Angelus SE Custom w/pickups
I'll show you mine. I must note that I'm an electric player (prog/alternative rock) so my customized Santana SE is my workhorse. However, buying the Angelus has upped the percentage of acoustic hours with a considerable margin
The lighting is part daylight, part lamp.
Early 2012, I decided I deserved to replace my €199 Chinese "Estella" dreadnought. It had great warm tones from the individual strings over all six strings, but it completely muddied up when playing chords. On reading the reviews of the Angelus, I went to Kees Dee (pronounced "case day") in Amersfoort, Netherlands, and told them I likely wanted to buy an SE Standard with electronics, so could they please notify me when one came in. And then the waiting began.
In the summer holiday I visited a guitar store in Enschede, when I stumbled across an SE Angelus Standard (no electronics) and played it in the store for about an hour - liked it a lot (didn't immediately love it though).
Come November '12, I got a call from Kees Dee that a couple of Angeluses (Angeli?) had arrived, and since there was an action (shop existed 25 years) there was a sizable discount on a couple of models - including these SE acoustics. I went over, and since the discount put the SE Custom with pickups within my budget, I tried it out. Kees Dee himself put me on a stool with three more guitars around the €900 price point (can't quite remember, I think a Martin, a Faith and one less known brand). I liked the feel of the Angelus, but the low E sounded a bit unsteady when played open. I played the other guitars, amazed at the difference in sound and feel, and I liked the Faith - and the less known brand even more. But somehow in that half hour I gravitated back to the Angelus again and again. When Kees came back to hear how I fared, he put a €2000 Taylor in the mix. However, after another half hour I decided firmly on the Angelus. Happy ever after! The unsteadyness of the open E that I thought I heard initially has disappeared. Maybe it was just my picking technique (or lack thereof), maybe the newness of the string, maybe I imagined it, trying to come up with a reason not to buy it.
Artsy close-up with wide diaphragm for small depth-of-field. After buying the Angelus, I found myself picking up the acoustic more and more. I've started to learn fingerpicking from a course by Dutch guitarist Harry Sacksioni - great fingerpicker and a great course (2 books + DVD). The warm yet clear sound of the bass strings is amazing, as is the projection and sustain. I don't think any Youtube clip can do justice to the subtle sounds that a good acoustic guitar emits.
The rosewood and mahogany are very very dark, and the finish is very glossy, so it's very difficult to photograph the beautiful wood grains and not get lots of reflections from my living room. Here's a close-up of the heel (the background is oak).
The rosewood back, set against the morning light through my window. In real life, the colors are slightly more reddish and warm than this picture appears on my monitor.
I've performed in public only once - it was on this acoustic, on a 3 day guitar workshop/camp (
http://www.gitaarkamp.nl). The dinner show on the last day was opened by me, giving a quite poor performance due to nerves and lack of skill :redface: but I got a lot of compliments anyway (great group dynamics and spirit there). A couple of guys/gals specifically mentioned how great the guitar sounded over the stage sound system. I can't judge that as I sit so close to the acoustic sound, but apparently many experienced acoustic players thought that the Angelus + pickup sounded quite special.
The sitka spruce top and ebony bridge. Very nice warm colour under a glossy finish; very interesting grain: sort of a grittiness in the wood structure in between the lines. The original .012 d'Addario strings have been replaced with Elixirs of the same gauge; the coating on the Elixirs mainly helps to reduce the "grzgrzgrz" sound to acceptable levels when sliding a bass string.
I absolutely love this guitar, and it has significantly increased my interest in acoustic guitar playing. When I pass its stand in my study an arms length away from my seat, I often touch the low E just to hear it hum.
And here's me on the stage at Gitaarkamp, trying hard to put the right finger in the right place at just the right time :redface::
