Why My Cheapest Guitar is One of My Favorites
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- Опубликовано: 16 сен 2024
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#cheap #guitar #acoustic
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Thank you because 2ice it said I won a prize lol
thanks for the info!
Ugcfghghbhu
You ever tried selective picking?
Thanks, it just said I won a Bloomfield burst 2009😂
I use a white Mitchell that was 160$ at GC and it was pre-tuned to crossnote D, which is what I basically only play in. With new strings this guitar sounds more incredible than any other guitar I've heard, or maybe it's just a bias from the connection I have with it. just out of a divorce, I decided to buy the white guitar so she could be my bride. She would never hurt me the way my ex wife did. Lol
Damn bro..... hope you find a better person
My first acoustic was a Mitchell D-120 and it wasn’t bad. It’s all around a decent guitar for its price and it sounded pretty nice.
I'm right there with you. When my wife and I began the separation process guitar brought me peace and helped me through it.
@@braydenrichardson3138 For me it was love at first strum (but then again it was tuned to crossnote D so it sounded lovely when open strumming, that probably helped) but with new D'addarios on it, it's a sound and a feeling everyone deserves to experience.
@@thomdushane Needless to say that guitar got me through pretty much everything life can throw at one person. Music have a fantastic way of saving people.
A few months ago I helped a preacher, and a friend of the family, move away. I was sad to see him go as i really looked up to him. While i was staying at his new house i found this old classical guitar from Spain that be longed to his father in law.. The front of the body was tan like yours, but the back was this beautiful deep burgundy red. It was nylon string and was easy to play. The frets were a little too high giving it a buzz. But not like a terrible buzz that ruins the whole thing but the kind that is appreciated in flaminco, arabian, or indian music. Despite not having a string change since it was bought way back in the 60s it sounded beautiful. A simple g minor open chord sounded so deep and sorrowful. I spent the rest of the night playing it. He decided to sell it to me. He only wanted 75 dollars for what I thought was Easley worth five hundred after a string change and deep cleaning. I took it home and got it fixed up. Sounds beautiful, barr chords are just as easy as open ones, light weight and easy to carry. It means alot to me not just because of how well made it is but also because it makes me think of all the memories i have of him and that church
"What Started as a cheap guitar that I bought to be replaceable, has become something irreplaceable to me"
What a beautiful description of something that is invaluable yet you cant measure its values by something like money. it explains many things in our lives that most of the time we take for granted. i will never forget this quote. just beautiful and awesome. love and respect man X
And what guitar was that ???
@@jameslanclos568 watch the video. you figure it out
In 2016 my dad and I were going on a local event where you're supposed to bring your own guitar. He forgot his while I brought my ~1970 Ibanez Hummingbird replica. He went to buy a cheap guitar in a local small music store for the equivalent of $100. That guitar happened to be a 1960 Levin (Swedish guitar brand, quality stuff back then but not extremely expensive). I laughed at him back then, but after I tried it I'm so happy he bought it - It is the best acoustic guitar I've ever played. The action is perfect and it sounds very lively and filling in the room. A few months later, he found my Ibanez in his sofa and the Levin was gone. I've tried to upgrade to a more expensive guitar, but the ~$2500 Taylors and Martins I've tried in store can't compare to my 1960 Levin.
I scored a ‘58 Goya made by Levin at the Goodwill and the tone from that guitar is haunting!
What model is the levin?
lol give it back to your dad 😅
@@AlexArvedal it seems to be a LS-16 or something very close.
I still have the first bass I ever bought back when I was 17. (I’m now 53). It’s a Westone Thunder 1, but I call him Eric. He’s been sanded down, resprayed to have a red spiderweb over black, refretted once, had a replacement machine head for the E string, had the neck/fingerboard sanded to make it level cos the truss Rod doesn’t really work any more, re-sanded down back it’s original wood finish, gigged extensively for many years (although not any more as it’s a weighty beast and I have other newer, lighter instruments to choose from now), I even played Eric in the Royal Albert Hall once for an event for the Boys Brigade, and he has also been played during a summer season I did with a band in a hotel in Corfu back in ‘88!
He has various stickers and doodles all over, including a self-made Tigger head where the Westone logo once was, and my first wife painted Marvin the Martian on the back.
I love that bass even if I can’t imagine doing another gig with him, I’ll never sell it.
Ps. It was third hand to me when I bought it for £90 from a guy at college who needed money to pay off the brand new BC Rich bass he had just bought. Thanks for selling Eric to me, Gary 😁👍🏻
Idk if I’m just biased towards old fashioned 1800s style guitars but I personally think parlors have more character and a better sound than larger, louder guitars
wow this is probably the earliest I've ever caught a samuraiguitarist video
Man me too
Same
Me too 😹
Wow..😁
An old Sigma (by Martin) acoustic found its way into my hands via my local library, aka my day job. It had an auction number written on the back in silver Sharpie. There was a dried up lime wedge inside the sound hole. The strings were ancient. To my amazement, the neck was straight and the action was darn near perfect. My boss agreed to let me clean it up for others to use at our monthly guitar jam. A year later the back split along the binding (still don't know who dropped it). I took it home and glued it back together. It's mine now, damn it. :)
I have a Mexican strat “custom shop” (that run they did for the Fender 60th anniversary). This was my first real guitar and to this day it is still my main and favourite. I’ve had much more expensive/fancy guitars since then and they alway end up being sold to get replaced. The strat stays and probably will until life leaves my body.
