|
Post by PistolPete on Jul 25, 2020 7:29:35 GMT
As ocarolan said, it's worth exploring installing a pickup in your Crafter if you like the guitar. Depending on your needs you can find perfectly serviceable soundhole pickup for about £25, or you can throw a couple of hundred pounds at something of the same quality you'll find attached to the guitar of your favourite touring musicians. If you are shopping for something else (and let's face it there are very few people on *this* forum, who aren't looking for an excuse, any excuse, to buy a new guitar) then as others have mentioned Vintage, Faith, Blueridge & Eastman all produce some great guitars for the money. Don't overlook Yamaha either, they are pretty unsexy, but really seem to bat above their weight tonally compared to other stuff in the same price brackets. I wouldn't get too hung up on the internet gospel that only solid wood guitars are worth owning either. Laminate back and sides really don't make that much difference, and I actually like the more compressed sound you get from a good laminate top. To my ears it's all about getting the bracing right. A late 1950s Gibson J200 will set you back £10,000+, but there are folks on the interweb who've never played one that'll tell you they're only fit for firewood because the sides are laminated maple...
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Jul 25, 2020 8:05:48 GMT
Inclined to agree with this. I got hung up on solid guitars for a while and I could have saved myself a lot of ballache if I hadn't. If you are prepared to compromise with laminate then you should take a look at the Yamaha FGX830 (dreadnought) and FSX830 (smaller). Both got gorgeous tones and excellent amplified sounds. Both got solid spruce tops with some kind of compressed / laminated rosewood back and sides. They come in brown sunburst, natural or black. Prices are weird. Brown sunburst FSX £475. Natural FSX £638. Natural FGX £499. Black FGX £600. Imo the brown sunburst is the best looking of the lot. If they had Taylor or Martin on the headstock they'd go for at least twice that money, probably more. If you decide you want one the best prices are at the Yamaha store. FGX. FSX. Give them a listen on youtube. You might just be persuaded.
|
|
|
Post by andyhowell on Jul 25, 2020 9:16:35 GMT
The Loudbox mini is a very nice piece of kit and the Venus is a nive guitar adn consistently made from those that I have played.
|
|
|
Post by vikingblues on Jul 25, 2020 9:17:37 GMT
The general advice would be to get out and play as many as you can but that’s not easy in these times. But that way you’d get an idea of what body size/shape you prefer. What exactly do you mean by solid? Solid wood as opposed to laminate? Assuming that I’d add another vote for Faith; great value for money all solid wood and well made. Yes am thinking all solid wood and no laminate, just from what I have researched. I have been advised to look at Faiths range, Eastman's and some low end Martin's and Taylor's Not wanting to muddy the waters on this one (don't you hate it when someone says that and then proceeds to do it ), but some acoustic builders deliberately use laminate for the back and sides. Thought I'd mention it as I've ended up with a 50:50 split on laminate B&S / all solids in my collection - all in the under £700 bracket.
Rob Armstrong (Gordon Giltrap's acoustic guitar builder) used laminate back and side for strength - the top needs to move freely to give the sound in his view and the extra strength of the laminate elsewhere can help that happen. This maybe allows factory builds to reduce their standard thickness for a top when using laminate B&S, and gives a better chance of a good resonant top. Where you have quality bespoke builds and the top is properly thicknessed according to the properties of that particular piece of wood, the strength aspect becomes less of a factor. Most factory builds just build mainly on the basis of standard measurements regardless of the fact that wood is a natural material and it's properties of things like density and stiffness along the grain vary hugely, even when wood is from the same tree or the same batch. ("removing seemingly small amounts of wood will make a huge difference in the wood’s measured stiffness" - Ervin Somogyi).
I know that an all solid wood guitar will tend to sound better than those with laminate back and sides. But the all solid guitars do tend to be at higher price points and have the advantage of other aspects of the build being better quality, including being built by proper craftsmen. You can certainly get all solid wood acoustics in lower price brackets that sound rubbish - I know because I've tried them. As well as laminated B&S guitars that sounded rubbish.
As with all things acoustic guitar there are no hard and fast rules. The sum of the parts has so many variable factors - makes buying choices SO much fun!!.
Mark
PS - I'll add my support for the Loudbox Mini amps.
|
|
|
Post by countcatula on Jul 26, 2020 12:47:56 GMT
Yes am thinking all solid wood and no laminate, just from what I have researched. I have been advised to look at Faiths range, Eastman's and some low end Martin's and Taylor's Not wanting to muddy the waters on this one (don't you hate it when someone says that and then proceeds to do it ), but some acoustic builders deliberately use laminate for the back and sides. Thought I'd mention it as I've ended up with a 50:50 split on laminate B&S / all solids in my collection - all in the under £700 bracket.
Rob Armstrong (Gordon Giltrap's acoustic guitar builder) used laminate back and side for strength - the top needs to move freely to give the sound in his view and the extra strength of the laminate elsewhere can help that happen. This maybe allows factory builds to reduce their standard thickness for a top when using laminate B&S, and gives a better chance of a good resonant top. Where you have quality bespoke builds and the top is properly thicknessed according to the properties of that particular piece of wood, the strength aspect becomes less of a factor. Most factory builds just build mainly on the basis of standard measurements regardless of the fact that wood is a natural material and it's properties of things like density and stiffness along the grain vary hugely, even when wood is from the same tree or the same batch. ("removing seemingly small amounts of wood will make a huge difference in the wood’s measured stiffness" - Ervin Somogyi).
I know that an all solid wood guitar will tend to sound better than those with laminate back and sides. But the all solid guitars do tend to be at higher price points and have the advantage of other aspects of the build being better quality, including being built by proper craftsmen. You can certainly get all solid wood acoustics in lower price brackets that sound rubbish - I know because I've tried them. As well as laminated B&S guitars that sounded rubbish.
