[*Buzzer*]

Hi

I've finally spent a good few hours trying these babies out


Tanglewood 15N NS



Takamine GS330S



Taylor Big Baby



S&P SP6



Okay, now they're all great but can i have some guidence on which would age better or which would you consider the best made etc etc

Just general experiences you may have.................... OKAY, try and make my mind up for me

[billy16]

Haven't played the first or last ones, but I have played a Tak and Taylor, they are both really good guitars. I liked the Taylor better (that was the only one in lefty I played, the Tak was flipped over) So the Tak felt a bit off to me. It all boils down to what you like and what feels best to you. Make sure you play them before you buy.

[*Buzzer*]

Hi Billy

These are the ones i have tried. Okay theres a few more i would of liked to tried like the Vintage V1500 and a few others, sadly i cant find anywhere to try them, so i've narrowed it down to these four which i really like

All of them would be nice but i only have £350.00 / $500 USD

[billy16]

I'm pretty sure that Taylor falls under the $500 category. The Tak though, I don't know.

[*Buzzer*]

Yeah the Taylor comes in at £300.00 / $540 (here in the UK). Yo be fair, the Tak is a low end Tak but i still think its worth more than the £200.00 / $360.00 price tag

In saying that even though there is £100.00 / $180.00 difference in the guits, i wouldnt say it felt that much different. The Taylor may well be better made and age better than the Tak !

This post has been edited by *Buzzer*: 10 March 2005 - 05:51 PM

[SmoothD]

Yeah the Taylor comes in at £300.00 / $540 (here in the UK). Yo be fair, the Tak is a low end Tak but i still think its worth more than the £200.00 / $360.00 price tag

In saying that even though there is £100.00 / $180.00  difference in the guits, i wouldnt say it felt that much different. The Taylor may well be better made and age better than the Tak  !

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I think that Taylor has the best reputation among your choices. I've played Taylor and Tak and liked them both. I guess you need the opinion of someone who owns these fine guitars!

Good luck!

Dave

[blueswannabe]

It's probably just me, but i never played a Tanglewood I liked.
I've never heard a bad word said about a Takamine G series, though.

[*Buzzer*]

Hi Voodoogav, i only live up the road from you (Warrington)

Interesting what you say about the Taylor. A few friends have mentioned that its better to get a high ranging budget guitar rather than a budget high end manufacturers guitar, maybe you have a good point.

Okay i've scrapped the SP6, so its between the Tanglewood, Tak and maybe not too sure about the Taylor.

I'm going to make a decision tommorrow, i must of tried 30 different guits now. I'm off to try a few more and then thats it, i cant go another week without an acoustic!

Shame that i still havent tried a selection of Alvarez though

[Cloodie]

Hi Voodoogav, i only live up the road from you (Warrington)

Interesting what you say about the Taylor. A few friends have mentioned that its better to get a high ranging budget guitar rather than a budget high end manufacturers guitar, maybe you have a good point.

Okay i've scrapped the SP6, so its between the Tanglewood, Tak and maybe not too sure about the Taylor.

I'm going to make a decision tommorrow, i must of tried 30 different guits now. I'm off to try a few more and then thats it, i cant go another week without an acoustic!

Shame that i still havent tried a selection of Alvarez though

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

A couple of months ago I intended to spend 280 quid on a Faith Saturn guitar (I had originally budgeted on spending 300 - 350). Made the mistake of picking up a Taylor 310 and that was me hooked. Spent 1159 quid on a 310 Electro Acoustic.

If I was you I'd bite the bullet and buy a really nice guitar that'll last a lifetime. Oh and get one of those interest free credit cards so that you can put money towards it each month rather than taking up the credit options offered by the shop.

[*Buzzer*]

Nooooooo Cloodie, dont say that

I've made sure i haven't tried any hi end models coz i'd be sucked in lol.

