I need a good acoustic guitar

[gush]

I have been thinking about buying a nice acoustic. The new martins and gibsons sound cheap to me. Not interested in those.
Played a taylor 814 and loved it. Very nice sounding guitar. Nobody carries prs acoustics where i live. What am i missing?

 

[rugerpc]

If you are looking in this particular price range, you really do need to do a side-by-side comparison. some differences may leap out at you and some might be more subtle. I would not trust myself to remember how one sounded in one place, drive and then compare to something else in another place. If you are going to spend that much money, you need to be sure....

 

[László]

I deleted my earlier post because I needed to organize my thinking.

Taylors are really nice guitars, I've had an 814 and 914. Still, the PRS USA acoustics are in a different league.

Whether you prefer one over the other is, of course, a personal choice, just as some players will pick up a PRS and yet prefer their Tele. If you're serious about acoustic guitars, I believe that you'd be doing yourself a favor to at least try the PRS and check it out. BTW, make sure the store has fresh strings on it.

While I agree with Ruger that the best thing is a side by side comparison, I will also say that the impression I had after playing a PRS acoustic was so profound that I didn't need to play it side by side with another guitar.

With all that in mind, here are differences that were important to me:

The fundamental tone has more authority and weight even when picked softly. The mids and upper mids are more complex. The highs on both guitars are wonderful, personal preference applies. I think the PRS is richer sounding overall, with a more balanced blend. The PRS has greater dynamic range. It also projects better. The sustain on the PRS is off the chart.

The PRS is a work of high end sonic art, IMHO. The Taylor is a very nice guitar that occupies a different niche. And neither is a "wrong" choice.

 

[pickwithaustin]

I have to agree that you need to sit down and side-by-side compare various guitars in order to find which really makes your ears happy. To me, buying a guitar depends on three key elements: (1) Sound, (2) Looks, (3) Price. I have around something like 10 Gibson acoustics, all of which I love and I grew up from being a child as always wanting a Gibson so they fullfill that desire. Sound wise, they're great but my Taylor's have them beat. I have a dozen Taylor's, all the upper stuff including some build to order's. I was convinced that Taylor was the best and only way to go for build quality, looks, and sound. I still think they're fantastic, but... If you can afford the PRS, definitely go that way. Absolutely unbelieveable in so many ways. When I got my PRS, I was in a local store (GuitarRez here in Austin) and trying out some various guitars. My wife told me to try the PRS, even though the price tag was well above what I could spend at the time. I tried them and was floored. I'd never even considered a PRS up until that point. Now I do love my other guitars (including other brands), but the PRS is truly the flagship. In fact, Paul Reed Smith himself was just in town and I took my PRS acoustic to see him and he used it in a nice demonstration. I don't know the full magic, but PRS has the wand and is using it. Go PRS!

 

[gush]

Hey there pickwithaustin, that's what I was hoping to hear. I was starting to think vintage acoustic would be my choice as I have heard older martins and gibsons sound fabulous. I just happened to be at a "quiet" store stocked with taylors and tried the 814. It sounded very nice with me playing it and letting the owner play it while I listened.

What is it with the new martins and gibsons? They sounded like a cheap guitars. I played a couple of D28s that were terrible.

Looks like I better try and find a store that handles prs acoustics. What model would you recommend?

thanks

 

[veinbuster]

Looks like I better try and find a store that handles prs acoustics. What model would you recommend?

There aren't many choices: Tonare is their bigger guitar, Angelus a bit smaller - with or without electronics (which are quite good). And there is the SE Angelus. Tonare is probably closest to the Taylor 814 you liked. I would try them both again if I could.

I have a Tonare and a couple of the nicer Taylors. I like them both a lot, but they do have very different sound. It would be hard for me to give up either. The Tonare is by far the easiest acoustic to play as - left hand fingering is much closer to playing an electric than any other acoustic I've played.

 

[pickwithaustin]

I have to agree there with veinbuster. Each has their own feel and sound. I think the PRS is incredible (I have an Angelus), but the Taylor's, Gibson's, and Guild's that I also enjoy each have a sound all of their own.

 

[László]

I agree with pickwithaustin's posts as well as veinbuster's if that helps, too. They said what I was trying to say, only better.

I went with the Tonare simply because I am used to bigger guitars, and it's a bit wider and deeper than the Angelus.

 

[Boogie123]

I play an 023 from http://www.georgelowden.com/ world class guitars

 

[gush]

I was going through old posts of mine and ran across this!

I now own a core Angelus. Took a while!!!

 

[Deleted member 5962]

I was going through old posts of mine and ran across this!

I now own a core Angelus. Took a while!!!

Congrats on a great guitar!

 

[gush]

Congrats on a great guitar!

Thank you. I can't believe how well this thing plays. Of course it sounds amazing but it plays effortlessly.

