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Best guitar you've owned yet...

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Little Hawk	20 Jan 05 - 10:24 PM
thespionage	20 Jan 05 - 10:29 PM
Peace	20 Jan 05 - 10:30 PM
Midchuck	20 Jan 05 - 11:20 PM
Little Hawk	20 Jan 05 - 11:31 PM
Midchuck	20 Jan 05 - 11:59 PM
Don(Wyziwyg)T	21 Jan 05 - 01:47 AM
Grab	21 Jan 05 - 06:50 AM
GUEST,John from Tarneybackle	21 Jan 05 - 07:23 AM
Splott Man	21 Jan 05 - 07:24 AM
CStrong	21 Jan 05 - 07:25 AM
Seaking	21 Jan 05 - 07:30 AM
breezy	21 Jan 05 - 08:28 AM
Dreaded Thumbpick	21 Jan 05 - 09:17 AM
Paco Rabanne	21 Jan 05 - 09:22 AM
Bee-dubya-ell	21 Jan 05 - 09:59 AM
Mooh	21 Jan 05 - 10:02 AM
Once Famous	21 Jan 05 - 10:11 AM
GUEST,punkfolkrocker	21 Jan 05 - 10:26 AM
GUEST,Jim	21 Jan 05 - 10:29 AM
GUEST,Jim	21 Jan 05 - 10:36 AM
Little Hawk	21 Jan 05 - 10:49 AM
GUEST,Auggie	21 Jan 05 - 10:55 AM
GUEST,Jim	21 Jan 05 - 11:02 AM
eleanor c	21 Jan 05 - 11:08 AM
Once Famous	21 Jan 05 - 11:15 AM
Big Mick	21 Jan 05 - 11:22 AM
GUEST,Davy	21 Jan 05 - 11:26 AM
GUEST,Jim	21 Jan 05 - 11:27 AM
PoppaGator	21 Jan 05 - 11:28 AM
GUEST,punkfolkrocker	21 Jan 05 - 11:28 AM
GUEST	21 Jan 05 - 11:32 AM
GUEST,DHL	21 Jan 05 - 11:34 AM
Grab	21 Jan 05 - 11:34 AM
Once Famous	21 Jan 05 - 12:05 PM
GUEST,Jim	21 Jan 05 - 12:07 PM
GUEST,auggie	21 Jan 05 - 12:10 PM
PoppaGator	21 Jan 05 - 12:13 PM
Once Famous	21 Jan 05 - 12:14 PM
C-flat	21 Jan 05 - 12:23 PM
PennyBlack	21 Jan 05 - 12:37 PM
Big Mick	21 Jan 05 - 12:37 PM
GUEST,Anon	21 Jan 05 - 12:48 PM
Richard Bridge	21 Jan 05 - 12:54 PM
Auggie	21 Jan 05 - 02:25 PM
Auggie	21 Jan 05 - 02:27 PM
GUEST,amateur	21 Jan 05 - 02:41 PM
mandotim	21 Jan 05 - 02:47 PM
Justa Picker	21 Jan 05 - 02:57 PM
Once Famous	21 Jan 05 - 03:05 PM
Auggie	21 Jan 05 - 03:06 PM
GUEST	21 Jan 05 - 03:08 PM
GUEST,Tunesmith	21 Jan 05 - 03:17 PM
shepherdlass	21 Jan 05 - 03:57 PM
GUEST,Obie	21 Jan 05 - 04:02 PM
Wesley S	21 Jan 05 - 04:11 PM
Justa Picker	21 Jan 05 - 04:48 PM
kendall	21 Jan 05 - 05:20 PM
mooman	21 Jan 05 - 05:40 PM
The Barden of England	21 Jan 05 - 06:14 PM
Big Mick	21 Jan 05 - 06:17 PM
GUEST	21 Jan 05 - 06:22 PM
Jeri	21 Jan 05 - 07:12 PM
Dickie	21 Jan 05 - 08:27 PM
Mooh	21 Jan 05 - 10:44 PM
van lingle	22 Jan 05 - 11:22 AM
Big Mick	22 Jan 05 - 12:23 PM
Justa Picker	22 Jan 05 - 02:02 PM
Jeri	22 Jan 05 - 03:24 PM
Jeri	22 Jan 05 - 04:22 PM
Once Famous	22 Jan 05 - 04:25 PM
GUEST,Sleepless Dad	22 Jan 05 - 05:03 PM
number 6	22 Jan 05 - 05:10 PM
Terry Allan Hall	22 Jan 05 - 05:50 PM
GUEST,punfolkrocker	22 Jan 05 - 06:00 PM
Midchuck	22 Jan 05 - 09:38 PM
Uncle_DaveO	22 Jan 05 - 09:57 PM
van lingle	23 Jan 05 - 06:40 AM
snork	23 Jan 05 - 09:53 AM
GUEST,Fred	03 Feb 25 - 10:22 AM
gillymor	03 Feb 25 - 11:00 AM
GUEST,johnmc	03 Feb 25 - 02:16 PM
meself	05 Feb 25 - 12:29 PM
Beer	05 Feb 25 - 02:34 PM
GUEST,PHJim	05 Feb 25 - 03:16 PM
GUEST,Guitarfumbler	08 Feb 25 - 12:42 PM
GUEST,Ray	08 Feb 25 - 01:17 PM
Robert B. Waltz	08 Feb 25 - 02:46 PM
C-flat	21 May 25 - 09:49 AM
gillymor	21 May 25 - 11:14 AM
NightWing	21 May 25 - 12:30 PM
gillymor	21 May 25 - 01:16 PM
Raggytash	21 May 25 - 02:38 PM
Fred	21 May 25 - 05:26 PM
Robert B. Waltz	21 May 25 - 08:07 PM
Dave the Gnome	22 May 25 - 02:11 AM
Fred	22 May 25 - 02:29 AM
GUEST,Ray	22 May 25 - 03:37 AM
Fred	22 May 25 - 04:11 AM
Robert B. Waltz	22 May 25 - 05:07 AM
Fred	22 May 25 - 05:38 AM
MaJoC the Filk	22 May 25 - 09:53 AM
GUEST,Ray	22 May 25 - 11:19 AM
gillymor	22 May 25 - 12:47 PM
Robert B. Waltz	22 May 25 - 02:41 PM
GUEST,Ray	23 May 25 - 03:21 AM
Robert B. Waltz	23 May 25 - 08:13 AM
Robert B. Waltz	23 May 25 - 08:16 AM
Backwoodsman	23 May 25 - 12:29 PM
GUEST	23 May 25 - 12:49 PM
Fred	25 May 25 - 07:15 AM
GUEST,Ray	25 May 25 - 09:57 AM
Fred	25 May 25 - 11:06 AM
Fred	28 May 25 - 05:05 AM
GUEST,Ray	04 Jul 25 - 01:06 PM
Fred	04 Jul 25 - 02:15 PM
GUEST,Ray	04 Jul 25 - 05:22 PM
Fred	04 Jul 25 - 05:57 PM
gillymor	06 Jul 25 - 09:09 AM
GUEST,Guest Tom	06 Jul 25 - 11:35 AM
G-Force	07 Jul 25 - 04:40 AM
Tony Rees	09 Jul 25 - 04:32 PM
Tony Rees	09 Jul 25 - 09:28 PM
Tony Rees	10 Jul 25 - 02:09 AM
gillymor	10 Jul 25 - 08:07 AM
Fred	10 Jul 25 - 08:27 AM
gillymor	10 Jul 25 - 10:29 AM
Tony Rees	10 Jul 25 - 04:10 PM
Tony Rees	10 Jul 25 - 04:31 PM
Fred	10 Jul 25 - 05:18 PM
Fred	10 Jul 25 - 05:32 PM

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Subject: Best guitar you've owned yet...
From: Little Hawk
Date: 20 Jan 05 - 10:24 PM

It's undoubtedly the rosewood back & sides dreadnought I bought from a friend, Ron Belanger, who is a luthier in my hometown of Orillia, Ontario. This man's guitars are very, very good, and they're still inexpensive. I've owned $3,000 guitars before, but none of them were as good as this one, which I paid $1300 for. It's amazing.

I figure I am pretty lucky to be living in the same town with Ron and to know about him. I got a Belanger while they were still cheap!

I have owned Martins, Yamahas, Washburns, Guilds, etc...but the Belanger is the best.

So, what's the best guitar you have yet owned? Let's hear about it.

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Subject: RE: Best guitar you've owned yet...
From: thespionage
Date: 20 Jan 05 - 10:29 PM

I wish I could tell you; I've only owned my Alvarez acoustic-electric. I love it, but being that it is my only guitar, I couldn't say it's the best. Don't worry, I've got a lot of time left. ;-)

Russ
Practitioner of Thespionage and Folk Music

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Subject: RE: Best guitar you've owned yet...
From: Peace
Date: 20 Jan 05 - 10:30 PM

Fender Telecaster circa 1962.

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Subject: RE: Best guitar you've owned yet...
From: Midchuck
Date: 20 Jan 05 - 11:20 PM

Comin' at ya:

Peter.

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Subject: RE: Best guitar you've owned yet...
From: Little Hawk
Date: 20 Jan 05 - 11:31 PM

Hey! Nice looking guitars, Peter. Thanks for the link.

