Anyone else prefer the Touring Sable over the full sized?

[buzzardwhiskey]

All I have for comparison is YouTube. But I'm starting to think the balance of the smaller touring model may more to my liking.

[jdinco]

Interesting question ! I haven't played a touring, but am looking forward to any responses you get and the answers. I have the Sable, if the touring is even 90% of that, it would be a pretty good thing I think.

[tbeltrans]

The Touring is every bit as nice as the Sable, but in a smaller package. I have both. The short scale can get a bit cramped if playing high up the neck.

Curiously, the sound is like the Sable but just a bit smaller. It sounds much larger than it physically is.

Not much more to say other than that having both is a good way to go. Sometimes you want that comfort factor of a small guitar without sacrificing tone. Other times, you want that roomier fretboard.

Mine are a matched pair, both honeycomb with the gold hardware. I don't know what McPherson is doing these days, but when I got mine, I got both a really nice quality gig bag and a hard shell case just like for the Sable, but of course smaller. With both guitars, I also got a nice nylon guitar strap that rolls up nicely and fits in the case, along with the rubber feedback busters.

I hear that you no longer get a hard shell case with the Sable, so if that really is true, McPherson may be changing their offerings in other ways too.

Tony

[Tøf]

I found this comparison: https://youtu.be/cRwsJzgRulk
You might have seen it already. The Sable sounds fuller with a lot more bass in this video. But of course nothing beats actually playing the guitars…

[boneuphtoner]

I only briefly tried the Touring, but I think it is easily the best guitar for its size that I have ever played. Although I didn't get a chance to compare it size wise with a GS mini, my impression was that is of similar size. But the tone is FAR better than a GS mini. I would love to own a guitar of this size, but my experience with the GS mini is that the fret spacing makes stretches so easy that when you go back to full size, it is much more difficult. For this reason, I'm not in the market for the Touring.

[tbeltrans]

With a larger body, one would expect the Sable to have more bass. However, considering the size difference, they have a surprising amount of sound in common. The Touring is well balanced and definitely not anemic in the bass department.

I agree that it is the best sounding small guitar I have experience too and I strongly believe in try before you buy. I have never believed that youtube videos do any guitar justice. I realize that not everybody has access to these instruments to try, but I would think that one could buy online from somebody that has a decent return policy. That would be the next best option to try before you buy.

Tony

[tbeltrans]

Having just sat down and switched between the Sable ad the Touring to comment in this thread...

If given a choice between the two, I would choose the Sable over the Touring due to the full size fretboard and it does have a deeper tone, though not nearly as much difference as the difference in size would warrant. That said, I could easily live with just the Touring if I had to. I think that as my hands age and stiffen, the shorter scale of the Touring will enable me to play when a normal sized guitar becomes too difficult. Also, with the shorter scale, some of those finger-twister chords become possible. So there are advantages to both instruments.

What I use my Touring for mostly is travel. My wife needs to go to the Mayo Clinic in Rochester periodically, and these trips are always from a few days to a week or two. We stay in the hotel across the street. Fortunately, Rochester is only 90 miles south of the Twin Cities so it isn't too far to drive. The Touring is perfect for such trips. I will switch to the Touring a few days before such a trip to become acclimated to the shorter scale and it works just fine for this.

Both guitars are keepers, but I suspect that most folks are more comfortable with a normal scale. One thing I did do to both guitars is deepen the nut notches a bit CAREFULLY so that fretting at the first few frets is much easier. This seems to be standard fare for whatever guitars I have, rather than a reflection on the Sable or Touring. I will also take just a bit off the bottom of the saddle on both guitars too. This makes a good factory setup even better for fingerstyle for me.

I hope this helps. Obviously, I could sing the praises for both these guitars but there is not much point since I own them and wouldn't if they didn't deserve that. Hopefully, I am properly focused on the OP's question comparing the two instruments.

Tony

[thegreatgumbino]

I played both in store and was impressed by both. The Touring is not lacking in sound or tone in comparison to the Sable. The Touring is a very comfortable size to me and lighter than the Sable.

I’ve had a Touring for about a year now and love it, though I often contemplate upgrading to the Sable. Mainly because of the full scale. I keep my guitars in D standard tuning and prefer Martin Retro strings. With the Touring I can’t do that as there’s not enough string tension with the heaviest Retros. I can do a half step down adequately. I don’t know that it’s worth upgrading to the Sable to be able to go another step down. I’d love to have both, but I can’t give up my Gibsons to make that happen.

I am a 50/50 moderately heavy handed strummer and finger picker. If I get too heavy the sound does break up. I can’t recall if I had that same issue with the Sable. The Touring has forced me to work on my strumming dynamics to alleviate it from happening. I think the shorter scale and smaller body along with the CF will make it a great guitar for my kids to learn on if they develop and interest.