Acoustic fingerpicking guitar

fingerace

fingerace

New member
Can you please help me choose one of these guitars:

Taylor 314-CE (the only one of the guitars without rosewood back and sides)
http://www.musiciansfriend.com/prod...um-Cutaway-AcousticElectric-Guitar?sku=514973

Breedlove AC25 SR plus (the cheapest by far)
http://www.musiciansfriend.com/prod...C25SR-Plus-AcousticElectric-Guitar?sku=512400

Takamine LTD2006 pro
http://www.music123.com/Takamine-LTD2006-Pro-Series-Acoustic-Guitar-i307488.music

Martin JC-16RGTE Premium
http://www.music123.com/Martin-JC-16RGTE-Premium-Acoustic-Guitar-i116876.music

Babicz ID-ACRW-06E (strange guitar)
http://www.music123.com/Babicz-ID-ACRW-06E-Acoustic-Guitar-i250733.music

I know this is not the best forum to talk about acoustics, but I hope you can help me...

Thank you very much
Andreas
 
Re: Acoustic fingerpicking guitar

I just found that one... Thanks for the tip Liquid... Laminate back and sides! Damn!
 
Re: Acoustic fingerpicking guitar

When buying an acoustic guitar there are a few things you should look for. If you plan on fingerpicking as you state in your thread, I would recommend going with a 1 3/4" nut width. The wider neck will increase the string spacing and make it a lot easier to get your fingers in between the strings.

Tone woods. As far as woods and body sizes go you really have to play a variety of guitars to get a feel for what type of tone/sound you are after.

Rosewood offers a strong bottom, but in a large guitar like a Jumbo or Dreadnaught they can be boomy, or the bottom can over power the rest of the guitar. Mahaogony and Koa offer more balance from string to strimg and maple tends to be brighter than the others. This can be a good thing in a large guitar.

I would also recommend going with a solid wood guitar rather than a laminate. Solid wood guitars will offer much better tone and will continue to sound better over the years. The draw back to solid wood guitar are if they get to dry the tops can crak or worse!!. You need to keep a slolid wood guitar prpoerly Hydrated to prevent this.

I prefer dovetail neck joints over bolt on style necks IMO a dovetail offers better sound transfer to the body. The neck and body have a much more solid connection. Taylors, Breedlove and Collings have bolt on necks. THIS DOES NOT MEAN THAT THEY ARE INFERIOR. IMO Martins offer a better tone than many others (if you can find the right one), but on the other hand they are considerably harder to play. Taylors and Breedloves are great acoustic guitars for electric guitar players. Martin style guitars will make you work harder, but in the long run will make you a better player.

When buying an acoustic guitar buy it for its acoustic qualities, not for it's sound plugged in. Good electronics can be added to a good guitar without altering the guitar in any way. I do not like on board EQ's on acoustic guitars. You are basically cutting a hole in the side to add the EQ and this will affect the acoustic quality of the instrument.

If you are going to be strumming mainly a larger guitar like a Jumbo or Dreadnaught might be better suited for this. IF you are planning to play fingerstyle mostly a triple0 size may be better. An OM sized guitar is my personal favorite. I can strumm it pretty hard without it getting muddy and I can fingerpick very softly and still get a beautiful tone out of the same instrument.

As I said earlier YOU need to play a variety of guitars in different shapes and wood types to see which will work for you best.

Another bit of advice I would offer is buy the guitar that feels right in your hands and sounds right to your ears. This means you can't buy a quality guitar without playing it first!............. Good luck
 
Re: Acoustic fingerpicking guitar

Bludave said:
When buying an acoustic guitar there are a few things you should look for. If you plan on fingerpicking as you state in your thread, I would recommend going with a 1 3/4" nut width. The wider neck will increase the string spacing and make it a lot easier to get your fingers in between the strings.

Tone woods. As far as woods and body sizes go you really have to play a variety of guitars to get a feel for what type of tone/sound you are after.

Rosewood offers a strong bottom, but in a large guitar like a Jumbo or Dreadnaught they can be boomy, or the bottom can over power the rest of the guitar. Mahaogony and Koa offer more balance from string to strimg and maple tends to be brighter than the others. This can be a good thing in a large guitar.

I would also recommend going with a solid wood guitar rather than a laminate. Solid wood guitars will offer much better tone and will continue to sound better over the years. The draw back to solid wood guitar are if they get to dry the tops can crak or worse!!. You need to keep a slolid wood guitar prpoerly Hydrated to prevent this.

I prefer dovetail neck joints over bolt on style necks IMO a dovetail offers better sound transfer to the body. The neck and body have a much more solid connection. Taylors, Breedlove and Collings have bolt on necks. THIS DOES NOT MEAN THAT THEY ARE INFERIOR. IMO Martins offer a better tone than many others (if you can find the right one), but on the other hand they are considerably harder to play. Taylors and Breedloves are great acoustic guitars for electric guitar players. Martin style guitars will make you work harder, but in the long run will make you a better player.

When buying an acoustic guitar buy it for its acoustic qualities, not for it's sound plugged in. Good electronics can be added to a good guitar without altering the guitar in any way. I do not like on board EQ's on acoustic guitars. You are basically cutting a hole in the side to add the EQ and this will affect the acoustic quality of the instrument.

If you are going to be strumming mainly a larger guitar like a Jumbo or Dreadnaught might be better suited for this. IF you are planning to play fingerstyle mostly a triple0 size may be better. An OM sized guitar is my personal favorite. I can strumm it pretty hard without it getting muddy and I can fingerpick very softly and still get a beautiful tone out of the same instrument.

As I said earlier YOU need to play a variety of guitars in different shapes and wood types to see which will work for you best.

Another bit of advice I would offer is buy the guitar that feels right in your hands and sounds right to your ears. This means you can't buy a quality guitar without playing it first!............. Good luck
Click to expand...

Thanks very very much Bludave! :)
Very nice reply, thanks...
 
Re: Acoustic fingerpicking guitar

fingerace said:
Can you please help me choose one of these guitars: I know this is not the best forum to talk about acoustics, but I hope you can help me... Thank you very much Andreas
Click to expand...

What are you suggesting? :D
Me, if I had a price range and had to blind-pick a guitar, I'd go to MusiciansFriend, select Acoustic (or Acoustic-Electric, etc), click the price range I want, then sort by customer reviews. Then so long as it's not one of those 2-review guitars, I'd buy based on that: whatever is top rated. Granted, it's also about how the guitar feels and such, so I wouldn't do that. I'd print that sorted list I just described and go to a music store and try the guitars on, play on them for a while, etc.
 
Re: Acoustic fingerpicking guitar

For fingerpicking I don't think anything beats an OM or 000 size guitar like my Martin OM-28. But I also love my Taylor and, IMO, Taylor gives you the most guitar for the money. I like my Martin a little more...but it cost more too. So I'd go for aTaylor. Mine is also the Auditorium sized instrument like the one pictured in your link...not quite the same model. Mine is Indian rosewood and sitka spruce. Anyways, I like the OM size and Auditorium size better than the dreadnaught size D-28's and the like. Lew
 
Last edited:
Re: Acoustic fingerpicking guitar

I see you live in Cyprus. You're in Europe so you could also consider Furch guitars. They're very similar to Taylors in quality but less expensive (at least here in Hungary...) as they're made in the Czech Republic.

http://www.furch.cz/
 
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