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Subject: RE: Best guitar you've owned yet...
From: Midchuck
Date: 20 Jan 05 - 11:59 PM

Guitar. He's only ever built one sunburst 12-fret slothead dread. That one. Mine! Mine! Mine!

Bwaghhawhawhaw....

Peter.

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Subject: RE: Best guitar you've owned yet...
From: Don(Wyziwyg)T
Date: 21 Jan 05 - 01:47 AM

My best ever is an original Framus Nashville. They were made in Bavaria in the early 1960s, and (in the UK at least) are now pretty rare.

The tone is very classical, pure and mellow, with almost no buzz,and the action is very light, in short, a joy to play, and I wouldn't exchange it for any that I've heard in the thirty years I've owned it.

I know they are very rare in the UK. Does anybody out there own one?

Don T.

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Subject: RE: Best guitar you've owned yet...
From: Grab
Date: 21 Jan 05 - 06:50 AM

My Lowden O32. Why would I buy another (or another 6-string at least)?

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Subject: RE: Best guitar you've owned yet...
From: GUEST,John from Tarneybackle
Date: 21 Jan 05 - 07:23 AM

Lowden 32CE - a real beauty. Greaat balance from the six strings, lovelt action for finger picking and very forgiving for flat picking.

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Subject: RE: Best guitar you've owned yet...
From: Splott Man
Date: 21 Jan 05 - 07:24 AM

My Thornbory which I've had for 25 years,

Sweet as a nut.

Splott Man

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Subject: RE: Best guitar you've owned yet...
From: CStrong
Date: 21 Jan 05 - 07:25 AM

Martins all: '88 HD-35, '73 D-35, '56 00-28G, '62 00-18. Different days, different moods...

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Subject: RE: Best guitar you've owned yet...
From: Seaking
Date: 21 Jan 05 - 07:30 AM

My HD28 - but always loooking

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Subject: RE: Best guitar you've owned yet...
From: breezy
Date: 21 Jan 05 - 08:28 AM

Keep trying all different I moved from famus to yamamha to Chris cross, Martin D28, back to C C then found Brook, nice size and weight aswell as sound and appearance.

while in Vancouver I tried all the Martins and Larivees in the shops but only one Larivee tempted me.

With each guitar I've moved on and my ear for the sound is more critical.

I wwould buy again and now prefer British from a patriotic standpoint but they are becoming more expensive.

Will keep looking though I'm very happy with what I have to play on.

I like the sell on yours little 'awk

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Subject: RE: Best guitar you've owned yet...
From: Dreaded Thumbpick
Date: 21 Jan 05 - 09:17 AM

I've played lots but the one I love best is my 1970 Martin O-16 New York. Wonderful fingerpicking guitar with enough punch for a string band.

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Subject: RE: Best guitar you've owned yet...
From: Paco Rabanne
Date: 21 Jan 05 - 09:22 AM

Electric : - An ESP Telecaster with coil taps, far better than a Fender.

Flamenco :- A 1970 Rafael Morales.
steel strung Acoustic ;- None, they hurt my bloody fingers!

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Subject: RE: Best guitar you've owned yet...
From: Bee-dubya-ell
Date: 21 Jan 05 - 09:59 AM

My guitars are like my children. I love them all equally and for different reasons. But, if I had to pick one, I guess the Santa Cruz OM-PW would be it. It's finnicky, overly sensitive to weather changes and only likes expensive Elixir strings. But I've not played another recently made guitar that sounds better when it's "on". I've played some vintage Martins that sound better, but I'd have to sell my entire collection to afford one of them and that ain't gonna happen.

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Subject: RE: Best guitar you've owned yet...
From: Mooh
Date: 21 Jan 05 - 10:02 AM

Oh yummy, a guitar thread!

Mr. Little Hawk is right, get 'em while they're cheap. Nice choice sir!

Gots me a killer Tele thinline, mostly stock, but it's a maple board which will be rosewood when I finds one. Leagues better than the Strat. With the Laney combo amp...heaven!

Best flattop acoustic is likely my Marc Beneteau (www.beneteauguitars.com) 6 string. If I could only save one from a fire or something, that would be the one. It's no better than the 12 and baritone from the same maker, but I live in a six string world. Now they've got pricey and my income ain't what it used to be, so another is likely just a dream. So, I found another up and comer, see www.house-guitars.com where there's pictures of mine.

I seriously doubt I'd ever replace my best and favourite. It sounds wonderful, practically plays itself, looks cool, and got me through a really rough stretch of life. It's a part of me.

Peace, Mooh.

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Subject: RE: Best guitar you've owned yet...
From: Once Famous
Date: 21 Jan 05 - 10:11 AM

From my collection:

1971 Martin D-18 bought last year. Unbelievable sounding bluegrass and folk legend.

1962 Gibson LG-3 bought new as a kid April 1963. A quite rare and sweet sounding small guitar.

I'm sure no one is surprised by these choices.

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Subject: RE: Best guitar you've owned yet...
From: GUEST,punkfolkrocker
Date: 21 Jan 05 - 10:26 AM

i absolutely enjoy playing my korean Danelectro re-issues..
great necks for my clumsy stubby fingers..
fantastic tones from lipstick pickups..
and very resonant thinline hollow bodies..

cant remember how many i've got at the moment;
but as i can find them from between £50 - £150
..i've probaly bought the equivalent of one new top range american guitar..

an old battered early 80's aria pro 'Les Paul/SG' beater
i found for £65

and a similar period Japanese JV Squier strat i picked up
for only £200

.. oh and nothing to me is better than Shergold and Hayman guitar necks
from a quarter century ago..
[just a shame the guitars are'nt quite as good as their superb necks..]

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Subject: RE: Best guitar you've owned yet...
From: GUEST,Jim
Date: 21 Jan 05 - 10:29 AM

Gotta be my Lowden W23 (an old war-worn O32 type model), but for endurance and knockaboutability/playability my Norman ST68 is still one of my all-time favourites.

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Subject: RE: Best guitar you've owned yet...
From: GUEST,Jim
Date: 21 Jan 05 - 10:36 AM

"1971 Martin D-18 bought last year. Unbelievable sounding bluegrass and folk legend.
1962 Gibson LG-3 bought new as a kid April 1963. A quite rare and sweet sounding small guitar.
I'm sure no one is surprised by these choices."

Well , I'm sure most will be surprised by the mention of a Norman ST68 - and maybe even more surprised when I say I went intending to buy a Martin D28 - no regrets on that decision.

I am rather surprised at the hype surrounding Martin guitars....
but, hey, each to their own

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Subject: RE: Best guitar you've owned yet...
From: Little Hawk
Date: 21 Jan 05 - 10:49 AM

What I'm surprised by is how often Lowden guitars have come up on this thread. I've never played one of those yet...or maybe even seen one.

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Subject: RE: Best guitar you've owned yet...
From: GUEST,Auggie
Date: 21 Jan 05 - 10:55 AM

I have a Martin D-41 from their custom shop with an Adirondack top and Brazilian sides and back that definitely lives up to and beyond any pre-conceived expectations.
If you can deliver on it, it ain't hype, and this guitar is proof.

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Subject: RE: Best guitar you've owned yet...
From: GUEST,Jim
Date: 21 Jan 05 - 11:02 AM

As I said - each to their own. I wanted to buy the best available with £1100 to spend (back in 1987) - I knew naff all about quality guitars and was told to buy a Martin. Believe me - I wanted to go back to my music jaunts with a Martin under my arm, just for the prestige. I played several, but then picked up this Norman (never heard of 'em) and at less than half the price there was no contest.
But what do I know..........

Lowden - just get your hands on one and see/hear for yourself.

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Subject: RE: Best guitar you've owned yet...
From: eleanor c
Date: 21 Jan 05 - 11:08 AM

Lowden 012. Feels like driving a big stately car with one of those nice wooden dashboards. Also flatters your playing , hurray.

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Subject: RE: Best guitar you've owned yet...
From: Once Famous
Date: 21 Jan 05 - 11:15 AM

It seems like Lowden or Norman guitars just don't exist in the U.S.

Are there any known American folk, country, or bluegrass players who use these guitars?

Sure see plenty of country and bluegrass players using Martins and Gibsons on album covers, videos, performances, etc.

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Subject: RE: Best guitar you've owned yet...
From: Big Mick
Date: 21 Jan 05 - 11:22 AM

Tough call. I surely do love my 1966 Guild 12 string. Great action and a voice to die for.

While I have had, and do have, fine guitars, my favorite (as opposed to best) was my little Seagull SG6 with a cedar top. Got that gem for $225.00 US some years ago from Elderly. It was just one of those. (players know from whence I speak). Very good action, but the sound just got sweeter every year. Really good players would pick it up to noodle and, invariably, ask me where I got it. I wish I had it today.

Mick

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Subject: RE: Best guitar you've owned yet...
From: GUEST,Davy
Date: 21 Jan 05 - 11:26 AM

My Fylde goodfellow is right for me. I've Owned Martins, Gibsons,Lowdens, Northworthy's,At the Mo I have an Ayres, and A hawaian Koa wood plus a genuwine national, but still come back to my little English gent.

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Subject: RE: Best guitar you've owned yet...
From: GUEST,Jim
Date: 21 Jan 05 - 11:27 AM

Now there y'go - Big Mick makes a call for a Seagull - made in La Patrie Canada - along with Norman, Simon & Patrick and Art & Lutherie. According to reports this luthier is shipping more units worldwide than anyone else. Martin G's not heard of them yet though so maybe the message hasn't yet hit some parts of the US.
Watch this space Martin......

