Tell me about your acoustic guitar(s)

[paulman]

I really really really want a new acoustic guitar. I'm over my Ibanez, and I want a high end acoustic. I thought I wanted a Martin D-28, but I've fallen in love with the Gibson Hummingbird. I love the meaty, round tone. It will, however, cost me an arm and possibly part of a leg too (I suppose they can have my right - that foot has been fucking with me lately anyway). I'm curious what everyone has for acoustic guitars, and what you love or hate about them. The two that I just mentioned are the standard-bearers for acoustics, so I'd appreciate some enlightenment as to what other goodness is out there other than the Big Two.

[Tadpui]

I've played a martin D-41 since about 2008, and it's probably the last acoustic I'll own. It's just magnificent.

If I had to reach for a complaint about it, it'd be the common complaint about dreadnaughts in general, which is that it generates a lot of low end energy, and while that sounds amazing in the room, it makes for a boomy recording. I usually either back off of it with the mic a bit, or just deal with it in post with some EQ.

What I love about it is its tone. I don't really have the words to describe it other than "woody". Which is kind of silly to say, since it's made of wood, same as almost all acoustic guitars. But the soundboard is just so perfectly crafted that it resonates in such a pleasant way.

I had to play dozens of guitars to find this one. I'd first heard that same tone in an HD-28, but at the time I couldn't afford that guitar. By the time I could afford it a year later, that particular guitar was long gone. I played a different HD-28, and it just wasn't the same. It didn't have that "something". I played just about every Martin in town that week, and I only picked up the D-41 on a whim. The blingy binding isn't quite my style, and the price tag was an obvious deterrent (although it was nearly $2000 cheaper in 2008 than it is today!). But as soon as I strummed a chord and played a few single notes, I knew right then that this had that "something". I heard what I'd heard in that first HD-28 a year earlier. This was "the one".

I guess that the moral of my tale is to play as many guitars as you can while you're shopping. Get your hands on them in person. Even two acoustic guitars of the same make and model won't necessarily sound the same. I've bought a few electric guitars sight-unseen, but I think that an acoustic just needs to be touched in order to be evaluated.

Best of luck in your search!

[JD01]

I have a Martin Ellipse, a Mexican Martin. Doesn't have any flash binding or anything like that, but it sounds great and really records well. Will save you a few quid too

[CrowsofFritz]

I want a Martin 000-15 really bad

[CeeBee]

I have a Tama dreadnought I bought in 1973 and it is still going strong. I won a Musima Nashville dreadnought from a guitar magazine which I wouldn't have been able to afford, which is a great guitar, basically a German Martin from Markneukirchen. The dreadnoughts are a bit big for me so being the tightwad I am I made myself a couple of smaller ones, a nylon string and a steel string with a cutaway.

[rayc]

I have a Fender 12 string...it's nice but evil on finger tips.
Also a noname brand from the early 80s - ThreeThrees - it sounded the best in the music shop despite being near the cheapest.
I little nylon noname as well...sounds nice.

[Manslick]

Martin SWDGT.

[Armistice]

I have 5 acoustics - all Matons, which are an Australian brand - they go from high end to mid range... I was in an acoustic band, so played lots of live acoustic

Messiah - the highest production model they make - ebony fretboard, gloss finish cutaway, pickup, gold hardware - the only one I ever play live, because why wouldn't you play your best guitar - as such it has plenty of "character" - big sound, superb in the room, great live amplified, real hard to record

EA80C "Australian" - next level down, rosewood fretboard, gloss finish, cutaway, pickup, gold hardware - great guitar, slightly thinner sound - my GF, conspiring with my cousin, bought it for me about 10 years ago, because I was musing about getting a new guitar - what I wasn't musing about was getting another MATON guitar, because they're all just slight sonic variations of each other, depending upon materials

ECW80 - next level down again, rosewood fretboard, gloss finish, cutaway, pickup, gold hardware - this was actually an up-spec version of the model which doesn't normally have the gloss finish and gold hardware - thinner again, sound wise

12 string - base model, no pickup, no cutaway, no gloss. Sounds like it too but I got it for a ridiculous price and I don't play 12 string.

Having read all that, you won't be buying a Maton anyway because you probably can't, even if you wanted to.

*****

There is a difference between a good live amplified acoustic, a good live unamplified acoustic, and a good recording acoustic - and no one guitar will cover all the bases well... For recording, big dreadnoughts with great unamplified tones can be a bitch, precisely because of that great sound - depending upon what sort of thing you're recording. Strummy back up stuff, no worries, you can do a lot with EQ to fit things in, but if it's a feature instrument, it can be quite difficult to tame - as @Tadpui has mentioned way above.

I have 3 albums of acoustic guitar based instrumentals, the last has the best sounds but I never really had full confidence that I'd nailed it properly, despite many different microphones, positions, mixing techniques and arrangements. @Ausrock went on that journey with me and reckons I got it right, but it was quite a trip!

Good luck...

[Greg_L]

My acoustic is in a closet somewhere. Haven't seen it in years.

