Carrying on from the Martin prices thread, suppose you wanted a big, bold dreadnought and were thinking about an HD-28. What
else would you consider, and why?
I'm not in buy-more-guitars mode this year, so this is purely for the sake of interest. But I do like HD-28s and - who knows? - I might very well buy one one day. And, as always, I would play everything I could find that looked likely and pick the one I liked the most. Nothing beats trying things out for yourself.
But just supposing I was thinking about an HD-28 this week, which others guitars would you recommend trying, and how do they differ? For example, in the other thread I saw that
@artiebear loves his Yamaha LJ56. What makes it different to a Martin? Or if you are a J-45 player, why that model? And so on.
Comments
@Tannin, your original definition, that is a tough thing to define. Can you define a little more ? To me it is playing finger style how close to a grand piano I can make it sounds ( never very close, but you know what I mean |). Another guy digs in with a pick with diminishing returns.
My Sobell is a monster played finger style, too much played with a pick ( no break up, just too loud, too clear ), would rather play my D41 that way.
You looking for volume or something that surrounds the player ?
The forward shifted scalloped bracing, which you can't see but you can clearly hear, makes it sound as big as a barn
I was at GuitarGuitar Camden a week ago today and the sales person and I did this test again, albeit with Mahogany back and sides (I’m on the look out for a D18 type guitar). When I moved from the Atkin J43 to the Martin D18, the first feeling I felt was I was playing a budget guitar - I kid you not. That was not the case with a Custom Shop D18.
I nearly bought a Gibson that day though - I genuinely can't remember what it was now, but a lovely dread-sized Southern-something-or-other. Only another customer had rung an hour earlier and had dibs on it so that was that. The Gibson was mahogany, slightly less toppy, different from the wider sound of the Martin but very warm. It also had that undefinable 'feel' thing, the dynamic range that allows you to play whisper soft and then dig in hard with the pick to really punch the notes out.
I've played a bunch of Taylors in the past, enough to know they're great guitars but that kinda Gibson/Martin mashup sound isn't for me. It's a personal thing. They play very nicely though. Maybe I need to try again.
One brand I was very keen to try was Larrivee, but finding one of those in the north of England just after lockdown was proving impossible. The nearest one at the time was in Glasgow or somewhere, a bit of a drive (and probably technically illegal at the time ). I'd still like to play some just out of curiosity.
I'm going shopping in the US in a couple of months' time, looking to try and find something that beats my HD28. Atkin isn't on that list but only because they don't have dealers where I'll be looking. It's going to be fun
(Just don't ask what happens when I take it home.)