Favorite Acoustic under $1k?

[oid]

Lots of guitars! That Takamine has some impressive wear, I have played quite a few Takamines that I liked, but I have an aversion to those pin less bridges they seem so found off, pins just make maintenance so much easier.

That Recording king is rather pleasant looking but I lack the wardrobe to pull off a pearloid fretboard, getting quite curious to try a few out though, fairly certain we have a dealer in town so I can go poke at a couple. Not sure how I feel about the resurrection of the brand, I had serious lust for an old one back around the turn of the century when I was going through my Fahey phase, feels kinda sacrilegious, I guess it is good that it stayed a budget brand and they did not go the Fahey in a box route for the easy cash.

I have been itching to try one of the old higher end Arias for years, we have a silly amount of their their old lowest of the low end so we must have had a local dealer back in the day, but no luck finding one of their better quality offerings yet.

The old Epiphones are one that I am always on the lookout for, mainly a certain pre Gibson model which escapes me at the moment. Someday I will find an old beaten example waiting for me to fix up. Think I am going to avoid vintage for this guitar, I have never had an acoustic which I did not have to give a neck reset before I could play it proper, think I want to try out having a guitar that is just a setup away from perfect playing

The Eastmans might be the ticket, I did not know they made flat tops. I have heard nothing but good things about their archtops over the years and they have a OO and a OM that are kinda tugging at me, might have to take the chance on one and see what happens.

All this research is making the urge to buy almost overpowering, must check the local shops before I order, would be nice to get something local so I can have instant gratification.

Thanks for the leads, back to the research.

[Maggieo]

Recording King makes a bunch of other guitars that look pretty great. The Century 33 is the only one I've played, though.

[oid]

The idea of me with a pearloid fingerboard is just something that can not go without comment, and since none of the fine forum folk know me well enough to take charge, I had to do it, honestly I would have done it anyways.

Been digging through lots of stuff on these Eastmans and others, found this video.
Martin vs Eastman vs Breedlove Fingerstyle Guitar Sound Comparison
The Martin does not do to well, gets muddled and flat sounding when confronted with dissonance, partially due to it being a mahogany top, but this is excessive even for mahogany. It is vary apparent when he plays 'Close to You,' the Breedlove and Eastman do wonderfully on reproducing the beating in dissonant chords.
LA Guitar Sales BY REQUEST - Martin OM21 and Eastman E10OM
The Martin has incredible sounding low end, but that is about it, very unbalanced compared to the Eastman, which is a tad bright for my tastes, guess it is better to have it when you need it though, can always downplay the brightness with technique.

The most impressive thing I am finding about the Eastmans is a surprising amount of consistency in sound, especially in their responsiveness. They are likely top of the pile for OM styles at this time for me with Breedlove being a close second, but they have the midrangey quality that I suspect I would have difficulty living with. Still digging about the OOs, which I find to be the most comfortable size.

[shadowplay]

Levin/Goya Goliath or MIJ Yamaha LL11 (as played by Bert Jansch) are my perpetual answers to this question.

Call me shallow all you like but a lot of these newer brands have blooze daddy brandnames that make me cringe more than a little. It's not unlike cars where I'd never drive anything called something like Stinger, Hellcat, Trackhawk, Renegade, Demon, Rampage, Warrior or similar bawbag nomenclature...not ever wearing a full burka...on Mars, a gentleman has to have standards.

D

[marqueemoon]

Oops. Double post.

[marqueemoon]

Been digging through lots of stuff on these Eastmans and others, found this video.
Martin vs Eastman vs Breedlove Fingerstyle Guitar Sound Comparison
The Martin does not do to well, gets muddled and flat sounding when confronted with dissonance, partially due to it being a mahogany top, but this is excessive even for mahogany. It is vary apparent when he plays 'Close to You,' the Breedlove and Eastman do wonderfully on reproducing the beating in dissonant chords.

I hear what you’re talking about, but I don’t think it’s that bad, and while the Martin is decidedly darker than the others it has a richness they don’t.

Also, this is only fingerstyle playing. I can’t imagine the midrange honk of that Breedlove sounding good with a pick unless the goal is to poke out of a rock band mix.

The Eastman sounds decent. Not super rich, but well balanced.

My thought with acoustics is you can always dial back some woofiness if needed with eq, but you can’t add midrange/treble complexity that isn’t there.

[Embenny]

Over the years, no 3-digit-price acoustics have consistently impressed me as much as Alvarez. They play great, sound great, look great, are super consistent, and have a proven track record.

They fly under way too many people's radars.

[bluenote23]

I guess you're looking at new but really, if you want a good guitar for not too much money, looked at used guitars. Good ones don't come up too often so you have to be ready and know what you are looking for.

I paid well under your price for a Taylor 310CE and a little under your price for a Gibson WM45. I'd be looking at Taylors (the 300 range or maybe older pre 2006 200 series when they were solid woods) or Gibson WMs. I don't think you'll find a Martin D-18 for that kind of price however and I don't know anything about the more economic end of Martin's line.

[oid]

Over the years, no 3-digit-price acoustics have consistently impressed me as much as Alvarez. They play great, sound great, look great, are super consistent, and have a proven track record.

They fly under way too many people's radars.

Alvarez does indeed have some good stuff, my second guitar was the first year Alvarez Yairi classical, kind of wish I held on to that one but I was all about electric back then. These days I have abit of an aversion to Alvarez, back when I did the luthier, Alvarez was the main beginner/intermediate instrument, all 3 of the local guitar shops carried them so there was a good number of them about and I worked on so many of them damaged in stupid ways by kids, often the guitars where a mix of greasy and sticky, I assume they consumed a great deal of pizza and pop while they played. Not sure I can enjoy that brand anymore, but I do not hesitate to recommend them to anyone looking for a good starter guitar, a used Alvarez is one of the best deals on the market.

I guess you're looking at new but really, if you want a good guitar for not too much money, looked at used guitars. Good ones don't come up too often so you have to be ready and know what you are looking for.

I paid well under your price for a Taylor 310CE and a little under your price for a Gibson WM45. I'd be looking at Taylors (the 300 range or maybe older pre 2006 200 series when they were solid woods) or Gibson WMs. I don't think you'll find a Martin D-18 for that kind of price however and I don't know anything about the more economic end of Martin's line.

I am looking at used, just not vintage, something in the past decade or two. This being a temporary instrument I would like to get my money back from it when I am done with it, if I get done with it.

Taylor is another brand which my life in repair gave me an aversion, mainly for the expensive dipped in plastic fancy wood show guitars they made, the people who bought those tended to be rather difficult clients, they also tended to be dentists. They make some nice guitars though, those soundboard transducers they use in their pickup system are great sounding, just wish they would sell them. I will look into those models, I remember some of their lower end being very nice and generally sounding better then their high end guitars which seemed all about aesthetics.

Thanks for the replies folks!

[oid]

Think I blew my budget, oh well, been wanting one for years.


Thanks again for the input, it helped get me around to where I needed to go.

[wproffitt]

That looks cool! What the hell is it? Is it some sort of mandocello or something?

[oid]

That looks cool! What the hell is it? Is it some sort of mandocello or something?

It would be a 10 string classical guitar, could also be called a harp guitar or a decachord. Each name is technically a different instrument but there is a fair amount of overlap between them and the lines are quite blurry.