Is your prized guitar really what you think it is, or, can you handle the "truth"???

[985plowboy]

Wait. Isn't that a bit oxymoronic?
Brief elaboration...

Doesn’t have to be.

 

[schoolie]

It's like Grandpa always said, "I can't find my glasses"!

 

[VonBonfire]

I got a tanglewood OM copy

They mostly seem to sell student level acoustics but the one I got was top shelf for them

They are a U.K. Based company

I believe them to be made in the same factory that the popular blue ridge acoustics are made

Sounds really good, especially for finger style

Looks like this (except mine has tanglewood spelled out on the headstock instead of a “T”)
View attachment 996319

Has a nice V shaped neck

I don’t know if they have changed but it was kind of misleading, nowhere on the actual guitar is there a country of origin it just says “tanglewood guitar co United Kingdom” on the back of the headstock

Of course it was made in china if you happen to glance at the hang tag which I don’t have

No complaints with it though

That's a beauty man! Nice score. Love that pickguard. I had a Blueridge gospel for a while and it was a really nice playing, looking, and sounding guitar. I let it go (became an ebay mess of a scamming buyer) because I found the OM and OOO are a little too smooth in tone for raw style acoustic blues.

Looking back after the sale hassle, getting scammed, I should've just kept it. It was a damn nice guitar and I'm sure today ten years on it would be sounding even better and would be good for some of the John Hurt fingerpicking style I also like. I try and avoid Chinese when possible but there is no doubting their ability to make a nice guitar these days and at a working musician's price.

 

[pixeljammer]

I'm glad you were able to get all of that out even though after 2 or 3 sentences I began to think about what I would be doing if I were a duck.

Please don't leave us in suspense!

 

[P Thought]

I can handle the truth.

 

[metalicaster]

.

 

[metalicaster]

This is an interesting angle. Brevity is best, until it isn't. Everything depends on the writer's skill, his/her intent and the context (subject, et al.) Pretty much the same with improvising.

With guitars, it's always the inner child. Once in awhile constrained by outside forces and norms. Not always.

A quote from Jacob Collier about music also fits writing. “Less is only more if you know what more is and you make a conscious decision to step back from that.”

 

[TheFuzzDog]

I would offer to suggest that the model number stamped or written on the sticker in the soundhole, and the name on the headstock, is not nearly as important as the actual people who chose the wood and parts and put it together, whoever they were, and wherever those parts came from, eh?

Recently I went to check out a guitar and I asked the sales people who specifically chose the parts and then assembled the guitar. I left when they couldn’t tell me.

 

[P Thought]

Recently I went to check out a guitar and I asked the sales people who specifically chose the parts and then assembled the guitar. I left when they couldn’t tell me.

Boy, they missed out on that sale, bet they were sorry to see your taillights!

 

[TheFuzzDog]

Boy, they missed out on that sale, bet they were sorry to see your taillights!

Well, I used to only care about the brand, but then I read the OP here and I saw the error of my ways!

 

[39martind18]

gist of it is I think too many people don't really know who's actually making their guitars and putting too much undeserved faith in the label and headstock

In the case of my avatar, I'm pretty sure I know!

 

[teletail]

gist of it is I think too many people don't really know who's actually making their guitars and putting too much undeserved faith in the label and headstock

What companies do you think are selling guitars under false pretenses? Do you think Fender doesn’t make Fender, or Gibson doesn’t make Gibson? Or some other company?

 

[pippoman]

Seems like some of you prefer paragraphs? And here I thought I was being all hip by posting a non binary non biased non gender specific stream of consciousness guitar infused rambling musing???? Ah well, paragraphs it is!

Everyone seems to have some sort of bias, guitar players are no different, so after seeing many posts praising one make whilst deriding others, I offer my own take on this.

A few years back a well known and respected guitar magazine rounded up five notable players who for some reason or other "swore" by the strings they used, and asked them to participate in a "blind" string test as to which string they liked the best. Every single one of them picked and preferred, uh, wait for it, the D'Addario strings that were the same gauge as they were used to over their "perfect" other strings. Not one, not two, ALL five. Of the five two used D'Addario strings if I recollect correctly. This isn't a plug for D'Addario, it's just what the test revealed.

When I bought my first dreadnought, I had no bias back in 1976, I simply wanted the "best" guitar for the money I had to spend, $800 to $1000 in 1976 ( which could get you a good guitar back then ). I bought it according to how it felt, sounded, and played. It was an unknown name back then, and I picked it over a more expensive Guild and Martin, both of which I could have bought, and had they performed better to my ears and touch, I would have gladly walked away with either. I didn't. I still have that guitar to this day, and after some work, it's still as good and sounds better than any Martin I have played. I'm not saying the Martin's I've tried have been bad, they just haven't been as good for me as my original choice, and after 46 years of almost daily playing, it's safe to say it's held up very well indeed!

