Show Your Acoustics!

[Danley]

The most recent ‘show your acoustic’ thread was posted in 2014 , and is full of Photobucket blur now; anyone up for starting a new one?

Pics of the below must be about fifteen years old, but still have all these:

-’76 Takamine F340 : Laminate Dreadnaught; was my dad’s. Quite thick neck with a soft V. First guitar, absconded with it in around 2001 . Repaired a top crack in about 2002 (that my dad put in it in the ‘80s) and recently got the bridge glued (some small cracks.) Ideally the truss rod needs a few washers but it’s fine with light strings.

-’68 - ‘74 Yamaha FG260 12 String: Laminate again; but a VERY light guitar and quite nice and chimey. Also dad’s. Too bad it needs a neck reset and top is a bit bellied, but using silk/steels and with the bridge saddle shaved and ramps slotted the action is about 3mm at the 12th; playable.

-Mitchell MD100S-12 : My friend gave it to me when he joined the army. Actually a reasonably good acoustic; solid top etc. I had a crack in the top repaired, and just got the (peeling) bridge re-glued (I can’t believe it was ever as lily white as in the pic below.) Also not pictured - the six-string/laminate Mitchell MD100 laminate my dad picked up at some point; it lived in the desert and zero humidity seemed to kill the neck, but I haven’t been able to grab it and try to adjust yet.)

-Takamine Jasmine ES45C : My dad bought this and a Takamine EG240 (that I also still have but isn’t pictured) at the same time. When I was sixteen, he let me choose which I wanted and kept the other himself; I chose wrong and picked the Jasmine A fairly dead sounding guitar, it was my camping axe; has survived being thrown near campfires etc. Quite dented, the electronics no longer work and a brace is loose. Needs major refurbishing that I’m about to do.

The electronics and construction are almost identical to the Tak G series - except the G240 is a bette guitar in every way; great for a laminate.



More recent family pic along with two new Breedlove Discoveries - one of which I kept. One was an ‘MP’ with maple sides - it was much better quality-wise and had brighter top end but the mahogany guitar had more bass and was louder so got kept.



I recently talked too much about my Villager but...



A few closeups/more recent pics of the other twelves:

[Larry Mal]

Sure, I'll play! Your post makes me realize that I need more 12 string guitars.

Here's my most recent, a rosewood bodied L-00 12 fret:



A wonderful Guild D-40 Bluegrass Jubilee:



My old Martin D-1 that I've had since the early 90's. It now lives in Nashville tuning, I'd never get rid of the guitar I learned to play on, but it's a little outclassed these days:



I guess we'll call these the Js, it's a J-35, a J-45, Wow the Cat, and a J-15:



My L-00 Standard:



A J-100:



A J-60, which is a totally underrated guitar:



Maggie O's old Dove, which lives in open C tuning. I did some recording with it this weekend but it was all shit:



And here's some guitars that I used to own, and liked. This is Max Max with a 00-17s, cool guitar:



And I had a 000-18 that was cool, but didn't blow me away like I thought it would, so I traded it for the J-45:



Oh, and here's a terrifying picture of me playing my 12 string, a Taylor GA3-12:




I also owned a Taylor 410 for years, no picture, apparently. It played like a dream and sounded good, still, it came down to the J-35 or that Taylor and the Taylor bit it.

[Danley]

Nice - Your ‘outclassed’ D1 outclasses all my acoustics I’m not primarily an acoustic player though, so by that token I guess I appreciate/tolerate the more moderately priced instruments. I really don’t (can’t) play finger-style, I basically play acoustic like I play an electric - a higher end acoustic perhaps would be wasted on me.

Though twelve strings are rapidly becoming something I enjoy relying on more and more for whatever reason. To that end I also feel like I’ll wind up with a nicer Taylor twelve

[Larry Mal]

Look into the GA3-12s when you do. They can be found for fairly cheap, all solid wood, well constructed. And like Taylors do, it plays like a dream- like an electric does. I had mine shimmed which got the action down also. It's as easy to play as any guitar I've ever had.

You can see how much fun it is in the picture above. Wouldn't you like to have that much fun?

Now, it's their Grand Auditorium shape, so it is not a particularly loud, bass heavy, or booming instrument. It has a pretty treble focused and bright sound like Taylors can have. It probably records well- I don't honestly play it a lot.

I would like a Guild 12 string someday.

Or one of these cool Gibson Songwriter 12 strings.

[Lamar Fandango]

This is the only pic I could find of my 'bird.

