theprofessor
Poster Extraordinaire
I wanted a smaller, short-scale acoustic both to travel with and to teach my youngest how to play. Initially, I ordered a used Eastman ACT2GE-OV from Guitar Center. I was impressed by the dynamics of that guitar. It sounded really great, as many Eastmans do. But it did not come with the case, as advertised, and it was also not in "great" condition, as advertised (a pretty big set of dings/gouges on the top). So I tried to sort this out with GC, but after the sending store claimed they couldn't find the original case they didn't send, and after the receiving store tried to put it in a super crappy paper-thin gig bag and call it good, I decided simply to return it with the thought of buying another one.
Before I left GC, I went into the acoustic room one last time and saw several GS minis. Both the price and the appointment of one of the non-electric versions caught my eye. I pulled it down and looked at it. It was flawlessly built -- bear-claw sitka spruce on rosewood laminate back & sides. The appointments of the wood were so nice that I thought it must be some kind of mistake. I played it, and it sounded great. Action was high, but I knew I could fix that easily. Yes, I could have found a used GS mini in great condition, and right, I never, ever buy new guitars. But I decided that I had to have _this one_. I've since changed the Nubone saddle to an unbleached bone wave compensated saddle from MacNichol Guitars (this one), and I have a set of Taylor ebony bridge pins on the way (Josh at Taylor said that while the plastic pins and the normal Taylor ebony pins are not the same size, all their guitars have the same ream for the bridge pins). I kept the Elixir mediums on the guitar, but I may experiment with other strings as well.
One question for you experts: does anyone know where I can purchase a similar-sized set of ebony tuner buttons as a drop-in replacement for the chrome buttons on the GS mini tuners? I realize I could upgrade the entire mechanism, but I don't see any need to do that right now.
Before I left GC, I went into the acoustic room one last time and saw several GS minis. Both the price and the appointment of one of the non-electric versions caught my eye. I pulled it down and looked at it. It was flawlessly built -- bear-claw sitka spruce on rosewood laminate back & sides. The appointments of the wood were so nice that I thought it must be some kind of mistake. I played it, and it sounded great. Action was high, but I knew I could fix that easily. Yes, I could have found a used GS mini in great condition, and right, I never, ever buy new guitars. But I decided that I had to have _this one_. I've since changed the Nubone saddle to an unbleached bone wave compensated saddle from MacNichol Guitars (this one), and I have a set of Taylor ebony bridge pins on the way (Josh at Taylor said that while the plastic pins and the normal Taylor ebony pins are not the same size, all their guitars have the same ream for the bridge pins). I kept the Elixir mediums on the guitar, but I may experiment with other strings as well.
One question for you experts: does anyone know where I can purchase a similar-sized set of ebony tuner buttons as a drop-in replacement for the chrome buttons on the GS mini tuners? I realize I could upgrade the entire mechanism, but I don't see any need to do that right now.