[Lt. Bob]

I've played a martin D-41 since about 2008, and it's probably the last acoustic I'll own. It's just magnificent.

That's basically a less ornate D-45 isn't it?

Anyway a friend in BR has one and that's how he described it.

And magnificent is the best descriptor of that guitar.
I remember picking it up and being dumbstruck at how awesome it was, and I'm really not an acoustic guy.
But that thing played like butter and it was SO responsive ..... just beautiful sound at even the lightest touch ...... just wonderful and the absolute best acoustic I've ever picked up and one of the best guitars I've picked up including electrics.

I envy you having one.

I have 3 acoustics ..... one is a 'meh' Alvarez signed by everyone at one of the jamfests and I won it.

I also have a Norman .... a Canadian guitar no one's heard of. Plays and sounds nice enough.
And I have a Takamine 12-string ..... black with a cutaway ....... kinda so-so sounding but it's aighht.

[musicturtle]

I have a Martin DC-16GTE.

I do not think they make it anymore but you can find one every once in a while on Reverb, etc.

Pretty standard model for Martin but what sets it apart for me is the pickup system. It has a condenser built inside of the body to go with the piezo under the saddle. You can use either exclusively or blend them. I like to use the condenser for recording and mic the guitar outside and blend them in my DAW.

Sounds great, plays great. Had it since 2002, still going strong.

[Tadpui]

I've played a martin D-41 since about 2008, and it's probably the last acoustic I'll own. It's just magnificent.

That's basically a less ornate D-45 isn't it?

As far as I know, that's correct. The D-45 has a few more pieces of binding on it, but it looks like the construction is the same between that and the D-41.

It's kind of a long story as to why I ended up getting that guitar, but it was the first time I'd ever really treated myself to a fine instrument (well I guess my Les Paul 10 years before that counts too). It's a very sentimental instrument to me, and my infatuation with it hasn't faded a bit in the nearly 15 years I've had it. I hope that it's as happy living with me as I am living with it

[CrowsofFritz]

God damn it, guys. Stop telling about your Martins. I’m getting jealous. Lmao

[JD01]

God damn it, guys. Stop telling about your Martins. I’m getting jealous. Lmao

You should tell us about your Martin.

[rayc]

My mate has an Ibanez he bought in 1976...it's a Hummingbird 12 string lawsuit era copy and REALLY worth the lawsuit because it's WONDERFUL.

[vomitHatSteve]

God damn it, guys. Stop telling about your Martins. I’m getting jealous. Lmao

My martin is some $20 guitar that somebody put electrical tape over the logo and wrote "Martin" on it.

I've also got one of those XLME(?) mini martins that I was holding for a friend in prison but decided I liked.

Those and a $50 generic thing I got off a Musician's Friend SDotD

[CrowsofFritz]

God damn it, guys. Stop telling about your Martins. I’m getting jealous. Lmao

My martin is some $20 guitar that somebody put electrical tape over the logo and wrote "Martin" on it.

I've also got one of those XLME(?) mini martins that I was holding for a friend in prison but decided I liked.

Those and a $50 generic thing I got off a Musician's Friend SDotD

I debated getting those small martins. They’re really good sound for the size. Just a tiiiiny bit off from what I like, though. I need something a bit bigger.

[muttley]

God damn it, guys. Stop telling about your Martins. I’m getting jealous. Lmao

My martin is some $20 guitar that somebody put electrical tape over the logo and wrote "Martin" on it.

...............

That would have been my mate Martin. He's a really great guy but a bit of a chancer.

[WhiskeyJack]

I have a Taylor 114e

When i went shopping for an acoustic the Taylors, to me, blew everything else out of the water in a very practical sense. I bought a lower price range Taylor, the 114e. And I am not kidding when i say when i AB'd with other much higher price point Acoustics' including the J45 and a few Martins it just was a superior piece of guitar. TO ME AND MY EARS. It felt better, it played better, it sounded better. that was the big one. the sound. All the Gibsons and the martins had this notable boxxy almost like mid bumped box sound. none of the Taylors i played had that sound i found kinda yukky. Maybe that is the sound people want from an acoustic which might be why some of the more upper range brand names all seemed to have that carton-y honk bonk sound?? Maybe i'm the broken one here and i don't like how an acoustic is supposed to sound? HAHA?!

The Taylors seemed to throw an even consistent buttery smooth range of freq's evenly. None of the models seemed to accent or elevate another over another. My brother has a Taylor 314ce and holy! It's a dream to play. It sounds almost identical to my 114e the only difference being the finishes and i would say his is just a better quality of set up. Shame it just sits in it's case for months on end with no love. I almost sold my 114e to get myself something in the 3 series, but but for the price i had to pay to make up the difference with the adoption pending this year it would have been a very poor financial choice. There will be more 3XX series in a few more years and i will upgrade then.

the surprising caveat to all of this was the second runner up to the Taylors were a few select models in Larrivees mid and upper price point.

now, to be fair, i only play campfire chords and few bastardized versions there of to suit my disability as @Bubba would call it, so i can't speak to how a Taylor would sound for stuff like finger picking or unplugged shredding.