Buying a new guitar?

Question

Recently I've been on the market for a new acoustic guitar. My school has a chapel worship team that I want to play on during my senior year, and I've also recently got involved with a band that my friend and I started. I want a new, better sounding acoustic guitar that is affordable to tie me down while I write music and save up for my "official" guitar that I'll use for big projects. The one I have is just bad with extremely high action, and it's personally too bulky for me. I went to my local music shop, and picked up a Taylor GS mini, which sounded incredible to me and is obviously a great price for a Taylor at about $630. The reviews are awesome for it as a travel guitar. However my brother is telling me that it is stupid to get a "kid's guitar" and that I should save up for a real Taylor if I want one. Do you think getting the GS Mini would be a bad idea? And do you think that the Mini would be good for playing live in chapel and for potential recording?

Answer 1

Minis are "real" guitars whatever that means. Mini guitars are not just for kids, but for everyone.



You have small body guitars,medium, and large body guitars. In history Mini guitars were what companies were making, but lagged the volume so, then the medium body came out, which was good, but it didn't have a strong bass. So thanks to the collaboration of martin and Gibson out came the large bodies with a strong bass response.





It's all subjective on what kind of sound you like.

Answer 2

get a gretsch or 335

Answer 3

I agree with Mikey. Anyway, high action is not ordinarily a reason to replace a guitar. A setup shouldn't run you more than $35 or $50 usually. Having a guitar that is uncomfortable to hold is another matter, but you needn't buy a 3/4 size guitar just to get a smaller body. Look at some O, OO, or OOO/OM size guitars before you make up your mind. And maybe get that setup done, since uncomfortable action can color one's impression of everything about a guitar. I don't know what you have, though, so hard to say whether it's worth putting money into.



I'd stay away from the children's/travel sizes, though, unless you actually DO intend to travel frequently and a full size guitar (which in guitar-speak means full scale length and has nothing to do with body size) would be a problem. Reducing the scale length of a guitar means that your string tension will be lower at standard pitch, which is not a good thing in terms of volume or sound quality. Even a well-regarded travel guitar is not going to measure up (no pun intended) to a normal scale one, if all other things are equal. That's the sacrifice you make for extreme portability, or to get a guitar the right size for a kid of about 9 to learn on. And as Jonathan points out, in the case of the GS Mini, you would be paying two or three times what a similarly constructed guitar, even a normal scale one, of a less prestigious brand would cost.



Here's another idea - check out the very reasonably priced ($200-300) Yamaha 700 series. They have solid spruce tops, come in a dreadnought and OOO size, and sound astonishingly good for the money, especially if upgraded with a bone nut and saddle, which any guitar tech can do. Although they're often recommended to beginners, after doing a setup and nut/saddle replacement on one I found at a pawn shop, I'm finding it so much fun to play that I don't want to sell it just yet, even though I've got "better" guitars available. Alternatively, Seagull is often recommended as a midrange instrument that is well built and offers good value. Can't say I care for their sound, but YMMV.

Answer 4

Nothing wrong with the mini, just that, well... it's mini. For the same price, you could get a very decent full-size guitar from a good brand, not quite Martin or Taylor's level, but very good, like Breedlove or Takamine. I'm partial to Breedlove myself.

Answer 5

I agree with your brother. I much prefer a full size guitar. Take a look at Eastman guitars, especially their grand concert and auditorium models.