Help on buying an acoustic guitar
The joys and sufferings of someone that knows a lot about them
Buying a new guitar these days can be a daunting experience for anyone, especially if you care about the music you play. As I just got a new guitar it’s a great way to start my brand new blog from scratch. My other blogs will continue covering the topics that they always have.
I’ve had a lot of experience with guitars over the years, almost 40 years to be precise. This ranges from playing 12 hours a day, building acoustic and electric instruments, being a guitar addict, professional musician and teacher of hundreds of players. So for me, to buy a guitar after owning numerous others is a combination of exciting and annoying.
Firstly the exciting = a new guitar means new musical possibilities and a new sound, as every guitar has its own personality and somehow forces us to play a certain way if we want it to and allow it to.
Secondly annoying = a new guitar means, running around from shop to shop, checking out magazines and the Internet and mainly trying to feel OK with the idea that some guitars are way over priced for what you get.
I was looking in the $1000 US, possibly more or les, depending on what was on offer. Trying to put a dollar value on sound is difficult. The price range I mentioned felt adequate to get what I wanted.
What I wanted was a guitar that:
• Felt like a real guitar
• Played like a real guitar
• Was well finished
• Possibly with a pickup – not a major factor
• Easy to play
• Sounded nice in my hands
• Sounded nice from across the room
• Versatile to play fingerstyle or plectrum guitar
• Not a dreadnaught
• Smaller body
It was important to sort one out as quickly as possible due to time constraints.
What wasn’t important to me:
• The brand name
• Country of origin
• Sparkly bits
• Salesman that talk crap
• Advertising hype
• Uninformed opinions
Reasons for buying a new guitar:
• I walked into a guitar shop and picked up a guitar because it looked nice I played it for an hour and went wow, this is beautiful, then said “what brand is it?”, and it turned out to be a guitar that was built in Vietnam but set up by Gerrard Gilet an Australian luthier of note. The idea of a guitar made in Vietnam hurt my head a lot but I had just played it for an hour, made music on it and thought about buying it. Not being an impulsive buyer, I said ‘thanks nice guita’r and walked away confused.
NOTE: Apart from my first guitar a Riviera in 1971, I’d grown up playing a Gibson gold top Les Paul with mini deluxe pickups, an ES 175 Gibson, a Gibson 335, a Fender Strat…
• My main acoustic a handmade Gurian cutaway 27 years old
• My second acoustic is one I built at a guitarmaking workshop with Barry Kerr from Woodtone guitars 13 years ago, it’s a dreadnaught
• I needed a new sound from an acoustic to help push ahead in my playing because I’m moving into new acoustic areas
• I love to create music
• Good musicians need good instruments and are inspired by them
DREADNAUGHT:
This is a dreadnaught sized guitar, named after an old battleship.
Why I didn’t want a dreadnaught:
I have one. I find smaller bodied guitars often sit nicer in a mix with other instruments. Also I find dreadnaughts take up a lot of space in the frequency range when playing with others; I prefer a bit more musical breathing room and like to give others a bit more musical space. At the same time they are a classic sound, and you’ve got to have one somewhere in the house.
THE DILEMMA: The price range I was looking in is a gray area. Do you go for a bottom of the range in a more famous brand or the top of a range in a lesser known brand?
THE HUNT: I did a lot of web searches to see what was out there. I started looking around and narrowed it down to Taylor, Martin, Larivee and considered a Breedlove but had never played one. I felt one of these brands would be ok, but was open to anything that was solid and musical.
I ended playing quite a few guitars once I went into some shops. Some Tanglewoods, but the ones I tried, there must have been about 7 or 8, didn’t suit my style. The Tanglewood that I liked had a very nice sounding Cedar top, and if it had of had a neck that I liked, I could have lived with it. http://www.tanglewoodguitars.com/
Note, I’m not saying here that I disliked the guitar; I’m saying it’s about personal preference, the guitar was excellent.
A FIND:
A guitar that I really liked was a small bodied Yamaha, when I told a few of the salesman that I had liked a Yamaha I found, think they thought I was stupid or didn’t really know about guitars. But if they had heard me play it for one and a half hours they would have probably understood why I liked it. One thing that I did like was the construction of the neck; it had five pieces of laminated timbers, it was solid and the workmanship was better than most that I found, excluding the guitars by Graham Hollingworth. I liked the laminated neck, I do a lot of open tunings and change tuning a lot, I like to know the neck is going to be stable. Many of the Yamaha’s that I have seen are geared for a rock market, this one is not, it is more for fingerstyle. I also tried some flat-picking, it was sweet. If I was buying two guitars instead of one, I wouldn’t hesitate in buying the Yamaha, and no I don’t get a commission from them for saying that. The sound was warm, bright and very, very musical. Over the years I’ve seen a lot of Yamahas and they have generally been quite playable, regardless of price range and regardless what other people say, I trust my experience.
