Cheap, but decent sounding small body acoustic recommendations please...

Misterg · August 2013

Assuming that the title isn't a complete oxymoron...

I've had a 'nothing special' dreadnought sized guitar around the house for decades, but barely played it. I've realised that one of the reasons is that it's too big to fit comfortably under my arm, especially to play when slobbing around on the sofa, (I'm used to electrics which doesn't help, either) so I'm looking for something smaller.

I guess I'm looking at 'Folk' sized guitars, but it would be helpful if someone could explain the way sizing works - is a 'Concert' guitar the same thing?. My daughter has a Fairclough Star 'Parlour' size guitar which plays nicely, but is a little small and the body joins at the 12th fret - I would very much like a cut-away.

It's only for noodling around the house & playing BBQ type stuff, so I would prefer something cheap-ish that I wouldn't feel too bad about taking places & passing round, etc. and would like it to sound pleasant to me, at least . Not bothered about volume, etc.

Used or new doesn't matter to me, so what sort of thing should I be looking at? I guess I'd be looking at £200 max

IanSavage · August 2013

This might help re. body shapes (although it doesn't show 'folk', which by my judgement is between parlour and concert sizes): http://holeinthewood.com/body_shape?zenid=moqhvsfuhfm3uguvgt56kk50e4

Yamaha APXs tend to be quite shallow-bodied, if the depth rather than the physical size of the body is the issue with the dread - aside from that, something like this: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/tanglewood-electro-acoustic-guitar-/231032715382?pt=UK_Musical_Instruments_Guitars_CV&hash=item35ca9f7876 would probably do you nicely, as would this (I'm pretty sure I've played one of these and found them to be pleasantly small-bodied): http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Electro-Acoustic-Guitar-Used-/171104061069?pt=UK_Musical_Instruments_Guitars_CV&hash=item27d698c68d

I'm sure there's more (a lot of folk here swear by Faith for lower-end acoustics, I'm not so well-versed with them) but should any come to mind I'll be back!

ICBM · August 2013

I had a little Brunswick one a couple of years ago that was quite nice - it wasn't a cutaway but I've seen some that are.

rpr · August 2013

I had a cheap Freshman folk sized guitar which punched above its weight price-wise. If you really want a cutaway maybe try this-http://www.guitarguitar.co.uk/acoustic_guitars_detail.asp?stock=13060312102032.

If you can do without the cutaway have a look at the Sigma range

Misterg · August 2013

Thanks - I've been keeping an eye on evil-bay, but was probably being too specific in my searches (and in any case, I'd like to try before I buy)... but I nearly pressed the button on that Tangelwood TW130 @-)

I'll have to do the rounds of the LGS.

barry2tone · August 2013

These have a discount on this week, reasonably well spoken of, no cutaway. Recording King.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/271216051902?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2649

Having an acoustic wing to this forum may get expensive.

:-\"

dindude · August 2013

For the money, I would be all over the Sogma's, the ones ve played in stores have been fab. http://www.gak.co.uk/en/sigma-000m-1st/57622

Misterg · August 2013

Ta - I don't think I'd get one without a cutaway. Seems to mean that I'm looking at electro-acoustics though...

Jalapeno · August 2013

Really loving my Breedlove, all mahogany, OM/MMe

EDIT: £250 IIRC s/h

ftumch · August 2013

I have a folk sized Alvarez I picked up on here for £80 and its great, easily better than the Martin dx1 I had before, I'd take a look at them if I were you.

Misterg · August 2013

OK - headed East this morning, and can report the following:

Staff in Back Alley Music, Mold very helpful and knowledgable. Dorks in Dawsons less so. (I cornered one - he was edging away along one wall of the shop with his back to me; I turned as if to go. He dropped his guard and turned back towards the shop whereupon I made to approach him again so he span on his heel and went back to staring at the wall - the only trouble was, he'd reached the end of the display so walked straight into the corner and stood there staring at nothing like a naughty boy. I stood behind him for must be 30 seconds waiting for him to turn around, but he just stared intently at the blank corner. F**k 'em - they had nothing on display that I wanted to look at, anyway...)