I was walking down the street today when my friend, who I was walking with, pointed out to me that there was a guitar sticking out of a trash can. It’s a cheap, nylon string classical guitar with a broken headstock. It actually sounds really nice and the headstock shouldn’t be hard to fix. It’s easily one of my favourite guitars because of the story behind it and who knows what things its seen and I also didn’t have a nylon string before hand, so there we go!
Art and Lutherie make great guitars. Love my Folk CW single cut so much that when I upgraded my electric I went with Godin 5th Ave. So happy I did! Thanks for jogging some good memories!
I’m a beginner, I have a Squier strat, it may be cheap, but I love it, my mom bought it for me for my birthday, and even with all of its faults, I love the damn thing, you gotta love your guitar if you want to improve your playing
My first guitar was also a squier strat. I took care of the thing like it was a newborn child, pretty much worshipped it. I played it every day for 5 years until the frets were badly worn down. I've kept it for 11 years now, and hopefully for many more. None of my other $2000+ fenders can compare, it's just got a certain mojo to it I guess.
@@bababoey. Your first guitar just hits different ig, it’s just special, the things I’ve been through with my guitar just makes it special.
never sell it bro, its from your mother it holds more value than any other guitar in the world
One of the music classesrooms in the school district I teach in had this old tiny kids' classical guitar that I doubt was sold for any more than $100, and yet it played remarkably well once I learned to account for its smaller size. Maybe it was just having very low expectations going into it but I kinda wish I would've asked where they got it because I absolutely loved playing it.
My uncle was a semi-legendary musician around Chicago. He was a huge inspiration for me along with my father for getting into music. He passed away during the pandemic, not from COVID. I had moved to New Mexico for my wife to get her masters, and was unable to be there for the funeral. In 2021 my father, and my uncles surviving band mates orchestrated a huge tribute concert, and my father asked me to compose a song for it. And I did.
When I went back to Chicago, I planned to rent some gear for the show since the last time I flew with a guitar it got damaged and I was too poor to afford a separate round trip ticket back for it. While waiting I picked up a reissued silvertone 1303 (or the Danelectro U2 model) Les Paul style to pass the time. After learning it would cost almost $800 to rent gear for one night, I said fuck that, and spent $200 on that silvertone.
The guitar had caught my eye. I always liked Danelectro guitars but this one was real wood, and the quality in it, the finish, all of it had a vibe that caught me like a classic black Cadillac. I didn't even care about the price and when I went to buy it and saw $200, after a huge sale, I was like holy shit, this is fortuitous. And of course the sound was bright and jangly, but just dark enough because of the wood.
I played the song and several others at the show, which was a mixed bag really because of how unstructured it became with all the guest performers, but it did its job perfectly, and emulated the journey my uncle had started in the 70's on his own cheap guitar writing and playing songs with so many people. Everyone expected me to return the guitar the next day, but I still have it.
I left it at my mom's house for the next time I came to visit, I'd have something to do. But now I moved back to Chicago, and plan to keep it there for the many times I'll have to dog sit. That guitar has such a meaning to it now. Even though I didn't write the song on that guitar, the guitar owns it. It owns the memories, the experiences, and the pain of not only that show, but from all the other musicians who used it that night to say goodbye to my uncle proper. This guitar, this $200 cheap reissue, almost means as much if not greater meaning than my 94 strat I got after being signed and going on tour. Sorry this turned into a biography lol, but Sammy G is right. The memories mean more than the construction, the electronics, ever could.
Man this got me in the feels. Great story.
@@caseyrycenga2864 appreciate that friend
I have a parlour guitar that I bought at a flea market in 1977 for five dollars. It was somebody's abandoned restoration project on a 1920's- made mail-order guitar. The label says "The Cleveland Guitar, New York", but everybody agrees that it was probably made in Chicago by Lyon and Healy. The [slotted] headstock had been broken and glued back together, and a new piece of veneer was put on the front, looking much too shiny for the rest of the guitar. The saddle was a piece of fret wire. It had three strings on it and they were on the wrong pegs. I strung it up properly with light strings, and it actually played well, with decent action. It intonated a little sharp in the upper frets, but the saddle had no room to go any farther back. I played it that way for about ten years, and finally had the money to take it to a luthier who made it a new bridge with a proper compensated brass saddle, and a brass nut to go with it. I've been playing it that way ever since, and it's my go-to acoustic guitar. It also sounds great amplified with a wooden Dean Markley pickup in the soundhole. The guitar is pretty-near 100 years old by now, and I've had it for 45 of those.
None of my guitars fit the bill for super cheap and unexpected gems, but my first ever analog synth, which i still have and use regularly, was my Korg Monotribe.
It was a former demo unit at a local music store, at $85, it was over 50% off, had no box, power supply, manual, or anything. I fell in love with this little groovebox, its oscillator is nothing special, it's drum voices, envelopes, and lfo are extremely limited, and the ribbon controller makes it tedious to play. However, the filter and the sequencer grabbed my attention and have kept it for years.
It inspired my journey into synths, eurorack, and diy, as it was also the first instrument that I modded. Started off adding a MIDI over USB feature, followed by a second oscillator, individual drum outputs, and more. Many people complain about the restrictions of this unit, the clicking of the envelopes, and overall noise it seems to generate, but I've loved everything about it enough to write entire songs and albums using it as the only instrument. It'll stay in my arsenal for the rest of my musical journey.
