What is the favorite acoustic that you've ever played?

[Dr. Tweedbucket]

For me it's a toss up between a Gibson Hummingbird 60s reissue, a Custom shop quilted maple back and sides Hummingbird, and a Martin HD28V.

The Gibson Mahogany Hummingbird with fresh strings sounds amazing! The CS Maple hummingbird with any strings sounds amazing! The Martin is more picky about strings, but it sounds amazing as well.

If I had to pick just one, I'd probably go for the Mahogany Hummingbird with fresh strings. It's got fat tone and a great balance. It plays like an electric!


Next?

 

[terrapin]

Irish made Lowden S-12 Cedar over EIRW!

 

[dazco]

A 60's J50. And while i'm a big believer in old wood, that was only about 15 years old when i played it. Some of those vintage gibsons are god like tho. There are a ton of dogs too unfortunately.

 

[zombywoof]

A 1942 Gibson J-50. The Banner Gibsons were built just a tad lighter than anything that came before or after them. It remains the best guitar I have ever wrapped my sweaty little hands around. Saturated mids and crisp highs but what got my juices flowing was the low end the likes of which only rarely pops up on Gibsons and which would make a pre-War Martin D-28 Herringbone run for cover.

 

[mrpinter]

Actually, my favorite acoustic I've ever played is the one I have now - my custom John David Scott OM model. It's very conventional: Sitka Spruce and Mahogany. It was a good guitar when I got it, but with a re-fret with jumbos, and the right strings (Optima gold acoustic 12's) it's a great guitar. Here it is:

 

[JJ Fux]

If I don't count classical guitars, I haven't played a lot of acoustics! My favorite acoustic guitars that I've ever played on were probably Martin and Parkwood.

 

[H. Mac]

A 00-21 Martin. 12 frets clear, Adi-topped, Indian rosewood back and sides, scalloped braces, and the thick, modified V neck.

It was one of a special order in 2008 by the late, great Stan Jay of Mandolin Brothers. I like it better than the 1948 00-21 that I had.

 

[GuitarsFromMars]

I like smaller guitars for tracking. The two current 'go to' guitars are a '93 Lowden S25 and a '59 Martin 0-15. The sing-along is a late model Larrivee L-03W.

Oh, the best ?

Probably that 1941 Martin 000-45 at I played at Gruhn's(the one next door to the Ryman), that Vince Gill now owns.

 

[Mike R.]

My current J45.

 

[Multicellular]

Strangely maybe, a Godin 5th ave. I gues I am really more an electric guy, and this more than any other Ive played, plays like an electric.

 

[lamenlovinit]

I'm lucky enough to own my fave also. A National baritone style 1 tricone. Here's one in action.

 

[Gas-man]

Favorite acoustic was a mid-sixties Ephiphone Texan that I played at a shop in Cambridge, MA circa 2000.

I played it for a while and really wanted it but decided to sleep on it.

Went back the next day and it was gone. They had it marked at $1,000.

Still haunted a little by that.

 

[Lo Blues]

My latest favorite is the Bourgeois dreadnought in my local shop. She's absolutely perfect. I can't stop thinking about her.

 

[DanR]

Small (fingerpicking) Santa Cruz Model H
Medium (fingerpicking and strumming) Collings OM2H
Large (strumming) Martin HD-28 - I own this one

Coincidentally, all of the above guitars were played at Elderly Instruments in Lansing, MI. After I was done auditioning dreadnaughts within my budget for a purchase, I then played a few dreads out of my budget but none of them beat the HD-28.

 

[Blindjoedeath]

Most of them I own. My Froggy Bottom Dred is the sweetest sounding thing I've ever heard. My Kay Archtop is the chunkiest sounding fingerpicked ever. I don't think David Webber has ever made a bad guitar. I have two of his instruments. My Gretsch Jim Dandy, Harmony Stella and Kalamazoo KG-14 are old school perfection. I have a Martin D-18 GE that plays pretty darn wonderful as well. I have a '30's farm-made guitar that rivals some Larsons I've played.

If I like something enough, it's worth sacrificing to own. If you don't buy into the hype and let your ears be guide, it's not impossible to own a bunch of great sounding guitars. Especially when you're talking acoustics.

 

[royd]

I'm a Lowden player for a reason... and my favorite guitars are Lowden O size (large) with cedar tops and rosewood s/b... probably my absolute favorites were the L25C (Indian rosewood s/b) that I owned that was stolen in '99 in Philadelphia (I'd love to get that guitar back - serial number 271 if you ever run into it) and the #2 25th Anniversary model (Brazilian rosewood s/b). My current #1 Lowden, an O25C Custom, is not quite the guitar that either of those were but it is close.

Non Lowdens... I played a '43 Martin D28 that was simply wonderful a long time ago at Lark Street Music when it was in Albany and an 018K from the 20's at Music Emporium in Boston. I have a friend that has a '47 D18 that is also quite wonderful. Some of those old Martins really are special. I really liked a couple of Sexauer guitars that I played but I don't remember the details and I like Goodall S models a lot.

Still, if someone offered to trade me that '43 D28 for my Lowden O25C Custom even up with the condition that I couldn't sell it to buy another Lowden, I'd pass.

 

[Boogie92801]

I had a Martin J41 special presentation and a Martin J-40 that sounded pretty darn good. I have an Orpheum now that sounds amazing. but there was a bus and Dalton Dred in Buffalo Brothers a few years back that was amazing. I killed all the boutique guitars that he had in stock. It was there for a few years and each time I played it was the best in the house.

 

[maydaynyc]

The nicest acoustic I ever played was a MacPhearson. I actually tried a 6 string and a 12 string at Mandolin Brothers. They have a lush 3D sound unlike any guitar I've ever heard before and they play so effortlessly. I was lucky they were both over 6k or I would have been tempted to actually buy one.

 

[zombywoof]

It is kind of hard to imagine that nobody has mentioned a deep body guitar. One of the few guitars I have run across that was able to go toe to toe with my '42 Gibson (at least that I was able to afford) is an early 1930s Kay Kraft-built Oahu "Nick Lucas." Factory round neck, 00 size guitar with a 4 5/8" deep maple body. A 1 13/16" nut to boot. Not cheap guitar in its day, selling for just under $100. Amazing amount of volume, loads of mid-range punch and a deep clean low end presence.

 

[Stratofreak]

Collings CJ35 with German Spruce top. I wept... both at the tone and the price tag.