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Subject: RE: Best guitar you've owned yet...
From: PoppaGator
Date: 21 Jan 05 - 11:28 AM

Should I even bother responding by mentioning, as always, my one and only guitar since 1969, my D-18 Martin?

Probably not worth repeating; but this time I have something to add:

Over the past month, while my baby was at the luthier's getting new frets and neck surgery, I spent some time in guitar stores "test driving" a variety of guitars (just so that I could get a little playing done ~ I'm a monogamous guitar owner, and was left high and dry without my one and only). I was mostly intereted in checking out resonator models, but one store I went to only had one steel-body National to play, so I tried out a number of their regular acoustic guitars as well.

One of the available floor models was a a Lowden, the first I had ever seen or touched in person. I have no idea of the model number, etc.; all I can say is that it was absolutely beautiful, and it sounded even better than it looked. I can't say that I would *trade* my D-18 for it ~ there's just too much sentimental attachment there ~ but this Lowden is the first and only acoustic guitar I'd even played that seemed to me to be objectively *better* than my own. Made me a Lowden believer!

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Subject: RE: Best guitar you've owned yet...
From: GUEST,punkfolkrocker
Date: 21 Jan 05 - 11:28 AM

oh.. and the korean Burns Steer reissue is a very nice guitar
despite some cheapskate manufacturing shortcuts..
[and its horrible 'authentic' British Racing Green colour]
better if you can find one discounted at a more realistic price..
thank you e-bay !

except i've not been able to play it much in the 6 months i've owned one..
cos the mrs dont know i bought it yet..
so its hidden in a box in a back room

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Subject: RE: Best guitar you've owned yet...
From: GUEST
Date: 21 Jan 05 - 11:32 AM

http://www.burnsguitars.com/clubseries/steer.php

check down the page for the sound sample..

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Subject: RE: Best guitar you've owned yet...
From: GUEST,DHL
Date: 21 Jan 05 - 11:34 AM

Two years ago I sold my Martin HD 28 and bought a new Martin SP000C-16R. In 1986 I paid one thousand dollars for the HD 28. I sold it for fifteen hundred which is what the new one cost. I'm fifty four years old and this is a smaller/easier guitar ro play. It may not have the punch the D28 did but the sound is lovely. However, the guitar I earn my living with is an Alveraz 12 string that I paid $175 for in 1980. I use extra light strings and it stays in tune until the strings are ready for the trash. DHL

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Subject: RE: Best guitar you've owned yet...
From: Grab
Date: 21 Jan 05 - 11:34 AM

Lowdens do exist in the US, but I believe they're rare. Strong European currencies and a weak US currency stopped them going far over there, and they're a small operation (like Collings) so there aren't the numbers of mass-produced boxes like you'd get from Martin or Taylor. You can find them fairly regularly on Ebay though. If you're a flatpicker then you're probably in the wrong place - they're OK but not really suited for it. But if you're a fingerpicker then there really isn't anything like them - IMO they beat the pants of Martin, Taylor, Gibson, Collings et al.

There was a schism within the Lowden company a couple of years back though - the main company is now known as Avalon. The high-end guitars are similar to the "Lowden" ones, but there are cheaper ones too. George Lowden has now set up his own business and is again making the same guitars, but his are more expensive and in lower quantities bcos it's a smaller shop (but the quality is probably better than Avalons). This is another reason why you might not have seen them - you're more likely to see them second-hand these days than new.

I seem to remember Normans are from the same place that does Seagulls (badge engineering)? I've played a couple and was very impressed - very nice guitars for the price, and a much better instrument than the Washburns, Takemines, Ovations and low-end Martins that generally infest that price-point.

Graham.

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Subject: RE: Best guitar you've owned yet...
From: Once Famous
Date: 21 Jan 05 - 12:05 PM

Guest, Jim

No thanks. A $225 Seagull or Norman (oooh, oooh, oooh, ooh) will sound great to someone if that is all they can afford and it is the best for the money they can get. Comparing these student and intermediate guitars to what the Pros use such as Martins or Gibsons or even Guilds for that matter only addresses the question "Best guitar you've owned." It does not address the difference in quality found in a higher end guitar compared to a Norman, a Takemine, or any other secondary brand in the guitar market.

I'll pass on those and stick with proven professional models.

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Subject: RE: Best guitar you've owned yet...
From: GUEST,Jim
Date: 21 Jan 05 - 12:07 PM

Norman's were the forerunners of Simon & Patrick/Seagull guitars - Robert Godin bought into Normand Boucher's operation after a fire threatened to put Boucher out of business. After Normand's death Godin carried on the business and Simon & Patrick guitars are selling in their thousands. They are basically the same guitars - just different names/slightly different designs.

Lowden's should be played and heard to be believed. As a fingerpicker I have to agree with Grab. Don't buy an Avalon guitar and expect the same quality though. Lowden's are available on Ebay - but don't expect to get one for less than £1000 (what's that - approx $1800?)

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Subject: RE: Best guitar you've owned yet...
From: GUEST,auggie
Date: 21 Jan 05 - 12:10 PM

I saw an Olson SJ at Elderly Music that looked like it was "to die for". Any body out there with Olson experience?

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Subject: RE: Best guitar you've owned yet...
From: PoppaGator
Date: 21 Jan 05 - 12:13 PM

Hmmm ~ I didn't realize Lowdens might be so rare in the US. I've never seen one before, but then again I don't go guitar shopping like some of you GAS victims. I only ventured into some stores over the past month because that's the only way I could get my hands on a guitar.

I should mention that the Lowden I played last weekend had a pricetag of $1700. It was a single-cutaway model with a roundish body ~ like a jumbo, but not as large. The top and the rest of the wood were only slightly different in color ~ back and sides lighter than rosewood or mahogany, top darker than spruce, both sort of caramel-colored, in two slightly different shades. Sorry I can't use more precise terms; when you're not a shopoholic collector, there's little need for an extensive guitar vocabulary.

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Subject: RE: Best guitar you've owned yet...
From: Once Famous
Date: 21 Jan 05 - 12:14 PM

Yeah, the Olson twins play these.

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Subject: RE: Best guitar you've owned yet...
From: C-flat
Date: 21 Jan 05 - 12:23 PM

I picked up a second-hand Manuel Rodriguez steel-strung dreadnought acoustic for £300 a few years ago and I'm amazed at the purity of tone, balance and resonance that this very plain looking instrument has.
I own several more expensive guitars and some novel ones, like my plastic Maccaferri, but if I'm taking a guitar off the wall for an unplugged night out the Rodriguez is the one!
The nearest thing I've played to it would be a Lowden.

C-flat.

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Subject: RE: Best guitar you've owned yet...
From: PennyBlack
Date: 21 Jan 05 - 12:37 PM

Guest Jim - have a look at The Martin D15 - a lot of guitar for it's money and will outplay a Norman anyday.

My favs: Martin D41 (custom bridge), Lakewood M18 Custom, M.R. Steel Strung Dred (A Lowden Plus - honest), Martin D15, Fylde Arial (Finger Picking), Ovation Longneck tuned down to "C".

Workhorse favs: Variax 700 Acoustic (Folky Stuff), Variax 500 (Rock Stuff,), Lakewood D18 Custom B-Band 6 AST/UST Pick-up.

But all the others have a special something (or I wouldn't have bought them!)

PB

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Subject: RE: Best guitar you've owned yet...
From: Big Mick
Date: 21 Jan 05 - 12:37 PM

Martin proves that he is no pro. I am a working musician, and have played with some of the best. While I agree that there are certain brands that have a distinctive sound and a reputation for quality, any player worth his/her salt will tell you to never mind the name and go for the sound. This is why, in a blind test at Mandolin Brothers some years ago, a Yamaha was chosen for sound and action over the better names. Virtually every real pro that I have worked with, that had tried the Seagull brand, indicated that it is an amazing value for the money. The service is great, and they stand behind their product. The woods are hand selected, and the emphasis is on the sound. My working instruments are a vintage Guild 12 string, a Larrivee D-05, and a Freshwater Irish bouzouki. These are all wonderful instruments, and the Larrivee is an exceptional pickers axe. None of them have the warmth of tone, nor is their action any better than my Seagull was. I have played many Martins, and for the most part really enjoyed them. I owned several vintage Gibsons, and felt they deserved their reputation. None of them played any better than the Seagull. And the Seagulls sound (the most important factor) would stand with any of them.

Martin should go back to spending his money on toys that he doesn't seem to understand. But they probably look nice in his living room. I wonder if he is smart enough to keep 'em humidified and let real players play them once in a while.

Mick

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Subject: RE: Best guitar you've owned yet...
From: GUEST,Anon
Date: 21 Jan 05 - 12:48 PM

I think every every other person who has heard or played Don's Framus would rate it much less favourably. Strange how love is.

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Subject: RE: Best guitar you've owned yet...
From: Richard Bridge
Date: 21 Jan 05 - 12:54 PM

Hard, hard. I prefer every single one for something specific.

But I keep coming back to my Mugen THE78 for the big big thud in the bass, the bite in the treble, and the ring.

If I can only take one guitar and know I will be trying to finger-pick, then it might be the Martin OM1, or the X-braced Hagstrom J-45 (the 15 fret to the body neck comes in so handy sometimes).