I have a guitar that I got in exchange for three bars of chocolate. She has one peg broken and therefore has to pull two strings as one, quite a problem. But despite the shortcomings, I have a huge attachment to this tool, I have devoted many hours studying on it. I played this guitar to my friends, relatives, etc. And now I still play this guitar.
my main guitar has been an old beat up epiphone les paul studio. i have no idea when it was made, but i love it all the same. i bought it for $150 at a pawn shop when i was 15, and i still play it almost every day. the thing resonates like nothing else i’ve played. it’s definitely my favorite guitar that i have
I had one of these, same year. I came home from school one day to my little sisters jumping on top of it, with a broken neck. I bought a lock for my room after that. They’re great little guitars and I’ve always had an affinity for cheap gems like them.
One of my favourite guitars is a no-name clone of an Ovation semi-acoustic. It only cost 250 AUD. It plays nice, it's loud enough for a group, action like a dream, stays in tune down the neck, all great qualities to love a guitar for - but I found that guitar while on a date with a girl and it quickly became about me and that guitar that day, not me and the girl.
Fast forward to today and I have a wide selection of instruments, and that guitar (who I named Vera) is still one of my favourites. We've been through so much together. We've played such good music together. Each blemish has a story, and the callouses on my fingertips are in large part thanks to that guitar. It may not be alive, but it's got soul.
Just a couple of months ago I bought a similar Art & Lutherie Roadhouse Parlor Guitar... Not only did the sound this thing produces surprise me, but it also has quickly become my most played guit, simply because I'm taking it everywhere!
(On a side note, I think these parlor guitars do actually have a certain sound that works very well for blues or capo'd fingerpicking stuff, so it's definately not only the portability!)
Love the stories and the guitar. It’s good to cherish objects that have brought you good times and memories, and to thank them for being awesome, that way is something breaks or goes missing you know you appreciated it and will always remember it ;)
I went to Germany on a school trip in high school, and when I was there I went to a guitar store and played a Seagull parlor guitar and absolutely loved it. Never forgot how great it sounded. Years later (about 8 years ago now) I played the exact same model as the guitar in this video and it reminded me of that Seagull parlor (which makes sense cuz Seagull is also part of the Godin brand) and got one for Christmas from my in-laws. I ended up selling it cuz I’ve always been more drawn to nylon string guitars since I got one about 12 years ago. Now I have a parlor size nylon string guitar that is also a Godin brand - a La Patrie Motif, which is honestly the best of both worlds for me.
My favourite is a 1985 Squier Strat. Plays like a dream and amazing sound. The guitar, Pevey 10 amp and hard case was around $200. Bargoooon! I also have a 1977 Yamaki Deluxe acoustic that was just over $100 with hard case. Another great sounding guitar.
A friend of mine (easily one of the best guitarists I ever met) went down to Guitar Center in 88' and played about 50 Squier Strats and ended up with one that sounded like an American made Strat after replacing the pickups, and actually felt almost like playing one too. I've played Strats that cost more than twice that and didn't sound near as good. Every piece of lumber is slightly to drastically different in tone. It's why composites have that "dead" sound.
@@aylbdrmadison1051 don’t start the tone wood debate, and if you do don’t display it as fact
@@aylbdrmadison1051 my ‘89 squier strat is made of actual plywood and its one of my best sounding, feeling, and looking guitars. I’m convinced its the only strat I’ll ever need
@@Nick-me1ms it's not a debate, tonewood is real
I have a similar opinion with a 2021 Squier by Fender (Made by Cort) Bullet Telecaster I own. It’s one of the most comfortable fretboards I’ve played on, 2nd to my Ibanez (also Cort) Gio GSR200 Soundgear bass guitar made in the same factory as the Squier.
Like many of you, I have accumulated many guitars over the years, including a Martin, a Lowden, American Strat, LP, etc., but one of my favorites was the first guitar I ever purchased brand new, my 1973 Takamine F-312. Although the Takamine website names it “Grand Concert Series”, it has a small “parlor size” body, slotted head and 12th fret at the body (why some call it a classical guitar, although it’s a steel-string), and a satin finish. After I upgraded to my brand new Martin D28S in 1974, my Takamine became my “travel” guitar. Now 50 years later, it has stood the test of time in spite of (literally) weathering countless backpack trips, gorilla baggage handlers, campfires, tropical and arctic weather, years in closets, years lost in Hawaii. It still sounds amazing, better than new. It’s my one guitar that I didn’t baby (but didn’t abuse either). Changed strings regularly, cleaned the fretboard with Linseed oil. Otherwise, it was my beater. But it feels more like home than all my other axes combined. ❤️✌🏼
Edit: In researching my guitar today, I discovered the F-312 was one of the “lawsuit models” that prompted the copyright lawsuit from Martin against Takamine. 😄
That guitar has got a great tone. Since you asked. I've got an old Kay G101 acoustic parlour guitar cheap as chips but plays and sounds amazing.
It's my daily driver. 🎶🎸👍🏼
Sierra Ferrell plays an old Kay. Can't imagine a better sounding guitar.
@@jameschristiansson3137 Kay guitars used to be a well known brand many many years ago but not so well known today. I haven't heard of Sierra Ferrell? I'll look her up. Thanks 🎶🎸👍🏼
@@molometer She plays her Kay on the song In Dreams, on the GemsOnVHS channel
@@jameschristiansson3137 I've been looking her up. She's been around forever it seems. Great music btw. I'll check out your suggestion.
Edit. OMG Sierra has an amazing voice, great picking and the tone on that old kay is stunning.
