hey,


i've been looking around at some acoustic guitars and i'm probably gonna get one sometime in december.i just wanted to know whether anyone could give me any tips on what to look out for when buying one.i know that the wood itself is an important consideration but how so? and what else should i look out for? i'm looking at getting an acoustic that can be amped so is there anything to consider in that department?


and does anyone know anything about the brand Maton? if i'm not wrong, ben harper uses it. is it any gd?


thanks in advance

How much are you looking to spend? (£Stirling)

I'd be interested in any suggestions too, as I'm looking to replace my really cheap and nasty guitar (from argos) which is guaranteed to go out of tune overnight. I'm still looking for cheap(ish) acoustic would say £150 max I'd want to spend at the moment

£150 try the Fender Gemini Series, you'll also get a fairly good Yamaha for that price. I sat thisto everyone but the best thing to do is to go down to the shop and ask the guy there, play a few and see how it fells / sounds. Shop around. Also, the local ad papers tend to be good i.e. they have good guitars at better prices than the shops.

Maton is an excellent choice of guitar!! It's an Australian brand, where to wood has picked up from a really deep lake somewhere in "Perth"
Ben harper does uses one, and they sound beautiful!!

Martin DX1R is a really good and afordable guitar,i have one and it sounds so damn lovley!!

Crafter has a lot of good ones!!

Regarding the amping ;You should buy a guitar without a mic!Allready built-in-microphones tend to steal, alot of the sound from the guitar, when your not amped! (For example when you record using condens. microphones) and also, the micophones that come with the guitar often has a poor sound!!You could always buy a good portable and put in/out when you want to!!

I hope this helped you a little
Good luck [img]smileys/smiley1.gif[/img] Edited by: Johan

thanks for the replies...


to enoch,


i guess i'm looking to spend abt S$1000...thats abt 400 pounds stirling? is that abt right?


to johan,


when u say mic, u mean a piezo pick-up? so i shd buy one that isnt an electric-acoustic, and just buy a purely acoustic one? what about the fishman pickups that come with the martins.i'vr heard gd things abt those and i think lots of people use them.i think dave matthews uses a fishman pickup system

If your buying a guitar that you want to learn on i'd recommend not spending to much on it as if you stick at it you will change it numerous times you buy something you really like & a bit expensive.If you dont continue to play it it will be of no great cost to thorow it aside.Look for a guitar with a low action,thats the distance of the strings from the fret board.This will make it easier to play and so adding a little more intereset in playing it..

get a tackamine, apparently their the best

You can write a book on this(and some have) but I'll try to tackle a few from my experience..

Here is a short but accurate article about this to get you started. Like fine wine, the wood(provided it's not junk plywood) will open up and age well, especially spruce in the long run. I recorded my Martin when I first bought it over 7 years ago and compare the tone to now and holy tamales!

Best advice is just go and play as many guitars as you can possibly get your hands on. Don't listen to what is the best or who plays what. This is all subjective. In the end, YOU are the one who will have to play it, not Dave Matthews or the schmuck trying to sell you the guitar and giving you the "Dude this guitar rocks" line.

Judging by how much money you want to spend, I would seriously recommend you bring someone who has a lot of experience with guitars like a teacher if you have one. Have them play it and you listen and you can get a feel for what the guitar can do and how it performs using different techniques.

As far as pickups, I would wait and worry about the guitar first. I noticed that many steel strings that come bundled with a pickup system are less than desirable. You can always add on a sweet pickup system but you can't just add on a sweeter natural tone to the guitar. Put that on hold if you ask me.

You're definitely on the right track. Ask as many questions as possible and educate yourself. A friend of mine used to work in a Guitar Ctr before he quit(how many times can one hear chopped up Led Zeppelin riffs in one day) and now is a luthier and he said it was amazing how many poorly made guitars were sold because some artist flavor of the week endorsed them. Good luck and happy playing!

how much is damien guitar, thinkin of gettin the same make

have a look here mate,


">Lowden on ebay....

a wee bit out of my price range that's for sure lolEdited by: Smithy

is that what damien uses? lowden?


how many guitars does he use on tour?


that guitar that he was playing on carson daly's show sounded pretty good and he said that it was from the 70's...and it looks it too...

Sorry about that,I mean of course, the pick-up!!!
Fishman (dave matthews uses on) is a very good pick up, but you still loose alot of sound when your not plugged-in!
I say play around on as many guitar you can, and find what out what you really like in a guitar!! Don't focus to much on the price...

