Help me pick an acoustic guitar

[VREEEEVROOOOOW]

Right so I've never had an acoustic. Never really played one for any lengthy amount of time either. So I'm not even sure what to look for. Pls halp?

* Both "classical" and "western" are OK
* Need to be able to tune down the high/low string to C, and frequently change tunings
* Gonna primarily do fingerpicking & no-pick strumming
* When I play chords, they're typically open chords, not barres
* No preamp or other crap
* Price range: €500-1000 (it's my first acoustic, no need to splurge when I don't know what I'm looking for

Any help narrowing it down, in terms of body size, brands, anything, would be great. I don't even know if I want nylon or steel strings for crissakes (though I'm leaning towards steel string acoustic).

Appropriate empty buzzwords: "lush", "warm", "rich", "mellow", "full". I'm gonna be honest: I just wanna sound like Nick Drake without paying for the 000-28 he used on those glorious last recordings.

My own research has thus far lead me as far as realising that Kasuga lawsuit Martin copies are looking promising. I like the sound of this lawsuit D-18: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P3VZvH9T6Qs which is for sale on what's basically Norwegian Craigslist. Locally I can get new Ayers and Stanford, both of which are reasonable and supposedly good. Another guitar I've looked at is the Sigma 000R-28VS, which has gotten nice reviews. Lastly, I've looked at Blueridge BR-163, but that's just outside my upper price limit.

[MechaGodzilla]

as soon as i see nick drake, my brain says “guild m20”. maybe a smaller bodied mahogany like an epi caballero? with some monel or nickel bronze strings. death to phosphor bronze.

also fwiw i laughed a little bit reading “€500-1k” and “not a splurge”. yeah, you can spend five figures on an extremely fancy or old acoustic but you can also get an eko for under €/£100 and they sound really good.

[chromandre]

* Need to be able to tune down the high/low string to C, and frequently change tunings

in general I found this is not much of an issue for acoustic, maybe I got lucku but I have some random fender dreadnought, and I go to acoustic specifically for experimenting writing songs in alternate tunings. with medium gauge it seems you can definitely get away with detuning any of the strings down two steps or up one half step.

[Dandolin]

as soon as i see nick drake, my brain says “guild m20”. maybe a smaller bodied mahogany like an epi caballero? with some monel or nickel bronze strings. death to phosphor bronze.

also fwiw i laughed a little bit reading “€500-1k” and “not a splurge”. yeah, you can spend five figures on an extremely fancy or old acoustic but you can also get an eko for under €/£100 and they sound really good.

yep, this
I'll add, maybe check out the Loar LH-204
https://www.musiciansfriend.com/guitars ... 5000000000
i went there to get my Drake on, and I've been very satisfied
Strings are an important part of that sound, and you can try what MechaG has suggested, or maybe some fancypants Thomastik flat wound classicals, but you'll get maybe even closer by doing what Nick did--basically never change your strings

[Chankgeez]

Still a fan of Josh Turner's breakdown of the subject:



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EzdQE3fJW2E

[Dandolin]

[VREEEEVROOOOOW]

Kinda busy rn, so I'll just run by the replies in turn.

@mecha Drake never played an M-20, he just posed with one for the Bryter Layter cover. That, in itself, doesn't mean that *I* wouldn't want an M-20 of course, so J/S. But then again—I *don't* want an M-20, because it's over €1K. At least the ones I've seen.

In regards to strings, he probably used somewhat heavy gauge 80/20s, afaik. But like dandolin alludes to—the most important factor is probably that the strings are dead. Much like Drake, I don't ever change my strings, unless they break, 'cos I really like the way dead skin sounds, I guess...

@chromandre Yeah I figured my tendency to use heavy gauge would solve this.

@dandolin That Loar is very affordable! Although I have this notion that I'll want a rosewood (with spruce top) instead of mahogany, this is just based on the 000-28, so it's likely a silly/arbitrary choice on my part. I'll certainly consider the Loar. Thanks!

@chank Of course I've seen that video! What sort of Nick Drake geek do you take me for? It's a cool video though, I recommend people watch it.

