What steel string guitars to consider?
Posted: Mon Apr 02, 2012 7:01 pm
I currently own a steel 6-string made in China. It cost me a hundred euros and has a laminated top and sides (an Encore, imported by John Hornby Skewes). It's a beginners guitar I picked-up in Galway whilst working in Eire. My main electric was built in Warwickshire and it is simply a fantastic guitar.
The Encore is actually pretty good, so good I paid an extra thirty quid and flew it back to England on RyanAir. After sanding the saddle (I never touch the nut or the truss rod) I managed to get the action down quite a bit, though it is a bit higher than more expensive guitars. Barre chords though even at the 12th fret are reasonably easy. It stays in tune and best of all is good with alternate tunings; I can drop the low E four steps to C and it doesn't buzz.
I am though finding it is challenged in the tone department, and on a damp day it can sound awful. I think I'd like a solid top at least.
So, with a big birthday coming up at the end of the year, and a budget of around £2k, I've been playing all sorts of 'real' guitars in an effort to find a 'keeper'. I've only really owned one quality acoustic in the past; a 12-string Ovation I no longer have.
There's a good guitar retailer near to me (Sounds Great) who sell Taylor, Martin, BSG (Battlestar Galactica?) Takemine, Yamaha, Simon & Patrick, Collings, Patrick James Eggle and a few other makes. I've tried out guitars all the way to £3.5k (beyond my budget) and...I can't find one I would be certain of purchasing.
I play fingerstyle. I can't do the pick-and-fingers thing, though I am trying to get to grips with it. My repertoire at present includes Anji, some of Gordon's stuff, Howe's Meadow Rag and Classical Gas, plus some stuff that sounds like Anthony Phillips (though not on a 12-string) and some Celtic. Being mostly an electric player I don't get nervous playing beyond the 12-fret (hence wanting a cutaway).
The only one to-date I have really enjoyed is a Taylor GA7 - but it wasn't an electro and doesn't have a cutaway - two key requirements. The other requirements are that it sounds reasonable unplugged and I would prefer to buy from an English or American firm, and prefererably have the guitar built in their respective countries, though that bumps up the cost.
The Martin's I've played tend to be a little too bluegrassy, too American. Of the other Taylor's I thought I'd be a dead certainty for a 614CE - it looks great and sound pretty good, but the fingerboard was like sludge. I've played from 414 all the way to a 914 and just didn't find any of them quite right from 'Brit' sounds and the slow fingerboard seemed to be universal. I'm starting to run out-of-options now, and I'm left with just a few unplayed;
* A Jimmy Moon 0003CE
* The Vintage Gordon Giltrap 6-string, but it isn't a cutaway and isn't made in the UK. This though would be a sensible choice and the price is such it would leave enough to buy another guitar - perhaps the 12-string or a...
* Faith Venus II - though once again not made in the UK
...and still have change left.
But there must be loads of guitars out there, preferably made in the UK, cutaway, electro, sound ok unplugged, and good for fingerstyle.
Any suggestions please?
The Encore is actually pretty good, so good I paid an extra thirty quid and flew it back to England on RyanAir. After sanding the saddle (I never touch the nut or the truss rod) I managed to get the action down quite a bit, though it is a bit higher than more expensive guitars. Barre chords though even at the 12th fret are reasonably easy. It stays in tune and best of all is good with alternate tunings; I can drop the low E four steps to C and it doesn't buzz.
I am though finding it is challenged in the tone department, and on a damp day it can sound awful. I think I'd like a solid top at least.
So, with a big birthday coming up at the end of the year, and a budget of around £2k, I've been playing all sorts of 'real' guitars in an effort to find a 'keeper'. I've only really owned one quality acoustic in the past; a 12-string Ovation I no longer have.
There's a good guitar retailer near to me (Sounds Great) who sell Taylor, Martin, BSG (Battlestar Galactica?) Takemine, Yamaha, Simon & Patrick, Collings, Patrick James Eggle and a few other makes. I've tried out guitars all the way to £3.5k (beyond my budget) and...I can't find one I would be certain of purchasing.
I play fingerstyle. I can't do the pick-and-fingers thing, though I am trying to get to grips with it. My repertoire at present includes Anji, some of Gordon's stuff, Howe's Meadow Rag and Classical Gas, plus some stuff that sounds like Anthony Phillips (though not on a 12-string) and some Celtic. Being mostly an electric player I don't get nervous playing beyond the 12-fret (hence wanting a cutaway).
The only one to-date I have really enjoyed is a Taylor GA7 - but it wasn't an electro and doesn't have a cutaway - two key requirements. The other requirements are that it sounds reasonable unplugged and I would prefer to buy from an English or American firm, and prefererably have the guitar built in their respective countries, though that bumps up the cost.
The Martin's I've played tend to be a little too bluegrassy, too American. Of the other Taylor's I thought I'd be a dead certainty for a 614CE - it looks great and sound pretty good, but the fingerboard was like sludge. I've played from 414 all the way to a 914 and just didn't find any of them quite right from 'Brit' sounds and the slow fingerboard seemed to be universal. I'm starting to run out-of-options now, and I'm left with just a few unplayed;
* A Jimmy Moon 0003CE
* The Vintage Gordon Giltrap 6-string, but it isn't a cutaway and isn't made in the UK. This though would be a sensible choice and the price is such it would leave enough to buy another guitar - perhaps the 12-string or a...
* Faith Venus II - though once again not made in the UK
...and still have change left.
But there must be loads of guitars out there, preferably made in the UK, cutaway, electro, sound ok unplugged, and good for fingerstyle.
Any suggestions please?