" In the 45 years I've been playing/gigging I've been both disappointed by expensive "high end" instruments and amazed by "budget" cheapies and so learned to ignore labels/decals and trust what I can hear and feel."

Yes, well it was my birthday last Friday and I took the day off and basically tried out guitars in London music shops all afternoon.

I played quite a few high-end Taylors and Martins, quite a few Eastmans too. And lots of cheapies–mid-range by Crafter, Faith and Vintage. I liked the Mayson laminate version of the guitar I linked to above; I also liked the Cort L500: they were very very similar guitars.

But the guitar that probably impressed me the most was the Seagull S6 Cedar Folk, retailing around £450. Has a moderate satin rather than a gloss finish, so the sound rings out. Cedar gives it a depth that similar spruce guitars around the same price didn't have. Tone didn't blow me away at first, but every time I picked a different guitar from the rack the Seagull was the clear winner. It really grew on me.