If I need a 12, then it's the Bjarton BJ-12E.

If blues is going to figure highly then the fan-strutted Hag J-45.

If it's outside and going to rain, then the Morris!

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Subject: RE: Best guitar you've owned yet...
From: Auggie
Date: 21 Jan 05 - 02:25 PM

Actually Martin, it wouldn't hurt to have the Olsen twins income if you go shopping for an Olson 6 string. The one I was looking at was going for $12,000 (that's why I was just LOOKING), and while I don't think I'd be tempted to get one on the advice of Mary Kate or Ashley, I am impressed that periodically folks like David Crosby, Leo Kottke, Chet Atkins, Sting and James Taylor have been seen with one under their arm.

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Subject: RE: Best guitar you've owned yet...
From: Auggie
Date: 21 Jan 05 - 02:27 PM

Oh yeah, some guy named McCartney too.

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Subject: RE: Best guitar you've owned yet...
From: GUEST,amateur
Date: 21 Jan 05 - 02:41 PM

theres got to be an income level for rich "pro"s
where top price big name guitars
can be passed off as tax deductions..
and basically end up costing them 'nothing'

which probably explains why such guitars
are so cynically overpriced to meet that'top earning artist' income level..

..and thats on top of the free guitars rich performers get
in highlty competitive product endorsement deals..

an interesting and significant historical detail
why some brandnames become associated with a 'pro' market

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Subject: RE: Best guitar you've owned yet...
From: mandotim
Date: 21 Jan 05 - 02:47 PM

That nice man Martin Gibson talks about 'secondary guitars'; I've owned a few Martins, and played a lot more, (and not the cheap ones, either), and I've let all of them go. Why? I have a twenty year old Takamine EN20( a secondary guitar, by Martin's description), and it knocks every Martin I've ever owned or played into a cocked hat. It's not pretty or fancy, it's a working man's guitar. Powerful, clear sound, stays in tune forever, withstands knocks on the road, versatile enough to range from fingerpicking to bluegrass, sounds great either plugged in or acoustic. As for pros sticking to Martins and Gibsons, ask Paul McCartney. He owns many Martins and Gibsons, but his working guitar for the last twenty years or so is...a Takamine.
Tim from Bit on the Side

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Subject: RE: Best guitar you've owned yet...
From: Justa Picker
Date: 21 Jan 05 - 02:57 PM

I don't have 1 "best" guitar.

I have 6, that are all KILLERS/KEEPERS and I couldn't part with any of them.
(I've already turned away several decent offers for a few of them.)
(Each one is an only child, if you know what I mean. :-)

I would put the '76 HD-28 up against ANY pre-war D-28, and I have played quite a few pre-war 28's.
Yes, it's THAT good an instrument in ALL respects - and even more astonishing as it's a
"70s era" Martin - an era that was considered less than their finest hour in terms of quality.
However in '76 Martin decided to bring back the "Pre-war D-28, and the result was the reissue
of the HD-28 - the only instrument in their line-up at the time, with scalloped braces.
(The M-38 would follow a year later.)

It's very ~~eye~~ ear-opening and interesting to hear an AGED Indian Rosewood instrument.
This pup is nearly 30 years old and it's vintage "voice" is already well there. Based on
what I hear (and feel when I play it), I believe that in time MANY people will change
their minds about IRW and consider aged IRW superior to the sound of aged BRW. It's ALL there!

They are shown towards the bottom of the page here.

Nice to see you start a M U S I C thread, LH!

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Subject: RE: Best guitar you've owned yet...
From: Once Famous
Date: 21 Jan 05 - 03:05 PM

Big Mick

I have been and continue to be a pro since the mid 60s, so I do know what I am talking about and you let your bitter ruffled feathers stoop you to a low. I currently play a vintage Martin D-18 and Gibson J-45 in performances

Quite frankly, a Seagull is a beginners instrument, intermediate at best. You can say it's as good as a Martin, big Mick. It's not.
It's probably as good aor better than a $225 Epiphone.

I would say that settling for an instrument of that caliber as a pro obviously has limited you. I don't consider guitars toys. I consider what I have high quality tools for the discriminating professional.

Please take your bitterness and anger to another thread. OK?

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Subject: RE: Best guitar you've owned yet...
From: Auggie
Date: 21 Jan 05 - 03:06 PM

You got lucky with that '76 HD-28. I have a '77 D-19 that was just a total piece of crap until it spent a month with a really good independant luther who corrected a number of factory flaws including the bridge being installed in the wrong place (making it impossible to stay in tune up the neck). I love it now, but I sure would have liked to have had some of whatever they were smoking the day they put that one together.

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Subject: RE: Best guitar you've owned yet...
From: GUEST
Date: 21 Jan 05 - 03:08 PM

Martin Carthy's working guitar is a 1959 Martin. He captures and harnesses unbelievable sounds from it using a C tuning based in part on an altered DADGAD tuning. The instrument is a proven machine. DHL

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Subject: RE: Best guitar you've owned yet...
From: GUEST,Tunesmith
Date: 21 Jan 05 - 03:17 PM

Some 25 years ago I owned a beautiful Fylde Caliban, but I stupidly sold it to a girlfriend. Later, when she was living in Kenya, it was stolen. I often wonder who's playing it now. Lowden , by the way, got a lot of his ideas from the makers of Fylde guitars.

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Subject: RE: Best guitar you've owned yet...
From: shepherdlass
Date: 21 Jan 05 - 03:57 PM

The best guitar I've ever owned was my first - a student model East European nylon-string no-name for about 20 quid. I was lucky and got one of the rare ones that was in tune and with a good tone. I've since owned some really nice mid-price guitars, including a Yamaha semi-acoustic wih a great, jangly Fylde-like sound (fab for open tunings), but in terms of sheer value for money you've got to say it's hard to beat that first one. It's still what I keep out at home to work out chords, etc.

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Subject: RE: Best guitar you've owned yet...
From: GUEST,Obie
Date: 21 Jan 05 - 04:02 PM

My best sounding guitar is an old (1950's) Framus 5/85n.
If I were to buy a new guitar today it would be a Seagull or Norman.
At least here in Canada they, along with other Godins, are the best bang for the buck. A good one can match a high end Martin at a third of the cost.
Obie

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Subject: RE: Best guitar you've owned yet...
From: Wesley S
Date: 21 Jan 05 - 04:11 PM

Martin - At various times I've seen the following playing Lowdens :
Vince Gill, Mary Chapin Carpenter, Ricky Skaggs, Pat Kirtley, Richard Thompson, Pierre Bensusan, and yours truly. I have a wonderful Lowden 12 string that will outshine about 95% of the 12 strings I've put it up against. So - just because you haven't heard of them doesn't mean that they aren't wonderful and well respected guitars. Try one - you may like it.

My favorites are - for sentmental reasons - the 1967 D-18 I bought by saving my lunch money when I was a senior in high school. And my newest favorite is a Collings OM-2HG with a German spruce top. That's getting the most playing time currently.

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Subject: RE: Best guitar you've owned yet...
From: Justa Picker
Date: 21 Jan 05 - 04:48 PM

Auggie,

I would NEVER recommend to anyone buying a 70s era Martin site unseen without the opportunity to play one. But, there ARE some good to exceptionally good ones, out there.

Further I would exercise EXTREME caution on purchasing ANY Martin that was made in 1977 - because for 8 consecutive months of that year, the entire workforce was on strike, and management (who hadn't make guitars in year, let alone remembering how to do it right) were the ones who were forced to roll up their sleeves and assemble them, so that some cash could roll in, and as a result so many of the guitars made during the strike were definitely not up to snuff. Sounds like your D-19 was one of these victims?

In the early 70s, they had switched to tone-killing larger, rosewood bridgeplates, and, quite a few bridges on many guitars were improperly installed, resulting in many repairs (remove, reattach and reglue the bridge) to correct some serious intonation problems.

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Subject: RE: Best guitar you've owned yet...
From: kendall
Date: 21 Jan 05 - 05:20 PM

I've owned most of them, and played all of them. Been impressed by Santa Cruz , Lowden , Larrivee and Collings, but everyone who plays my 1983 Taylor 810 reinforeces my belief thAT it is an outstanding guitar. As for a 12 string, my Apollo. Head and shoulders above all others.

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Subject: RE: Best guitar you've owned yet...
From: mooman
Date: 21 Jan 05 - 05:40 PM

In descending order:

1) 1994 Lakewood M-18 custom (current)
2) 1981 Manson Kingfisher
3) 1983 "Japanese" Lowden
4) Guild D25
5) Gibson J45

Plus the Regal Duolian copy I currently have which I use all the time but isn't directly comparable.

Peace

moo

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Subject: RE: Best guitar you've owned yet...
From: The Barden of England
Date: 21 Jan 05 - 06:14 PM

I love my Fylde Oberon - but then of course I would. it was the first guitar that 'talked' to me. It still does, and no other has since - including other Fylde Oberons. On saying that I happened upon a Fylde Egyptian last year at Ely Folk Weekend - that was a bit special too. They make stunning guitars in my opinion - for what it's worth

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Subject: RE: Best guitar you've owned yet...
From: Big Mick
Date: 21 Jan 05 - 06:17 PM

I will offer a hearty second to Justa Picker's description of his babies. Each of them has been selected based on his love of Martin's, but he checked each out thoroughly. He is a pro when it comes to this stuff, and he sought these out. And they are spectacular sounding instruments, made all the more so by the fact that they are played by a master.

