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Best "Jack-of-all-trades" body style


heymisterk

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Having a Yairi, I have a feel for your thoughts, and the OM vs Dreadnought thing. Recently I bought a new J45 Custom Maple. As a flat blues type string slammer I just couldn't get used to the lower volume and depth of the many OMs I tried, but I do love their tone. My main two dreads are Collings but I wanted something with a brighter tone and still have the acoustic volume. I'm crazy, I bought the J45, took it home for a couple of days and then took it back.. the next day I went back and re-bought it, it got in my blood or something... it is the perfect compliment to my deep and mid tone dreads. I sold my Songwriters Delux a year ago and have definately had second thoughts about that one. Trying to find the right-one-baby can be distressful, agonizing, wretched, and cause great suffering.... best wishes.

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Let me throw a monkey into the wrench...What is the difference between the J45 and the Advanced Jumbo?
AJ. Rosewood and 25.5 scale.

 

In the swiss army guitar continuum, its a 7, maybe. More low end and overtones than finger pickers prefer (though Roy Book has used 'em). It's a brash voice that's not entirely singer friendly. Imho a great bluegrass lead/rhythm box, a "B" for blues, folk and what not.

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AJ. Rosewood and 25.5 scale.

 

In the swiss army guitar continuum, its a 7, maybe. More low end and overtones than finger pickers prefer (though Roy Book has used 'em). It's a brash voice that's not entirely singer friendly. Imho a great bluegrass lead/rhythm box, a "B" for blues, folk and what not.

 

Got it. 'ppreciate it!

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  • 2 months later...

Hi guys , I signed up here to try and sell my 1953 J 185 but I have to have 10 posts to add a post in the sales section so here is #1

You don;t know anything about valuation of acoustics do you?

 

Email me on revinc@gmail.com if you are interested and I can send photo's/serials etc

 

Many thanks!

darin

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Not a rant at all, however, I'm going to throw a curveball into the mix...... and just say "does it really matter?"

 

Allow me to continue... I'm all for the GAS and nobody loves an NGD more than myself, but realistically, if you think there's something sonically wrong with your current guitar, is it actually the guitar or the technique? I seriously don't mean to be harsh, it's the same argument I level at myself all the time, just before I give into the need greed.

 

Almost any general purpose guitar with a pleasing sound to the owner can be worked to the style of play by adapting the technique rather than hunting down the elusive mojo of that 'perfect model' that you don't own yet, this is just an excuse for collecting stuff. I'm sure Gibson certainly don't agree with me here but if more GASsers (myself included) bought into serious practice, goal driven targets and less GAS, we'd all be better players. Sure there are a few exceptional styles out there that capture a specific sound in the musical timeline, the small boxy 12 fretters for country blues, the J-200 for big strumming 40's-50's sound and the Hummingbird for those keef like blues of the 60's, but realistically a J-45 could play them all.

 

So my tuppence-worth is to say, if you're unhappy with the sound from your current squeeze, find a general purpose job that you think covers what you do very well and play the bejesus out of it.... msp_thumbup.gif

 

I've done all the fad buying myself, been through roughly 14-16 guitars in just over 2 years (mostly electrics), done the acoustic thing too, small 0 sized martins, 000 sized, bought a Keb Mo sig (great guitar BTW) and in the end settled for a low-dollar (By Gibson standards) Woody Guthrie model and a recent high dollar SJ-200TV, it would probably continue too had I not had a recent reawakening about technique over the GAS.

 

Anyway... again not a rant, just a curveball to add to the conversation.

 

All the best

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+1 for the J-45 or Southern Jumbo. Plenty of dreadnought volume but neither the boom of a square shouldered Martin nor the glossy trebles of a Taylor dread in my view. Just a lovely balanced tone.

I also find the shorter scale much easier for nailing breaks as a relative beginner at all this (6 1/2 years) & they seem to be lighter in weight so comfortable to carry if standing up.

The sunburst versions have killer looks if you like that sort of thing.

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Not a rant at all, however, I'm going to throw a curveball into the mix...... and just say "does it really matter?"

 

Amen, brother! I find the frantic search for the holy grail of acoustic instruments humorous and much ado about nothing. The bottom line is can you play?! If Clapton chose to play a lam-top Yamaha would we think less of his talent because "his tone sucks"? We would all still be in awe of his skill, yes? Chase that elusive tone you think you hear in your head for your own ends, but the nuances of acoustic guitar tone are totally lost on the listeners of the world, outside a very small circle of friends. [wink]

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Good points Buc ... but frankly my fixation with the right tone (especially when plugged in) is actually not with the audience in mind .... its with me in mind.

