Small Body Acoustic - c. £500

BRISTOL86

Hi Chaps

After some recommendations for a GA or 000 sized acoustic. Budget c £500-£600, new or used.

Solid wood preferred. I really like the look of the Seagull Maritime but finding them locally will be a challenge. Day trip to Project Music in Exeter perhaps. 

Also saw a couple of nice looking Blueridge guitars at my local Hobgoblin but their prices are half as much again as what Amazon sell them for. But not sure I'm comfortable buying unseen from Amazon so depends how flexible Hobgoblin would be on price. Anyone familiar with Blueridge? Finding it hard to establish whether the models I'm looking at (BR63 and 73) are solid back and sides or laminate. 

Any recommendations gratefully received!

Exorcist

I have a Faith venus, which is a concert size I believe - not sure if that's any good for you, but its an oustanding guitar for the money, and all solid. They do a baby jumbo and a parlour too. If you haven't checked them out, they might be worth a look IMHO

Stuckfast

Are you set on buying new? Secondhand you might get a Larrivee or similar for that money, which would be a Good Thing.

BRISTOL86

Thanks Exorcist - Faith are definitely on my radar. Will have to get out and play some. 

Stuckfast - not at all, happy to buy used. Trouble is I want to go out and play as many as I can side by side and I'm not sure many dealers round here have much of a used selection.

AliGorie

second hand Eastman / Blueridge or the like some of thsee guits play 'n sound upwards of 1k +

Teyeplayer

What about the new Auden starter range? I haven't had a chance to try them yet but I know the guys are super fussed about quality control, so these could be pretty good value for money.

BRISTOL86

Teyeplayer said:

What about the new Auden starter range? I haven't had a chance to try them yet but I know the guys are super fussed about quality control, so these could be pretty good value for money.

Do you have a link please? Everything I can see on their website is way out of price range!

richardhomer

Inevitable Taylor GS Mini recommendation. Laminated back & sides - but sounds bigger and better than they should.

 Mahogany topped version sounds less 'pristine'/warmer.

Well worth trying....

BRISTOL86

Thanks for that will definitely put it on the list to try out!

Teyeplayer

BRISTOL86 said:

Teyeplayer said:

What about the new Auden starter range? I haven't had a chance to try them yet but I know the guys are super fussed about quality control, so these could be pretty good value for money.

Do you have a link please? Everything I can see on their website is way out of price range!

No problem, it's their 'players choice' range which at a glance looks to be a dread, concert and 000, got the rather good schertler pickups and still at 499. Here is the smaller of the three, the Julia:

http://audenguitars.com/product/julia-players-choice/

BRISTOL86

Great, thanks!

BRISTOL86

Went to PMT and played a few things at lunchtime. 

Martin 000X1AE - quite liked it. Decent sounding and nice to play. Maybe just lacked a bit of that 'oomph' sound wise. 

Taylor 114 - nice to play but sounded a bit meh to me compared to the Martin. 

Faith Venus Natural - liked it a lot visually and sonically but didn't play as well as I'd hoped based on what I'd read. Action was pretty high and strings felt about 5 years old which didn't help. 

Yamaha L series (LL16 maybe?) and it felt horrible but it was thick with dust and the strings clearly needed changing years ago, not helpful...

Then just for kicks i played a GS mini - just to say I had - and gosh...I can see why people rave about them. Ridiculously fun to play and sounded very impressive considering the sound. Just kept going back to it. It almost played like an electric with that crazy low action. 

Exorcist

That's a decent selection you tried - sounds like they have neglected the setup on a few of them, my faith came with a pretty low action, makes me wonder if the Q&A has slipped, or if it just needed a truss rod tweak or something? Shame about that and the Yamaha. So is the GS mini on the cards??

BRISTOL86

Exorcist said:

That's a decent selection you tried - sounds like they have neglected the setup on a few of them, my faith came with a pretty low action, makes me wonder if the Q&A has slipped, or if it just needed a truss rod tweak or something? Shame about that and the Yamaha. So is the GS mini on the cards??

Yeah it's pretty poor that such a big shop seems happy to have demo guitars in poor shape string wise. For the sake of a couple of quid it can make a £1000 guitar sound and feel awful. 

The GS mini certainly threw a spanner in the works. I'd have said before that I didn't want anything quite that small as my main (only) acoustic. But it was absolutely effortless to play. Almost like playing an electric! 

Theres a couple more i want to play - a Guild M140 and a Seagull Maritime Concert Hall but it's given me something else to think about. 

I cant do anything until I sell my expensive Taylor anyhow. 

rustneversleeps

Sigma guitars are worth a look at especially the solid wood ones.i have  00028vs a nice guitar for the price.

Danji

There are some new Taylor models coming soon, the Academy, which are sub £500.  Worth a look.

Jalapeno

Breedlove OM/MMe - great value guitars

notonlybutalso

i know its slightly smaller than what you were looking for but i have a faith mercury hi gloss for sale, plenty pics if you want a look

BRISTOL86

Thanks all. Can't do anything unless I sell the Taylor but noted all your suggestions

Epsilon

Eastmans are definitely worth a look! I'd put their 3 series guitars up there with the 3 and 4 series Taylor models in terms of craftsmanship and tone.

Likewise, Breedlove do some nice instruments in that price range, although in my experience slightly less consistent than Eastman so make sure you try one in person.

McSwaggerty

Yup !.... a second hand Eastman if you can find one.