Thanks for the heads up. I'm impressed. 🎶🎸👍🏼
I like how the 13th fret lines up with the body binding
I have a epiphone les paul studio lt and for its price its a beast and I feel attached to it. Really good video!
57 Gibson acoustic. It's absolutely beautiful and sounds great. A gift not deserved but definitely thankful for 🤗
“…really come to enjoy”
Same, I’ve bought guitars that l came to enjoy in time and they found their place in my sound & songs as finessing them brought out qualities for different purposes and expressions. 🎶👍🏼💙
I traded in a cheap Epiphone SG and got a Hohner TB1, a guitar that I havent seen many folks play since. Its a striking orange, coil split humbuckers, and such a warm tone that fit my rhythm playing/singing needs. I put a piece of painters tape on it and wrote “Pumpkin” on it. I still have it and it’s incredible how playable it is. If anyone gets a chance to play or pick one up I totally recommend it.
I bought an Art et Lutherie dreadnought in a local shop clearance many years ago, the ones where they sprayed a light coloured finish over them as the top wasn't visually appealing enough to go on the more expensive guitars but was acoustically just as good. It sounded beautiful, the nicest dreadnought for picking I've used with a sweet, balanced midrange. I sold it to a beginner a few years later (when I went back to full time bass) and got a message off him after his playing had progressed telling me how much he loved the guitar which brought a smile to my face, nothing but happy memories with that little instrument and was glad that someone else was enjoying it just as much as I had.
More recently I bought one of the 24.75" scale Ibanez Artcore Parlour basses, it has that same little bit of magic that makes it the first acoustic I pick up when I walk into the room. Basic construction but put together with care and attention to detail.
My most used instrument I have is the cheap kit bass I got as a gift years ago. I have a few very nice more boutique instruments, but I always go back to this one. I think once you spend enough hours with something, it just feels right, you know?
Lovely story that contains much wisdom. I have a Simon and Patrick of similar vintage and for not much more money. It too has a unique voice and despite often thinking I don't really need it, I cannot really conceive of getting rid.
I have a Dean EVO Special that I got in 2000 for $284 through AMS. After replacing the bridge pickup with a Carvin SD22 and putting locking tuners on the thing my Gibson and Jackson Custom Shop both took a back seat.
The thing gives a super heavy sound on the bridge. I also get really clean tones splitting the neck pickup. It plays like a dream too!
Love your channel!
Wow I have a very similar story. I bought my art and lutherie nylon acoustic ("Ami") to go traveling the summer before music school. I bought it at the long and McQuade on Steeles for the same reasons. It would have been from that same era, probably closer to 2008. Now it's still a main house/couch guitar for me. The projection on it is impressive and it's just fun to play. Gets more action that my expensive archtop.
My favourite guitar is a homemade jazzmaster. No fancy tone woods. The body is made from an upcycled scaffold board and the neck is from an old Squier. It's a little gem.
My cheapest is a little bit of a cheat. I used to have an Epiphone SG Pro I bought used at GC for $150. I kept it for a year but never bonded with it. I sold it back to the same store for $150 back. I told the cashier I wanted to take a look around and see if anything caught my eye. I ended up picking out their house brand Mitchell, an acustic electric 12 string that was on sale from around $350 to about $250-$300 ish, I don't remember. I told the cashier I was giving back the $150 from earlier and wanted to pay the rest out of my debit card. He said no problem, I added on their protection plan just in case something happened. Out of the register screw up, I was only charged $60 out of pocket!!! It took me three days to figure it all out, the register counted the $150 twice, and with the protection plan added on was all I paid. It's a really good guitar, but I can't say much for the electrics, seem to be all over the place QC wise.
I bought an old Silvertone acoustic in 1985 from my friend for $10. The action was really high which I think is why he got rid of it. I removed the bridge piece and replaced it with a horizontally cut down popsickle stick. I played great and sounded great. I wrote and recorded a song on my 4 track cassette recorder using said guitar and played it for my buddy. His first response was, "Is that my old guitar?" I don't have it any more. I don't even remember what I did with it. Probably donated it.
Great story.
I love my A&L Legacy... Also, Joan Nolan rocks a little A&R parlour and I still can't get my head around some of the sounds he gets with in.
idk if a $350 guitar is expensive but the guitar I had was a 0M Guitar. So this acoustic guitar is basically my life. I don't even know why, but if this guitar breaks at least 1 string I wouldn't even play my other guitars. So every time I break a string I would feel upset and wouldn't have the mood to play, but every now and then I buy strings and as soon as I fix the guitar I'd feel joy and happiness, I had some connection between the guitar, I play it more than my electric. The pickup won't work but I didn't see that as a big deal as it still plays beautifully. And its a birthday present for me so it was a really special thing for me and I drew a bunch of things on the body. I put so many things on the guitar, I even put googly eyes on the headstock so every time I play it'd look like it has eyes. I've had it for 1 year now and it still here. There was just so many memories with the guitar, so many times where I nearly quit playing and I just kept banging the strings out of anger. And it had no pick guard so basically it had scratches on it while I was playing Love of My Life by Brian May. I'd rather it be there because it shows so many memories of me learning songs.
I have a 1960 Kay truetone archtop I bought it at work when I was with my old lead is was during Covid so they didn’t let us in but my lead begged them to let me look at a couple. It was old beat up and beautiful it has a rattle from the tailpiece and just sounds amazing with blues. My old lead was a roll model for me so that guitar helps me remember him.
