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Having played Martins, Gibsons etc it is true that these more mass produced guitars are easier to play well out of the box or in a brief shop demo.
I find the Avalon is more demanding of strumming technique, and encourages me think about being more careful about the way I hit the strings. Subject to that the sound produced is not inferior the big US brands -just somewhat different.
Also compared with even a USA gibson, the construction quality of Avalon is in a different league.
Something I notice (in this thread and others) is a range of views as regards different sounds. (The "Irish sound", the "American sound", and so on.) I'd make three points: first that it is plain ignorant to regard any one of these sound families as "the" sound, with all others counting as some sort of inferior country cousin. I dare say we all have our favourite sound, our "home" sound family that we want to return to again and again, but (making my second point now) the "other" sound families can and should be something we celebrate and enjoy. In music, diversity is life!
In my own little collection, I have four guitars from my "home" sound family, two with the "American sound", and the Thunderhawk which is unique and unclassifiable. Would I like to try out and maybe add an "Irish sound" instrument? Too bloody right I would! (In a little while it will be late enough to play Jaymenon's clips and hear it for myself without waking up the household.)
Last point: musicians (including me) tend to get a bit precious about what you can play on what instrument. Yes, I mostly reach for one type of guitar to play this tune, a different one for that other tune, but it is perfectly possible to play anything on any of them - and it is an unqualified good thing to do so every now and then, it teaches you things about the instrument, about the music you are playing, and above all about your own ability to adapt and find a way to make things work.
I have several Avalons, and if anything, preferred the "Irish" style ones for most playing, but eventually realised that the Americana one was clearer sounding for complex classical-style arrangements, although nothing like as much as a Sobell
I think you need to try some different guitars
I'd recommend also trying Bourgeois and Goodall, who I personally believe are far beyond any normal Gibson or Martin
Santa Cruz is also worth trying, but I suspect those would be better for fingerpickers
Allegedly, Lowden derived his bracing from Fylde in England, who still make small-workshop guitars much cheaper than Lowden. Could be worth trying those too
Also with some builders like Avalon you can go direct- cutting 34% retail mark up.
standard recommendation for flatpick/strumming used to be rosewood and spruce
stiffer spruces can really make a lot of sound when driven with a plectrum - adirondack was the most popular in the past, it is harder to drive this with fingerstyle playing
going up to 13s helps too
It sounded fabulous.
Granted it's Richard Thompson, so we're not talking just anyone here, but I genuinely believe that if he can give it some hammer and the guitar still sounds fine, I see no reason why other people can't.
I have an Avalon L2-20 that sounds great when I strum it, so it's not just Richard Thompson, or a Lowden.
All I can suggest is you get some in your hands, see how they sound to you and ignore everyone else - they're your fingers and your ears, only you can satisfy them.
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein