Evening.
I've been give the go ahead to get myself a new acoustic. I haven't had one in years and the last one I had was a Martin DX1 which was, quite frankly rubbish.
Looking for recommendations in the upto £1000 (new - unless there is something in the classifieds I've missed) range but ideally less. It's for home use only, no need for a pick-up, mostly strumming with a bit of picking every now and again and ideally I'd like a body on the smaller size. I have no knowledge of what time of wood, bracing or nut width I want and headstock name is of no importance at all. Please throw any and all recommendations you have at me and, if it's in stock in the PMT in Portsmouth you get extra points!!
Cheers dudes.
Comments
Well, it sounds sweet as anything, but when I get strummy it doesn't take much for it to get a little overwhelmed. If you want to strum I'd get a dreadnought if at all possible.
I now hand you over to the experts but wanted to share
You are in a bit of an awkward place. Around £1000 new you pretty much get an overpriced, under-speced Big Name instrument (e.g., 2-series Taylor, equivalent products from Martin and Gibson) of which the Taylors would be my pick. Perfectly competent instruments, beautifully finished as Taylors always are, impressive at first strum and certainly serviceable, but lacking the range of subtle tone possibilities all-solid guitars offer. Good enough? Sure. But underwhelming in the long run.
Alternatively, you are looking at Chinese and Indonesian-made guitars, brands like Eastman, Faith, and Sigma. Personally I would not buy one: China is the world's worst forest rapist by quite a margin and the source of their timbers is a real concern. Indonesia is little if any better. On the other hand, in that price range you do get all-solid construction and the few examples I have played have been significantly better than a £1000 Martin or Taylor.
The really good stuff from the quality makers starts around £1500, give or take.
To me, all of that says go second-hand, especially in good makes which are not so well-known in the UK and consequently have poor resale value. "Poor resale" is exactly what you want! It means you can afford some genuine class which, if bought new, would be way out of reach. And if you should decide to sell it one day, you won't lose much as the big price drop has already happened.
A quick trawl round the obvious on-line shops provides an excellent example in this Lakewood jumbo.https://www.coda-music.com/acoustic-guitars/lakewood-j32-secondhand.html You'd pay well over double that to buy it new. Used examples of quality makes like Lakewood, Larivee, and Maton go for a fraction of their new price in the UK. Hunt them down.
But I haven't mentioned the two stand-out European makers. Both produce very fine instruments at very reasonable prices: they are of course Furch and Dowina. I haven't had the the pleasure of playing a Dowina and know them only by reputation, but I've played a variety of Furch models and rated them between competent (a Blue dreadnought in spruce and khaya I didn't especially care for) through to quite outstanding (including an inexpensive Blue grand auditorium with a cedar top which I loved).
You'd get a Furch Blue around that £1000 range, and Dowinas seem to start around £1150. You'd have to travel a bit to try one, but it would certainly be worth your while.
(I looked up PMT in Portsmouth but didn't see anything which appealed. Project Music in Exeter have an excellent range of acoustics but nearly all higher-end ones.)
As an electric player you'll probably be more comfortable with a moderate to narrow nut in the 43-45mm range. Scale length you can decide for yourself: some people like short, some long, some don't care. If it feels and sounds right, it is right.
Size-wise, most likely you will be best served by a mid-size instrument - OM, 000, 00, 808, concert, grand auditorium - there are dozens of names, but what we are looking for is something smaller than a dreadnought (for comfort and tonal balance) but bigger than an 0 or a parlour (for tone and volume). Curiously enough, most people find jumbos easier to play than dreadnoughts, even though they are bigger. Anyway, sit down with each guitar and see how comfortable you feel with it.
Essentially, there are two things you need a good acoustic to do: you need it to have a good sound strummed (not as common as you'd expect!) and to work well for single note stuff. Don't get too fussed about sustain, you practically never actually play a note and need it to sustain as long as even a guitar with relatively short sustain can do. Listen to the quality of the note, not how long it goes on for!
Top suggestions FS3 or FS5 or LS16.
Faith
lower end Eastman
just because you do, doesn't mean you should.
Some may find it’s strumming tone a little too boomy though, so best to try first.
LS16
LS6 ARE
https://www.pmtonline.co.uk/yamaha-ls6-are-electro-acoustic-guitar-natural?&utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=2203_PMT_BAU_Search_Google+Ads_Performance+Max_Product_Zero+Sales&gad_source=1&gclid=Cj0KCQiA1rSsBhDHARIsANB4EJazoUEBs6U1DH4PEKEOovtSvjqQMRYUDwmtcnmtjaVd_Our4V7BZZcaAtEZEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds
Cheaper FS
https://www.pmtonline.co.uk/yamaha-fs820-mkii-acoustic-guitar-natural?&utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=2203_PMT_BAU_Search_Google+Ads_Shopping_Infrequent+Sales&gad_source=1&gclid=Cj0KCQiA1rSsBhDHARIsANB4EJbwwir8yZBU-vOisIc2Qe55YQAbyZKejqCoYTYADLXWsclVzeqHpwUaAvFJEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds
I also like the Taylor GS mini as it’s so easy to pick up.
If you find one you can’t put down, get a decent luthier to set the action with the change.. most acoustics come with quite a high action.
Really having tried them all, I think the all solid Red label series has a better tone and feel, that is if he actually wants to spend 1k, it’s the plainer looking no electronics FG/FS3 or 5.
"You don't know what you've got till the whole thing's gone. The days are dark and the road is long."