Show Your Acoustics!

[Larry Mal]

I feel like a square with some compared to some of you, and sookwinder hasn't even posted his amazing guitars yet...

Yeah I wanted to get in before he posted his guitars!

I know what you mean about "that sound", though. Martin has defined what the acoustic guitar is for well over a century, pretty much everything else is a response to them. And when you play a Martin, you think, man, there's that sound that I know. I even played some of those CEO-7 guitars, which is basically Martin making a direct replica of a Gibson L-00, and those CEO-7s still sound like Martins. Not only do they sound like Martins, but they sound a lot like Martin dreadnaughts. It's kind of cool.

[Danley]

I don’t go fancy with strings - I’ve used Dadarrios and Ernie Ball Earthwoods, and currently have Earthwood lights on all my six strings and Earthwood silk/steel on all my twelves (except the Villager, but it will get them soon.)

Curious what people do for amplification too - Pickups/amps? I haven’t had a guitar with a (working) piezo in a long time and typically hate the piezo sound, but the Fishman preamp in the villager actually makes it sound somewhat good through a PA.

What I REALLY don’t like is quacky, rubbery, bouncy brittle piezo tone. For example, Alice In Chains unplugged. Great music, but I almost can’t listen to it sometimes due to how cheap and awful the sound comes through. I don’t *know* if piezo is to blame - or even used - on those recordings but it sounds like the worst aspects of it:

(It’s just so not-woody/non-natural...) https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=9EKi2E9dVY8

[Maggieo]

what's everyone using for strings? i really hate the sound of your standard phosphor bronzes, so i've got nickel bronze on the epi and monel steel on the rezzie

Whatever mine came with.

[tune_link]

https://ibb.co/NZytWmR

1960 Gibson LG-1, pretty beat up......appropriately enough I bought this and my first Jazzmaster on the same day from the same shop in 2005....a Sunburst 97 CIJ with Lollar pickups in it. I think I paid $1200.00 total for both guitars which I still think was a pretty great deal considering I still have and love them both.

[PorkyPrimeCut]

Hope you don't mind me re-upping the pic so we can all see it directly.

That thing looks fantastic!! Just the right size that I was talking about & honest wear in all the right places. That finish is gorgeous too!!

[Larry Mal]

what's everyone using for strings? i really hate the sound of your standard phosphor bronzes, so i've got nickel bronze on the epi and monel steel on the rezzie

Whatever mine came with.

Do you mean you never change your strings? Or just stick with the recommended brand that the manufacturer sends out?

[Flurko]

My lovely acoustic, an Höfner 4550 from the late sixties (if i read the specs correctly) :


















It's really lovely, the only point of comparison I have is a friend's electric Ibanez jazz box (full size, two humbuckers), and my Hofner is several times louder.
It could be even louder with strings that aren't the Labella tapewounds I put on it (after the pics were taken), but I really enjoy the midrange THUNK i get when playing with my acoustic jazz band, and i fear i would have too much string noise with roundwound acoustic strings...

[Maggieo]

what's everyone using for strings? i really hate the sound of your standard phosphor bronzes, so i've got nickel bronze on the epi and monel steel on the rezzie

Whatever mine came with.

Do you mean you never change your strings? Or just stick with the recommended brand that the manufacturer sends out?

I have yet to change my strings. I'm playing the ones that came on the guitar when I bought it, back in March of 2018. So far, they sound great.

[Danley]

Whatever mine came with.

Do you mean you never change your strings? Or just stick with the recommended brand that the manufacturer sends out?

I have yet to change my strings. I'm playing the ones that came on the guitar when I bought it, back in March of 2018. So far, they sound great.

In Southern California, strings don't really rust and decay like in other parts of the country so I've gotten away with *never* changing the strings on some instruments, in particular the ones that see infrequent play for a couple years. But if I play a guitar to where the strings are notably dented/bent to the point of affecting intonation or where they can 'roll' under my fingers, I know a physical toll has been exacted upon them and change them.

Plus - it'd be too inconvenient for me to to have my whole setup geared around a guitar with fresh strings that sound great, and then having to tweak everything a week later when the strings dull. I just assume my strings are dead when I EQ amps or set up my gear to record, for consistency.

[Maggieo]

Also, I'm a bit like Jeff Tweedy; I like the sound of played-in, old strings.

[tune_link]

Hope you don't mind me re-upping the pic so we can all see it directly.

That thing looks fantastic!! Just the right size that I was talking about & honest wear in all the right places. That finish is gorgeous too!!

Not at all! THANK YOU! I could not get the pic to show up properly. I love this thing. It ended my search for a perfect acoustic for me. I had some less than stellar ones before including a cheap Fender one that disappeared from a house I used to live in and a weird Yamaha one that would not stay in tune for anything.

[sookwinder]

[PorkyPrimeCut]

When did you get the B45?

I have to say, I'm disappointed. I saw your name as a new poster for this thread & rushed out to buy a jumbo bag of popcorn. I also switched off my phone & cancelled my yoga class.....for this?!

All I can say is, it had better be an extra large downloadable wall poster!

[gishuk]

This is my Gibson Hummingbird (obviously )
Its a 2017 built one that I got last summer. I'm far more an electric guy but I've wanted a Hummingbird since I started playing guitar, they were always the coolest acoustic in my eyes, so I figured it was about time to get one.



I also have a 70s Eko Ranger that I've had a while and plays great, and a Fairclough that my girlfriend now has. So for someone who isn't much of an acoustic player I have 3 of them!

[sookwinder]

here is a large version of the pic of all my acoustics 15800x7000:
http://www.offsetguitars.com/personal/s ... 2JAN20.jpg

This is the B45 thread:
http://www.offsetguitars.com/forums/vie ... 9&t=114346