After watching Eric Haugens YouTube video on why you need a nylon string guitar, GAS has struck and I’ve decided I need one.
So far my shortlist is
Taylor Academy 12n
Yamaha NCX1 or NTX1
Cordoba C5 crossover
Nearly all nylon strings I fancy in this sort of range seem to be equipped with some sort of preamp / pickup system which I don’t really need as it would really just be a couch guitar.
I don’t have a dedicated acoustic amp, (just a Princeton), and don’t want to go to any further expense to get one.
Are there better, purely acoustic models, that would give more guitar for the money, rather than forking out for electronics I don’t need?
Comments
* Properly fitted electronics make no difference to the acoustic sound.
* Electronics make no difference to the price of a mass-produced guitar. Yes, it costs some money to add them, but far, far less that it costs to buy a third-party pickup and fit it yourself. Companies like Taylor and Yamaha (which also owns Cordoba and Guild) either make their own pickups at low cost or else drive very hard bargains to buy in thousands of units at ultra-low prices. The small extra cost of the pickup is less than the significant extra cost of the duplication and supply-chain congestion which results from having two different models, one with pickup, one without. Given that most retail buyers (and all buyers with much of a clue) either want a pickup or don't care either way, it works out cheaper for (e.g.) Taylor to make a single, one-size-fits-all pickup-included model.
(Note 1: Do you sometimes see very-bottom-of-the-range guitars from makers who normally fit pickups selling cheaper? Sure you do. But the deletion of the pickup isn't so much to save money as it is to have some point of difference from the better models. Often these are loss-leaders.)
(Note 2: Do some people actually prefer a guitar with no electronics? Yes, but worldwide these are very, very few. Only in the UK is it actually a thing. No-one knows why. The rest of the world's guitar buyers overwhelmingly prefer a pickup, or else don't care.)
(Note 3: Personally, I'd just as soon not have electronics. I practically never use a pick-up, but I have never let that mild dislike get between me and a guitar I like. As a result, 5 of my guitars have best-in-class pickups which I don't use. Of the other four, three were custom-made than the fourth was made back in the days before pickups became standard.)
(Note 4: If you aren't going to use the pickup, take the battery out! Otherwise, one year or another, the battery will leak and that's not nice at all. If you ever want to use the pick-up you can pop a fresh battery in at that time, and remember to take it out again afterwards.)
(Note 5: There is no Note 5.)
I suppose I’m just asking the eternal “is there a better guitar for the money” question.
Funnily enough, Taylor do make the Academy 12n with and without a pickup, but the electronic model can often be found cheaper than the fully acoustic - go figure?
Will it sound better in a PA or acoustic amp? Yes, but it will function well enough in your regular amp.
Anyway, the point is, having a pickup might just come in handy one day @SimonC.
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"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
The more I think about it, the more I’m now leaning to a nice proper classical guitar rather than a crossover type.
I’ve got some bits of gear to move on first to raise funds, but I’d definitely consider something like your Raimundo when the time comes
I also like to have a truss rod. Even if I never use it, I like the reassurance of one being there.
I started learning classical and then gravitated to electric/acoustic so I guess my opinion is biased.. Perhaps i’m also used to the wide nut so it doesn’t bother me, but equally I never found electric or acoustic necks to feel narrow. I would never perform classical pieces on a guitar with a narrow (electric/acoustic sized) nut either.
Also have never owned a classical guitar that needed a truss rod. All adjustment done at the bridge saddle and nut, along with selecting correct string tension.
I’ve been looking at the La Patrie arena as a possible new electro classical for me. I hadn’t checked before your reply but it turns out it has a truss rod and 24” radius like a steel string. So i guess that would feel more like an acoustic guitar to play, despite still having a classical sized nut. I haven’t managed to try one yet so can’t judge. Have read good things though!
I've owned a couple of Taylor NS models - the 72 and the 42 - and while their playability suits me, with 1 7/8" at the nut, their acoustic sound was a little weak. They were also quite expensive, as are their present-day incarnations.