Mornats Posted June 19, 2014 Share Posted June 19, 2014 Hey folks, Despite having owned a couple of electric 6 strings for a few years, mainly for recording, I've started to learn how to play guitar properly. By properly I mean learn chords and switching between them. So now I quite fancy getting myself a decent yet budget acoustic guitar. I've done a bit of research and the Yamaha FG700s looks like a winner so I'll be trying one of those (incidentally, with my Gear4Music VIP membership I can get one from them for £160 new). My budget is around £200-250 but largely depends on how much I can get trade-in for my Danelectro DC59 reissue (in white so it may be the 50th anniversary one). So other than the Yamaha, does anyone recommend any others I should try? I was thinking of an acoustic only rather than an electro-acoustic on the basis that I'll get more for my money that way. I won't be playing it live, at least not for a long time and for recording I'd mic it up anyway. I'm not opposed to an electro-acoustic though. Cheers! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Weststarx Posted June 20, 2014 Share Posted June 20, 2014 Personally I love Yamaha's I don't think you can go wrong with them - especially for the price. Maybe check out some of the cheaper Fenders, I saw a really nice Mahogany electro acoustic in PMT in Birmingham ( [url="http://www.fender.com/en-GB/series/classic-design/cd-60ce-all-mahogany-rosewood-fingerboard-natural/"]http://www.fender.com/en-GB/series/classic-design/cd-60ce-all-mahogany-rosewood-fingerboard-natural/[/url] ) Just under £200! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mornats Posted June 20, 2014 Author Share Posted June 20, 2014 [quote name='Weststarx' timestamp='1403277642' post='2481453'] Personally I love Yamaha's I don't think you can go wrong with them - especially for the price. Maybe check out some of the cheaper Fenders, I saw a really nice Mahogany electro acoustic in PMT in Birmingham ( [url="http://www.fender.com/en-GB/series/classic-design/cd-60ce-all-mahogany-rosewood-fingerboard-natural/"]http://www.fender.co...rboard-natural/[/url] ) Just under £200! [/quote] I've got a Yamaha TRBX504 bass that proves your point exactly I'll give one of those Fenders a whirl too, cheers! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Weststarx Posted June 20, 2014 Share Posted June 20, 2014 [quote name='Mornats' timestamp='1403290156' post='2481609'] I've got a Yamaha TRBX504 bass that proves your point exactly I'll give one of those Fenders a whirl too, cheers! [/quote] You just can't go wrong with a Yamaha anything! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Evil Undead Posted June 21, 2014 Share Posted June 21, 2014 Ibanez Talman series Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
charic Posted June 21, 2014 Share Posted June 21, 2014 Played one of these once and struggled to put it down. If I had the funds I would have walked out with it : http://www.gak.co.uk/en/esp-ac15-es-solid-top-acoustic/79484 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mornats Posted June 21, 2014 Author Share Posted June 21, 2014 (edited) Well I've tried a few out and eventually bought one! I played a few Crafters in one shop which were nice but didn't really stand out for me. Then I popped into PMT Bristol to try out some more. I decided to go for acoustic only rather than have some of the cash go towards some (cheap) electronics so I tried the following: Fender CD60 mahogany (as mentioned above) Fender CD140 mahogany Yamaha FG700S Yamaha FG750 (had a big scratch so was reduced by £60) Gretsch Jim Dandy Epiphone Hummingbird Pro Epiphone EJ-200 (bloody huge!) They didn't have any ESP or Ibanez Talman guitars from what I could see so I couldn't those a whirl. The Fender CD60 was really nice, I liked it a lot and for £109 was almost a no-brainer. So I tried the more expensive CD140 which had a satin finish to the neck instead of a glossy one that the CD60 had. It also had a solid mahogany top rather than a laminate one. This sounded really nice and rich and warm and played well. I really loved the Yamaha FG700s. Huge loud bright sound and was almost the one I went for. The 750 was a bit nicer but the scratch was right on the front and quite hefty. The Gretsch was a teeny tiny little thing and more of a second novelty guitar thing. Still nice and had great retro looks. The Epiphone Hummingbord Pro looked like you were only allowed to play Bon Jovi songs on it and I didn't really gel with it at all (for other reasons, not just that!). I liked the EJ-200 though. Really nice sound but it was a super jumbo guitar and felt like I was playing a double bass. In the end I went for the Fender CD-140s. It wasn't as loud as the Yamaha FG700 (these two were head to head at the end) and was warmer so obviously not as bright and in your face but for me, that was an advantage. I did think the CD-140 was worth the £100 more than the CD-60 but really, if you have a limited budget give the CD-60 a go, they're fantastic value. In