opinion, and for some reason I'm able to control my acoustic guitar GAS fairly well, so I don't spend a lot of time shopping and longing for the ultimate.

If on the other hand I answer empirically, what did I spend money on and keep playing? then the top three would be:

Godin. Because I like beefier, wider necks and cedar tops sound nice to me too. Also, when I was buying guitars 15-20 years ago, they were there in the market.

Cort. This is the weird one, but I've somehow ended up with three of them, an all-solid rosewood dread that scratches that itch for me, an old, low end Earth series dread with only a solid top that somehow records like a dream, and my mid-1970s "Cortez" all-laminated 12-string.

Martin. Helped popularize the inexpensive mahogany top guitar when I was buying.

[TBman]

My choices are reflected in my signature,

Gibson

Guild

Larrivee

Martin.

I'm auditioning Taylors and listening intently to Furch/Stonebridge as well as Avalon guitars online until I find some in the wild.

[vindibona1]

I'm a bit jaded. I'm not jumping up and down about much of the new stuff out there. If you want to know about how I feel about the *current* crop of guitars, comparing them to older models, I will have difficulty answering.

Taylor would be on my list, but before the V-class change. Good sound especially if you have the patience to test strings, saddles, pins, etc. Of the new V-class guitars I've played and heard recordings of, I have no love for them and prefer older models. The new ones out there aren't impressing me. Maybe V-class will help the lower end models? None out there yet to try.

Martin. I think they still make decent guitars. The upper end ones can be pretty spectacular. I think (bridge design faux pas not withstanding) the older models seem to have more care and attention to detail in finishing. While some might like the wider nut on their "reimagined" versions of iconic models, I am not a fan. But obviously the marketeers know more than me about selling *new* guitars.

Best buy? Probably Larrivee.

[jomaynor]

Martin

Collings

Taylor

[Rmz76]

1. Waterloo - I don't mind glue smudges and less refinement found in Colling's flagship brand. With Waterloo, they hit the sweet spot for me. These guitars feel like they were transported here from the past, they sound amazing, feel great and cost a fair price... Although the selection is small, every Waterloo I've played I've loved. For this reason Waterloo would have to be my #1

2. Gibson - Although they are inconsistent guitar to guitar, I am a firm believer that inconsistency comes from Gibson holding on to transition more so than assembly line carelessness. Gibson remains the only big builder to tap tune their tops and considering the subjective nature of tap tuning and how much the tone comes from the bracing, I believe this is where that uniqueness guitar to guitar comes from. I like the process. It gives each individual guitar a unique voice, all J-45's may have certain tone qualities but the one you cherry pick will have subtle qualities that make it unique. Granted this is true of any guitar you buy, but with Gibson I've found that uniqueness is more pronounced.

3. Lowden - I have only played two Lowden guitars, but they were both something extraordinary. I'm saving the eventual Lowden purchase for a trip to Ireland slatted for 2021.

Edit: If Lowden is considered a boutique brand, my next choice would be Martin.

[Rev Roy]

Originally Posted by Rmz76

1. Waterloo - I don't mind glue smudges and less refinement found in Colling's flagship brand. With Waterloo, they hit the sweet spot for me. These guitars feel like they were transported here from the past, they sound amazing, feel great and cost a fair price... Although the selection is small, every Waterloo I've played I've loved. For this reason Waterloo would have to be my #1

2. Gibson - Although they are inconsistent guitar to guitar, I am a firm believer that inconsistency comes from Gibson holding on to transition more so than assembly line carelessness. Gibson remains the only big builder to tap tune their tops and considering the subjective nature of tap tuning and how much the tone comes from the bracing, I believe this is where that uniqueness guitar to guitar comes from. I like the process. It gives each individual guitar a unique voice, all J-45's may have certain tone qualities but the one you cherry pick will have subtle qualities that make it unique. Granted this is true of any guitar you buy, but with Gibson I've found that uniqueness is more pronounced.

3. Lowden - I have only played two Lowden guitars, but they were both something extraordinary. I'm saving the eventual Lowden purchase for a trip to Ireland slatted for 2021.

Edit: If Lowden is considered a boutique brand, my next choice would be Martin.

Folks can’t be reminded of this enough, Wayne. And count me among those who like Gibson’s process, too.

[robj144]

Originally Posted by Rmz76

1. Waterloo - I don't mind glue smudges and less refinement found in Colling's flagship brand. With Waterloo, they hit the sweet spot for me. These guitars feel like they were transported here from the past, they sound amazing, feel great and cost a fair price... Although the selection is small, every Waterloo I've played I've loved. For this reason Waterloo would have to be my #1

2. Gibson - Although they are inconsistent guitar to guitar, I am a firm believer that inconsistency comes from Gibson holding on to transition more so than assembly line carelessness. Gibson remains the only big builder to tap tune their tops and considering the subjective nature of tap tuning and how much the tone comes from the bracing, I believe this is where that uniqueness guitar to guitar comes from. I like the process. It gives each individual guitar a unique voice, all J-45's may have certain tone qualities but the one you cherry pick will have subtle qualities that make it unique. Granted this is true of any guitar you buy, but with Gibson I've found that uniqueness is more pronounced.

3. Lowden - I have only played two Lowden guitars, but they were both something extraordinary. I'm saving the eventual Lowden purchase for a trip to Ireland slatted for 2021.

Edit: If Lowden is considered a boutique brand, my next choice would be Martin.

I've asked you this in another thread. I've never seen that Gibson voices the tops, substantiated. I find it to be amazing if they do and have not found evidence of it anywhere.

[RussL30]

This is just from the brands I have owned or had experience with.

1. Taylor- it’s absolutely amazing how Bob and Kurt built this from the ground up and made it what it is in such a relatively short time. Taylor quality is amazing and they have several different tonal flavors and unbeatable playability. Their innovations in construction and manufacturing have been outstanding. I also love the boldness to do it their own way and not try and be another Martin clone.

2. Gibson- probably my favorite brand when it comes to tonal characteristics. I absolutely love the Gibson tonal flavors from the dry mahogany short scales, to the big and bold rosewood AJ. The only reason I didn’t put Gibson number 1, is the ownership and financial problems the company has had and uncertainty of the future right now. Hopefully, whatever happens, Bozeman stays in operation and continues to pump out excellent guitars.

3. Martin- I don’t currently own one, but you can’t argue with their history and longevity and they are still building amazing guitars 185 years later. Their history speaks for itself. They also have a little something for every type of player in their line. It’s also impressive that ownership has stayed in the family all this time.

Honorable mention goes to Larrivee and Guild. I’ve yet to play a Larrivee, but am highly impressed with all the things I’ve watched and read about Jean and his family. Guild has been plagued with instability, but some of the best sounding guitars I’ve ever played have been Westerly Guilds.

[stephenT]

1. Waterloo. (i prefer them over Collings)

2. Martin. Still in my opinion the best major acoustic brand.

3. Fender. For electric guitars. Don't own any Fenders, build my own electrics to my specs, but still I'm a fan.

[Bain]

Faith pje Neptune
Furch om 32
And any other Furch just such a class act.......