Luthiers come and go, and the same people are not building Martins, for example, that were in 1940. Or Taylors. Or most anything else. I have a 2017-18 Breedlove Oregon that plays like a $12,000 guitar! I don't know who actually made it, but it's as close to perfect as I've ever seen in every way.

Now I play classical as well so it's smaller than a dread which is one of the reasons I bought it. Most comfortable steel string I have. Doesn't sound like a Martin, isn't supposed to, but for what I use it for sounds better to my ears.

When I had to repair my 40 plus year old dread a few years ago ( refret neck set tuners etc.). I realized it was getting fragile so I was looking for a new one. Went to a specialty high end store where an amazing player was having a dilemma between a Collings and a Boucher ( I hadn't heard of either at the time ). He heard me play a bit and then asked me to play them both so he could give a listen from a ways back in the room.

Then we got to talking. He said if I was looking for a dread he'd let me buy the Boucher as he already had a good dread and I believe the Collings was a smaller auditorium style and he was actually looking for a smaller guitar to finger pick with. So he took the Collings and I took the Boucher but he was seriously considering the Boucher even though he had a good dread ( he didn't say what make it was ). There were numerous other well known "brands" there, all decent and high priced, which we also tried, but our consensus was the Collings and the Boucher were the best of the ones we tried.

Sound is a subjective thing, but what also stood out about those two guitars was their ease of playability and their obvious quality....they were a cut above the others. Case in point neither of us gave a hoot about the name on the headstock, we were looking for a tool to fill a certain niche, so it was all about the feel, response, playability, sustain, projection, and tone.I get loving what you have and wanting to think it's the best out there, especially if you dropped a lot of coin for it, but may I suggest that before you feel the urge to "dis" some other make that you may not have even tired, or that you're unfamiliar with, maybe you should take it for a test drive first.

I don't comment on anything I haven't tried or compared, so If I say something about any brand, it's just relating my own experience with that brand, however broad or limited that experience may be. Arguably the best red spruce comes from Canada, because it's where the Appalachians start ( or end, depending on your perspective ).

I say this because 1. it's true! ( the U.S. cut down almost all it's red spruce during world war 2 ( over 90 percent of it, so the oldest trees there are less than 80 years old and most occurs along the coast at close to sea level ) 2. Canadian red spruce forests are at a higher altitude ( 1000 to 1800 feet on average ) and have a longer, colder winter so the rings are straighter and closer together, which makes for a better sounding and stiffer top.

Boucher guitars makes most of the highend Adirondack soundboards in the world, so your AAAAA Adi top on your custom Collings, Bourgoise, Martin, or whatever was probably made by them. In fact, they only make around 400 guitars a year themselves and have four luthiers who just make Adi tops for others.........like Jack says in " A few good men "....." you can't handle the truth".....lol! Enjoy whatever you have and keep plucking, eh?!

I would offer to suggest that the model number stamped or written on the sticker in the soundhole, and the name on the headstock, is not nearly as important as the actual people who chose the wood and parts and put it together, whoever they were, and wherever those parts came from, eh?

Did you know D'Addario uses the best high quality German steel used for radial car and truck tyres?????? Thought so! lol!

Nice article
Seriously, I enjoyed it.

 

[Sleph]

I'd take your string test because I know in 2 hours the D'Addarios would be rusting in my hands and the Ernie Balls would not - done it a hundred times - the Australian summer rehearsal string test.

 

[Frontman]

My “prize guitar” was made for me at Fender’s custom shop by Todd Krause. It’s what I think it is because the woods, frets, and pickups etc were specified by me, and the guitar arrived assembled with them. Krause sent a COA with it, though surprisingly he misspelled it a little, and it says I got a “Startocaster.”

 

[GGardner]

When I bought my first dreadnought, I had no bias back in 1976, I simply wanted the "best" guitar for the money I had to spend, $800 to $1000 in 1976 . . .

That's a boatload of cash back then.

 

[Flaneur]

This guitar speaks the truth.

....in a very loud voice.

 

[StoneH]

I have a '69 Strat, a '78 Yairi DY-85, and a 1934 Duolian. I had the Strat and Duolian appraised, so I don't have to guess what I have. Gruhn won't appraise guitars that are worth less than $1000, so my most prized guitar (Yairi) is also the least valuable (of my "good" guitars).

 

[Fenderdad1950]

Lost me with the first paragraph, so I will just say good luck

 

[oatsoda]

Truth?

no thanks