 

[Deleted member 5962]

Thank you. I can't believe how well this thing plays. Of course it sounds amazing but it plays effortlessly.

Yeah, I'm a Taylor guy on acoustics, but when Paul did a clinic in Cinci a few years back, he picked 3 people and told them to pick out the best acoustic in the store. Of course, the yahoos brought back 2 different Martins and one Gibson, and nobody brought a Taylor. (He should have picked me as one of the three).

Paul proceeded to demo and then let others do it, the PRS he brought vs. all three of the other contenders. There were several hundred people there and not a single person didn't agree that the PRS sounded the best of all of them, and quite easily the best. It wasn't close. The guys who actually got do play it said it also was easily the best playing of the chosen guitars as well. It was more than a higher end Taylor and more than I'd spend on an acoustic (I don't play them a lot) but I'll never forget what I heard that day.

The Martin and the Gibson the guys picked to compare where both $4-5K guitars and the PRS was significantly better sounding and playing. Having played lots of Gibsons and Martins before I bought my Taylor, the playing part didn't surprise me at all. Multiple Taylors I played were easily better than any GIbson or Martin I've played in playability and feel.

 

[gush]

Yeah, I'm a Taylor guy on acoustics, but when Paul did a clinic in Cinci a few years back, he picked 3 people and told them to pick out the best acoustic in the store. Of course, they yahoos brought back 2 different Martins and one Gibson, and nobody brought a Taylor. (He should have picked me as one of the three).

Paul proceeded to demo and then let others do it, the PRS he brought vs. all three of the other contenders. There were several hundred people there and not a single person didn't agree that the PRS sounded the best of all of them, and quite easily the best. It wasn't close. The guys who actually got do play it said it also was easily the best playing of the chosen guitars as well. It was more than a higher end Taylor and more than I'd spend on an acoustic (I don't play them a lot) but I'll never forget what I heard that day.

The Martin and the Gibson the guys picked to compare where both $4-5K guitars and the PRS was significantly better sounding and playing. Having played lots of Gibsons and Martins before I bought my Taylor, the playing part didn't surprise me at all. Multiple Taylors I played were easily better than any GIbson or Martin I've played in playability and feel.

Interesting. I don’t care for newer martins or Gibson at all.

It was going to be a Taylor or prs

 

[Deleted member 5962]

Interesting. I don’t care for newer martins or Gibson at all.

It was going to be a Taylor or prs

Yeah, that was 20 years ago that I played all those guitars and bought the Taylor. heck, that's when I "discovered" Taylor. Music Outlet in Sevierville TN. Played probably 20 Gibsons, 15 Martins, and... you know, since they were new to me at the time, I had to really be sure, so I probably played 40 Taylors. Literally let me go upstairs and open up unopened boxes of new Taylors. I was stunned how I could open 5 guitars in a row and they all felt almost identical right out of the shipping boxes! Trust me, the Gibsons were all over the place and the Martins felt "stiff" as Martin's always have.

If I had to buy another nice acoustic, the only two brands I'd even look at are PRS and Taylor.

 

[ScottR]

Glad you got the best one for you bro! Not surprised it ended up being the PRS.

I would love a great acoustic, unfortunately my smashed up shoulder won't allow it. It's frozen, so I can't get it over acoustic bodies. I had a Ovation that had a thinner "medium" body and I still couldn't get over the body to play comfortably. Not to mention I didn't care for the sound either.

I've heard some spectacular Angelus demos in the past, and I've always loved the tone and resonance they have! Congrats my dude!! Enjoy and play it in good health!

 

[László]

Just noticed the resurrection of this thread!

I'm still playing the same PRS Tonare Grande I bought back in 2013; it's my only acoustic, and I've used it on lots of ad campaigns over the years, most recently for a Ford product ad.

It sounds better now than it did new. It started out a cannon, but it's a bigger sounding cannon now. I'll never sell it.

I think that Paul and Steve Fischer, the original designer, got this design 100% right.

As I understand it, the idea was for the sides and back to be braced more rigidly than your typical steel string acoustic, and for the top to vibrate freely, since that's the part of the guitar that actually projects the sound. Paul and Fischer discovered that this was how the great Spanish guitars were made back in the day (Torres, I think?).

Think about the old E-V guitar speakers with their thick, stiff cast aluminum frames combined with a traditional cone, and how efficient, fast and loud they are, and you have somewhat of an analogous situation.

With a typical stamped steel frame, energy is dissipated and wasted because the frame twists and gets out of shape when the cone moves. A cast frame is more rigid, and doesn't move as much when the speaker moves. That allows the speaker to project more and be louder. And as you'd expect, the E-V guitar speakers are very efficient and loud.

So that's what happens with this guitar.

I don't even look at acoustic guitars in stores or online any more. Why bother? The carbon fiber truss rods (these were on my original Core Artist model and are on my PS) are so rigid that the neck never, ever moves or needs adjustment.

