Opinions Wanted

[SteveS12]

Hello everyone,

I realize the question I am about to ask is a personal question that someone must answer themselves, but for fun I am curious to know what your opinions on the question at hand are.

The Question

I have an Ampeg Gemini amp cica 1964 and a 95 Fender Telecaster American Standard. My acoustic is a 1991 Washburn D12 nothing special but has served me well for the past 20 years through many a coffee house gigs . I am picking up a project I started many years ago which is recoding a selection of my favorite blues from artists like, Mississippi John Hurt, Josh White, Reverend Robert Wilkins etc. The faithful Washburn just can't give me the tone I'm looking as the bass tends is heavy when playing this style and I want to pick up a small body acoustic. Should I sell the Ampeg and Tele, and apply those funds to picking up a really nice hand made Martin, Gibson, etc small body acoustic? I'm curious to know what you would do.

Thanks!
Steve

[gitnoob]

Why not find the tone you're looking for before you sell?

It might not be a "nice hand-made" guitar. Some of those blues players played cheap guitars with very distinctive tones. You can find an old Harmony OM for $200 or so and sound just like Mance Lipscomb.

This may give you some ideas:
http://littlebrotherblues.com/Gear/G...Pix/index.html

[Tunes]

IMHO the Fender and Ampeg are nice, but nothing "special" that you could not find again if you really wanted to get back into electric playing.

Depends on how much, if ever, you use this rig. If you really want a "better" acoustic and you will have no regrets about going whole hog so to speak, then do it.

Except for the highest of the high end Martin and Gibson, these are not significantly "hand made" guitars. They are significantly machine made, with assembly done by hand. They produce tens of thousand of guitars per year.

Brands like Collings and Bourgeois are more signficantly hand made - they produce a few thousand guitars each year.

Luthier brands like Olsen are totally hand made by a single luthier - they produce a few guitars each year. Maybe you already knew this - if so my apologies.

[RogerC]

Originally Posted by gitnoob

Why not find the tone you're looking for before you sell?

It might not be a "nice hand-made" guitar. Some of those blues players played cheap guitars with very distinctive tones. You can find an old Harmony OM for $200 or so and sound just like Mance Lipscomb.

This may give you some ideas:
http://littlebrotherblues.com/Gear/G...Pix/index.html

^this.....

[SteveS12]

Originally Posted by gitnoob

Why not find the tone you're looking for before you sell?

It might not be a "nice hand-made" guitar. Some of those blues players played cheap guitars with very distinctive tones. You can find an old Harmony OM for $200 or so and sound just like Mance Lipscomb.

This may give you some ideas:
http://littlebrotherblues.com/Gear/G...Pix/index.html

Thanks for the lead to the site I'll deffinitely check it out. Also, I need to correct myself, I didn't mean hand made in the sense of high end guitars completely made by hand, I was referring to the small body models I have come across by Gibson such as the L1 or 00 style they have and equivelent models by the other manufacturers such as Taylor, Martin,Guild, etc. going for $1500-$2000+ range. I'm deffinitely not tied to a maker or price tag (in the sense of needing to brag about what I spent), just want a guitar that can produce that tone.

Thanks

[muscmp]

check out the martin 15 series. may fit your needs. they have the 0015m, 00015m, 00015sm(slothead) as well as the d15.

oh, and keep the ampeg amp! they don't make them like that anymore! you can find another tele you'll like, tho.

play music!

[QUOTE]

Originally Posted by gitnoob

Why not find the tone you're looking for before you sell?

It might not be a "nice hand-made" guitar. Some of those blues players played cheap guitars with very distinctive tones. You can find an old Harmony OM for $200 or so and sound just like Mance Lipscomb.

This may give you some ideas:
http://littlebrotherblues.com/Gear/G...Pix/index.html

Refreshing post.

You're looking for less bass and may I add not looking for tonal complexity.

To give you my perspective, I'm one of the few people probably who wish the young Stefan Grossman had NOT loaned Mississippi John Hurt his Martin and let him record with the Guild MJH had chosen himself and used in live recordings.

In addition to vintage, you might also find what you'r looking for among guitars considered "lesser" options being produced right now or dreads or OM's with less bass and yes less complexity...or woody folkiness.

[jonocymru]

The old 30s Kalamazoo Range is rather awesome. KG-14 and KG-11's

[ljguitar]

Originally Posted by SteveS12

...Hello everyone...

Hi SteveS12...

First of all, Hello and Welcome to the Forum! We are glad you joined and jumped in.

Can't tell you what to do or what I'd do. Hope you get it worked out so you can get on with the project.

Rental of instruments or borrowing one from a friend are possibilities before nailing it down to what you can scrape together to buy.

What if you scrape cash together & buy one, and get into the studio and can't record the sound you want? Then you are really stuck…

We do have a Recording Section to the forum…

[WordMan]

Originally Posted by SteveS12

Hello everyone,

I realize the question I am about to ask is a personal question that someone must answer themselves, but for fun I am curious to know what your opinions on the question at hand are.

The Question

I have an Ampeg Gemini amp cica 1964 and a 95 Fender Telecaster American Standard. My acoustic is a 1991 Washburn D12 nothing special but has served me well for the past 20 years through many a coffee house gigs . I am picking up a project I started many years ago which is recoding a selection of my favorite blues from artists like, Mississippi John Hurt, Josh White, Reverend Robert Wilkins etc. The faithful Washburn just can't give me the tone I'm looking as the bass tends is heavy when playing this style and I want to pick up a small body acoustic. Should I sell the Ampeg and Tele, and apply those funds to picking up a really nice hand made Martin, Gibson, etc small body acoustic? I'm curious to know what you would do.

Thanks!
Steve

- are you using the amp and Tele that much?
- are you the type of person who would rather have a few good guitars or one great guitar?
- do you tend to know if a guitar is a good fit for you initially/quickly, or do you grow into a relationship with a guitar over a few months?


If you use the gear, like having multiple guitars in your tool set and grow into guitars over time, hold onto your gear and find a decent guitar better-suited to the acoustic blues you want to play.

If you aren't using the gear, prefer 1 great guitar over a few good ones and can bond with a guitar pretty quickly, then try out a bunch of better-suited guitars. If you can tell straightaway that one or more examples would be much better for you, then you can move the gear with confidence that you will end up with a better tool for you.

My $.02