As with all things acoustic guitar there are no hard and fast rules. The sum of the parts has so many variable factors - makes buying choices SO much fun!!.
Mark
PS - I'll add my support for the Loudbox Mini amps.
Really informative and I enjoyed learning something I'd don't know. I will bear it all in mind when I make my choice.
|
|
|
Post by countcatula on Jul 26, 2020 12:56:28 GMT
As ocarolan said, it's worth exploring installing a pickup in your Crafter if you like the guitar. Depending on your needs you can find perfectly serviceable soundhole pickup for about £25, or you can throw a couple of hundred pounds at something of the same quality you'll find attached to the guitar of your favourite touring musicians. If you are shopping for something else (and let's face it there are very few people on *this* forum, who aren't looking for an excuse, any excuse, to buy a new guitar) then as others have mentioned Vintage, Faith, Blueridge & Eastman all produce some great guitars for the money. Don't overlook Yamaha either, they are pretty unsexy, but really seem to bat above their weight tonally compared to other stuff in the same price brackets. I wouldn't get too hung up on the internet gospel that only solid wood guitars are worth owning either. Laminate back and sides really don't make that much difference, and I actually like the more compressed sound you get from a good laminate top. To my ears it's all about getting the bracing right. A late 1950s Gibson J200 will set you back £10,000+, but there are folks on the interweb who've never played one that'll tell you they're only fit for firewood because the sides are laminated maple... I have toyed with the idea of putting a pick up in my existing crafter.... trouble is I was thinking it is only a Cheap end guitar and is it worth spending 150 to put one in....
|
|
|
Post by countcatula on Jul 26, 2020 12:57:19 GMT
The Loudbox mini is a very nice piece of kit and the Venus is a nive guitar adn consistently made from those that I have played. I am glad about the loudbox I had also looked at the spark, Marshall as 50d and the Laney A1 plus
|
|
|
Post by countcatula on Jul 26, 2020 12:57:43 GMT
Inclined to agree with this. I got hung up on solid guitars for a while and I could have saved myself a lot of ballache if I hadn't. If you are prepared to compromise with laminate then you should take a look at the Yamaha FGX830 (dreadnought) and FSX830 (smaller). Both got gorgeous tones and excellent amplified sounds. Both got solid spruce tops with some kind of compressed / laminated rosewood back and sides. They come in brown sunburst, natural or black. Prices are weird. Brown sunburst FSX £475. Natural FSX £638. Natural FGX £499. Black FGX £600. Imo the brown sunburst is the best looking of the lot. If they had Taylor or Martin on the headstock they'd go for at least twice that money, probably more. If you decide you want one the best prices are at the Yamaha store. FGX. FSX. Give them a listen on youtube. You might just be persuaded. Cheers will have a look
|
|
|
Post by countcatula on Jul 26, 2020 13:00:08 GMT
Haha, good job we are all different, I did try a faith naked Venus (glad I got it the right way round haha) and I liked it but when I thought about it, it was open pore so wasn't keen on it getting mucky! Faith have a wide, some might say bewildering, range of finishes. Apart from the open pore the rest are a gloss finish. I quite like some of their limited ones but shouldn't be swayed by looks!
|
|
|
Post by countcatula on Jul 26, 2020 13:00:56 GMT
Blueridge have got a good reputation (although I've not played one). Apparently they're built and sound a lot like Martins. There are a few here in your range. The solid ones are the 140s and 143s and also I think there is a jumbo dread with solid maple back and sides - might be a 150 or 1500 or something. Anyway, if there is a Hobgoblin near you (they're all over the country) it might be worth a look. Click here to see the Hobgoblin Blueridge page. Edit: Not a real Hobgoblin, obv, although if there is one near you then do take a picture. No hobgoblins close... Or the shops!
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Jul 26, 2020 14:06:03 GMT
Shame. They're nice guitars.
If you're anywhere near London or you fancy a day out the Hobgoblin shop and the Yamaha shop are quite close to one another. Yamaha has a sale on in the shop. The prices are lower than those shown on their website. I saw an Jumbl LL16 dreadnought for about £750. I know that's a bit more than your max but that is a lifetime guitar - a lovely instrument. And as I say Hobgoblin is an easy walk from Yamaha, just the other side of Oxford Street. I didn't go in there but given the way retailers have taken a hit over the last few months it wouldn't be at all surprising to see the prices there have been lowered too. Even if not I bet they'd be open to a bit of haggling.
Anyway, good luck with the search.
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Jul 26, 2020 14:08:40 GMT
You're the one who is going to have to pick it up and play it. You're not going to buy that many guitars in your life (NB: this sentence is does not apply to all forum members). Might as well be one you like the look of as well as the sound.
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Jul 27, 2020 11:59:25 GMT
|
|
|
Post by vikingblues on Jul 31, 2020 8:57:15 GMT
Looks odd seeing Scayles Music in Edinburgh as a Hobgoblin emporium! Thankfully Scayles got taken on by a business that know things about acoustics and folk instruments - it was by far the best shop for Acoustic instrument buying in Edinburgh. I wonder if they still set up every instrument when it comes out of it's box to go on display? Mark
|
|
|
Post by papadon on Sept 5, 2020 23:03:05 GMT
All I can tell you is what I'm happy with for the amount I could afford to invest. At first I messed around with the presets but I no longer use them at all. The big attraction for me is that it's got 8 places where I can store the tones I dial in on the panel for each of my guitars and all I have to do is simply push a button to retrieve them the next time I play. Guild Westerly (solid wood) D140CE and Boss Katana thru speaker cabinet or mini PA.
And here's something I recorded with the Guild.
|
|