Sorry, Martin, but I don't buy your line. You attempt to justify your position by your experience. Now I don't know you personally, so I can't say if you are a pro or not. And I will admit that Seagull is not seen the same way as a Martin or vintage Gibson. But I stand by my contention that it is sound, action, and playability that makes the axe. And you may have been fooling around with guitars for a long time, but your arguments suggest you are anything but a pro.

And BTW, it is almost pathetic that you would talk about taking bitterness and nastiness somewhere else. I have read comments from you that were cruel, vindictive, nasty, vulgar ...... you have simply been a very mean person. I for one have had enough of it. But if you are concerned with how you look, you look pretty silly complaining about how someone treats you. Especially since you openly brag about making people dance. It was very easy in this, and other, threads to make you dance.

Mick

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Subject: RE: Best guitar you've owned yet...
From: GUEST
Date: 21 Jan 05 - 06:22 PM

http://www.seagullguitars.com/specs.htm

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Subject: RE: Best guitar you've owned yet...
From: Jeri
Date: 21 Jan 05 - 07:12 PM

Brand names are what people rely on when they can't actually distinguish good from bad sounding instruments...or when they're just trying to get up someone's nose. I find it hard to believe that anyone's actually ignorant enough to believe a guitar's quality is solely based on a label. A label may give an indication of quality based on the maker's reputation and a person's experience, but that's all. If Martin's made a few dogs, Seagull is bound to have made some gems.

I have a (new) Martin 00-17 that's pretty good, and sounds better than other new 00-17's I've played. I've never owned anything really classy and probably never will, simply because I'll never be able to afford it. That said, I've played a lot of more expensive guitars that I don't like as much as this wee one. I've played other people's guitars that I've liked better. Rick's 00-18 was 'the one that got away' though. Kendall's right about his Appolonio 12-string - it's one of the (if not 'the') most awesome sounding guitar I've heard.

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Subject: RE: Best guitar you've owned yet...
From: Dickie
Date: 21 Jan 05 - 08:27 PM

In my case it would be my lovely Gibson J50 that I bought 2nd hand from Selmers in Charing X Rd, London some 38 years ago. It never lets me down. I paid around £95 for it, which seems peanuts now but in 1967 must have been a considerable sum now I come to think of it. I love its easy playability & warm tones, particularly at the bottom end.

The J50 replaced a blonde Levin jumbo that was stolen from my Earls Court bedsit back in the mid 60s. Before the Levin, my best guitar to date had been a rather dreadful Gallotone ' Champion '(the sort that John Lennon owned in his Quarry Men days & which fetched some unearthly figure at auction a few years ago).

I also enjoy the luxury, for me at any rate, of a 2nd decent guitar ; a Gallagher. Lovely clear tones, great bottom end, so easy to play and very well made to boot. But, on balance I think it's the J50 that I would want to have with me on that proverbial desert island !

Dickie

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Subject: RE: Best guitar you've owned yet...
From: Mooh
Date: 21 Jan 05 - 10:44 PM

Though they'd never replace my "best" noted above, I have owned Norman, Simon & Patrick, and LaPatrie guitars. The Norman was a used find for $100 that I immediately resold for $250. The S&P was my teaching axe for a time and it came to me as a factory second which I modified slightly and made a bit on when I sold it. The LaPatrie was a cheap clearance sale nylon I resold to help finance another guitar. They were all good, but the only one I regret selling is the Norman, as it was exceptional. It would have made a great "beater".

However, sentimentality has a lot to do with my loves, so I remain loyal to the Beneteau six.

Peace, Mooh.

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Subject: RE: Best guitar you've owned yet...
From: van lingle
Date: 22 Jan 05 - 11:22 AM

Gotta be a tossup between my Froggy Bottom F and my Collings OM-1A. There's something magical about the aidrondack/ mahoghany combination, to me. Incidentally, I've got two Lowdens for sale: A very nice recent O-32 and an almost 20 year old L27F at a very reasonable price (it's a players instrument). Anyone interested can PM me. vl

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Subject: RE: Best guitar you've owned yet...
From: Big Mick
Date: 22 Jan 05 - 12:23 PM

I was in Elderly yesterday. A Lowden came in, and was gone in less than 24 hours. The lads tell me that they rarely last more than a day or two.

Mick

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Subject: RE: Best guitar you've owned yet...
From: Justa Picker
Date: 22 Jan 05 - 02:02 PM

Mick, the check's in the mail. :-)

Jeri, it was HIS 1950 O-18 I believe you were referring to.

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Subject: RE: Best guitar you've owned yet...
From: Jeri
Date: 22 Jan 05 - 03:24 PM

Woody? He said it was a 00-18, and it looks more like this 00-18 than a slotted head 0-18.

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Subject: RE: Best guitar you've owned yet...
From: Jeri
Date: 22 Jan 05 - 04:22 PM

Then again, I seem to remember this discussion, and I seem to remember I was wrong the last time, too. 0-18.

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Subject: RE: Best guitar you've owned yet...
From: Once Famous
Date: 22 Jan 05 - 04:25 PM

Big Mick, what I've made in money as a Pro over the decades you can only dream about. I am glad that you admit that Seagull is no where in the league of a Martin or Gibson. Yes, any guitar can have playability and tone. Different degrees, for sure.

My reaction to you has been the same as to the other self-appointed Mudcat elite like yourself. And that is to tell you to get off your high horse, realize that holier than thou pseudo-intellectualism is offensive to regular people, and really take a deep breath before you leave the bathroom to realize you are no better than anyone here.

If you are going to hit, be prepared to be hit back. Harder.

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Subject: RE: Best guitar you've owned yet...
From: GUEST,Sleepless Dad
Date: 22 Jan 05 - 05:03 PM

Jeez MG that sounds like a threat. Grow up. It's easy to sound nasty when you're hundreds of miles away in your own little room with just you and your computer. I hope that some day that you'll start acting like an adult. Can we please just talk about guitars and keep your nastyness below the BS line ??

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Subject: RE: Best guitar you've owned yet...
From: number 6
Date: 22 Jan 05 - 05:10 PM

I have a Seagull S6 ..... and it is an excellent guitar. It my 'beater' but somehow it is the one I pick up most to play around the house. I would never let that axe go. By the sound of it in this thread, Seagulls and their family members Normans come off pretty strong.

MG's statement about artists holding their Martins and Gibsons on cd covers does not cut the cake when declaring they are the upmost in guitars. If I was making the 'money' most of them are I most certainly would in all probabilty be playing one of them also. Most people in the Mudcat such as my self are not professional musicians but people who luv playing music as a hobby or semiprofessionaly. In most cases we do not have the excess cash to throw into expensive instruments. Being expensive does not manifest itself that they are actually superior instruments.

sIx

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Subject: RE: Best guitar you've owned yet...
From: Terry Allan Hall
Date: 22 Jan 05 - 05:50 PM

Well, my favorites among my many acoustics are:

6-string: Guild JF-4
12-string: Taylor 355
5-string banjo: late 40's-early 50's Chicago-made Harmony
Mandolin and mandocello: Eduardo Brazos (late local builder and dear friend)

While I own more expensive instruments, as well (a couple of '50's era J-200s, a '97 Custom-shop Martin D-42, a Gibson Granada, etc.), the ones listed above sound so wonderful at my gigs and feel so good under my fingers!

BTW, Martin Gibson, I've met many "pros" like you in the 27 years I've made my living as a singer/songwriter...Your ego is so loud, no one hears anything useful from you...

Why not just save your breath.

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Subject: RE: Best guitar you've owned yet...
From: GUEST,punfolkrocker
Date: 22 Jan 05 - 06:00 PM

besides which..

the guitars big name artists are seen posing with in publicity photos
and on album sleeves etc..
even playing at high profile concerts..

may often merely be 'props' strategically positioned
to appease corporate sponsors and honour lucrative endorsement deals..

not necessarily the artists favourite most used studio recording guitars..

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Subject: RE: Best guitar you've owned yet...
From: Midchuck
Date: 22 Jan 05 - 09:38 PM

Van Lingle said:

Gotta be a tossup between my Froggy Bottom F and my Collings OM-1A.

I wonder how many people on the Cat have a Froggy and a Collings. Prob'ly not all that many.

(H-12 and 000-2H in my case)

Peter.

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Subject: RE: Best guitar you've owned yet...
From: Uncle_DaveO
Date: 22 Jan 05 - 09:57 PM

In the last 52 years I've owned four guitars. One at a time.

My first one was a mistake. I'm sure it was a perfectly good guitar, but I didn't know what I was even looking for. I wanted something to do finger style playing along with my singing. I bought flat-topped a steel strung guitar, and the salesman threw in three free lessons with it, which was plectrum playing. I learned something from it, of course, but not the finger approach I wanted. The sound with fingers (even if I had known how to play that way) was not very loud, and the steel strings tore up my fingers. I don't remember what brand it was, but it was not cheap for the day. This was in '49 or '50.

I had it maybe four to six months. I learned that it was not what I wanted, and I traded it even up for a used student classical guitar. Again, I don't remember the brand, but it had a nice sound. I started classical guitar lessons, and after maybe a year of watering at the mouth looking at better guitars, including some at my teacher's store, I traded up to a better classical guitar, new.

