My first really good guitar was a Martin 00-18. Spruce soundboard, mahogany back and sides. I liked it very much.

But it was about a year later that I began studying classical guitar, and the steel-string 00-18 is not suitable for that, so I traded it in on a Martin 00-28-G, a wide-necked (2") nylon-strung instrument with a spruce soundboard and Brazilian rosewood back and sides.

A very nice instrument. But I was subsequently introduced to Spanish-made classics, and I have had several since then. My present guitar is actually a Japanese-made look-alike of a José Ramirez (the guitar Segovia played). I played it at the Seattle Classic Guitar Society, where several people own José Ramirez classics, and it sounded so good that they assumed that it was a Ramirez. Not bad for a guitar I bought for one-tenth of what I would have to pay for a Ramirez.

But I assume, Skarpi, that you are looking for a steel-string guitar. Lots of people prefer the large-bodied guitars like the Martin Dreadnaught, but I've always found them "boomy" and bass-heavy. My preference—for vocal accompaniment—is a smaller instrument with a more balanced tone and volume.

The sweetest sounding guitar I've ever heard was a small parlor guitar that was given to my girl friend at the time by her grandmother, who no longer played. It was a 50 year old George Washburn "Ladies' Model" parlor guitar. Beautiful, warm-sounding instrument.

Parlor gutars are not as loud as the bigger bodied instruments, but they are certainly loud enough, and I like the tone and balance much better.

The best advice I could give is—if you can—try the guitar before buying it.

Don Firth