datamusicata

James do tell me; What is the best guitar in your opinion?

Got this post the other day from Bobby in Ohio (not to be confused with Eddie From Ohio) and I thought that I would answer it here instead of in an individual post.

There are many fine commercial guitar manufacturers right now. I suspect that in the future the past fifty years will be regarded as the golden days of guitar making, both acoustic and electric.

I play acoustic guitar exclusivelly on stage and own a beautiful brazilian rosewood, redwood topped David Russell Young dreadnaught (Severin Browne, www.severinbrowne.com, turned me on to him in the early seventies); a wonderful Taylor 810 CE with the expression system pick ups (www.taylorguitars.com ). It is Indian Rosewood and Spruce topped. The best playing neck I’ve ever had on an acoustic guitar. I own a Washburn (www.washburn.com) cutaway that I got for the road after my two Martins (www.mgartins.com) were stolen in NYC in 1980. I had a 68 D-35 and a 65 D-18, but some slime bucket got them, may his gonads ascend to his throat and choke him to death slowly over, say eleven months. I now own a beautiful 1993 Martin herringbone D-28, which sounds like a dream and hasn’t a scratch on it.

I have a 1942 Gibson J-50 (www.gibson.com) (mahogany back and sides, spruce top) that Peter Tork (www.petertork.com) found for me in a pawn shop in 1963—I actually took it to JFK’s funeral in Washington, D.C.)

I own a Guild (www.guildguitars.com)classical totally made of mahogony, that I’ve had since 1964 (with the same strings, ouch), and a 1967 Fender stratocaster electric guitar. It’s got the natural finish and sounds like a dream.

Presently, my road guitar is a beautiful Collings (www.collingsguitars.com)D-2H (for herring bone, my favorite inlay around the body of the guitar) that is on permanent loan from the remarkable Wil Osborn. I use the LR Baggs (www.lrbaggs.com) pickup and a James Demeter (www.demeteramps.com) direct box for extremely warm clarity.

So the short answer to your question is, get the best guitar that you can afford. The better the guitar, the easier it is to play and the faster you will get better, providing you practice every single day...don’t miss one.

Go to a reputable music store and start out playing the midrange Martin’s, Taylor’s, Gibson’s, Guilds, and see how they feel in your lap; how they sound to you, because every single guitar is different. Find one that just sounds the best to you and, if it doesn’t play great, you can always have the music store set it up, which just means, adjust the neck and put the correct gauge strings on for your type of playing and your expertise—or lack of.

If you buy an off brand guitar, it will probably be hard to play, hard to adjust and probably not last that long. The glue could lose its adhesiveness, or the bridge could pull off the top; the neck could warp. Get the best one you can for the amount of money that you have. And if you can’t afford the manufacturers above, check out Takamine (www.takamine.com) (the Eagles play them); Washburn; even Yamaha www.yamaha.com/guitars/home makes some pretty good acoustic guitars for the money.

But eventually you will want a great guitar and then you can look at the top of the line guitars by the top of the line manufacturers and also the boutique luthiers such as Collings. The boutique guitars are very expensive and many may not hold their resale value, but if it’s a great guitar, you aren’t going to sell it anyhow.

A good Martin will hold it’s resale value. They are the collectible guitars and the standard. But there are many, many guitar makers that are just as good, but they don’t have the reputation and the longevity that Martin has enjoyed. I love them and have always tried to have at least one. But follow your ears and your gut.

You want a guitar that just sounds exactly right to you. That plays with ease and is balanced. If the neck is too heavy or the tuning machines too heavy for the instrument, it will want to pull down at that end all the time, so in addition to playing it, you’ll be fighting to hold it in place. All the guitars that I own are balanced. They rest easy on their straps and on my shoulder and if I let go of them, they stay right there.

And take some lessons. Paul Simon (www.paulsimon.com) has been playing guitar for fifty five years and he still takes lessons. Branford Marsalis (www.branfordmarsalis.com)takes lessons. And I’m going to take some lessons, so you do the same. It will really help you begin properly and not make mistakes that will slow you down later.