ShortScale.org

Check out the takamine gs330s. It's a great sounding guitar. New around 300 and used under 2. I played some lower end Taylor's and martins and this one blew them away. It has great volume.

Another vote for Tanglewood from me....if you're after something that'll play well without breaking the bank, can't go wrong with these. Here's mine:

I really like my Yamaha FG700S, about $180 used with foam supported gig bag in like-new condition. Plays and sounds excellent and the nato sides and back have a really nice grain, tuners are solid, and the bridge and nut were properly setup.

I learnt after I started getting into his music through his earlier band Heatmiser that Elliott Smith almost always used a red label Yamaha FG-180 live and in the studio, awesome sound from a cheapy.

I have a Larrivee L-03R, love that thing. The neck is pretty hefty but it's very comfortable to play.

The big problem that people face is that often the action is set too high on an acoustic in order to get the most volume out of the guitar, lowering the action by just a millimetre or two makes it to so much easier to play.

I'd go for a shorter scale if you have trouble with them. I play a Martin OM style guitar that I made at college, which has a 24.8" scale length, which you can paly on all day without much stress. Smaller guitars tend to sound better in my opinion. The massive jumbos are mostly a waste of time and so over built that any sound they could have made is killed by the sheer mass.

Also, make sure you get something with a solid top (back and sides, if you can), as that's pretty much the most important part of any acoustic. Don't get fooled by sunbursts or painted tops as they usually just disguise the crap wood or build quality.

I think some of the higher end, big named guitars are massively over rated and way over priced for what are essentially factory made guitars with a few extra shiney bits put on. One of the worst acoustics I've played was a Martin that was near the £2000 mark. Utterly shite sounding, dead thing.... didn't mention that to the guy would seemed fragile about these things.

I've liked just about every Simon & Patrick I've played. Not usually the loudest guitars, but much better sound than most factory made acoustics. Very warm and rich, full sounding. You can usually pick them up at a reasonable price, but be sure to check which model you buy as they, used to at least, come in quite a large range of prices.

ever since my knee went through SAMO* well filming the music video for "industrial design" i've been wanting to pick up one of those fender Hellcats..

I've played quite a few of them, and sadly the QC means not buying without playing first, as the fret edges were all over the map.
but they all sounded quite nice..



*SAMO was a mid 90's Simon & Patrick I picked up for about $60 at a shop just down the road from me, the guy pretty much just goes around to all the pawn shops and snakes anything worth while.. but the nice part is that you can barter with him over the price of any and everything in the store.

robroe wrote:mine has a malibu neck with a tiny parlor body attached to it

When did you get the alkaline trio guitar?!

Sometimes I wish I still had my first guitar, the Yamaha FG-420 I got from Guitar Center back in 1987.

Looked exceedingly boring, sounded just right.

ultratwin wrote:Sometimes I wish I still had my first guitar, the Yamaha FG-420 I got from Guitar Center back in 1987.

Looked exceedingly boring, sounded just right.

Bulletproof too.

gusman2x wrote:

ultratwin wrote:Sometimes I wish I still had my first guitar, the Yamaha FG-420 I got from Guitar Center back in 1987.

Looked exceedingly boring, sounded just right.

Bulletproof too.

True dat.

And to think I sold it to get an Ovation Celebrity...Pure insanity, in retrospect. Thank heavens THEY CAN BE FOUND CHEEP LOL.

Freddy V-C wrote:Every Tanglewood acoustic I've played has been lovely, and they're reasonably cheap.

I did drop the bridge and tweak the truss rod from the shop setting.

(Then I put a piezo bridge pickup in the poor thing.)