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IMO, there is a significant difference for playability for acoustic body sizes when the lower bout is smaller or larger than an inch, for example Jumbo/Lowden O size 16", Martin Dread/Gibson J-45 - 16", Martin 000/OM - 15", Martin OO - 14".
It sounds like you might be after Martin 00-16M with a bit more sparkle in that particular body size, I think the rosewood back and sides of the Martin 00-28 seeming to be an excellent fit but it's £2.7k new. 14 fret 00's are fairly thin on the ground though, the only other rosewood models I can think of under a £1.5k are the Eastman E20SS, Sigma have a few as well.
Under a £1.5k or so, the Furch guitars are excellent. The Rainbow series are the their modern inspired series, and their Vintage ones are the Martin inspired ones. They generally come with a 45mm wide nut which may or may not be a good thing for you.
I like a smaller guitar, more for depth than anything else, though with a Lowden O you cant even sit on a chair properly without the bottom end contacting the chair, you have to sit at an angle..so width of the lower bout *and* width of the waist is a consideration too. In rehearsal i'll generally be sitting, live more likely to be standing but not always. I found the Lowden neck to be both too big and too wide and generally that made the guitar harder to play for me than - say - the 1 11/16" 00-16 neck with Martin's low profile neck shape. In Gibson land, I am perfectly happy with the standard J45 neck but the J35 was a bit too large and rounded for my tastes. The ulta-modern (ish) Martin profile on the OMC was pretty much perfect for me.
My playing style is 'hack' - call it general acoustic playing. As noted, no Celtic fingerstyle, no flatpicking bluegrass, mainly backing a singer with chords and part-chords and the like. A bit of basic fingerstyle stuff for fun. I do like to drop down to open C for a few tunes so a longer scale can help - haven't tried that with the 00 but I suspect it'll not work, currently I use my old Jasmine electro for that (unplugged). It sounds pretty bad but it's passable at home!
00-28s and 18s are on my radar for sure, though there aren't that many around at the moment.
Thanks for the suggestions
Of the remainder of the stock I tried, I preferred the Martin OM28 reimagined which was nicely balanced sounding with a lovely neck, if a little rough looking internally, and a Martin 000-15Me which was punchy and solid sounding, though neither provoked a credit card bending.
Still good to knock some more off the list!
I’m not sure there’s much in it from a depreciation point of view.
Edit: It's dreadnought sized so don't know if that's of any use?
If you are buying with resale in mind why bother?
My experience re playing through a PA is that more heavily braced, less lively guitars fitted with an M1A gets a great sound out front. The best amplified sounds i’ve had has been a late 60’s Gibson dread fitted with an M1A. With a livelier guitar you get too much of the airy sound which just doesn’t sit in a mix with vocals.
You raise some good points. What makes a good plugged in guitar doesn't necessarily make the best acoustic.
The Atkins that I've played have been stunning. Guitar Classics in Wandsworth had an all mahogany one a year or two ago that was better than Martins that were 2 or 3 times the price. Some Martins are better than others though. Assuming you get forward shifted bracing, it's very hard to find a bad Martin, but some are great while some are merely good.
I tried some more stuff this weekend - Martin OMC28 & 35, GPC 28 and a D18, 000-18 and D28. This kind of reinforced what I knew already - I find 35 series guitars too woofy in the bass and 28 series guitars (generally) not far behind. I prefer the dryness and control of the mahogany 18s. Having said that, the GPC-28 had less of that booming bass and was more controlled all round. Didn't have 'that' Martin sound but was still better than I expected. Too expensive though.All were pretty nicely made and lovely to play, with the more modern neck profile and matte finish on the necks.
I also tried an Eggle Kanuga, which was nice but more or less a generic dread-sounding kind of thing, some Lowdens (I used to love the Lowden sound...I cant stand it now after selling off my O23) and a Collings D2H - which I liked, best guitar I played on the day but I just don't want a dread, and I don't want to spend 3k either.
So once again I left empty-handed.
I went home and was considering a Larrivee OM from peach in their sale, but they couldn't tell me what pickup was in it and i'm still waiting on the callback Now the BF sale is over it's more than i'd pay for a new one anyway, given how poor the resale is with them.
Now i'm back to considering doing nothing - my 0016 has a pickup, with the right pedal it'd probably do everything I need in a live environment, as long as I don't hit it too hard.