New acoustic odyssey

TheOtherDennis

@Woodandwires If you come along to the acoustic thingy in Swindon a week on Sunday, you can try my Brook Tamar, which is for sale.

monkaiboy

Thanks for all the good responses. 

@FunkyGibbon good food for thought - yeah I'm not even sure between rosewood and mahogany yet - I like my rosewood jumbo, but think I tend to prefer sound of mahogany in the videos I watch. Not sure thought yet, some comparisons required

I'm going to London next week and will try everything I can - planning to go to Guitarguitar, Mairants, The North American Guitar - not sure if there is anyone else worth checking out? How is Denmark Street these days?

Hopefully I'll come away with a few more ideas about what will work for me.... I will be sure to update this thread with the results

jellyroll

Worth popping in to Westside on Denmark St - they're the UK distributor for Martin so have a good range of Standard Series Martins to try.  

ToneControl

monkaiboy said:

Thanks for all the good responses. 

@FunkyGibbon good food for thought - yeah I'm not even sure between rosewood and mahogany yet - I like my rosewood jumbo, but think I tend to prefer sound of mahogany in the videos I watch. Not sure thought yet, some comparisons required

I'm going to London next week and will try everything I can - planning to go to Guitarguitar, Mairants, The North American Guitar - not sure if there is anyone else worth checking out? How is Denmark Street these days?

Hopefully I'll come away with a few more ideas about what will work for me.... I will be sure to update this thread with the results

try to get to Coda, it's an easy train journey from London I think

Moominpapa

@monkaiboy You're about 4/4.5 hours drive from Guitar Village in Farnham - lots of nice acoustics there plus the creakiest floorboards of any guitar shop in the entire world (which they can be forgiven for, because they are in a very cool old timber-frame building)

TimmyO

Ivor Mairants usually has some sexy stuff and occasionally interested used things, but not LOADS of anything. 

As they've been mentioned:

Coda is ace - I think they had 50 Lowdens when I went (!) - and again sometimes some really interesting used stock. I ended up being my Baranik there having gone expecting to buy a Lowden. 

Guitar Village is also great - they had fewer Martins and Lowdens overall than Coda but more interesting variation in Martin stock and again always seem to have some interesting used items in. 

Coda and GV are both worth a day out if you're in serious buying/researching mode (ended up buying from both each the one time I went so dare not go again ha) 

I can't in good conscience recommend Westside on Denmark St even though they are the Martin distributor - their attitude kind of sucks both in the shop (twice) and on the phone (once) when I've tried to either buy or research stock for a Martin, and I heard that they have shrunk the shop while they do some renovations so have been reducing stock in store to make space. 

monkaiboy

cool thanks for that - I should be able to stop at Coda on my way down, and I'll try to get out to Guitar Village as well - we'll see how the day goes...

TimmyO

I spent 2-3 hours in each of Coda and GV - I think it'd make for a long day! 

ToneControl

how many acoustics does GV have?
I know that Coda had 55 Lowdens, plus all the other brands

Andy79

They should maybe offer B&B

TimmyO

ToneControl said:

how many acoustics does GV have?
I know that Coda had 55 Lowdens, plus all the other brands

Dunno - tbh I was there to try Martins and spent ages going that - didn't even go in the room with Lowdens in 

I think it's a potentially misleading measure - Coda had "more" Martins but on that occasion I went to GV because the mix of models in stock were more interesting. 

TimmyO

(both have reliable websites to check this) 

Lewy

ToneControl said:

how many acoustics does GV have?
I know that Coda had 55 Lowdens, plus all the other brands

About 300 going by their website

Andy79

https://reverb.com/item/26218370-1983-martin-m-38-150th-anniversary
Maybe worth a look. Slim chance of trying it out though 

monkaiboy

Well, that was very interesting, fun and informative. Spent a number of hours over the weekend in Coda, GuitarGuitar and TheNorthAmericanGuitar playing a bunch of lovely instruments.

To summarise - I was right in the first place, I do need 2 guitars, and those guitars are a Collings D1 and a Collings 01-T 

What I learnt:

I prefer mahogany sides
I suspected as much but now I know

The Martin sound is not for me
Too scooped - I prefer a bit more midrange action. Thus...

I love Collings.  
I was totally won over by a lot of the Collings guitars I played, they had a sound and playability that really spoke to me. I played and OM1 and the action and playing feel was possibly the best of any guitar I have played. I also loved the sound for finger style and melodic picking. For strumming, not so much - too scratchy and slightly boxy. Which brings me to: 

An OM is not for me 
I played a bunch over the weekend - Collings OM1 and OM2, SantaCruz OM and Grand OM, and various Martins including a lovely sinker mahogany one. And in general, I just don’t like the way they sound strummed (lovely though they may be otherwise). There is a bit of a boxy thing going on that I don't like. Of course this is a generalisation and will vary between guitars, and others will perceive differently. But on balance over the weekend, this was my conclusion. The SantaCruz Grand OM and Martin M36 were better, but still didn’t really float my boat - seems I’m an all or nothing kind of guy...

A smaller guitar may be the answer
Interestingly, I much preferred the sound of an 0 size guitar strummed to an OM - in particular a Collings 01-T that I played but also a Collings 01Mh (12 fret, all mahogany) that I fell in love with. I think because they have less bass, they are missing that bass resonance that OMs seem to have, which troubles my ears. Of course they do not have the authority and aggression of a dread but they had a lovely crisp and very useable strumming sound.

I prefer fingerpicking on a smaller guitar and flat picking on a dread 
No massive surprise here, but I was interested at how much easier it felt to fingerpick on the Collings OM1 than the D1. Is that all down to the nut spacing I wonder? When I had the Collings OM1, I just found myself noodling finger style for ages. And likewise when playing the D1 I was much more inclined to attack it with the pick. (I really did love the D1 too - really made me want to dig in and could take being hit hard, but had a great balanced tone that I miss in the more scooped Martin sound….)

So there we go. Where does this leave me? I think I’m, going to look for a small guitar first, as I already have the jumbo to cover heavy strumming duties, and a small responsive thing would be a welcome addition.

One issue- the standard Collings 01 is 1 11/16” nut, I think I want 1 3/4”. The Traditional has this, and that was the guitar I played that I connected with most. But the price, ouch.

So, we shall see....

Andy79

You sir have expensive taste 

monkaiboy

It's my curse...

TimmyO

Productive day out 

rustneversleeps

I had a M36 big regret selling it.Its a great all round guitar and very comfortable.Some people used to say it was Martin’s secret weapon,Still hard to find as Martin don’t produce them in great numbers.
Had many Martin’s over the years still have,but for some reason the M36 always stood out.

thomasross20

OP I have done what you've done many times, mainly for electric. That is, go to a shop and try as many as possible to get to the bottom of what you like. Often with surprising results.

I broke my own rule yesterday and bought something that I hope will be special, totally blind! The deal was too good. So fingers crossed for me. And for you - what will you do?