It was a Regal. Now Regal made perfectly awful steel strung guitars, I was told, but this guitar was wonderful. It played so easily, and had such a sweet tone! It came packaged with a case, a big rectangular case, rather than a guitar-shaped case, and included the little footstool that classical guitarists use. The price for the guitar, case, and footstool in 1951 or '52 was $210. That doesn't sound like all that much today, but in that time that was a pretty fair amount of money.

I proudly took it to my next lesson, and was scolded by Mr. Belson (Who had started life as Signor Bellisoni), my teacher. He didn't say it just this way, but I know he had expected that I was going to buy my next guitar from him, either a Spanish classical guitar he had, which was $500, or a guitar-tuned lute, in the same price range. As I say, he didn't SAY that as part of his lecture; he pointed out that the Regal was shorter in the neck, lacking I think two frets that classical guitars generally and even my student guitar had, and that I would never be able to play the full classical type repertoire without the upper range that it lacked. That was all right with me, because I didn't intend to be playing that sort of music anyway; I just wanted to accompany my singing.

THAT was the nicest guitar I ever had, or ever played for that matter. So smooth, so easy, so sweet!

That guitar lasted me MANY years, but finally gave up the ghost, mainly a victim of dry air.

So in about 1995, knowing that the Regal could not be repaired to be even playable, let alone a decent instrument any more, I trashed it and bought a Montana MI6-4 (or maybe it's M16-4). It was described as being a second, and was on sale, as I recall, for about $150, but I may be mistaken on the price. Certainly wasn't more than that, in any case. If it was a second, I never could find the flaw that made it so. The Montana is not the sweetheart that the Regal was, by any means, but has served me pretty well for about nine years now.

But oh, if I could have that Regal back as it was when new! It was wonderful.

Dave Oesterreich

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Subject: RE: Best guitar you've owned yet...
From: van lingle
Date: 23 Jan 05 - 06:40 AM

Right Peter, I'm in guitar heaven with these two (sounds like you are,too) and they've cured me of G.A.S. Well, for the moment, anyway :) vl

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Subject: RE: Best guitar you've owned yet...
From: snork
Date: 23 Jan 05 - 09:53 AM

Not really decided yet, but an interesting entry would be a Tacoma Baritone guitar (Thunderhawk BM6c) (what a lame name) that I strung the treble top three in gut (tennis racquet gut, actually-- yeah, they still make gut for tennis racquets) and the acoustical properties of the gut are are pretty good--and zero string winding noise up sliding up the frets. I thought the metal trebles sounded a bit twangish, and the gut filled the bill.
The guitar fairly cries for alternate tunings, as strung b-B its really too low to sing from.

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Subject: RE: Best guitar you've owned yet...
From: GUEST,Fred
Date: 03 Feb 25 - 10:22 AM

Martin D-18 Standard, Serial No 2863508. I've had an HD-35, a D-35, an OM-28 but this D-18 I've bonded with. It ticks all the boxes, goes gigging three nights a week, and I've had "Please sell me that guitar." No way! :)
Fred

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Subject: RE: Best guitar you've owned yet...
From: gillymor
Date: 03 Feb 25 - 11:00 AM

Couldn't say but the best I ever played was a 1930 Martin OM-28 at The Guitar Shop in Wash. D.C. Half a century later it still resonates in me.

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Subject: RE: Best guitar you've owned yet...
From: GUEST,johnmc
Date: 03 Feb 25 - 02:16 PM

Nice to see this thread rejuvenated, because there's a new discussion to be had
now that there are so many more fine guitars at affordable prices.
But aside from the familiar names we have, for example, the Chibson
type: bespoke orders from China. I am not comfortable with the thought,
but, having seen and heard one a friend has bought, I was impressed.
Not exactly inexpensive, the Furch I have acquired is really excellent.
Regarding vintage, I wouldn't be happy spending so much on something
that looked like it came from a skip, no matter how great the sound.
And you just can't buy them at knock down prices.

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Subject: RE: Best guitar you've owned yet...
From: meself
Date: 05 Feb 25 - 12:29 PM

The only guitar I ever bought - and therefore, the best - is a Fender F-35, on sale for $150.00 back circa 1976. I've been banging out chords and doing some elementary finger-picking on it ever since. A real old work-horse. The guitar has done all right, too!

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Subject: RE: Best guitar you've owned yet...
From: Beer
Date: 05 Feb 25 - 02:34 PM

Yamaha FG 180 purchased spring of 1967. I just gave it away last month

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Subject: RE: Best guitar you've owned yet...
From: GUEST,PHJim
Date: 05 Feb 25 - 03:16 PM

45 years ago I bought/traded for a 1962 D-21. Nicer than any D-18, D-28... that I've ever played.
Last March I turned 80 and my arthritis is settling into my thumbs, so I've found myself playing my little 1950 LG1 a lot more. I still keep the D-21 on a stand right here beside my computer, so I can play along with YouTube or join a Zoom open mic, but when I leave the house it's usually with the LG1.
My first ever guitar was a 1958 Goya M-26. It's a dreadnought, but Levin called them "Goliaths". I bought it in 1960 for $75, but It's still a favourite. It's not my best guitar, but it's great and has major sentimental value.

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Subject: RE: Best guitar you've owned yet...
From: GUEST,Guitarfumbler
Date: 08 Feb 25 - 12:42 PM

Lowden Baritone Spruce and Walnut.
Wonderful sound/playability and really opening up now.
Love it!

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Subject: RE: Best guitar you've owned yet...
From: GUEST,Ray
Date: 08 Feb 25 - 01:17 PM

Asking which of your guitars is your best one is a bit like asking which is your favourite child. I don’t have any children but I do have three Santa Cruz guitars and the best would probably be one of them.

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Subject: RE: Best guitar you've owned yet...
From: Robert B. Waltz
Date: 08 Feb 25 - 02:46 PM

I haven't owned a standard six-string guitar for close to forty years, but the best 12-string I ever owned was, believe it or not, a Washburn. It didn't deserve to be particularly good -- but, somehow, it was. Excellent tone, and it would stay in tune for days. A freak of nature. I wouldn't be surprised if it was the best 12-string Washburn ever built.

Sadly, about ten years ago, the frets had worn down enough that it wasn't really playable any more. I took it to a luthier who said that it wasn't worth repairing -- a 12-string with a good sound simply cannot be braced well enough to last forever. He told me that it was wiser to save the cost of the fretwork to apply to a new instrument.

So I now have a Taylor and an Ibanez. Neither one matches up to the Washburn. The Taylor's sound is almost as good, but it's not as stable in terms of tuning, and it wanders more when capoed.

The moral of the story, I suppose, is that you never know what will work. :-)

I could list a few other almost-guitars I have, but the only one I do much with is a Cordoba requinto -- nylon-strung 6-string tuned half an octave high. It's a lot of fun, but the strings they supplied are too heavy, and so are the strings sold as requinto strings. They snap in days -- before they even have time to settle in. I haven't figured out the right gauges yet. Someone really needs to make some real requinto strings!

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Subject: RE: Best guitar you've owned yet...
From: C-flat
Date: 21 May 25 - 09:49 AM

20 years ago I commented on this thread extolling the virtues of an old steel strung Manuel Rodriguez guitar made back in the 80's.
I'm a good few extra guitars in since then, the latest being a Taylor 324ce builders edition. This is a beautiful instrument to play and to look at but I still occasionally pick up one of my old friends and that Manuel Rodriguez still sings out after all these years.

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Subject: RE: Best guitar you've owned yet...
From: gillymor
Date: 21 May 25 - 11:14 AM

A Collings OO-2E (E stands for the Engleman top) was probably the best fingerstyle guitar I've owned sound-wise but it was custom made for the original owner with a deep-V neck profile and it was 1 13/16" at the nut. It sounded so good when I tried it that I convinced myself I'd get used to the neck but after a year or so I never did, it wore out my left hand. I did sell it for a decent profit though.
Now the more I play my M-36 Martin the more I'm convinced it's the best all-around acoustic I've owned.

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Subject: RE: Best guitar you've owned yet...
From: NightWing
Date: 21 May 25 - 12:30 PM

Another Collings fan here: OM-1. It retailed at $3,000, but I won it in a raffle for $50. Sound is marvelous and the dynamic range is astonishing.

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Subject: RE: Best guitar you've owned yet...
From: gillymor
Date: 21 May 25 - 01:16 PM

That's crazy good luck, I had a Collings OM-1A that I wish was still around but I can only play one at a time.

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Subject: RE: Best guitar you've owned yet...
From: Raggytash
Date: 21 May 25 - 02:38 PM

I have had a Yamaha FG335 for 46 years, I swear its getting better and better with age, I have a Kinkade D4 Dreadnought which I bought 30 years ago and is "my baby" I really love this one and I have recently acquired a Sobell which I am getting to know

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Subject: RE: Best guitar you've owned yet...
From: Fred
Date: 21 May 25 - 05:26 PM

I read the posts some of you guys submit about your 50, 40 or 30-year-old guitars, and I wonder what it must be like, how it feels.

I've got nothing that old but my D-18 Martin is a cracker, and my Ome North Star openback banjo is a joy to own.

I don't know where this is going except, when I read those posts, I feel I've missed something.