It's exactly as it was when the guitar got here, which is pretty amazing considering it's been 9 years!

I've had an awful lot of great acoustics, including '60s Martins, 40 series Martins of more recent vintage, 800 and 900 series Taylors, Collings acoustics, etc., and have played lots of friends' hand built Gurians and other unobtainium guitars. For me - everyone's going to have a personal point of view on this - the PRS is the most perfect wooden acoustic guitar I've ever played.

As to playability, I use medium gauge bass strings and light gauge high strings (bluegrass sets), so I have the guitar set up a bit on the stiff side. It seems to sound best on recordings that way (at least to me). I use the D'Addario XL coated 80/20 bronze Bluegrass sets with it. Tried a bunch of other sets and brass formulations such as phosphor bronze, but I like the strings it came with best.

 

[László]

I'd like to mention a couple of things about acoustic guitar tones and brands, because while I think the PRS are best for me, they might not be for someone else.

Taylors play so easily, but there's a tradeoff, and it's in lower midrange projection. They sound thinner to me than some guitars. This is not necessarily a bad thing; they mix well in a recording because you don't have to cut a bunch of low end. They're relatively lightly built, and again, this isn't a criticism, it makes them flexible and nice to play.

Martins sound like Martins, and except for the Collings models that get pretty close to the Martin sound, not much else does. If you want the Martin sound, by all means, a Martin is a great guitar to own.

I love the sound of a good Gibson acoustic. The only issue is that finding a great one is hit-and-miss. A great J-200 is a wonderful recording instrument (to me). There isn't an excess of the shimmer that some folks want to hear, but there's a ton of string-to-string definition and clarity, and there's a reason that people have been using them on recordings forever.

Collings makes a wonderful, heavier built guitar that functions a lot like a PRS except they have bolt-on necks. I've had a couple. They're excellent, my only complaint being that a Martin is airier than Collings' Martin-style models, but not as firm in the low mids. As to the Gibson J-style models Collings makes, I think they trump the Gibsons because they're more consistent, and they're made with a little more attention to detail.

 

[gush]

I'd like to mention a couple of things about acoustic guitar tones and brands, because while I think the PRS are best for me, they might not be for someone else.

Taylors play so easily, but there's a tradeoff, and it's in lower midrange projection. They sound thinner to me than some guitars. This is not necessarily a bad thing; they mix well in a recording because you don't have to cut a bunch of low end. They're relatively lightly built, and again, this isn't a criticism, it makes them flexible and nice to play.

Martins sound like Martins, and except for the Collings models that get pretty close to the Martin sound, not much else does. If you want the Martin sound, by all means, a Martin is a great guitar to own.

I love the sound of a good Gibson acoustic. The only issue is that finding a great one is hit-and-miss. A great J-200 is a wonderful recording instrument (to me). There isn't an excess of the shimmer that some folks want to hear, but there's a ton of string-to-string definition and clarity, and there's a reason that people have been using them on recordings forever.

Collings makes a wonderful, heavier built guitar that functions a lot like a PRS except they have bolt-on necks. I've had a couple. They're excellent, my only complaint being that a Martin is airier than Collings' Martin-style models, but not as firm in the low mids. As to the Gibson J-style models Collings makes, I think they trump the Gibsons because they're more consistent, and they're made with a little more attention to detail.

I'm still happy with my prs angelus. Like you, I don't look at acoustics anymore. If I buy another acoustic it would be another prs.

 

[gush]

I'd like to mention a couple of things about acoustic guitar tones and brands, because while I think the PRS are best for me, they might not be for someone else.

Taylors play so easily, but there's a tradeoff, and it's in lower midrange projection. They sound thinner to me than some guitars. This is not necessarily a bad thing; they mix well in a recording because you don't have to cut a bunch of low end. They're relatively lightly built, and again, this isn't a criticism, it makes them flexible and nice to play.

Martins sound like Martins, and except for the Collings models that get pretty close to the Martin sound, not much else does. If you want the Martin sound, by all means, a Martin is a great guitar to own.

I love the sound of a good Gibson acoustic. The only issue is that finding a great one is hit-and-miss. A great J-200 is a wonderful recording instrument (to me). There isn't an excess of the shimmer that some folks want to hear, but there's a ton of string-to-string definition and clarity, and there's a reason that people have been using them on recordings forever.

Collings makes a wonderful, heavier built guitar that functions a lot like a PRS except they have bolt-on necks. I've had a couple. They're excellent, my only complaint being that a Martin is airier than Collings' Martin-style models, but not as firm in the low mids. As to the Gibson J-style models Collings makes, I think they trump the Gibsons because they're more consistent, and they're made with a little more attention to detail.

I just learned a buddy of mine recently bought a used Taylor 914.

I think a true A/B comparison is in order.