I also have an Art and Lutherie acoustic that I got in 2004 when I was 18 and first moved out of my parents house (well more kicked out haha). I got it for 300 bucks on some half off sale at my local music shop and that was all the money in the world to me back then. I love that thing and although it needs a bit of a setup now a days and I play my Martin mostly now, it still has a lot of memories as well.
It's seen many many campfires and parties and late night jams etc...
I had about 40 students at one time several years ago when COVID hit. You’re totally right. It was such a grind! Zoom made it infinitely harder. I’m glad I’m not doing that anymore lol
I have that same gig bag (sans patches, of course) that came with my A&L parlor guitar. mine is blue and a few years older than yours. I don’t play it much because I really love my ukuleles. which brings me to this point.
I’ve busked for 35+ years, most of the time outside and unamplified, and the last 20-ish with my soprano ukulele. you don’t have to play loud enough to be heard farther back than about the third row of any crowd because, with rare exceptions, nobody behind the 3rd row is going to worm their way through a crowd in order to tip you. even my tiny sopranino barks loud enough for that.
So me and my Brother went half on a Mini Martin LMX travel guitar that this college kid was selling for 150 dollars back in January and the Guitar plays and sounds amazing. I “bought him out” of his share of the Guitar by taking him to a Slipknot concert and so now it’s mine. It is covered in several stickers of various liquor brands and breweries in Colorado and California and despite me being a strict teetotaler, I decided to keep them on to keep it true to when we got it. I have several guitars but it is one of my favorites that I own.
Nice guitar, mr. G! Back in the 90's, a friend of mine bought an acoustic guitar from another of Godin sub-brands, a La Patrie - one of the best guitars with nylon strings I ever played. The neck was really confortable and the piezo sound was quite fair, but mic'd it was a beast. Always wanted to buy me one, but never found another here in Brazil. Cheers from Rio!
I just wrote a really long comment about how I had a A&L parlor a while back and now I have a La Patrie Motif 🤯
My first real guitar was an Alvarez Stratocaster I received about 20 years ago. Its been with me through alot of changes and events in my life and even once was lost for two years. I pawned it at an unfortunate time in my late teens and never had the funds to get it back. About 2 years after that the pawnshop was going out of business and I wandered in to see what they had. I couldn't believe it but my strat was there ! They had lost it in the back so it never got put onto the floor to be sold. I payed the $180.00 asking price and brought my poor forsaken strat home. Alvarez never made alot of electric guitars and this isn't an expensive model by any means but it means more to me than any guitar I'll ever own.
Not my cheapest guitar, or even my first, but I have an Epiphone SG that was my first decent guitar, the first one I bought with my own money and the one that I really started to get OK at guitar with. I got it when I was 12 & I was a big AC/DC fan at the time so when my parents allowed me to use the money in my bank account that I had saved throughout primary school to buy a new guitar I immediately gravitated towards something SG shaped & was totally beside myself with excitement. I later broke the head stock off after it took a fall when I left it leaning against a chair while jamming when I was in high school & was absolutely mortified, convinced I'd just destroyed the guitar I'd spent my live savings up until that point on, but it turned out to be a fairly minor break all things considered managed to get it repaired. It was also the first guitar I ever played in a live setting at a high school battle of bands so I have a lot of sentimental attachment to it. I have no intention of ever parting with it, even if it lives in it's case these days now that I have better and nicer guitars.
I recently bought an assembled and used T-style Kit for 84 Euros in exchange for my broken Epiphone Lespaul, because I really wanted something which i could carry around without worrying about it and it turned out to be the loudest unplugged electric I've ever played. The things resonance is amazing and once i replaced the cheap pickups with 80's german alnico pickups that I got for 35 Euros each it sounded amazing. Never thought I would dig a Tele but I play it the most.
I have this exact guitar, thanks for raising the value on it!
I have two (three, really) guitars that kind of fit this. The main one is my 1981 Gibson Sonex that I bought from an old man my freshman year of high school for $200. I've played that old guitar so much, I've worn off most of the paint on the neck. It badly needs a refret (they're pretty much worn down to nubs at this point) and I just did a refresh/rewire (new tuners, new bridge, new pickguard, rewired most of the solder joints) last winter, but it's still my favorite. I already told my wife, that guitar gets buried or cremated with me.
I got a cheap acoustic when I was 13 years old and the bridge started ungluing itself - so I took it upon myself with zero knowledge to use screws to hold it into place - and it gave the guitar a natural overdrive/saturation on it; which still gets used today for that exact reason. Cheap accidents can sometimes be the best.
I have a somewhat larger Art and Lutherie, also made in Princeville, with Wild Cherrywood as the tonewood. 25" scale length, about grand concert size. Also has that lovely tone we're hearing here. Surprisingly strong projection. This thing is not quiet. :) Very nice little guitar. Godin makes some nice starter and budget guitars under the Art and Lutherie imprint. They're not just Seagull. :)
My favorite piece of cheap gear is an amp I cobbled together from spare and discarded parts. It's an EL84 powered Champ circuit built into a '40s-era Montgomery Ward portable desktop radio.
I have a Norman Folk CW which is another Godin acoustic brand. I played every acoustic guitar I could find in my area and this one simply had the sound I was looking for. Love the sound of spruce and cherry!