[MechaGodzilla]

Still a fan of Josh Turner's breakdown of the subject:

this is what turned me onto the dadd nickel bronze strings and i bloody love 'em. i've got them on my old caballero and i can't imagine a better acoustic for me really.

[VREEEEVROOOOOW]

My present leanings:

Kasuga (AKA K.Country) D-200, or Blueridge BR-160. Former is mahogany, latter rosewood. Former is half the price of the latter.

[Chankgeez]

[quote="VREEEEVROOOOOW"
@chank Of course I've seen that video! What sort of Nick Drake geek do you take me for? It's a cool video though, I recommend people watch it.[/quote]

IK, in any case, I feel obligated to post it.

As an added bonus, please, accept this cover (which's superior to the original):



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OirPM1rryxQ

[dubkitty]

i had a Blueridge BG-160, and it was the absolute bomb. every couple of years i think of calling up the guy i sold it to and asking to buy it back. out of all the equipment i sold in the Great Big Gear Purge, that was the thing that hurt the most.

in general terms, what you want to think about regarding an acoustic guitar of any sort:

solid spruce top. fortunately laminates are fairly uncommon today compared to the 70s/80s. if you can examine in detail, look for consistent grain i.e. evenly and tightly spaced. watch out for sunbursts applied broadly and liberally to disguise inconsistencies. there are several different species of spruce used for flattops; there are differences in response, but unless you're freaky about it the differences are de minimis. other woods are sometimes used, including cedar (popular on "classical" nylon-strings), mahogany, and sometimes more ornamental woods like koa or spalted maple. the ornamental ones don't work terribly well.

body wood: rosewood adds richness; mahogany is fairly neutral; maple is bright and less responsive in the bass. other woods are attempts to replace the major tone woods: nato is poor man's mahogany, pao ferro and Indian Laurel sub for rosewood fretboards, etc.

size: get whatever's comfortable unless there's a specific sound you want to emulate. dreadnoughts are more or less the standard sound and shape; "slope-shoulder" dreads like the Gibson J-45 or the Blueridge i noted above IMO have a richer tone, jumbos are, well, JUMBO. if you're a loud singer you'll probably want a guitar loud enough to keep up, which is to say a dread or jumbo. i have an OM-style, which is a shapelier 000 that is great. smaller bodies can sound better for fingerpicking because you get better note-to-note separation from the smaller body and size of the soundboard. if you're a smaller person like me jumbos can be hard to reach around/over; i do because my jumbo 12-string sounds HUGE.

scale length: if you're downtuning, the longer the string length the better to keep the strings from being too floppy and fretting out when you whack them hard. acoustics vary almost as much as if not more than electrics, ranging from teensy 24" parlor guitars to Martin's 25" and Selmer/Maccaferri-style "gypsy jazz" guitars which are sometimes 28" for standard pitch. conversely, just like an electric guitar, shorter scales make thinks go "plunk" more than "zing!"

given your price range i'm not going to rattle off a list of companies that make good reasonably-priced acoustics. in your range, if you can find Eastman acoustics i highly recommend them.

[VREEEEVROOOOOW]

Thanks for that little write-up, dubkitty. Much appreciated.

[Dandolin]

took a road trip today and listened to Nick the whole way.

Couldn't help thinking an important part of my Nick sound would be having Danny Thompson decorating the bottom end

[MrNovember]

I am a big fan of Godin and their higher end brands like Seagull or Simon and Patrick. They tend to make really solid acoustics at surprisingly good prices. Their lower end brands like Art and Lutherie are more budget friendly laminate top guitars; still decent quality from what I've heard though

I've owned a couple Seagulls in the past and was surprised every time at the quality. My buddy has had the same Seagull guitar since we were in high school and it sounds amazing. I've currently got a Simon and Patrick Songsmith that I like quite a bit and I've been eyeing up a Godin/LaPatrie Etude of Motif nylon guitar lately. I've always wanted a Godin 5th Avenue too, but they have that listed as an electric

[VREEEEVROOOOOW]

Yo. I ended up with that Kasuga D-200. Real happy with it. Japanese lawsuit guitars are the bomb.