The Yamaha was an LJ6 and very reasonably priced, it didn’t have a pickup, I’m not sure if it a current model. The International Yamaha site has very little info on the L series handmade guitars; there are only a couple of pics and none relevant. If you can get your hands on one of their handmade guitars (?), give them a try. I was very surprised at the quality.
What I like
I need to pick up a guitar and have it play music straight away, I don’t like having to work to make music, that’s a very old idea that doesn’t suit me, it’s like saying you have to work to make money, people that make money big money don’t work for it, it works for them.
ABOVE AND BELOW PRICE RANGE:
I made sure I played dearer and cheaper guitars to get a feeling of the differences when moving up or down in price range. Be aware that looking up in price range can be a little disheartening when you come back down to the price range that you’ve set, sometimes it’s worthwhile having a bit of a break after doing this, go have a coffee and have a reality check on what you want and why you are buying. But it is very important to get a feel of what’s in the next price bracket, sometimes it’s better to hold out a fraction longer, increase the cash flow a little, and other times you may find you can’t justify moving up in price.
What’s interesting when you look at guitars is that the different guitar players that work in shops are very opinionated, it’s important not to be swayed by their opinions; people like to convert you to their way of thinking. In my case I’m not overly concerned about the salesman’s opinion but will listen for any good advice, because the industry has changed a lot and now there are guitars that come from everywhere that can make good music. I’ve played long enough to know what I like to play, but if salesmen say things like ‘the neck falls off easily’ and you keep hearing it in every shop, maybe it’s worth listening. A few years ago I was helping a friend buy an acoustic, one of the guitars hanging on the rack had the bridge coming loose, this was on a reasonably famous brand as well, what made it worse was they didn’t really even seem to care when I told them, we bought elsewhere.
What I was finding in my travels was that many guitar salesmen are prepared to talk down other brands. This is called switch selling; it’s a bad business practice.
MARTINS
I tried a couple of Martins, I like Martins, as do most good acoustic guitar players that I know, everyone has copied Martins for years, what does that tell you. The Martins I tried felt OK, they were small bodies, the sound was reasonably musical but they had no binding on them, I don’t particularly like that look but that’s a personal preference. The price range that I was looking in, the shop where I was didn’t have a suitable instrument for me but as I said I like Martins very much, especially the 000’s and if you after a Dreadnaught, Martin are the industry standard.
To check out some martin guitars for sale click on Martin Guitar link below, but don’t forget to come back and complete reading the information in this article. Martin Guitar
GIBSONS
I learnt to play on Gibson’s; I tried one just above the price range I was looking for. The neck felt a bit dry and needed a good play and had been sitting on the shelf for too long, but the sound was very nice, it was easy to play. I spoke to the salesman about trying to justify another $1000 for it, and in the end it came down to him saying it was an investment, I’ll agree on that but I want to play music. If I want to invest, there are many other better ways of investing.
see picture at top of page of Gibson Acoustic guitar
To simplify this article, I’ll tell you what happened next.
I rang a music shop called BillyHyde’s that had Taylor’s, Breedlove’s and a few other brands in the price range that I was looking in. Two years ago, if you said to me I’d buy a guitar on the web without playing it, I’d have said you were crazy. But to date, I’ve bought two, because I’ve told them what I want. And if I’m not happy I’d send them back until they got it right.
The salesman Brendan was very helpful, although he had different taste in guitars than me; he managed to convey what the guitars he had were like, he liked the guitars I don’t and viscera versa, although we agreed to dislike one particular brand. You don’t have to agree with another persons taste, if they are straight with you, it’s possible to get the right information and base your decision on the information. He got one of the other guitar techie guys to check out the guitar I was interested in.
BREEDLOVE Atlas AC25/SR, PLUS
I ended up settling on a Breedlove. They looked good to me, although I’d never played one, the reviews seemed OK and they get a mention in Acoustic Guitar magazine regularly. From a (graphic) design point of you they have very nice lines.
When I opened the case, I was initially disappointed. I tuned it up and it felt a bit stiff, but to be honest if I travelled a thousand kilometres in a case I’d feel the same. The Breedlove’s are supposed to be set up in the factory, the setup was just ok. But I’m being a little hard on them here, it’s a long journey. I generally use extra lite strings; this had mediums or some other wire that I consider too heavy for a guitar. But that’s what most people like, isn’t it, I still can’t work out why, so many players struggle to play properly and their guitars are unplayable. I started using extra lights in the early seventies because I liked the fast playing like Philip Catherine, Larry Coryell and John Etheridge and I couldn’t achieve the results I wanted with a heavier string gauge.
Secondly I generally tune all my guitars down a semi-tone because it suits my voice. And thirdly, last year my twelve year old son broke one of my fingers when we were wrestling over a football. So my criticism is harsh.
I scooted into town and bought an extra lite set of strings, strung the guitar up and weirdly enough it held its tuning on the second time I tuned it up. Considering the humidity of where I live and the fact that it had travelled from different climate, this is impressive.