Preman--Damien only uses one guitar on tour. He doesn't have a back-up. That's why he re-tunes right on stage if he's going to play something with an alternative tuning instead of having someone run out and hand-off a pre-tuned guitar.


AT

check out my friend John Mayes.. He builds custom guitars. www.mayesguitars.com

the quality is superb!

http://www.mayesguitars.com

ok, now try it.

All I'll agree with above is just to go and try the guitars. Don't be swayed by certain brands etc. (but of course try all them).
You'll know it when you've found your guitar. It'll just feel and sound perfect.

i believe every one likes their own make of guitar. i've a martyn and a fender and they would be the first i'd recommend so if you havent got one yet, i recommend you to have a look around and pick up a few guitars and see which feel best!

I've got a Lowden acoustic, best guitar i've ever played.


they have stopped making then and now make Avilon guitars so if u can pick one up buy it.


Mine cosy £1500 but worth every penny

when it comes to guitars, it seems the more you spend the better they are, which sucks for a poor guy like me- I think you have to set your price parameters first and then just play everyone within that price range... and for me, it seems that hitting an Aminor seems to help tell if intonation is out or if you get any wierd string buzzing. And get a cutaway as opposed to a standard dreadnought style.

im in the market for a guitar as well, ive got around $1000 as well. should i get a cutaway, or does that matter in my consideration? also ive played a lot of taylor's. does anyone have one who could comment on them?

here it goes....


taylor - don't like them because (1) they represent all that is corporate and wrong hence the cost being double what it should be for one and (2) they just sound too bright and not like an acoustic should sound in my opinion


martin - great guitars all around... from the cheap ones to the expensive ones, they are great guitars built to last


takamine - good if you go expensive, otherwise not really worth it


tacoma - great guitars... owner use to work for taylor but he didn't like how things were run so he started this guitar company


alvarez - love them and the cost is good


maton - love them and the cost is bad but worth it


carvin - not expensive AT ALL and they area greatquality acoustic


my opinions on electronics (pickup): buy an acoustic for its sound unplugged and then buy an LR Baggs Ibeam pickup to install (easy to do yourself) because they make an acoustic guitar sound like an acoustic guitar when you plug it in


also, you don't have to go expensive to get the best quality... i went into a guitar store the other day and played guitars from $500-4000 US dollars and i ended up walking out with a $700 guitar because it sounded the best... i was willing to spend whatever just to get the best sound and it turned out i didn't have to pay more than a grand....


i've said too much. shut me up.

What do yiz think of Aria semi acoustics?

mif your spending £400 theres no way you want anything other than a big baby taylor at £380ish!!! they kick ass

I also like the Taylor Big Baby. It's got really great acoustic sound for having laminete back and sides.

the big baby is an impressive lil beast... i've been thinking about getting on to travel with and play at the beach and not worry too much about... might be fun to throw a pickup in it too and see what kind of tone you can get out of it...

All that is exactly what I have done with the one I've got. I always bring it along if I am going somewhere (even if it's just to a friend's house I am bringing it with me in the car). I went for a K&K transducer.The Big Babyfeels kind of fragile (especially the neck and neck joint), but I have been treating mineprettyroughlyand it's still keeping up! It is a great first guitar for a beginner and a greattravel / spare / party guitar for the ones who can afford it.

ohhh, how's the k&k... which one did you throw in it? i've always been attached to my ibeams but i've heard damn good things about the k&k's... especially the pure systems...

I had to go for the Mini Pure because of the small size of the bridge plate of the Big Baby. It sounds great, but it is essential that you use an appropriate preamp even though the output signal is fairly loud. I use a Fishman Model G for this guitar and it sounds okay. Nothing fancy, but it's good to have a mic in this guitar just in case (I sometimes use the Big Baby live as well). Of course the K&Kcannot compare withan condenser in a studio situation, butlivethe Pureis cool.Definitely worth the money! [img]smileys/smiley1.gif[/img]

oh ok so you have the passive version... that's the only thing that keeps me coming back to the ibeam... i love that the active version only consists of the transducer, the battery, and the output plug with preamp built in... their newest model (which i just got for my new martin) even has a volume control to mount just inside the sound hole and it's smaller than a penny so it's really discrete... it looks like the active versions of the k&k's pure systems are a tad clunky and heavy with that preamp box...