Hello all,
I'm 60 and semi retired and started playing almost 2 years ago. I now have a Seagull S6 Slim and had a Taylor 114 but sold it. The Taylor was nice, played easy but I tried a cheapo 12 fret in a local store and realized it felt better (sounded like *&^$#) to my left hand. This was before I read I could tune down a step and capo at 2 to bring my left hand in and help with the pain. It seems my hands are not very flexible my left hand is at a strange angle the farther away from my body it gets. So I started researching 12 fret guitars. The custom builts are way out of my range and would be overkill for my current abilities as a player. So I started looking at mass produced guitars. The Guild GAD F40p surfaced as did a Martin, Blueridge and Recording king. My question is; has anyone played any of these? The Guild uses Paduak (sp?) as a tonewood and my research shows this wood sonically is in between mahogany and maple. This could be too bright for me as I play 75% finger-style, some strum and the rest flatpick. I really don't like the idea of buying over the net without first playing but I may have to do just that. Is there a Guild internet dealer like Taylor's dealer "Guitar Rodeo"?
Since I discovered I could tune down and capo 2, The GAD 30(R) is a smaller bodied, ebony FB, bone, 1 3/4 nut etc and fits the bill except for it's not a 12 fret. Any first hand experience with this one? Is the rosewood model to boomy and not balanced or would the HOG be a better choice? I have looked locally for all of the above and there are a few dealers near, but nothing in stock of what I am looking for. It seems this economy has most dealers with reduced inventories and they stock popular items.
Any help would be appreciated, any links, sound bytes etc. I have checked youtube for videos and found some but not all. In the mean time I will continue to look.
Thanks
Tony
I'm 60 and semi retired and started playing almost 2 years ago. I now have a Seagull S6 Slim and had a Taylor 114 but sold it. The Taylor was nice, played easy but I tried a cheapo 12 fret in a local store and realized it felt better (sounded like *&^$#) to my left hand. This was before I read I could tune down a step and capo at 2 to bring my left hand in and help with the pain. It seems my hands are not very flexible my left hand is at a strange angle the farther away from my body it gets. So I started researching 12 fret guitars. The custom builts are way out of my range and would be overkill for my current abilities as a player. So I started looking at mass produced guitars. The Guild GAD F40p surfaced as did a Martin, Blueridge and Recording king. My question is; has anyone played any of these? The Guild uses Paduak (sp?) as a tonewood and my research shows this wood sonically is in between mahogany and maple. This could be too bright for me as I play 75% finger-style, some strum and the rest flatpick. I really don't like the idea of buying over the net without first playing but I may have to do just that. Is there a Guild internet dealer like Taylor's dealer "Guitar Rodeo"?
Since I discovered I could tune down and capo 2, The GAD 30(R) is a smaller bodied, ebony FB, bone, 1 3/4 nut etc and fits the bill except for it's not a 12 fret. Any first hand experience with this one? Is the rosewood model to boomy and not balanced or would the HOG be a better choice? I have looked locally for all of the above and there are a few dealers near, but nothing in stock of what I am looking for. It seems this economy has most dealers with reduced inventories and they stock popular items.
Any help would be appreciated, any links, sound bytes etc. I have checked youtube for videos and found some but not all. In the mean time I will continue to look.
Thanks
Tony