As soon as the new strings are on and tuned up, I always stretch the strings by holding the them down on the frets with my left hand and pulling the string away from the soundboard with the right hand, I work my way up the neck, this works for me and worked with this guitar, and when I reach half way I swap hands… stretching with the left, holding down with the right.
STAY IN TUNE TIP
If you want your guitar to stay in tune, BB King has a method, it’s opposite to what most players do; he winds the whole string around the tuning peg. I do this on my electrics; it works well if you bend a lot. On acoustic I play a lot of chords and prefer to stay clear of bending.
CHANGING STRINGS
I was initially worried about how the guitar would react to the lighter strings but it seems fine. When I first played the guitar with the heavier strings there was a buzz at the twelfth fret on the 6th string. I felt extremely annoyed by this but it seems to have settled a lot, but once it settles I set it up properly.
The sound of the guitar is exactly what Brendan the salesman said, good clear highs, good lows and when I asked him about the middle’s his response was intelligent. He said, “If you want an acoustic guitar to sit around playing acoustically, you’ll need to pay a lot more money”. I understood what he was saying. Generally when I work live with my guitars and plug in, the first thing I do is pull the middle frequencies down, otherwise it gets too muddy. But the middle on this guitar is quite nice; the sound is very balanced and very, very good for fingerstyle. Brendan told me the techie guy loved it, what he forgot to tell me is that is a beautiful guitar. It’s a fraction harder to play than my Gurian but the tone is sweet and a little bit of a challenge is good.
Good for strumming and singing
Although I don’t do the strum-a-long, sing-a-long thing that a lot of players do, this guitar would be perfect for that sort of thing E.G. Play G chord strum for a while , play a C add 9 then play a D add 9 and back to the C add 9…sort of stuff…the rock ballad.
Good for Flatpicking
When I was playing it last night I found myself going back to playing plectrum guitar. I ran through a few Bluegrass tunes to check how fast the guitar runs and how it responds to a plectrum. Bluegrass is the best method of developing a right hand technique without having to play hours of modes and scales, a lot of the minor tunes are incredibly sweet. It’s nice for that, not a classic dreadnaught sound but it responds very well to vibrato and the neck is fast and very easy to move around swiftly. It’s possible to play single lines on this guitar the sound of the guitar is strong and clear enough to hold its ground unaccompanied, this is a very good sign.
About the guitar
The guitar doesn’t have a scratch plate, I’m going to leave the jury out on that one, I may put a light scratch plate on it at some point as my right hand nails scratch the top a bit around the sound hole, and I’m not sure on the logic here.
It has a Sitka spruce top, there are a few squiggly patterns here and there in it, I assume Breedlove put there best looking soundboards in their dearer guitars, but it’s a nice looking top and the end result is a great sound emanating from it. The back is Rosewood and sides are Rosewood ply, the fingerboard is Rosewood, as is the bridge. I like the bridge not having pins, I can’t stand having to pull pins out to change strings; the cutaway is nicely curved. It’s easy for your pinkie to reach up to the top A note without even thinking. The electronics are fine and it was possible to get a musical sound out of an amp almost immediately without even messing around too much. I hate acoustic guitar electronics and cringe when I hear a lot of recordings where they just plug straight in, a lot of the younger players don’t hear a problem with it but the older ones that have played acoustic for years have a lot of trouble with it. In one of my other guitars I have a Dana Bourgeois system that sounds very good. I haven’t miked it up yet, but based on the principle that it sounds nice across the room and near by, setting it up for recording should be a no-brainer and recording directly from the pickup mixed with a mike it will be easy to get a good more than acceptable sound recorded.
For Rock Players
I’m confident this guitar would be fine for rock players that want a sweet sounding acoustic and break out a little further musically, a lot of the acoustic guitars I’m seeing out there are like electric guitars with acoustic bodies, they are a good compromise but it’s nice to have a guitar that sounds like an acoustic guitar, and also I think a guitar like Breedlove will help your ear develop a little, all good guitars do.
In summary
Buying a new guitar is always a great experience; I love this one already and am looking forward to what great music lies ahead. Ultimately there are lots of great guitars out there now, but I recommend before you buy another one at least try a Breedlove.
Click on the acoustic guitar link below to check out a range of Taylor, Martin, Tacoma and Takamine Acoustic Guitars
PLEASE NOTE: I personally don’t have the ability to sell you some of the guitars that I like, but I am still going to recommend them anyway.
In the future, this blog will cover things such as:
Exotic scales
Open tuning
Extending a Blues
Chord Construction
Reading music made easy
Arrangements of tunes
Getting your thoughts sorted to play better guitar
How to cope with musical criticism without throwing objects
and many other things that people either don’t tell you about or don’t know exists
![Basix[R]: Scales and Modes for Guitar - sheet music at www.sheetmusicplus.com](http://gfx.sheetmusicplus.com/store/060x080/3510086.gif)
