Acoustic guitar

[mikey5]

Hey everyone I am looking into getting an acoustic guitar because I want to learn some tommy emanuel folk and also delta blues. What kind of acoustic guitars are out there that are at a decent price but with awesome quality?
Mike

[maverickf1jockey]

Vintage always get good press for price/quality ratio on their acoustics.

[ToneMonkey]

My Tanglewood is awesome for the money it cost me.  Picked it up brand new for £120

http://www.gear4music.com/Guitar-and-Bass/Tanglewood-TW155-ST-Acoustic-Guitar/7Y6

Someone always recommends Simon and Patrick, but I've never played one and Freshman are getting a real good reputation.

[Twinfan]

Blueridge are another cheapish yet fantastic range, as are Farida.

[tomjackson]

Agree with whats been said above.  It's a good time to buy an acoustic becuase the choice is staggering.

Farida, Tanglewood, Vintage, Cort - they all produce very good guitars.  I'd go with something with a solid top, Spruce is a little brighter and slower to age wheras Cedar is a little warmer and loosens up quicker.  Don't worry too much about solid back and sides, it would be nice but a well costructed laminate b+S guitar can be better than an all solid wood one, just try a few out.

Also think anout the size, folk and especially delta blues are usually played on smaller sized acoustics.  The smaller size means less bass which can bring punchy mids forward in the projection, good for fingerpicking.  For delta a parlour size would be best.  In fact you could get 2 guitars, a nice solid top folk guitar and an a cheapo second hand laminate top guitar for delta blues slide.  For me the 2 styles need different setups and for delta blues the nastier the better!.

I have a S&P pro mahogany Drednought which is a very nice guitar.

For you, if your budget can stretch these are very nice

http://www.guitarampkeyboard.com/en/sp6-folk/9098

Otherwise any of the above makes would be good....

[sgmypod]

The tanglewoods are good price and not bad at all, The S&P are great sounding....higher up again I love the Seagulls

[Elliot]

For folk and blues fingerstyle a 000 size is best - you can do it with a dreadnought but the size and the bass are often uncontrollable.  I'd second blueridges. 

For delta slide just get any cheapo guitar - in fact spend no more than £75 - high action and not too resonant is what is required otherwise you are going to have hell with ghost notes and harmonics.  Personally I found an old Hohner in a skip and put 16s on it.  Works fine for slide.

[shobet]

I got my self a Big Baby Taylor recently and I'm more than happy with it.

[sgmypod]

the baby martin..can't remember number is good as well for smaller bodied

[viking]

Hey everyone I am looking into getting an acoustic guitar because I want to learn some tommy emanuel

    Good luck to you  :)!It's not an easy task...About the guitar itself;what is your budget?

[Lu_B]

I found finding a good acoustic was like trying to find the holy grail.

For years I'd had £500-600 Yamaha's small bodies, dreadnoughts, 12 strings - don't get me wrong they're good workhorse guitars but they never had that sparkle and clarity I was after.

So I sold all my acoustics and decided to get one good one, thought it would be easy was looking at the usual suspects Yamaha hand built, Martin Taylor, Laviree, Blueridge, Gibson.  Found A Taylor Doyle Dykes signature model in Frailers in Runcorn that had exactly the sound I was after but at over £2k seconhand it was way out of my league.

Then I came across a 1997 K.Yairi Gordon Giltrap Signature - cedar top, burred mahogany back & sides, ebony fingerboard.  Small bodied OM sized, a real fingerpickers guitar.  Had never hear of K.Yairi but bought it straight away.

I am a firm believer that to you should play an acoustic before buying, doesn't matter what name is on the headstock!  I bought another K.Yairi spruce top this time, on the interweb and I only kept it for 3 weeks as it hadn't got that magic sparkle! 

A guitar I'd like to try is a Fylde any model will do - but it won't be happening soon as they start at £1600.

 

[AndyR]

Definitely try the guitar before you buy. And don't get too hung up on the name...

For example - I've had a Freshman for 3 or 4 years now, and I'd never heard of them when I bought it. I went out looking at takamines, etc, and this little group of Freshmans caught my eye. All of them were preferable (for me) to the "well-knowns" I'd been trying on the other side of the room, but one in particular had something stunning about it - even my missus could hear it. It has a couple of cosmetic flaws - there's something under the scratchplate that shows up as a "bump", and there's a few spots on the top that aren't attractive to my eyes, but it's the best accoustic I've ever played (feel and sound). Mine's a FA300D - I think they'd be around the £500-£600 mark now.

But do shop around and get a feel for what you want. I'd agree with what others are saying about the delta blues stuff - a really nice sounding folk/country accoustic doesn't actually seem to get you that sound! :lol:

[Dr. Vic]

Someone always recommends Simon and Patrick, but I've never played one and Freshman are getting a real good reputation.

Maybe it was me.......

http://bareknucklepickups.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=17197.0    :mrgreen:

Simon Patrick, seagull or Norman are just awesome quality for the price (they are sort of Godin's family, who use very qood wood quality)

Cheers !

[sgmypod]

Aged substanable wood's..think they have there own forest or at least own supply on doorstep that they re stock what they take