the end the thinner gloss coating, sating neck, solid mahogany top and all round richer warmer sound of the CD-140 over the CD-60 won over (once I'd decided this was the sound I wanted rather than the brighter sound of the Yamaha). Oh and I got a really nice price when I traded in my Danelectro DC59 reissue too so I'm really pleased with what I got and once again, really pleased with the service from the guys in PMT Bristol. Thanks for all your suggestions! So here it is: [attachment=165415:10478533_10152120229471555_5325103670993651553_n.jpg] Edited June 21, 2014 by Mornats Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mornats Posted June 21, 2014 Author Share Posted June 21, 2014 I have to specifically mention the tuners on it too. They're the smoothest most accurate tuners I've had on a 6 string. Really nice to use. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pinball Posted June 21, 2014 Share Posted June 21, 2014 (edited) [quote name='Mornats' timestamp='1403368883' post='2482198'] In the end I went for the Fender CD-140s. It wasn't as loud as the Yamaha FG700 (these two were head to head at the end) and was warmer so obviously not as bright and in your face but for me, that was an advantage. I did think the CD-140 was worth the £100 more than the CD-60 but really, if you have a limited budget give the CD-60 a go, they're fantastic value. In the end the thinner gloss coating, satin neck, solid mahogany top and all round richer warmer sound of the CD-140 over the CD-60 won over (once I'd decided this was the sound I wanted rather than the brighter sound of the Yamaha). [/quote] I was there and I agree with your assessment. The CD-60 was OK to mess around on at home and great for the price but not up to serious gigging or recording in my opinion. The CD-140 and FG700 were better quality and you could hear it. You got a nice guitar there. Congratulations Edited June 21, 2014 by Pinball Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Weststarx Posted June 22, 2014 Share Posted June 22, 2014 Awesome stuff! I think that's such a nice guitar, I was so close to buying a CD-60 but maybe I will check out the CD-140 now instead! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hollywoodrox Posted September 7, 2014 Share Posted September 7, 2014 Vintage v300 was voted by one guitar magazine as the best acoustic at £1000 and under, it cost about £135. Well worth checking. I have an epi hummingbird which is lush too, the new chinese sigma seem very nice too Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lowlandtrees Posted September 7, 2014 Share Posted September 7, 2014 Although Yamaha are probably the most consistent in quality I would suggest that you play several different guitars of the same model that you choose. Wood quality and build can vary between instruments. New strings and good acoustic rooms in music shops can often disguise the actual sound of the guitar that you get home. I am not a fan of Fender acoustics but maybe they have changed recently. The other thing to remember is that the older a guitar gets and the more it is played, the better sounding it can become. I like older Takemine acoustics myself and you can pick them up cheap. There are literally hundreds of good guitars floating about in the second hand market from people who have bought without realising the practise needed to become proficient. I did a basic acoustic guitar building course and it really opened my eyes to how to recognise a good guitar (I built a nice mandolin but the guitar was a heap of junk). What it did make me realise was how cheap guitars are relative to the work put into building them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RhysP Posted September 12, 2014 Share Posted September 12, 2014 You won't do better than this for the money: http://basschat.co.uk/topic/245034-martin-dx1-electro-acoustic-solid-spruce-top-fishman-electronics-l225/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mornats Posted September 14, 2014 Author Share Posted September 14, 2014 [quote name='RhysP' timestamp='1410505659' post='2550054'] You won't do better than this for the money: [url="http://basschat.co.uk/topic/245034-martin-dx1-electro-acoustic-solid-spruce-top-fishman-electronics-l225/"]http://basschat.co.u...ectronics-l225/[/url] [/quote] I'm sorted now ta! (See above, got myself that nice Fender.) It sounded right for me in the shop and sounds good at home too. Slowly learning and gaining a little confidence too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RhysP Posted September 14, 2014 Share Posted September 14, 2014 [quote name='Mornats' timestamp='1410724341' post='2552436'] I'm sorted now ta! (See above, got myself that nice Fender.) It sounded right for me in the shop and sounds good at home too. Slowly learning and gaining a little confidence too. [/quote] Excellent! I play more acoustic guitar than anything else these days - love it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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