help with first guitar upgrade

bigseal · Unread post by **bigseal** » Fri Mar 03, 2006 9:59 pm

i'm looking to get a new acoustic guitar. right now i play an Ovation 1112 Balladeer that my dad bought in the 80's and was sitting in its case for years, until i took it out and fixed it up about a year ago. it has served me well, but i think it's time for me to step up. however, i have no idea where to start.

i tried searching online a little bit, but it is quite overwhelming. i don't really know anything about guitars, except for the assumption that the more it cost, the nicer it is. the only manufacturers i'm familiar with are martin and taylor, and i have no idea what the differences are between the different models/bodys/woods/etc...

the second issue, is i don't really know where i'm at as a player. until i picked up the ovation, i had never played guitar. entirely self taught, i went online and learned the chords and progressed to trying to play tabs of songs i liked. now i can play pretty much any dmb song and any other tab i sit down and practice. over the past few months, i've started messing around with some of my own riffs/jams.

i don't want to get a guitar thats above me, but isn't it worth it to spend more now on a better guitar that i will grow into as i continue to develop? that being said, i'm not really sure what my prcie range should be.

as for my style, i play mostly dmb/john mayer/jack johnson type stuff with some tom petty/neil young/etc.. thrown in. i don't do gigs or anything like that. i just mess around when i'm not doin anything, and i sometimes jam with friends, or do a little solo show for like 10-20 friends.

the guitar needs to be diverse enough to play classical style fingerpicking stuff, dave style heavy strumming/muting riffs, and jazz and blues stuff. i want it to look nice, but i don't care so much about asthetics as i do how it feels/sounds.

RunsWithBuffalo · Unread post by **RunsWithBuffalo** » Sat Mar 04, 2006 4:29 am

PraiseDave did a real nice "how to" article on buying a guitar...
http://www.dmbtabs.com/boards/viewtopic.php?t=28021

Also, I would recommend checking out Larrivee, Takamine and Alvarez as other options to Taylor and Martin.

It really depends on what you are going to use it for though. Typically smaller body guitars are better for stage use because of their comfort. Bigger guitars are louder and can take heavy strumming better, wheras the smaller ones are more suited to fingerpicking.

As far as wood is concerned, typically the darker the wood the more bassy it is. Example, maple is very bright and punchy with more empasis on treble, where rosewood is bassier and creates overtones very similiar to reverb (echo)

What ever you get, try to make sure its all wood, they age better if cared for and sound a lot better.

mangold · Unread post by **mangold** » Sat Mar 04, 2006 9:32 am

RunsWithBuffalo wrote:PraiseDave did a real nice "how to" article on buying a guitar...
http://www.dmbtabs.com/boards/viewtopic.php?t=28021

Also, I would recommend checking out Larrivee, Takamine and Alvarez as other options to Taylor and Martin.

It really depends on what you are going to use it for though. Typically smaller body guitars are better for stage use because of their comfort. Bigger guitars are louder and can take heavy strumming better, wheras the smaller ones are more suited to fingerpicking.

As far as wood is concerned, typically the darker the wood the more bassy it is. Example, maple is very bright and punchy with more empasis on treble, where rosewood is bassier and creates overtones very similiar to reverb (echo)

What ever you get, try to make sure its all wood, they age better if cared for and sound a lot better.

exxxxxxxcellent my plan is working! I didnt even have to post the link in this one! Thanks Buff! I agree with everything you said im just gonna tag an emphasis on Larrivee because i think as far as quality goes they're head and shoulders above the rest.

Kahn · Unread post by **Kahn** » Sat Mar 04, 2006 1:56 pm

praisedave wrote:im just gonna tag an emphasis on Larrivee because i think as far as quality goes they're head and shoulders above the rest.

bigseal · Unread post by **bigseal** » Sat Mar 04, 2006 4:44 pm

thanks for the responses. the article was a big help and i will absolutely include larrivee in my search.

i think i now have a better idea of what i'm looking for...

wood - all wood guitar with cedar or spruce top.
body - crossover between a dread and an OM

that seems like it would be the most diverse combo for all styles, from finger picking to heavy strumming.

price ~ 1500

RunsWithBuffalo · Unread post by **RunsWithBuffalo** » Sat Mar 04, 2006 8:55 pm

Yeah definitely though i dont know if there is such a thing as am OM/Dreadnout body style. The new taylor GS body type might be pretty close though.

http://taylorguitars.com/

Spruce is a brighter wood than cedar, which is very warm. Also cedar is a little softer so it is much more succeptible to wear and tear from strumming. Look at Dave's 714 or howie day's takamine santa fe. Both have wear spots around the sound hole and both are cedar. If you dont mind that then i would say go for it.

Kahn · Unread post by **Kahn** » Sun Mar 05, 2006 3:20 am

sitka ages so well.

my Larri with a sitka top is 5 years old and is starting to sound so warm and beautiful

bigseal · Unread post by **bigseal** » Sun Mar 05, 2006 3:56 am

regarding body size, i meant a model in between the size of a 000 and a dread... would that be an OM?

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help with first guitar upgrade

help with first guitar upgrade

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