Acoustic Guitars

Guitar-Sam

New member
Have any of you others guys noticed that allot(dare I say most)acoustic guitars play like garbage??
A while ago me and a buddy went to Guitar Center to get him a nice acoustic guitar.We tried about 30 of them Martins,Breedlove,Taylor all the major over priced boatanchors.Allmost all of them played like garbage.You can put binding on everything and pearly inlays and this and that but if it frets like telephone cable on railroad tracks what good is it.
When all was said and done he actually saved a buck cause he grabbed a Used Takamine with case for $550 and this little thing SLAUGHTERED most of the $2000 acoustics in the store.The action was comfortable for chording and could play a lead without every bend being flat and un vibratoed like most of the expense boatanchors.
So anyways I've played allot of acoustic guitars but it seems to me like only about 1 out of 50 is playable with out a steroid shot in the arm.
Is there something other than playabilitie that makes people pick these other guitars on the shelf??
 
Re: Acoustic Guitars

It sounds like you are shopping in the wrong store. I've never experienced what you've gone though when looking at $2000 guitars. Only 1 in 50 is playable? That seems like an exaggeration, in my opinion.
 
Re: Acoustic Guitars

Interesting discussion.....I recently bought a Simon and Patrick acoustic for $300 and I love it....I played it side by side with Martins and Gibsons that day and I believe it held its own.....A friend was with me that day who knows nothing about guitars and liked the sound of the SP the best when I played some familiar tunes....Coincidentally I met another customer in the store that day who just returned his Martin D-28 after having it for only a weekend....His reason?...And I am not making this up....He really did not find it comfortable at all to play...
 
Re: Acoustic Guitars

Only 1 in 50 is playable? That seems like an exaggeration, in my opinion.
Maybe a little.........I am part Italian so exaggeration is possible.I was also talking with my hands while I posted that.:):eyecrazy:
Not all were that horrid but even the ones that were decent had by no means what I would call great action or sound.Allot of them were "pingy" sounding and very tight feeling.I was just a bit shocked as I figured they would be"all that" for the price range but was disapointed.
 
Re: Acoustic Guitars

You must have been to the wrong store. No acoustic is going to play super easy like an electric with 9's but good ones are pleasure to play.
 
Re: Acoustic Guitars

Well, I have a bunch of Martins, an Ibanez, a Taylor 710CE and a pair of Tak 12-strings. Everyone of those guitars has had the nut and/or saddle professionally adjusted at some point.

NO BIG DEAL.

With 45 years of playing under my belt, I not only appreciate the quality of a finely-made instrument, but I can tell when one is not up to snuff. And I can tell the difference between a dead guitar, and a guitar that simply has dead strings. I can almost always tell which guitar is going to open up, and which one is going to sound like a cigar box for the rest of its life.

So when I try out a new guitar, I'm "guitar whispering". I want to hear the guitar that wants to "run like a racehorse or a greyhound". I want the F-16, not the Cessna. I want the 'Vette, not the Yugo.

And when I hear that in a guitar, do you think I am going to be concerned about paying fifty bucks for a slight adjustment that will allow that guitar to be at it's best? It would be foolish to pass it up.

I have 48 guitars at the moment, and several of them were bought from people who didn't know what they had, when all it took was a minor adjustment. And I've had previous owners want to buy back their guitars once they heard what they were capable of.

I'm not into throwing good money after bad. And it's true, you can play five guitars of the same model and one might be a dog--even with guitars priced at $3,000 and up. No guitar is perfect. Grab the best one, and make it right.

Bill
 
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