Damn, the other half has seen this thread now and said there is NO WAY you are spending over £350 for one.................. and now she said she's coming with me tommorrow

My uncle has a Takamine XL TD 2002, i *tried* to play it last week and fell in love with it but................. i'm not clued up enough to distinguish between true great and a good guitar yet...... thank God

The Tanglewood is really appealing to me now, i have to focus on under £350

[gazhowell]

A couple of months ago I intended to spend 280 quid on a Faith Saturn guitar (I had originally budgeted on spending 300 - 350). Made the mistake of picking up a Taylor 310 and that was me hooked. Spent 1159 quid on a 310 Electro Acoustic.

If I was you I'd bite the bullet and buy a really nice guitar that'll last a lifetime. Oh and get one of those interest free credit cards so that you can put money towards it each month rather than taking up the credit options offered by the shop.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I think telling someone to triple their budget is easier said than done. If everyone could just do that then there would never be any mid priced guitars, which would be a shame.

*buzzer* - It's a tough decision you've got. You can get as much advice as you can, but at the end of the day the best one to get is the one that just "feels" right. Hard to describe, but if at all possible you need to do some sort of blind test, where someone passes you the guitars without you seeing which one it is and then you buy the one that you enjoy playing the most.

Right as far as my two pence is worth........
I am a HUGE Taylor fan - I love them. Loads of people rave about the big baby aswell which is always a good sign. Personally, I'd maybe scrape together another 100 quid and go for the full dreadnought sized Taylor 110, or even look at secondhanders?

How come you have scrapped the SP6? I've heard lots of people raving about it (can't remember which forum, I thought it was this one, but possibly not). Get the Spruce top version though rather than the cedar, it's only about £40 more.

The Takamine looks nice, solid spruce top an all, and I've no idea about the tanglewood but it'd be the bottom of my list just on basic viewing.

As voodoogav said, it's disappointing that there's 2 big screws in the fingerboard of the Taylor, so that might sway my decision, but I've played one and I liked it.

I am inclined to go for the SP6, but without playing it I couldn't say for sure.

My order of purchase would be

Taylor
S&P or Takamine
Tanglewood.

Either way, the best bet is to try and do some sort of blind play test.

PS - Where have you been shopping by the way - I live round your neck of the woods and can recommend some good shops if you are stuck for choices.

[*Buzzer*]

LOL Hi Gaz, i live in Warrington but i'm from Huyton

Some sound advice there mate, thanks

The first acoustic i really really liked was the Big Baby, just purely based on sound, the richness i felt was unbelievable, i seriously liked it, it fealt great.

Then i started to experiment (with an open mind) on the others.

The Tak was good, solid and felt like it would last forever. Okay the sound wasn't as rich and deep but it felt "right"

The Tanglewood had a bit of both of the above guitars in it. Rich-ish and felt solid.

The SP6 i discounted because i thought it only aspired to be what the Tanglewood was (am i making sense here)

I have to say that the strings on the SP6 were dire, really p1ss poor, so maybe thats clouded my judgement......................... and that i thought the bridge was out, so maybe i could be judging harshly. I'm relatively new to Acoustics so what do i know ?

BTW i got my first guitar from Hessies in L'pool in 1980

[gazhowell]

BTW i got my first guitar from Hessies in L'pool in 1980 

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

lol, Hessies, that's going back a bit

The best selection of acoustics in the northwest is Frailers in Runcorn. It's mostly top end stuff, but has some decent mid ranged stuff aswell. There's no way you'll be satidfied just spending £350 though so maybe you should keep clear (or ditch the missus lol)
Also - sound control on the M602 as you go into Manchester is worth a mention - they claim to have the biggest guitar wall in Europe!

I take your point about the strings issue. A £2k guitar can play absolutely awful with dead, rusty strings on it, compared to say the Taylor with brand new elixirs on it which will play like a dream.

