Neal
Senior Member
Last month, I had a very pleasant online buying experience with Chicago Music Exchange, and decided to pay their bricks and mortar store a visit today while in town.
I entered their acoustic room to discover:
3 Orpheum 000 12-fretters, all mahogany (2 NT and 1 SB)
Oxnard D-20
Oxnard D-40
A '72 F-20 (in immaculate condition)
A New Hartford D-40 BG
A '71 F-50
A '73 D-50
I had fun playing them all. First time I had laid hands on the Oxnard Guilds, and I was particularly smitten with the new D-40. Nice guitar. Not a fan of the satin finish, though.
The Orpheums sounded like, well, like Orpheums! Having previously owned a rosewood 000 12-fretter, I was struck by how similar the mahogany version sounded. Super fine for fingerpicking.
The star of the show, however, was that old jumbo maple F-50. Wow. Even with a severely shaved bridge, short saddle, and shallow break angle, it was easily the loudest guitar in a room of very fine instruments, including Taylor's, Gibsons and Martins. I can only imagine how it might sound with a neck rese and a new bridge to get those strings up a half inch off the soundboard.
Oh, wait. There was one guitar that bested the F-50. It was a $10,000 custom-ordered Brazilian rosewood Taylor that the manager insisted I play. It was absolutely stupendous.
Great place to poke around when you have some time to kill. The staff could not have been nicer.
I entered their acoustic room to discover:
3 Orpheum 000 12-fretters, all mahogany (2 NT and 1 SB)
Oxnard D-20
Oxnard D-40
A '72 F-20 (in immaculate condition)
A New Hartford D-40 BG
A '71 F-50
A '73 D-50
I had fun playing them all. First time I had laid hands on the Oxnard Guilds, and I was particularly smitten with the new D-40. Nice guitar. Not a fan of the satin finish, though.
The Orpheums sounded like, well, like Orpheums! Having previously owned a rosewood 000 12-fretter, I was struck by how similar the mahogany version sounded. Super fine for fingerpicking.
The star of the show, however, was that old jumbo maple F-50. Wow. Even with a severely shaved bridge, short saddle, and shallow break angle, it was easily the loudest guitar in a room of very fine instruments, including Taylor's, Gibsons and Martins. I can only imagine how it might sound with a neck rese and a new bridge to get those strings up a half inch off the soundboard.
Oh, wait. There was one guitar that bested the F-50. It was a $10,000 custom-ordered Brazilian rosewood Taylor that the manager insisted I play. It was absolutely stupendous.
Great place to poke around when you have some time to kill. The staff could not have been nicer.