Cheers
Fred

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Subject: RE: Best guitar you've owned yet...
From: Robert B. Waltz
Date: 21 May 25 - 08:07 PM

Fred wrote: I read the posts some of you guys submit about your 50, 40 or 30-year-old guitars, and I wonder what it must be like, how it feels.

This brings up an interesting point. I am 63. I had a first "batch" of instruments that were all acquired for me (mostly by my parents) before I was thirty, e.g. the Washburn 12-string guitar mentioned above. A quarter of a century later, it was worn out, and some of the others getting long in the tooth. So I've recently acquired several new instruments of one sort or another.

And they are notably different. The obvious example is that almost all high-end guitars nowadays are acoustic-electric. But, also, the woods have shifted (as some become rarer and more expensive), and there are occasional new variations on construction techniques and other things. The instruments you get today are not the same as those of thirty, forty, fifty years ago. Better? Worse? Depends on context, probably. But how will they hold up in another fifty years?

I'll never find out, but it's a genuinely interesting question.

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Subject: RE: Best guitar you've owned yet...
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 22 May 25 - 02:11 AM

I never owned it but I learned to play on my Dad's 1950s Harmony. Small bodied and sunburst finish. Metal 'tie' at the end and floating bridge. He sadly gave it away to someone who would have either sold it or just hung it on a wall :-(

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Subject: RE: Best guitar you've owned yet...
From: Fred
Date: 22 May 25 - 02:29 AM

RBW,

I was thinking of the relationship between owner and guitar when I wrote that.

Over 30, 40, 50 years, it's going to become a significant bond, or otherwise why keep it?

And it's that relationship that I'm...well, kinda jealous of, if I'm honest :)

Cheers
Fred

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Subject: RE: Best guitar you've owned yet...
From: GUEST,Ray
Date: 22 May 25 - 03:37 AM

My oldest guitar is probably from the 70s but I do have a couple of old Gibson mandolins from the teens and twenties. Whilst old instruments do have a certain “mojo”, they do tend to need more maintenance and are harder to play than their modern equivalents.

CNC construction methods have certainly helped make cheaper, modern, instruments more playable although I wouldn’t put things down entirely to computerisation - most of my instruments come from workshops not using such new fangled novelties.

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Subject: RE: Best guitar you've owned yet...
From: Fred
Date: 22 May 25 - 04:11 AM

Ray,

That guitar tech in Nottinghamshire said to be "phenomenal", I've not used him so can't personally recommend but his name is Dickie and his contact number I have is 07859 313322.

It may be useful at some point.

Cheers
Fred

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Subject: RE: Best guitar you've owned yet...
From: Robert B. Waltz
Date: 22 May 25 - 05:07 AM

Fred wrote: I was thinking of the relationship between owner and guitar when I wrote that.

Understood, but your comment still gave rise to the broader thoughts.

Speaking from experience, having an instrument for many years, and then finding that it is beyond repair, can be a wrenching experience. It's happened to me. And one can find that one has learned how to play that instrument rather than instruments in general.

And newer instruments may end up having different, perhaps shorter, life cycles. When my Washburn 12-string failed, both my replacement instruments has pickups. One of which came loose and had to be re-glued. How many more times will that happen? And while the instrument may last thirty years, will the electronics still work? Will the new woods hold up as well as the old?

We may find -- I emphasize may -- that it will be harder to have those long-term relationships with new instruments. What the effects of that might be I don't claim to know.

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Subject: RE: Best guitar you've owned yet...
From: Fred
Date: 22 May 25 - 05:38 AM

RBW,

Ah, the possibly having to say goodbye to an old and dear friend, at least I'll be spared that! Though would I have minded? I'd have the memories. It's hard to say, and I guess I'd have to live it to know. But if I could go back to my youth, I'd hang on to the good guitars I've had rather than part ex or swap or sell which never really worked.

Fred

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Subject: RE: Best guitar you've owned yet...
From: MaJoC the Filk
Date: 22 May 25 - 09:53 AM

Instruments for me come in two sorts: Those that are so good that I couldn't bear to part with them, and those so bad that I wouldn't dare sell them. Each one has a story to tell (if not a full-on saga). One or two of my guitars fall into both categories at once.

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Subject: RE: Best guitar you've owned yet...
From: GUEST,Ray
Date: 22 May 25 - 11:19 AM

Beyond repair? Won’t mention any names but a friend of mine managed to smash his vintage D28 - he’d ski’d to the local session with it in a gig bag on his back and fell over on the way home.

We recommended a (now retired) luthier to him who did his best to persuade him to put a new top on it but no, he wanted the old one repairing. I remember seeing the small pieces of Brazilian rosewood he used to patch the back where the neck block broke through! The job took ages, presumably cost him but, as far as I’m aware, he’s still playing it.

Nothing is beyond repair, at a cost, except possibly a piano.

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Subject: RE: Best guitar you've owned yet...
From: gillymor
Date: 22 May 25 - 12:47 PM

Then there was the guy who broke into Bill Monroe's house and splintered his famous Gibson Lloyd Loar F-5. Judging from the before pictures it looked like it was totaled but Gibson put it back together and Monroe's first report indicated that it was almost all the way back.

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Subject: RE: Best guitar you've owned yet...
From: Robert B. Waltz
Date: 22 May 25 - 02:41 PM

Ray wrote: Nothing is beyond repair, at a cost, except possibly a piano.

I suspect you haven't owned a 12-string guitar. :-p

Look, the instrument I was referring to "merely" needed a new fret job, so yes, in the short term, it could have been repaired. But the advice was that it was not going to last much longer, and I accepted that and saved the money to use for another instrument. If you brace a 12-string enough to make it as mechanically sound as a 6-string, the sound stinks. But if you don't, they tend to implode, eventually. (Gordon Bok tells stories about how he and Nick Apollonio (sp.?) argued and built instruments and watched them collapse until they found the best compromise they could.)

And what about when it does implode? You need a new top, possibly a new neck, possibly a new back. Is that really the same instrument? And it's still going to implode again.

For that matter, there is a question of my heirs. This was a Washburn 12-string. A miracle Washburn, far better than it had any right to be, but the resale value is small -- and I'm getting old enough that I have to think about the value of the instrument to my heirs. A middle-aged Taylor has a lot more resale value than an ancient, repaired Washburn.

So I let the Washburn go.

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Subject: RE: Best guitar you've owned yet...
From: GUEST,Ray
Date: 23 May 25 - 03:21 AM

Bought a 12 string in about 1964. It’s been hanging on the wall for at least 50 years but I’m sure it’s still playable!

I also love my old axe. I’ve replaced the handle several times and once treated it to a new head. ….but it’s still the same old axe.

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Subject: RE: Best guitar you've owned yet...
From: Robert B. Waltz
Date: 23 May 25 - 08:13 AM

Ray wrote: Bought a 12 string in about 1964. It’s been hanging on the wall for at least 50 years but I’m sure it’s still playable!

Check the model. Some of those older instruments are valuable -- if they haven't suffered too much use.

But used 12-strings really don't last. Consider the Stella model that Lead Belly used. There is demand for them -- partly because it's what Lead Belly played, but mostly because so few of them are left. They're under-braced -- like all 12-strings with good sound.

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Subject: RE: Best guitar you've owned yet...
From: Robert B. Waltz
Date: 23 May 25 - 08:16 AM

gillymor wrote: Then there was the guy who broke into Bill Monroe's house and splintered his famous Gibson Lloyd Loar F-5. Judging from the before pictures it looked like it was totaled but Gibson put it back together and Monroe's first report indicated that it was almost all the way back.

Although the story I heard was that no other mandolin player could get good sound out of that Loar. It was built like a brick. In that case, breaking it actually let them fix some of the problems it had developed over the years. Monroe was not easy on mandolins!

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Subject: RE: Best guitar you've owned yet...
From: Backwoodsman
Date: 23 May 25 - 12:29 PM

Are you there Fred? Check your PMs please…

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Subject: RE: Best guitar you've owned yet...
From: GUEST
Date: 23 May 25 - 12:49 PM

RBW wrote - Check the model. Some of those older instruments are valuable -- if they haven't suffered too much use.

Not this one. Best quality Italian plywood. All I could afford (and all that was available) when I was at school.

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Subject: RE: Best guitar you've owned yet...
From: Fred
Date: 25 May 25 - 07:15 AM

Ray,

If you're wondering what on earth I'm on about over this Dickie geezer, it goes back some (maybe 3-4 months) when I wasn't sure if I could post his contact details for you, but now I am and I did. See above lol.

Fred

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Subject: RE: Best guitar you've owned yet...
From: GUEST,Ray
Date: 25 May 25 - 09:57 AM

Hi Fred,

Thanks, I did wonder! The ‘phone number comes back to a Dicky Fontaine - Fontaine Guitars - on t’other side of Nottingham from me. His only web presence is via facetube and instacrap so I can tell nothing about him or his work (being averse to such anti-social trivialities).

Fortunately, I have no current need for a luthier.

Ray (currently in Dingwall)

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Subject: RE: Best guitar you've owned yet...
From: Fred
Date: 25 May 25 - 11:06 AM

Ray, FWIW, someone on another forum who uses this Dick fella, says "Fast turnaround and superb work every time". Maybe so, but I'd still want to see examples of his work before I had him do anything.

Fred

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Subject: RE: Best guitar you've owned yet...
From: Fred
Date: 28 May 25 - 05:05 AM

Putting this here rather than create a new thread.