I don't think it's entirely luck about that guitar my friend! I got myself a 1996 Art and Lutherie CW Spruce 6 in the first few weeks of the pandemic hitting hard. Not as cheap or as well traveled and well played as yours but man... I honestly swear it's better sounding and nicer playing than my friends 10x more expensive Martin. I don't think I'm ever getting rid of this thing partially because it helped me through the pandemic and partially because it's such a genuinely AMAZING guitar for $300 (plus some time and effort to repair a cracked heel joint).
Cheers to all the cheap ish art and Lutherie guitars out there!
Man, I sold soooooo many of those A&L parlour guitars in the early 00’s here in Edmonton. With a good pickup they are great stage guitars. I’ve had sister company Seagull’s 14 fret cedar topped parlour guitar with an LR Baggs pickup as my stage acoustic for decades. It’s great. The smaller body gives less opportunities for feedback issues… and I’m a smaller guy. So it’s great for me gigging. I have a National and a Santa Cruz worth 10xs as much as that Seagull. They never see the stage. Unless there is a mic on them the Seagull wins
I had one of those, the A&L AMI Parlor. Liked it a lot; liked its tone, really liked the feel of the neck. My son wanted a couch guitar, so I gave it to him. He likes it, too. Lately I've been thinking about getting another one. Paid $250 USD for it 5-6 years ago, and it's still the best under-$300 guitar I've owned.
If you want an easy player the same size, try a godin motif. No fighting those steel strings while relaxing on the couch. Ha
i have a Thunderbird bass that i also bought with a employee discount from working at Gibson Europe. i paid nothing tho, cause you could trade in vacation days too, and i was on a grind so i got the bass instead. im mainly a guitarist, but the T-Bird is the one that i could never sell. its a gorgeous active bass in natural oil finish, and its neck-thru. even after all these years i still play it every day.
I traded a tom drum from half a drumkit that I bought with my first wages from my first job for a guitar with broken bracing on the inside and no nut.
Ended up crafting a nut out of a purple toothbrush handle that I had at the time and sort of just pouring some PVA glue into the guitar to hold the bracing together and keeping it upside-down until it set.
I hadn't had a guitar for a while at that time and I can't remember why, or why I didn't buy one instead of the few bits of a drumkit but that was one of my favourite guitars.
I learnt the most as a musician from the shittiest and most difficult-to-play guitars.
I have the same guitar, with a cedar top, wild cherry back and sides. It's one of my favorites, and will never leave my side.
Much the same ... a Parlour guitar I bought drunk and stoned off eBay for not a lot of money but cost me a laptop to complete the purchase... prototype Turner with all the trimmings... fab thing I'll never let go of.
I have a 60's Martin and a Taylor 914, but my favorite is a used Takamine parlor I picked up for 14,000 yen (about 140USD) years ago in a small town in northern Honshu. On the train ride back my friend and I had a jam session in our train car, much to the chagrin of the two other occupants, who soon found another car.
i have a seagull acoustic, same factory as your one, i bought it after watching a neil young concert and realising that you can be heavy on an acoustic, out of the box it has been the best playing acoustic ive played apart from an amazing guild, that guitar is an old friend, seen me through some bad shit, and unfortunately because of back probs i cant play anymore, still worth thrashing out a bit of rockin in the free world for a night sleeping on the floor
The first guitar I bought myself(first was a gift from my Uncle, that one unfortunately was stolen.), which isn't 100% original anymore, I got it ages ago, it's been through hell and back again, and "ownership" is kind of between my younger brother who I was in a band with. It's had the pickups replaced, the tuning nobs, nut, and some other bits of hardware. It is a white Peavy strat clone. As I said I bought it myself as a kid, so I saved up allowance, birthday money, and mowed lawns as I wasn't old enough to get an actual job. It was one of those kits that came with a soft case, small amp, picks, extra set of strings, strap...I think that's all that came with the kit. Wasn't the best guitar in the shop, but still a guitar.
My 2008 vintage modified squire, still jamming on it to this day!
Fender F-15 from the eighties. I sold it in the nineties and it came back to me and I started to play again. I cracked the code on how to solo on it. Now I love playing and it sounds awesome with a ring I can't believe could come such an inexpensive instrument. Though I haven't played an expensive guitar I know this will always be my favorite.
Treat yourself someday and go play the really expensive guitars as a music store. You don't have to actually have the money to but them, just "seem" like you do. 😉
Most often they will sound and feel amazing, but not always. But one thing important you get from that though is a better feel for what it is great in even a cheap guitar. And when you buy one of any price level, always play as many of that model as you can find, because they are all slightly, to very different in tone and playability even though they are the exact same make and model.
But also don't knock used guitars and pawnshops. The guitar I play most now is a Schecter Blackjack I found in a pawn shop for $500, and it plays better than all of the brand new ones I tried. I also found a really nice 92' American Strat for $600 in a hole in the wall music store. That would have cost me more $1200 new at the time, and this one was better than most anyway.
Patience balanced with plenty of searching often creates unforeseen opportunity.
@@aylbdrmadison1051 I probably do have the money but I just don't want to spend it. I like your advice I guess I'll just start to save up and when I go buy I'll just take an afternoon to do it.
I just put ball end nylon folk strings on my A&L Ami. I liked it plenty before and now it’s a whole new instrument.
I've owned 2 Art & Lutherie and a couple Normans. I personnaly would'nt buy anything else than a Godin product when it comes to a budget guitar to carry around or start on. You'll get the best quality and craftsmenship and tone for your money. And Godin makes great high end stuff too. Spread the word! And I live in Canada so I love having something made local with most of the wood used being local. Cheers from New-Brunswick dude!