 

Nothing makes me cringe more then when I cant get the tone Im after .... but I concede my limited technique might have a lot to do with it .. :rolleyes:

 

Amen, brother! I find the frantic search for the holy grail of acoustic instruments humorous and much ado about nothing. The bottom line is can you play?! If Clapton chose to play a lam-top Yamaha would we think less of his talent because "his tone sucks"? We would all still be in awe of his skill, yes? Chase that elusive tone you think you hear in your head for your own ends, but the nuances of acoustic guitar tone are totally lost on the listeners of the world, outside a very small circle of friends. [wink]

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I think we're all the same though EA, nobody seems to be happy with their level, always aspiring to a better guitar or a more complicated song, etc etc.. the nature of the hobby/job I guess...

 

It goes over across any hobby too, photography forums are filled with members flashing their flashes just as cycling forums are getting their spokes in a twist about the latest seat that wont cut you up the middle like a razor and so on... I think it would be interesting for people to measure their gassing Vs their practice, it might make for a funny/scary read.... I certainly know the amount of time and effort I put into gassing out Telecasters and Gretsch models, this time last year I had 6 Tele's and four Gretsches, now I have no tele's and 2 Gretsches (A country Gent and the orange 6120 job). About 4 acoustics that I just had to have only to end up buying more... which turned into the Gibson's that I do play.

 

In that time, if I had been working on my shift from playing with a pick, to fingerstyle, I'd certainly be a lot better by now... besides having a few guitars means you can dedicate ones to alternate tunings or using unusual string setups etc... which reminds me, I dont have one strung in Nashville tuning....... GAS attack!!!!!

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.... "does it really matter?" . . . . . realistically, if you think there's something sonically wrong with your current guitar, is it actually the guitar or the technique? .... Almost any general purpose guitar with a pleasing sound to the owner can be worked to the style of play by adapting the technique rather than hunting down the elusive mojo of that 'perfect model' that you don't own yet... ....

 

Some interesting points PM.

 

My thoughts on a general purpose guitar are: the buyer is limited by finances and will own only that one guitar; or the buyer is looking for a general purpose guitar to play in those situations where it would be too risky to work with a fine/expensive instrument.

 

Regarding technique and "worked to the style" - I wouldn't show up to jam with my grasser buddies with my maple Gibson J-200; I'd be bringing my rosewood Martin dread. Damn straight. Technique doesn't enter into that statement. Some would agree that certain guitar shapes and/or tonewoods are "more desirable" for certain genres then others.

 

What I'm saying is, I don't find the fact that a player is looking to purchase an additional guitar with a particular body shape or tonewood to be indicative of a player's skill level or technique. And I don't think we'd find very many serious guitar players that own only one guitar - a general purpose job. . . B)

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I find the OM size to be just a bit too small to have the power and bass I like, while the D sizes with their deep bodies bother my shoulder. To me the best all arounder is the Grand Orchestra size, aka Martin OOOO or M size. they have a 16" lower bout with 4" depth. Bigger than the OM and a great do it all instrument. mine is a Guild GSR F 40 but a Martin M36 would do it too. As formGibson, well I sold my all around J185 as it was a deep body and bothered my shoulder a bit, but I wish I had it back. it was a great combinTion with the big body and short scale, but the short scale robbed some of the power I need sometimes.

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I find the OM size to be just a bit too small to have the power and bass I like\To me the best all arounder is the Grand Orchestra size, aka Martin OOOO or M size [or] J185

 

Agree. And, if I understand the point of the thread, it's a not about finding the Grael (impossible) but a 'jack of all trades' guitar (possible), keeping in mind that the second half of 'jack of all trades' is 'master of none.' Cheers, Rambler

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No disagreement from me, BK. I'm as much of a gear whore as the best of us. I've lived in my current place for 3 years, in that time many many guitars have come and gone, around 14-15, I'm over the worst of it I think... Just a bit of devils advocate above.

 

I do find some truth in it, you only need to trawl youtube to find many examples of people doing crazy stuff with guitars we might not actually associate with what they're trying to do, yet it works. I guess the talent will always triumph over the hardware.... now, if buying that was as easy as buying the guitar to see it through....

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