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Cousin Eddie's cousin
I don't find my Taylor koa especially bright.
Nor do I find my all-koa Taylor or my all-koa PRS overly bright.
I don't find my Taylor koa especially bright.
Nor do I find my all-koa Taylor or my all-koa PRS overly bright.
Here's my answer to the OP:
I'm mainly an electric player and obviously PRS is my favorite brand of electric guitars. When I met Paul in Cincinnati and he signed my 25th Anniversary C22 LTD semi-hollow, he brought one of the acoustics with him to demo. He had a good sized audience at GC, and he told 4 randomly chosen guys to go select the best acoustic they had in the store and bring it back to him. This is a Premium Guitar Center so they have lots of higher end instruments normally. They all brought back Gibsons and Martins, which was their first mistake. LOL I'm mainly a Taylor guy for acoustics.
Paul then demo'd his guitar vs. all the others they brought. All were $4K-$6K guitars. Now I know full well you can "cheat" when doing these demos. These higher end guitars are especially sensitive to how hard you pick, pick angle, pick material, how for from the bridge you pick, etc. I watched CLOSELY and was only 10 feet away. Paul didn't cheat. He'd even point out "I'm going to pick both of them right accross the middle of the sound hole." "Now closer to the bridge, now above the sound hole, now harder, now softer, now with dynamics." etc... and he'd really do his best to do exactly the same thing with all the guitars.
The results? The PRS blew the others away, and every single person there agreed. There were some long time die hard Martin guys there that didn't even hesitate to admit it was "significantly" better than the $5 and $6K Martins. Same for the Gibsons.
However, that was 3 years ago. Since then, Bob and Andy Powers specifically, have revoiced the 800 series and now the 600 series, with the others to follow. I played a Taylor 814 CE right after they redid them, and it was the first guitar I've ever heard that might compete with the PRS I heard. A few months ago, heard a new 615 and it was phenomenal as well. I won't say for sure either was as good, but they are in the ball park. I'd still rate the PRS I heard that day is the best I've ever heard. Why the best? Pretty much everything. It had volume AND dynamics. IT was crystal clear when played normally but also when you really hammered it. Open, PURE high end, tight punchy bottom, fat defined mids... just a glorious thing. IMO, nothing that I've ever heard but the new Taylors is even close.
Sorry guys but it's Larrivee for me.
I got an OM-02 model for roughly £700. It's light, high-quality, tonally amazing, all-wood (USA). Tried some PRS acoustics and while good, nowhere near my Larrivee. Honourable shout to Martin. Taylors are so-so for me (played one great nylon string at one point).
I knew there was a reason I liked you, other than the Bread song title for a handle!
My Larrivee D-09 is the best acoustic I've ever played. Granted, we're not talking a sample size of 25 or anything, but still. I don't know if I just lucked into a good one or what. I was convinced I was going to get a Martin D-28 (Michael Hedges fan), and I'd been seeing ads for the Larrivees, and I wanted to try one. So I found a shop around me that had some. My wife and I went out, and I must have gone through about 15 different models - no, don't like this, this is okay, let's try this again. Finally narrowed it down to the Larry and another (may have been another Larry - I don't remember). The other one had electronics, the D-09 didn't. I kept saying, I want a pickup in it, but there's something about the sound. I finally smacked my self in the head (figuratively) and said, "Moron - it's about the tone. Get the one that sounds good. Worry about electronics later." To this day (almost 20 years later), when I pick up that guitar, my wife stops and listens. There's just something about it. (And that's the only guitar she voluntarily stops for. Unless Jack Blades is playing something.)
My PRS acoustics are good - real good. I even did an A/B with my SE Angelus Custom. It's close to the Larrivee. In a mix, it might even be an equal. But as a solo instrument? The Larrivee edges it out. The other PRS acoustics I have are voiced differently, so I wouldn't compare them.
Side story to the Larrivee - the year I bought it, I went to a week-long guitar camp. I took the acoustic track because I wanted to get more into acoustic at that time. I got several compliments on the Larrivee's tone. One of the classes was a writing class, and the woman teaching it was a Martin endorser. She asked about the guitar, and asked why I picked it. Blah blah blah tried a bunch blah blah blah compared and eliminated, finally decided on the Larrivee. "Did you try a Martin?" Well, yeah. When I started, I thought I was going to get a Martin. "So why'd you pick this?" It sounded better. "WHAT??? How can you say that?" Uh, because I listened. It had a more open tone, was better balance, and was just a nicer guitar. "How can you say that? How can you claim it's better than a Martin?" Because it was. I've never seen another endorser ever that upset that someone didn't pick the "right" brand.