For those within striking distance of the town of Melton Mowbray (Leicestershire UK) Hay Guitar Services has recently started work.
The owner, Will Hay, is said to have very high standards of workmanship. He has a website up, check him out.

Cheers
Fred

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Subject: RE: Best guitar you've owned yet...
From: GUEST,Ray
Date: 04 Jul 25 - 01:06 PM

Fred - somewhere back in this thread (or maybe elsewhere) we discussed the guitar repair shop working out of PMT in Salford. It appears that PMT has recently gone bust (always thought it was an inappropriate name!) and consequently the repair shop has moved out. As of last week they’re now at Unit 5 St, Mary Industrial Park,Talbot Road,Hyde,SK14 4HN.

Sorry to hear about PMT but the repairers are now less of a drive from me.

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Subject: RE: Best guitar you've owned yet...
From: Fred
Date: 04 Jul 25 - 02:15 PM

Ray -

Yes mate. However from mid July, Steve and crew are moving again. The details are on their website.

PMT I never had much to do with. Tried a few acoustic guitars they had but never found what I would call a good 'un.

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Subject: RE: Best guitar you've owned yet...
From: GUEST,Ray
Date: 04 Jul 25 - 05:22 PM

I don’t think they’re moving again, I think they’re opening a second workshop. Can’t say I’ve ever bought any other than a capo from PMT and most of such places don’t stock anything I’m remotely interested in.

All the decent shops have now gone and the UK no longer even has a case manufacturer. (Keith Calton sold up several years ago, Pegasus has wound down and the owner of Hiscox has retired.)

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Subject: RE: Best guitar you've owned yet...
From: Fred
Date: 04 Jul 25 - 05:57 PM

Ray -

Tell me about it! The nearest decent guitar shop for me is GuitarGuitar Birmingham . There are a few shops closer but they've never got what I'm after...

There IS a guy who has a guitar workshop in Melton Mowbray, about 13 miles from me, who is said to be "Phenomenal". Promising - until I found out that the geezer who told me that is a close friend of his!

Fred

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Subject: RE: Best guitar you've owned yet...
From: gillymor
Date: 06 Jul 25 - 09:09 AM

After I shipped off my D-18 to my grandson I got to missing the old box so I struck a deal with a picking buddy and now have a Bourgeois Country Boy (also a Sitka/mahog Dread). Wouldn't say it's the best I've had but it's only a couple of years old, been lightly played and already sounds good and projects well. It'll be fun to hear it mature.

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Subject: RE: Best guitar you've owned yet...
From: GUEST,Guest Tom
Date: 06 Jul 25 - 11:35 AM

My fave has less to do with tone, resonance, etc. than intrinsic value. My favorite guitar is a 1933 Martin smallbox that was passed down through my family. It means a lot to me. And oh yeah, it does sound great.

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Subject: RE: Best guitar you've owned yet...
From: G-Force
Date: 07 Jul 25 - 04:40 AM

My (only) guitar is a 1957 Martin D18 which I've had since 1969. It's definitely seen better days and now only plays in tune if I put a capo on. But as my left hand is so arthritic now I don't play it any more anyway.

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Subject: RE: Best guitar you've owned yet...
From: Tony Rees
Date: 09 Jul 25 - 04:32 PM

OK, I'll bite...

I have owned maybe 10 flat-top acoustics over the years (c. 1971 to present) and had regular access to several others... Gibson and Epiphone flattops, 4 Martins, a Fylde, a John Bailey and several other boutique luthiers (2 of which I still own). However my favourite since 1987 is a regular '73 Martin D-35 which I have often compared with others for sale and never found anything I liked better (for my style) - at least in my price range! (Say not exceeding 2k-3k in UK pounds). A 1999 pic of me (taken with a very early digital camera that used a floppy disc!) accompanies my home produced solo album, all recorded on that guitar, see here.

More recently I acquired its "big sister", a 12-fret Martin HD-28VS, which has even more sound and a quality and resonance all its own, but not quite the clarity of the D-35. Both great to play though. My other present holdings are both luthier built here in Oztralia, one by Gary Rizzolo of Rizzolo Guitars and the other by Jack Spira of Jack Spira Guitars... both are beautiful instruments and have their own sound and feel, and would be hard to leave behind in a burning building as well! I *think* the D-35 is the best all rounder for playing "out" and with other musos, but the others certainly are not out of the picture.

You can see a more recent photo of the Rizzolo in action (a bit distant) here played by some old geezer (thanks to John Penhallow for the picture!) while the Spira guitar is here: Spira jumbo S4 Australia

I put up a pic of the 2 Martins side by side for a comparison of their size and appearance for use in a Wikipedia article, here: Martin dreads side by side ... A picture (or several) is worth a thousand words methinks!

Tony

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Subject: RE: Best guitar you've owned yet...
From: Tony Rees
Date: 09 Jul 25 - 09:28 PM

You don't see many Spira guitars around, which is why I share this, now expired listing on Reverb for the same model as mine, the S4 Jumbo, which could come in different wood choices (mine is "standard" rosewood with spruce top). A range of nice pictures as well. The description of the sound, although stated as translated from a Japanese site, is actually pretty good!
Jack Spira S4 guitar for sale (presumably sold). Now I have to get mine out of its case to be reacquainted with my fingers...

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Subject: RE: Best guitar you've owned yet...
From: Tony Rees
Date: 10 Jul 25 - 02:09 AM

The keen-eyed observer may spot that the Spira S4 guitar illustrated on Reverb (5 years later than mine) has a round soundhole; his earlier version had an oval soundhole per my picture posted above, like a cross between the "gypsy jazz" (Selmer) and round hole/folk style appearance. Not sure how that alters the sound, if at all, but it certainly makes for an interesting look!

- Tony

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Subject: RE: Best guitar you've owned yet...
From: gillymor
Date: 10 Jul 25 - 08:07 AM

I tend to go for instruments that are not too ornate but Spiras guitars and zouks are very attractive.

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Subject: RE: Best guitar you've owned yet...
From: Fred
Date: 10 Jul 25 - 08:27 AM

For me it's about tone and feel. Looks doesn't bother me much, unless it's very blingy. That would kinda put me off.

TEHO I guess

-F

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Subject: RE: Best guitar you've owned yet...
From: gillymor
Date: 10 Jul 25 - 10:29 AM

When I choose an instrument it is first and foremost about sound and playability but I appreciate musical instruments as functional art forms as well. A friend of mine has a small house that is bursting at the seams with hand-made instruments from all over, Australian digeridoos, African percussion and kalimbas, Native American flutes and Hawaiian ukes and other exotic stuff from other locales, many of which he's collected in person. Going up there to pick with him, he's proficient on hammered dulcimer and concertina, is a magical experience.

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Subject: RE: Best guitar you've owned yet...
From: Tony Rees
Date: 10 Jul 25 - 04:10 PM

gillymor wrote:

> When I choose an instrument it is first and foremost about sound and playability but I appreciate musical instruments as functional art forms as well.

Yes I have the same view. My particular Martins are basically plain(ish), factory built instruments and although of course they are built by skilled workers and have an intrinsic good aesthetic / attractive look, they are not fancy and I own them for the sound they produce along with their playability. My small-luthier acquisitions are something different - beautiful creations in their own right that also sound nice, as well as being the expression of the skill and personal design flavour of a single luthier, plus a point along their particular journey (they will not be building exactly the same way in say 2010 as opposed to 2025). Also if you have met or have had some personal interaction with the luthier (or seen their place of operation) that makes for a richer experience as well. Plus of course (although this is not the case for my instruments, which have either been purchased from a luthier's existing stock or I am not the original owner) one can have a say in the design choices to get something unique or otherwise individualised if a non-standard instrument is desired - as well as perhaps a warm fuzzy feeling that you are supporting local, or not so local, artistic enterprises.

I know one can do the same from e.g. the Martin Custom Shop as well so that would no doubt be an equally worthwhile experience.

People buy works of art to hang on their walls. We are lucky, we can also buy works of art/craftsmanship that also produce beautiful sounds.

- Tony

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Subject: RE: Best guitar you've owned yet...
From: Tony Rees
Date: 10 Jul 25 - 04:31 PM

One more thing... when you own an instrument from a small/boutique luthier, you can feel kind of special, like a member of an exclusive club that 99.9% of the world do not know exists... and then be amazed if by chance you meet another owner, like I did at a folk festival in the UK in the 1980s ... my then guitar (by Dick Knight), somebody else's mandolin by the same maker!

my Dick Knight guitar + friend

I sold that guitar to a friend several decades ago for a bit over $1k (Australian dollars) (600 or so UK pounds). Later I found out that David Gilmour (and also Mike Oldfield) had the same instruments, more or less, and Gilmore's sold at auction for 56,250 UD dollars!! (estimate was only USD 2k-3k though).

- Tony

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Subject: RE: Best guitar you've owned yet...
From: Fred
Date: 10 Jul 25 - 05:18 PM

Look good 'uns, Tony. Do they gig?

-F

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Subject: RE: Best guitar you've owned yet...
From: Fred
Date: 10 Jul 25 - 05:32 PM

Ah, ya sold 'em. I've been there, sold an incredible sounding Gibson Hummingbird that I've never gotten over. Haunts the hell out of me still, 30 years later. If I could buy it back, I'd jump at it.

-F

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