Buying advice needed for acoustic noob

Tannin

Crafter make a range of models, including some pretty good ones, I believe. Local is always good. 

chris_john

Tannin said:

Crafter make a range of models, including some pretty good ones, I believe. Local is always good. 

On paper, they seem to be high quality and made of decent materials. Some of them are as expensive as Martin guitars. They’re on my list of potentials too.

goldtop

Interesting thread - following the suggestions with interest.

Tried the Furch guitar configurator, but the only OM size I can see is Green SM at 2000 euro. And for that I could get a very decent Taylor - perhaps 400 series, used.

Tannin

Plenty of Furch OMs for much less than that. The configurator doesn't seem to include the standard models (Violet, Blue) only expensive semi-custom ones. Violets start at e1189 and Blues at e1364.

goldtop

^ Cool - I'll have another look. 

(As an aside, the different ways that acoustic makers label the sizes, shapes, specs is a nightmare.)

bertie

goldtop said:

Interesting thread - following the suggestions with interest.

Tried the Furch guitar configurator, but the only OM size I can see is Green SM at 2000 euro. And for that I could get a very decent Taylor - perhaps 400 series, used.

they still do the vintage line  - but theyve changed the model names/spec from when I got mine    Ive a  2015 OM33SR (sitka on rwood)  which is spec'd 1/2 way between the 1 and the 2    -  I paid about £1400 for it in 2016

having owned a Taylor 612 and a 614, do  not assume youre buying better cos its got a T on the headstock !!

goldtop

I'm done with Furch's website - it's impossible to work out which size/spec/woods is which, and if there's a Violet series OM as mentioned above, I can't find it!   If I find some in a shop, I'll try them out, but otherwise, it's easy to find alternatives.

One other point I always bear in mind - it's easier to sell a well-known brand than a lesser-known brand. So paying more for Martin/Taylor may mean lower depreciation (and most likely a quicker sale).

Shadow

There doesn't appear to be a Violet OM so the cheapest solid wood Furch OM is the Blue OM-CM.

Kilgore

goldtop said:

I'm done with Furch's website - it's impossible to work out which size/spec/woods is which, and if there's a Violet series OM as mentioned above, I can't find it!   If I find some in a shop, I'll try them out, but otherwise, it's easy to find alternatives.

Terrible website.

Every time I've used it I've given up. I wonder how many potential sales they've lost because of it? 

Dave_Mc

sev112 said:

Or Dowina from same geographical region as Furch.  Great prices at the moment.  They will both no doubt be going up in price.  

They've already started going up, unfortunately. (The Dowinas, I mean. The Furches have already gone up a fair bit over the last few years.) Dowinas usually have wider nuts, as do Furch, but I think both have the option of narrower nuts- but both Dowina and Furch may be hard to come by in South Korea.

chris_john

Dave_Mc said:

sev112 said:

Or Dowina from same geographical region as Furch.  Great prices at the moment.  They will both no doubt be going up in price.  

They've already started going up, unfortunately. (The Dowinas, I mean. The Furches have already gone up a fair bit over the last few years.) Dowinas usually have wider nuts, as do Furch, but I think both have the option of narrower nuts- but both Dowina and Furch may be hard to come by in South Korea.

Dowina is non-exsitent in SK, but there a few dealers with limited stock of Furch. The price for a new Furch Blue GG-Cm is around £1000. How does that compare to the UK now?

drofluf

@chris_john assume you mean Gc rather than GG? If so looks to be on a par with UK prices. 

bertie

@goldtop ;  -   any use ?    its on one of the guitar selling pages on FBook

https://www.facebook.com/commerce/listing/678622930272298/?media_id=2&ref=share_attachment

goldtop

bertie said:

@goldtop ;  -   any use ?    its on one of the guitar selling pages on FBook

https://www.facebook.com/commerce/listing/678622930272298/?media_id=2&ref=share_attachment

Hmmm - "Grand Auditorium shape" I need to check that, but I think that's larger than I want. I've been looking in the OM/000/GC size range.

Certainly affordable, though.

(And apologies to the OP for hijacking his thread!)

TheMadMick

bertie said:

@goldtop ;  -   any use ?    its on one of the guitar selling pages on FBook

https://www.facebook.com/commerce/listing/678622930272298/?media_id=2&ref=share_attachment

That's a steal at £750.00. Cedar on hog is also a great combination. I'd like to play it if I was truly wanting to buy or get a sale or return agreement with the vendor.

Soupman

@TheMadMick I see there was an option of a hard case for £40 too. You'd have trouble getting a decent gig bag for that. It'd be worth a look if I was in the market....Get thee behind me Satan!
  

Dave_Mc

chris_john said:

Dave_Mc said:

sev112 said:

Or Dowina from same geographical region as Furch.  Great prices at the moment.  They will both no doubt be going up in price.  

They've already started going up, unfortunately. (The Dowinas, I mean. The Furches have already gone up a fair bit over the last few years.) Dowinas usually have wider nuts, as do Furch, but I think both have the option of narrower nuts- but both Dowina and Furch may be hard to come by in South Korea.

Dowina is non-exsitent in SK, but there a few dealers with limited stock of Furch. The price for a new Furch Blue GG-Cm is around £1000. How does that compare to the UK now?

I think that's more or less on par with UK prices as @drofluf said. You might be able to get one very slightly cheaper here if you shop around etc., but there's not going to be much in it, I don't think. Not that long ago they were about £800 here, and maybe 3-4 years ago they were £600 (admittedly those were maybe the non-cutaway versions which are slightly cheaper).

I haven't tried them, but the very newest version of the Violet is now all-solid- you have to be careful it's the really new ones, as this only happened a few months ago as before that they were laminate back and sides. You seem to be able to get them for £800-£850 here or on Thomann.

guitarjack66

chris_john said:

That’s some good advice so far. Pretty useful to have specific brands I can look into, so many thanks. Unless I find an amazing deal on a famous American model, I’ll definitely look into the smaller companies. 

Never discount Yamaha either.

TTony

The best recommendation is really to forget the name on the headstock, and just play as many as you can.

If you can play lots in the same shop, that'll help with the A/B comparison.  If they're in different shops, then the environment variables can affect your impression of the instrument.  With that sort of budget, the shop should take you seriously too and give you the time/space to decide.

It's so much harder to "mod" an acoustic compared to an electric.  Yes, a set-up can address the action, but other aspects of feel and sound are really a fixed and not-moddable part of the instrument (although sound will change as you play it in and the woods mature a bit).  Hence the need to play it and feel it.

Smellyfingers

TTony said:

The best recommendation is really to forget the name on the headstock, and just play as many as you can.

If you can play lots in the same shop, that'll help with the A/B comparison.  If they're in different shops, then the environment variables can affect your impression of the instrument.  With that sort of budget, the shop should take you seriously too and give you the time/space to decide.

It's so much harder to "mod" an acoustic compared to an electric.  Yes, a set-up can address the action, but other aspects of feel and sound are really a fixed and not-moddable part of the instrument (although sound will change as you play it in and the woods mature a bit).  Hence the need to play it and feel it.

This gels with my experience. The only thing I would add is any try out of multiple guitars maybe should include a Martin. Rightly or wrongly it is still viewed as such as a standard, that if I hadn’t tried out my guitar, a Furch, next to a Martin I would have been left thinking I might have bought something fakery like Pepsi instead of Coca Cola or something.