I forgot to put my name on my last posting to this thread: It started off by suggesting that perhaps all the good Lowdens went to the USA, 'cos there are some over here that are not all that: But then the Irish have for centuries preferred their best exports not to go to England, and who can really blame them. Anyway, enough politics.

The purpose of this posting is two-fold. First, I do like Taylors a lot, so I think Crystal's conversion to Martins is unwise!. Perhaps the best Taylors come to England for silly prices. The first one I saw was when I was looking for something for my wife to play while her Hagstrom went in for some work (I was playing a Washburn D10 then, and quite rightly she wouldn't touch it with a bargepole) and I was very taken with it. I thought it was reasonably priced too. A week later I went back half intending to buy it - and discovered that the price tag I thought had said GBP300 ($450, roughly) in truth had said GBP 3,300 (nearly $5,000). It stayed in the shop. I would rather have had it than any Martin I've ever seen. To diverge for a moment the nicest sounding Martin I've ever heard is a small-body (perhaps an 000) about 30 years old owned by a cider-drinking (and I do mean drinking) friend who has only 3 fingers on his right hand and is very influenced by Martin Carthy. It has a huge and subtle sound despite the previous owner having varnished it with yacht varnish (true, I swear) which is still on it. But the action is very high, and the neck is neither straight nor true to the body, which makes for great fun re-tuning after every song but usually to a different tuning anyway. He mostly favours DADGAD one tone (step, I think, in American) down, but also plays DADEAD one tone down, and open C. Hence he uses heavy guage strings (yes I mean heavy, not 13/56 (or 58) which counts as medium) and swears by Daddario. A great sound and horrid to play.

The second reason for posting again is this. I've been less than complimentary about Washburns this and last posting so I guess I'd better mention a good one. I saw it in my local shop and really liked it. It was less than GBP 300 ($450) too. It was a light-strutted DM34S, with a 12 fret neck, and a slightly wider than usual neck. Nice sweet sound, easy to play, not hugely loud, but no use to my wife who wanted and still wants a 15 fret neck.