Yamaha APX 400 - decent size, actually and nice to play, but 'dead' sound. APX700 better in that respect, but over budget and still sounded 'meh' for the price IMHO.

I tried a Sigma which seemed well put together, but man! that neck should have a farm gate hung from it. No way for me.

Seagull - also seemed to have a large-ish neck (and over budget). Sounded OK

I found a small mahognay looking Ibanez with a cutaway which looked and felt great (a really, really thin neck), but had the acoustics of an elastic band over a shoe box.

The current favourite is a LAG Tramontane T66A - Plays and sounds really nice, well put together, but the body (auditorium) feels bulkier than it looks. I feels bigger than the Yamaha APX. I could be tempted, though.

Fretwired · August 2013

This might be useful ... http://www.musicradar.com/news/guitars/best-budget-acoustic-guitar-in-the-world-today-582331/1

LAG make good guitars ..

Misterg · August 2013

Fretwired said:

This might be useful...

Thanks - very interesting. The trouble is that everything gets such glowing reviews! :-/

VimFuego · August 2013

Misterg said:

Fretwired said:

This might be useful...

Thanks - very interesting. The trouble is that everything gets such glowing reviews! :-/

funny that, if you went by the reviews you'd never buy a bad guitar. Which is odd cos when you actually get to play some, you find some real holwers.

Fretwired · August 2013

VimFuego said:

Misterg said:

Fretwired said:

This might be useful...

Thanks - very interesting. The trouble is that everything gets such glowing reviews! :-/

funny that, if you went by the reviews you'd never buy a bad guitar. Which is odd cos when you actually get to play some, you find some real holwers.

Do you really buy a guitar on the strength of a review? It might be a good guitar, but it may not be right for you. I just use reviews as a starting point.

IanSavage · August 2013

VimFuego said:

Misterg said:

Fretwired said:

This might be useful...

Thanks - very interesting. The trouble is that everything gets such glowing reviews! :-/

funny that, if you went by the reviews you'd never buy a bad guitar. Which is odd cos when you actually get to play some, you find some real holwers.

Aye, anyone would think that the manufacturers select the very best examples of each guitar to send out as review samples...:p

IanSavage · August 2013

VimFuego said:

Misterg said:

Fretwired said:

This might be useful...

Thanks - very interesting. The trouble is that everything gets such glowing reviews! :-/

funny that, if you went by the reviews you'd never buy a bad guitar. Which is odd cos when you actually get to play some, you find some real holwers.

Aye, anyone would think that the manufacturers select the very best examples of each guitar to send out as review samples...:p

Misterg · August 2013

Fretwired said:

Do you really buy a guitar on the strength of a review? It might be a good guitar, but it may not be right for you. I just use reviews as a starting point.

Me? No - but I would hope to get some sort of differentiation between guitars to help narrow the field (to use as a starting point if you will), instead of everything being the "Best Thing Ever".

I played several guitars today that were very, very different, yet you'd never know that reading the MR reviews.

Expedition Westwards tomorrow...

fretfinder · August 2013

I bought my daughter a Vintage V300 a couple of years ago, cost about £110 including cheap gigbag. It is an astonishingly decent guitar for the money, but they vary a lot as I looked at quite a few in the shops on Denmark Street before I found one I liked. Some of the others had odd-coloured mismatched tops and some were either badly set up or just badly made and not very playable. The guy in Rose Morris disappeared round the back, reappeared with a cardboard box, fished out the guitar and handed it straight to me without looking at it. The setup - or something - was so bad that the strings were flapping against the fingerboard, so I handed it back and went elsewhere.

birdo · August 2013

I ve tried the vintage parlour and the small alverez one and found them both very good. Also a I tried to trade my Taylor big baby in a shop and they would only offer me £150 for it , I didnt do it but i ll probably only get £200 for it privately.So second hand values bring a lot of guitars into your price range.