It's a shame shops don't have a strict restringing policy, but I suppose its just an added expense to them

[*Buzzer*]

Also - sound control on the M602 as you go into Manchester is worth a mention

Thats where i'm going tommorrow. I have a blonde chick you can take off my hands for the day if you like................ she can cook

I went all the way to Bolton today to try the SP6 and was really disappointed, i agree with the re-stringing policy. Maybe i'll see one tommorrow and give it "a second chance"

Does sound control have any Alvarez? i thnk i might be missing out on something by not trying them out

(i Wish everything was as easy as saying "yeah that strats nice i'll have that one)

This post has been edited by *Buzzer*: 11 March 2005 - 07:06 PM

[*Buzzer*]

Gav

Like i said in the last post i'm from Huyton so The Blue side of Football is my sport

I just cant grasp the woolly back game of throwing a ball backwards to go forwars

Yeah maybe i was un-fair with the SP6, i'll give it a stay of execution

The Taylor is a strange one, i really did like the sound and it was comfortable but it felt flimsy and i thought maybe that it wouldn't "age well" (see original post asking about ageing)

............but all this is great guys, keep it coming, i'm learning

[gazhowell]

Also - sound control on the M602 as you go into Manchester is worth a mention

Thats where i'm going tommorrow. I have a blonde chick you can take off my hands for the day if you like................ she can cook

I went all the way to Bolton today to try the SP6 and was really disappointed, i agree with the re-stringing policy. Maybe i'll see one tommorrow and give it "a second chance"

Does sound control have any Alvarez? i thnk i might be missing out on something by not trying them out

(i Wish everything was as easy as saying "yeah that strats nice i'll have that one)

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

lol - I make a point of sneeking off when I go get a guitar - just got a Taylor 312ce and the missus has no idea how much it costs - the worst thing you can do is keep them informed as they then start to know a bit and can call you on your "half truths" about prices. Hopefully within the next couple of years I can get to that dream stage where I've got so many guitars that I can get a new axe and she won't even notice the new edition

Anyway............
Didn't notice any Alvarez when I was there this week - the website doesn't list any either so it doesn't look likely.

They've got the big baby with elixir strings on it though so you can get a good play of that. The Takamine GS330S is only £229 according to the website aswell, which is darn cheap (100 quid less than www.gak.co.uk - maybe a misprice?). They've got a few of the EG series Takamines aswell for £349.

One thing I've just thought of - have you tried any Yamahas? They do cracking mid priced axes - loads in sound control aswell - give them a go before you make up your mind.

[*Buzzer*]

Damn, I'm no closer now because i found this one today

Ibanez AEL 40S RLV @ £280.00



............... and its electro acoustic

I shall report back when i finally get the thought of not spending over £500.00 on a Takermine AN10 i had a go of today

This post has been edited by *Buzzer*: 12 March 2005 - 12:22 PM

[slick50]

I have a 25 year old 12 string tak that sound as good today (if not better) than the day I gat it. never had a bit of trable. My tayler witch is only 6 years old has been back to the store 4 times. the fest time was for the top nut coming undone, the 2ed - 4th was for string buzz. But I still love that my Tayler and it sound good. How old do you think a guitar should last?

[*Buzzer*]

Hi Guys

Okay, theres been a flurry activity over the last week which has seen me try another 6 or 7 guitars hovering around the £200 / $350 to £300 / $550

Over the last few weeks i have swayed toward the electro / acoustic as being a good option aswell but with a budget of what i had, i left my mind open.

Anyway i think i've tried most guitars in that price range and shock horror look what i went for

I was trying a few guitars out and this one came up (the last one, just been set up and hung on the rack). It was £270.00 / $500.00, i picked it up and started to play, you should of seen the grin on my face. I immediately said "thats it, thats the one".

I now know what everyone was saying about try as many as you can and one will stand out as being "made for you"

May i present my new Washburn D43SCE



When i get chance i'll post a few pics of it as this doesnt do it justice.

Now here the best bit. There is a very slight mist in the laquer on the back, about 1" long right on the corner. I said to the guy, i'm not happy with that so the manager knocked it down to £216 / $400

It plays like a dream, thanks for all your help, i'm so pleased with it

[SlowFingers]

Nice guitar. Congrats on the new gear. Hope it serves you well.