Decent acoustic - what to consider

bertie

mattacjones said:

bertie said:

shame you're not closer to Brizzle   

Why?

didn't read my first post ?   

mattacjones

Yep, I know. I had a US guild I sold to him! Not that one though. 

bertie

@mattacjones ;   -  whoops sorry,  I meant  second post !!!  

 

bluecat

Have a look at Tanglewood Guitars,I have had a folk cutaway for 10/12 years,cost me £500 new,all solid wood,never been disappointed.

bluecat

It just gets better.

mattacjones

I'm quite taken with the idea of a Martin 00015m. My son has one. The only reservation is I think I prefer the look of a spruce top. Shallow I know. I'm kicking myself for not snapping up that b stock one that was on here recently, slightly different model.

DavidR

I see that you perhaps plan to move this guitar on at some point. Have I read that right? In which case, the problem becomes not only what's nice but what holds its value best. So, much as I'm loathe to say it (because I think they're overpriced), that's probably going to be a Martin. Buy second-hand as others have suggested?

£2.5K is a big budget for an acoustic these days. If you're not going to keep it for long, you might consider a good guitar from the very full mid-price stable of current lovelies (£800-£1,500).

Also, you want something not too bulky. How about a second hand Martin OM28 Standard. Ticks most people's boxes for playability and tone.

Agree with other comments about not trying to keep too closely to characteristics of an electric instrument. To get the best out of an acoustic you do have to acknowledge that they are different - heavier strings to generate the sound, higher action so those heavier strings don't buzz, wider necks to be able to do all that clever fingerstyle stuff, greater knowledge of tonewoods required plus a knowledge of the different tonal characteristics of the different sizes and shapes and the effect of different strings.

FWIW, this month's Guitarist Magazine (Issue 490 Oct 2022) has a pull-out section "Guitar Buyers Guide 2022" with a subsection on Acoustics and you'll go a long way before you find a better brief summary of all that. It includes examples of good acoustics across the different price points and little teaching sections. Very informative for the newbie buyer.

Happy Hunting. 

thomasross20

Watch out for nut width. I can only play with wider widths as do fingerstyle. Thin necks for me are restrictive so just something to try out for yourself.

DavidR

mattacjones said:

I'm quite taken with the idea of a Martin 00015m. My son has one. The only reservation is I think I prefer the look of a spruce top. Shallow I know. I'm kicking myself for not snapping up that b stock one that was on here recently, slightly different model.

An all Mahogany guitar is a good shout. Nice woody tone. If you buy new, most Martins ship with a high action which you might want to lower a little. In fact, coming from an electric instrument, you definitely will. Big shops check over guitars but they don't always adjust actions. You might need to find your friendly local luthier!

But look around. My all Mahogany instrument (Vintage V300MH - more 00 size) is my favourite for doodling on. It cost £220! Tonally its really nice. To my ears anyway.  And BTW, thinking of your requirements, it has quite a narrow neck. Probably outside your price range! ;-)

mattacjones

Thanks. I'd prefer to be in the 800 to 1500 fwiw!

Tannin

DavidR said:

I see that you perhaps plan to move this guitar on at some point. Have I read that right? In which case, the problem becomes not only what's nice but what holds its value best. So, much as I'm loathe to say it (because I think they're overpriced), that's probably going to be a Martin. Buy second-hand as others have suggested?

This is a fallacy. Think it through: it only holds true where you are buying new.  Let's work an example:

Buy a new Martin for £3000. Sell it for £2500. Loss: £500.
Buy a new Other Brand for £2000. Sell it for £1000. Loss: £1000.
David's Theorem holds true.

Buy a used Martin for £2500. Sell it for £2500. Loss: nil.
Buy a used Other Brand for £1000. Sell it for £1000. Loss: nill.
David's Theorem falsified.

Obviously I've just made up some numbers there, but you can see the point. The loss on high-depreciation instruments takes places on the first resale. Once some other poor bugger has already worn the resale value hit, you have nothing to fear. Indeed, you can buy twice as good a guitar for the same money, and not lose anything on it if you sell.

Martin make nice guitars, every bit as good as a dozen other prominent makes we all could name. They have always been overpriced - say 20-30% over what you pay for most other makes of equivalent quality. But since the pandemic, prices are up about 20% for every brand - except Martin. Martins are now 45% dearer than they were. It is naked price gouging. Just say no.

mattacjones

Thanks for all the thoughts. I picked up a 2018 Martin 00015m today at a decent price, hardly used, so just a decent set up required. Cheers

PAL

Your already thinking about selling a guitar you haven't bought so I would suggest taking your time.
  You have a good budget to spend on a guitar but you don't need to spend a lot the best thing to do is go and try some
   acoustics out and see how they feel to you.
  As someone has mentioned most people go for dreadnought or jumbo guitars and these can feel a bit cumbersome
 coming from electric the same goes for neck size they vary so I would suggest trying a Taylor as these guitars were initially
 designed with electric guitar players in mind. Even the GS Mini is a nice guitar but then they go up in sizes.
 Hope you find the guitar for you.