[Maggieo]

Here's my 00 12-fret:


Waterloo WL-12, March 08, 2018 by Maggie Osterberg, on Flickr


Waterloo WL-12, March 08, 2018 by Maggie Osterberg, on Flickr

And here's my 1925 Le Domino parlour:


Le Domino, July 03, 2017 by Maggie Osterberg, on Flickr


Le Domino, 82 Years Of Making Music, July 03, 2017 by Maggie Osterberg, on Flickr

The neck on Le Dom is a massive "V."

[shoule79]

I’m an electric guy through and through, but my Hummingbird is probably with me for life.



https://imgur.com/gallery/z5hoHdY

[PorkyPrimeCut]

1977 Guild D50

Rosewood back & sides - Solid Spruce top - Ebony fretboard & bridge pins - Black pickguard - Grover tuners - Pyramid Phosphor 11s

[Larry Mal]

That's really beautiful... I wish I had been made to know how great Guild guitars were earlier than I was. I would have a lot more of them, I think.

[PorkyPrimeCut]

That's really beautiful... I wish I had been made to know how great Guild guitars were earlier than I was. I would have a lot more of them, I think.

Well, you've said it yourself already. You really should try out a few Guild 12 strings.

Back when I was restoring an old Eko J56 I took a trip to Denmark Street & tried out a brand new Guild 12 that just sang!! It was ridiculously easy to play too, compared to the very heavy & stiff Eko. I kinda wish I hadn't picked it up because it was way out of my price range & I've been strangely haunted by it ever since.

[Larry Mal]

Yeah, no doubt, but the budget is a little spent at the moment. Clearly I've gone a little crazy with acoustics lately, and I'll need to pay a couple of them down before I can add anything to the pack.

Sometimes I debate selling that Taylor 12 string and trying some new sounds, but they just don't sell for much, and I spent a lot of money on the Schaller locking tuners, and the Taylor bone compensated saddle, and the shim/neck reset and I'd never get that money back.

And I could sell one of the Gibsons, but I just really like them all. The only one I would consider letting go is the J-100, but it needs some work done to it, and I bet once I did that work I would love it as much as anything. I think it needs a neck reset- no budget for that, either, though.

[Danley]

So on the opposite end of the spectrum- My approach might be a bit backward, but the thing is the more I play the Villager the more I love it; and so much of it comes down the the ergonomics. The body shape/size are just perfect for me, and don’t strain my arm like typical dreadnaughts as I try to reach around them with my less-than-human sized proportions.

The Newporter Classic is $800 new, solid sides/back/top, and has the same body shape - but is 25.5” rather than 24” 3/4 scale (and six strings, of course.) I’m seriously thinking I need to find one used, try it, and trade my (slightly over-sized/cheaper/less comfortable) Breedlove Discovery for it if it checks out:

[Larry Mal]

Earlier you had written about one of your Breedloves "One was an ‘MP’ with maple sides - it was much better quality-wise and had brighter top end but the mahogany guitar had more bass and was louder so got kept."

That's been my experience with maple also, that Dove that I got from Maggie is not a particularly loud instrument and has fairly restrained bass to it. That's actually why I keep it in open C, because that low C note is actually somewhat usable on that guitar instead of flabby and booming. Maple certainly can sound a little different, from my very limited experience.

I think Maggie's Waterloo is maple bodied, also. Maybe she can tell us.

Have you thought about that form factor? I know you like the Fenders, but an L-00 type guitar can be a wonderful thing, especially with it being a 12 fret neck. The sound just leaps out of the guitar. Like, I'll play my smaller bodied guitars and then move to my dreadnaughts and for a little while they just sound wrong, distant and indistinct.

That feeling always goes away, but you can really find a lot to love with the immediacy of a smaller bodied guitar.

[MechaBulletBill]

And here's my 1925 Le Domino parlour:


The neck on Le Dom is a massive "V."

oh jeez, you're killing me with that. too damn cool. i have a slightly mysterious old resonator with a huge v neck, too.

[Maggieo]

And here's my 1925 Le Domino parlour:


The neck on Le Dom is a massive "V."

oh jeez, you're killing me with that. too damn cool. i have a slightly mysterious old resonator with a huge v neck, too.

Aw, thanks!

And to answer Larry's question, yep, the Waterloo is a maple bodied, spruce topped, guitar. It's quite loud for its size, and reminds me of an acoustic Telecaster, which is pretty much perfect for me.