I have a Fender Le Brea acoustic (with florentine cutaway!) that I spent all of my high school graduation money on in 1989. I mainly bought it because it had a pickup built in, a really bad pickup that no longer works. It's still the only acoustic guitar I own. I took it to college, I took it everywhere I went while I was in college, I have played it in every band I have ever been in and at numerous backyard jams. I've put years into that guitar, it's fallen over, been accidentally kicked, I have laid it down on concrete and dirt and completely mistreated it and it still plays great. I want a Martin DM15, I have the money saved up, but every time I come close to pulling the trigger I start thinking about how that Le Brea has basically been my only acoustic for 3/4 of my life and I just put the money back. It feels wrong to own another acoustic at this point.
I like parlor guitars. They are quieter, but they are so comfortable and have such a sweet tone. I wonder if samuraiguitar has ever fallen asleep hugging his parlor guitar.
My main guitar is a washburn it cost me just over 200usd and I needed an electric acoustic at the time and I recall spending a couple hours playing this guitar at the music store before I went into work for several days I played several while there but was always drawn to this one. On the last day I told the staff they better ring me up or I'm going to keep coming in. I do not regret it one bit and I have never found one to come close to replacing it.
I started guitar on a Squier affinity telecaster. And I still use that one to this day.
I'm more of a sentimental guy, and I could afford a more nicer looking guitar but growing up with this one Squier was a special journey for me.
Love My Donner Jet Convelution Flanger pedal I picked up on kijiji for like $30 bought it on a whim for the price and fell in love with it in my bass rig. My active basses seem to overload the signal or something so it has this unique distortion to go along with the flange sound. add a little bass eq boost before and it's a unique little gem of a pedal
I own a Finnish Landola Buffalo from 1962. Got it for free from a man who found it in a dumbster at the school he works at. It has a broken headstock, that has been repaired. I did a neckreset and installed new frets. Crisp sound and plays like butter.
My favourite (now only) guitar is an Eko Dreadnought acoustic my dad bought in Redcar Cleveland (UK) in 1974. It was the first real guitar I ever touched. I learned all the basic chords on it. I was 13 at the time. I have reached the point that I don’t need anything else and I’m blessed it has survived so well
I have their Folk Cedar model sitting right behind me lmao, brother picked it up at a pawn shop for close to nothing some years ago, it sounds great and the fret job is perfect.
I'd kill to have an old Conn again. I loved that old beater. The guitar was older than I was, and the tone had only matured with age.
My uncle bought me a Manuel Rodriguez classical guitar from a yard sale and it was $200. It sounds great but I just love it and use it for music school currently all the time.
I have always appreciated the under brands of Godin. I have had my Norman for almost 25 yrs, bought for not a lot of money and it is in my hands almost every day. Great company. thanks
Last year I bought a broken 'Yamaha RGX 121 fp' on ebay for a whopping 35€ + 9€ shipping. The nut was broken, 2 pickups and 1 pot were dead and the bridge had 2 missing saddles. This was supposed to just be a fun little project, but after I cleaned it, installed some new hardware, did some fret leveling & re-crowning and a very needed setup, this guitar has for whatever reason become my go-to guitar. You know, she isn't pretty, someone messed up a paint job and she has 2 gaping holes in the headstock and body because for years she was hanging on the previous owners wall. But there's just something about this guitar I can't explain - everything just feels right even tho I own a couple MUCH more expensive guitars...
I guess the moral of this story is: Something that was discarded as trash by others, can be a valuable treasure if you're willing to put in some work, effort and some of your blood (yes, it's mandatory to cut yourself at least once while working on a personal passion project).
When I was 15 I worked at a stand which sold sunglasses. I worked for 5€ per hour for the whole summer. Back then I had a Gretsch electric guitar and my first guitar a Yamaha Electric as well. I knew, I needed an acoustic guitar. Because I worked so much I didn't have time to check out the store after my working hours. Instead I went an hour before my shift and checked out guitars for an hour every day for a week. There I found my Art&Lutherie Cedar Black Q1 guitar with a pickup in it. After some time at that job I had enough money to buy it and I was so happy. I played this guitar for years and years. At some point, probably when I was 16 or so, it was my main guitar for some time even though I was an electric guitar player. Through all this time playing it, I left my marks on it. My neck doesn't look the way yours does but it has a patina on it
Then it went to sleep for a while because I joined a hip hop band and my acoustic guitar didn't really fit in there so it took a back seat. Though in that time I learned how to play ( at least I like to say so) drifting by Andy McKee on that guitar. That definitely left some marks on the guitar.
Flash forward a few years and I decided to go to music school and pursue a career in music. Still on electric though.
My college was famous for the education one would receive on acoustic guitar so it was only natural to me to envy my colleagues who played their amazing acoustic guitar next world stuff and I was stuck with standards. Out of frustration I learned how to play some Petteri Sariola style guitar, not as complex as his stuff though. In the meantime the pick up in the guitar broke too.
At some point I played a radio show for a Norwegian Popstar Duo in Berlin with that guitar and I had to replace the pick up which has been broken for years. I installed a K&K Mini Pickup in it and now my guitar had some new freshness to it, I was able to play it amplified again.
I also played this guitar at my graduation concert and I arranged "Elevation Of Love" by Esbjörn Svensson for Acoustic guitar, Rhythm Section and String quartet. This I want to share with alle of you who made past this wall of text :)
ruclips.net/video/HS4d2jM41P4/видео.html
There’s something about expensive guitars that make me afraid of scratching them, abusing them, and modding them
… which are all things that make you grow attached to your guitar and really make them something more
I really think I should’ve realized this earlier before dropping a bunch of money on my first electric guitar.