Just listening to that song by Bread - good stuff! Sorry I hadn't heard it before!
Yep... I always get massive compliments from people when they hear it - I'm talking non-musicians and musicians alike. And whenever a guitarist tries it, they are floored with how light and resonant it is!
I owned a Little Martin (the baby sized one) which was admittedly amazing... very small, you could play like an electric on it - very satisfying, but I wanted a more proper size model so sold that and like you, tried lots of acoustics.
Taylors always felt a bit like they had high action to me and the sound was quite bright. Martins are probably my number 2 fave acoustic brand - they're all built pretty well play like butter if you get the right one and the tone is very nice - definitely "boxier" which really suits fingerstyle but not strummed chords quite as much. Tried a whole bunch of other brands, some really high end ones that I didn't like. Many had too high an action, didn't sound fabulous or felt sticky and rigid. Then a guy in a shop said "why don't you try this Larrivee" - I'd never heard of them before.... it was a dreadnought model. All I can say is that after the first strum I was like "WOW". I don't know if you agree or not but the B string sounds quite hot, a bit like a 12-string might sound. Maybe that sounds silly but it really gave it an edge! The sound is very balanced - I haven't played it live but I hear they need next to no setting up, and it's a perfect mix of the Martin & Taylor sounds, adding its own sparkle. Then I saw this video:
Wow... At the time I didn't want the electric version so I went to some stores and tried this baby out (I don't think they make that model any more, unless I'm mistaken). The OM body shape is great and when I tried it versus a Martin in the shop, the Larrivee won hands down. It was also very loud - it projects very, very well. Sometimes I think about selling as I don't play too much acoustic, and then when I play it again it's like "no way, this is one of the best acoustics I'll ever play". Now I'm looking to fit a pickup. Baggs Lyric sounds the best from what I've heard on YouTube but you have to place so much stuff inside the guitar and it might feed back. M80 looks a good bet - harder to feed back though not as natural sound as from the Lyric and I don't know if I'm keen on having something across the soundhole. Still, battery life is 5x that of the Lyric and there's a battery meter.
I did try one Taylor nylon string acoustic that cost a lot of money and boy was that amazing, I have to admit.
Oh and I was mistaken. The Larrivee I got was made in Canada (before they opened the California factory). All-wood and a Martin-beater for £700 because the name isn't so well known - unbelievable value.
This doesn't compare to an LSV-11 which is bettered by my TG.
I dunno, guys, I had two top-line Larrivee acoustics, and while they were superb guitars, and I like them more than the Taylors I had, they wouldn't stand comparison to either of my USA PRS acoustics in any way. The difference in tone, projection, volume and complexity/detail is so night and day that I'm going to figure that you must be referring to SE models.
Nor did the Larrivees really compete with the Collings guitars I had at around the same time. Even the Collings were cannons in comparison to the Larrivees, and I think the PRS USA acoustics are more amazing sounding than even the Collings. That's saying a lot, since Collings guitars are pretty damn cool.
I haven't lived with a PRS SE acoustic, so I'd have to reserve judgment on that comparison. But if you're comparing USA Larrivees to USA PRSes, which is the only fair comparison, there really is no contest.
In all honesty, to post a preference for a Larrivee and a PRS acoustic here, I think it'd be important to specify what exactly you're comparing.
I'm one hundred percent sure that anyone listening to a US PRS acoustic vs a Larrivee would be mighty blown away with the PRS, even if personal preference led one to the Larrivee for other reasons.
I'm talking about a Canadian Larrivee vs. SEs. And I've said before, the SE Angelus Custom is fairly close, but they're all different sizes and styles, so a straight-up comparison isn't fair. I do have an acoustic track played on the Larrivee and the PRS SE Angelus Custom on my soundcloud page.
I've never really played a US PRS acoustic - I don't have Les's money (or ears, or experience, or charm, or looks, or...)! I've heard them played by players much better than me, so that hardly makes for a fair comparison.
Good point. I'm curious if you've ever played a McPherson?