Best small body acoustic 1 3/4 nut £1-2k?

TINMAN82 · September 2018

Ideally wider string spacing at bridge, mabye 2 3/16 plus....

Gibson l-00 (I know it’s marginally smaller than 1 3/4)? Martin 00 something? Taylor?

Something with a solid top ideally, for fingerpicking and blues.

edit- I realise asking for the “best” is subjective and so on, I’m just looking for a few perspectives so that I have a handful of models to try out.

jrc2806 · September 2018

Used to have a Keb Mo Gibson 00 which was a great guitar (slightly wider nut - recall it being 1.8”). Have you looked at the Waterloo WL-14 by collings? Available in either 12 or 14 fret versions with a choice of ladder or x bracing - great blues box. New they are a little over £2k but I have seen a few come up second hand. In terms of which is best it really will need you to play a few. I was set on a Martin CEO-7 but just did not get on with it when I visited the store and purchased the Gibson instead. Hope this helps......

ICBM · September 2018

Martin OM-21.

If only I'd been able to get on with the wide neck and string spacing I would still have mine! The best-sounding small-body guitar I've ever played.

(Second hand at your budget, they're over £2K new unfortunately.)

bbill335 · September 2018

Have you looked at Waterloo? They look really nice, some cool artists are playing them, but they ain't cheap

barry2tone · September 2018

Avian Dove? The Deluxe is even nicerer.

My mahogany Songbird has wonderful sustain. Had a Dove on trial, but the rosewoods had already gone from the sale.

November or New Year are your best horizons now.

KKJale · September 2018

Maybe take a look at some of the Eastmans. I don't know if you ever travel down to the Smoke but Mairants have a couple of parlours that are very nice bluesy fingerpickers, and they're well under £1k.

If you do ever go there, be sure to try the Atkin LG47. It's miles over your budget but it'll knock your socks off and instantly rematerialise them somewhere else, possibly Kansas. That good.

BigLicks67 · September 2018

If you are looking at the Gibson L00 then also have a go on a LG2. It has similar dimensions, but is slightly bigger and is also a lot cheaper regards new prices. :

A 00018 or 00028 would probably be more versatile outside of straight blues fingerpicking though.

TINMAN82 · September 2018

BigLicks67 said:

If you are looking at the Gibson L00 then also have a go on a LG2. It has similar dimensions, but is slightly bigger and is also a lot cheaper regards new prices. :

A 00018 or 00028 would probably be more versatile outside of straight blues fingerpicking though.

Great playing! I’ll check that out too.

ToneControl · September 2018

Phone up Avalon, they may still have an ex-demo S300A in stock

Strangefan · September 2018

Guild USA f 20 my all time favourite guitar

McSwaggerty · September 2018

Eastman E10P.... Spruce /Mahogany.....12 Fretter. .... 1 13/16 at Nut..... 2 3/8 string spacing at bridge. Around £1,100 new. Parlour size... Huge sound..... Great Guitar....

brooom · September 2018

I've bought a sigma 00R-28vse, I was looking at buying a Martin 00-28vs. The sigma was £500 the martin was £3000. The sigma is amazing.

I also have a Martin vintage series 00-18 and the sigma sounds and plays better which is surprising to say the least.

Another guitar I was looking at was the headway h2-am. Great little acoustic, but expensive and quite hard to find.

Try the sigma you'll be surprised. Mine is the VSE version so I can plug it in, which I never do. I can honestly say this was one of the best purchases I've done this year. Extremely satisfying to play.

Here you have a used one for £275: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Acoustic-guitar-Sigma-000r28vs-very-good-condition/183343387359?hash=item2ab01e12df:g:s2gAAOSwg2FbWJgE

By the way this is what the sigma looks like:

Image: https://www.kitarapaja.com/images/products/0-38535f2483-747d2698_orig.jpg

dangriffiths · September 2018

Second hand Martin CEO-7 could be a good shout. I really like mine

TINMAN82 · September 2018

dangriffiths said:

Second hand Martin CEO-7 could be a good shout. I really like mine

Now that looks like a lovely guitar. Hadn’t heard of it before but the spec looks perfect for fingerstyle.

jrc2806 · September 2018

There are some great YouTube clips of the CEO-7. My favourite is by onemanzguitar (believe guitar is being played by Spoon Phillips). Could also look at a used 00-18v!

brooom · September 2018

Here's a video of the Sigma 00R-28VS

terada · September 2018

Martin OM15?

TINMAN82 · September 2018

Update: Returning a Gibson LG-2 American Eagle to the retailer, mainly due to a couple of quality control issues that I don't think I can live with.

Pros:
-Nice, comfortable small body shape.
-Big voice and volume for a small body.
-Very "Gibson" tone, like a more focussed version of my Hummingbird actually. Definitely in the same tonal ballpark.
-Lovely top (at this price range Martin seem to produce a lot of bear claw).

Cons:
-Poorly cut high E at saddle- noticeably off line/ wider string spacing B to high E than between other strings. This gave an artificially wide e-e spacing (2/32 larger than my hummingbird in fact). That would be ok if the strings were evenly spaced.
-Bass side tuning machines mounted off line, noticeably to the naked eye, the low e machine closer into the middle of the headstock.

A shame as it is otherwise a nice instrument. I think in the interests of variety I'll look at other brands as the tone wasn't a massive departure from my hummingbird.

Its also a lesson to try before you buy, although that wasn't possible in this case as its an end of line model and there were none within about 200miles of where I live. When I bought my hummingbird I went into the shop 3 days in a row to play it.

wrinkleygit · September 2018

Search out a Brook

Basher · September 2018

It might be worth "czeching" out a Furch. Forgive the crap pun but they're made in the Czech Republic to a very high standard.

I've got their Stanford-branded "OM5-Vintage" model from a few years back and I prefer it the other OM-sized guitars I've owned, a Larrivee OM and a Brook. It's in the same ballpark as the few Martins I've played but a lot cheaper.

I've also heard that Stonebridge guitars are also Furch-made and have read some great reviews of those.

Anyway, here's mine. The 1 3/4" nut feels wider (not sure why - shallow neck? - no binding?). If anything it's a bit too wide for me. String spacing at the bridge is (I think) a bit over 2 3/16".
Slot-heads aren't for everyone but I love the look.

Image: https://c2.staticflickr.com/4/3647/3280451603_d98fa10040_b.jpg

TINMAN82 · December 2018

So....after a few false starts I sacked the budget and went for this:

https://i.imgur.com/UzYtyIa.jpg

Might be the best guitar I've ever played, hence this NGD post is about a month out of date!

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Best small body acoustic 1 3/4 nut £1-2k?

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