My beater short scale acoustic is also one of my favorite guitars. It's just always there. Waiting and ready to be played.
When my grandpa died each of us got to pick one thing from his house to keep and I chose his cheap 80s parlour guitar. It was my first instrument and It's still my first main go to guitar
Similar story here! I backpack around south east Asia and Eastern Europe and I intended to shoot some guitar videos during my trip. I had a Taylor (that I still own) but I didn't want to bring it because 1. too expressive 2. too big. So I bought a second hand 3/4 Cort for a 110€. It was lighter to carry on and also easier to bring it with me on a plane without any crew member complain.
It's louder and more confortable than I expected so I and up loving it. Nowadays It's my main guitar to teach because it's way easier to hop it on my back and ride my bike.
I have almost the same guitar but made by Simon &Patrick sub from Godin , and same thing as yours it’s just have a natural charm and a voice of its own. It’s not a Taylor nor a Martin but it is it’s own thing ! Keep on making music you are too unmistakably your own thing !
An acoustic as well - Fender F210 I bought at a guitar shop in Jacksonville. I previously lived there, and had to be in town for work for weeks in a row.. so wanted a guitar to play BADLY. This was 20 yrs ago (it was ~20 yrs old then) and still a fantastic feeling and playing guitar. ~ $150 USD then, and so worth it. Even survived the first mass-purge I've ever done before a cross country move.
That guitar sounds beautiful! Loved the songs you played, too (just had to point out, that first song, where you slide the C chord up 2 frets and play a D - I think it's a D11? - I love that trick, it's a guilty pleasure when I don't want to use a normal D chord 😉).
I have a similar attachment to my bass, an Ibanez BTB 6-string. Though it wasn't exactly cheap: I bought it second-hand off a guy for 650 bucks and traded him my 4-string acoustic bass to sweeten the deal. Sure, there are nicer 6-string basses out there; it's pretty heavy, the neck is thicker than it needs to be (it's been lovingly nicknamed "The Treetrunk" lol), but it's got this perfect tone that I've never gotten from any other bass. Plus, this bass is just a part of my life now. It survived being run over by a car! It almost got taken by another band's guitarist at a show in Toronto! I got to jam with Ronnie Hawkins using that bass! Even if I did get a "better" 6-string, it could never replace the times I had with my BTB.
Plus, it's always fun tuning it like a baritone guitar and challenging guitarists to play it like normal 🤪 (I've asked dozens over the years... only one ever took up the challenge)
For me a bunch of the instruments in my collection were definitely acquisitions of chance: a black Johnson By Axl Jazz bass copy my mother happened to fish from the trash, a redburst Ariana dreadnought acoustic that lived on the tile floor of my cousins basement, and the first act ME579 guitar and Hartke practice amp that my neighbor kindly let me snatch. But the one that sticks out to me is the Lauren la36n student guitar that I fished out of the trash. That guitar doesn’t stay in my practice space but instead is the only one that still sits in my room.
Johnson by Axl is a gem in the rough! I'm refinishing a strat copy by them and the neck is top notch.
@@skytheguy0438 yeah they are quite nice for how affordable they are, mines sitting with some flatwounds next to my mid 00’s Squier p-bass.
Use to build art & lutherie when I was 16 at the La Patrie shop. I've seen some badass guitars in there my friends
Back in 2005-06, I bought a red Brian Moore i8 for about $300 from the local music store I used to take lessons in- they were essentially clearing house to take in more Gibsons and Fenders, and marked it down to move it. It plays perfectly, and is just insanely comfortable- I haven’t found another guitar quite as nice on the hands. To this day, I keep going back to it regularly
My first guitar is also an Art&Lutherie guitar that I bought using my employee's rebate at the local music store when I was 16. This is still my main acoustic guitar, and I still love it :-)
I have a Kala all mahogany slim line guitar I bought damaged and fixed it up and currently is in Nashville tune that I really love!
I couldn't imagine getting rid of my Art & Lutherie. I don't even play it anymore, and i have been procrastinating putting new strings on it but I will never get rid of it
My 200$ Stagg acoustic guitar has been my go to since forever now. I always find myself coming back to it one way or another.
I bought a beat-up 1999 Seagull Folk acoustic guitar from Guitar Center in early 2021. It was the crappiest looking guitar in the store and looked like it got into a bar fight and lost, but like your Art & Lutherie, there was just something about it. Even with rusty strings I could tell it was special. I like to say some guitars "just have the mojo," and this one certainly does.
My favorite guitar in my collection is a 50s soviet era 7 string classical guitar. I got it cheap like less than 100 cad on eBay from a Ukrainian seller. It was very damaged so I bought it to learn guitar building and study everything about it. The original bridge was fucked so I got a new one also from eBay. The neck was painted in black house paint. The body was damaged and the wooden binding was ripped out. And the most challenging was finding tuners that fit the guitar due to spacing. Oh and a poor paint job on top of the guitar body. I rebuilt it and I was proud. I play it and change things with over time since all the originality is gone but I love it. May add some kind of pickup to it haha. But yeah it cost about 200 cad together for guitar and parts. For a 200-dollar guitar, it's my favorite.
Bro, I love your story. You breathed new life into an instrument of peace
@@SneedyKetler thank you :)
Very nice composition at the end, Sammy G.