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Post by scorpiodog on Aug 6, 2016 7:34:06 GMT
Atta boy, Chaucer! I'm delighted you've started your journey this way. May I make a suggestion? Try a few guitars that are out of your price range. This may prove a bit controversial. But, despite the fact that if you find "the one" and can't afford it it may seem quite frustrating, it will give you some insights into what can be possible in terms of tone and playability. But more importantly it may guide you into finding the exceptional batch built guitars. After the price point you're looking in, the differences can be quite subtle, and the quality/price equation is not linear. I would particularly suggest that you try whatever the Gibson equivalent of the Epiphone is. And if you're still looking at Sigma, they all have a Martin equivalent. The reason I suggest this is not for the brand, but because Epiphones are designed to be cosmetically similar to Gibsons and Sigmas have the same relationship to Martins, but with better woods and better or, at least, different production methods. I bet you're having fun, eh? As Ocarolan says, it's a sweet shop!
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Post by Deleted on Aug 6, 2016 14:24:17 GMT
This thread is a cracking read. I don't think that I have enough guitaring experience to offer an opinion directly regarding tone woods and construction.....all I know is some guitars sound different than others....and that more expensive doesn't necessarily mean better sounding. Guitar sound is as objective as it is subjective. But I'm having great fun playing as many as I can!
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Post by vikingblues on Aug 7, 2016 7:05:09 GMT
Wow - you have been busy chaucer! Pauls suggestion about trying some guitars out of your price range has merits though there is that potential problem he mentions of accidentally finding that perfect guitar and not being able to do anything about it. But if you only go as high as a value that could be affordable for you in the longer term the disappointment of that could be tempered with knowing it could eventually be done. I would however hate to try guitars so far out of my price range that I could never afford one. Perversely a plus for me about trying rather a lot of guitars well above what was my normal £600 limit in my search for a magical guitar that would transform me into a great player (Ho Ho! ) was it showed very well the diminishing returns and non linear aspect of price v quality. In the end, but only after I'll admit some unnecessary cost and loss, I'm now very happy with my range of modest instruments as they suit my modest abilities and aspirations very well. I would venture that the better you are as a player, or the higher your aspirations are, the higher the price point is where the diminishing returns kick in. It's very interesting too to see how the more prestigious brands, when they move their price point down towards their cheaper brand counterparts, start economising in rather a big way on materials and lose a great deal of their aura. The cheaper end of the range of the more prestigious brands do often just seem to feel cheap in a bad way, while the lesser brand at the same price point is producing their better quality guitars which often don't have that cheap feel. Mark
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Post by chaucer on Aug 7, 2016 8:47:20 GMT
An interesting idea to push above budget and to try 'copies' vs the real thing (Epi vs Gibson and Sigma vs Martin etc).
I did try an out-of-budget Tanglewood STR1 ... wasn't overly impressed with it. But that was the only one above. Oh - except the Faith ... the one I tried (Jupiter Natural) was a used model at well below RRP.
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Post by chaucer on Aug 9, 2016 6:37:24 GMT
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