Phil_aka_Pip · August 2013

Try the Gretsch "Jim Dandy" parlour. I got one recently and I'm beginning to like it

bertie · August 2013

mrs bert just got a "Maestro by Gibson" 000 from a charity shop for a tenner, in mint condition, she's going to use it to 're-learn' and much about on - Once its restrung, it'll be alright........ certainly worth £50 or so

Ive certainly played £100 Fenders and the like that are much worse

octatonic · August 2013

Recording tip- small body guitars often record better than big bodied acoustics because they have a tighter bottom end.

You capture just the frequencies you use, rather than the 80-140hz range that you mostly filter out anyway, esp in a rock band context where acoustic strumming becomes 'sort of like a percussion part'.

VimFuego · August 2013

hey, won't let me post, says my previous post needs to be approved or some such rubbish

VimFuego · August 2013

Fretwired said:

VimFuego said:

Misterg said:

Fretwired said:

This might be useful...

Thanks - very interesting. The trouble is that everything gets such glowing reviews! :-/

funny that, if you went by the reviews you'd never buy a bad guitar. Which is odd cos when you actually get to play some, you find some real holwers.

Do you really buy a guitar on the strength of a review? It might be a good guitar, but it may not be right for you. I just use reviews as a starting point.

me? of course not, but I have gone out with massively high expectations after reading some reviews. Expectations that have on more than a few occasions been dashed to the ground (I've since learnt that you should not dash the actual guitar to the ground, music shop staff dislike this, even if the guitar in question is a dog).

VimFuego · August 2013

hmmm, double post

mellowsun · August 2013

Vintage Paul Brett Parlour - 14 fret neck join, no cutaway but tbh you don't need one. Decent electronics too.

Misterg · August 2013

Thanks for the suggestions - mission accomplished
$:\$ ">

I made a second expedition Westwards to Music Makers, Colwyn Bay who had a decent selection to try:

A Tanglewood Discovery; A Vintage V880 (no cut away, but body joins at the 15th fret), a 'Richwood' and a Freshman Renegade.

I really wanted to like the Vintage - it looked ace and sounded surprisingly good, but it just reaffirmed my desire for a cut-away. I had high hopes for Tanglewood, but it proved a little underwhelming and the neck didn't feel right to me. The Richwood (can't remember which model) sounded good, and apeared to be all solid construction, but the neck was just a bit too fat/wide to be comfortable. The Freshman played beautifully and felt very comfortable. The sound wasn't quite as sweet as the Realwood, but was still very clear and even (?). It also felt a bit more bomb-proof. I alternated between the Richwood and the Freshman for about an hour, and eventually came home with....

The Freshman (like this):

http://www.music47.co.uk/media/catalog/product/cache/1/image/600x/9df78eab33525d08d6e5fb8d27136e95/1/_/1_2_14.jpg

Then christened it by taking it camping for a few days

streethawk · September 2013

Misterg said:

Thanks - I've been keeping an eye on evil-bay, but was probably being too specific in my searches (and in any case, I'd like to try before I buy)... but I nearly pressed the button on that Tangelwood TW130 @-)

I'll have to do the rounds of the LGS.

I have a tanglewood folk cutaway and it's fantastic for the money, save for one lifted fret I'm too lazy to sort out.

In hindsight I would avoid any guitar with electrics because I never play live and they sound shit!

That's a snazzy looking geetaw you got there!

Misterg · September 2013

streethawk said
That's a snazzy looking geetaw you got there!

Cheers!

Here's a real photo

http://i255.photobucket.com/albums/hh143/werdnayarg/webstuf/DSC_2552.jpg

It's survived a camping trip and a weekend on a boat so far. I'm still liking it one month in:

streethawk · September 2013

Oh very artistic. >:D<

I once sprayed a crappy acoustic I had with a similar colour. No flame on that one though. It's a great look.

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Cheap, but decent sounding small body acoustic recommendations please...

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