Can You Hear The Difference? First Acoustic vs. Dream Acoustic Guitar
Recently I pulled my very first Acoustic Guitar, a Taylor 110 out of its case and put new strings on it after not playing the guitar for over 10 years. I was shocked at how good it sounded, and decided to put it up against my dream acoustic, a Bourgeois Slope D to see how it would compare in a shootout.
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#Hear #Difference #Acoustic #Dream #Acoustic #Guitar
Originally posted by UCCJ56k8nBeqWLoxNa6DToAQ at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YN7VxEn-lzU
The shootout starts around 6:45 if you want to jump straight there, but I wanted to tell the story of my first guitar before the comparison!
The Taylor sounds excellent, the Bourgeois is something else. The difference in sound is more likely to be down to the soundboard and bracing than the back. Dana Bourgeois voices every top, or at least he used to.
I cannot think of any guitar I regretted buying but I clearly remember the ones I regretted selling which is pretty much anything I have ever sold!
First guitar was a Silvertone Archtop, back in 1965 – replaced in 1972 by a Martin D35, which was in turn replaced by. Martin D18 V in 2007. I wish I’d kept the Silvertone just for memory’s sake but I gave it away.
Too much senseless talking…
Hi Rhett, Thank you for all the great info you share on your Guitar journey. I latched n to you initially for 2 reasons among a few more…1. Video on the Blues Jr speaker replacement and 2. You played worship music both of which I am currently not doing. My 1st guitar that I purchased in 1978 for myself was a 1978 Yamaha FG 340 Nikon Japan version($168) which was Yamaha version of the Martin D28(?) same as the Takamine that you just purchased a while back. I loaned the FG340 to a cousin of mine that Hawked it for drug money. I have had and still do own several very nice guitars including a very nice Taylor KOA LTD BUT my heart has always held out for my original 1st guitar. Last year I finally found a 1980 version of my 78 version. Paid $600 for it at a very small Vintage Guitar shop in Portland OR , took it to my Luthier. Had some fretwork and inside support repairs along with lowering the action a bit. I now have my guitar back and could not be happier. It sounds awesome, plays great and it is a beauty
Mike
The Taylor has a noticeable hump in the midrange, where the other guitar has a more balanced sound overall. I would definitely use the Bourgoise, especially in the studio. Much easier to record a beautiful sound with.
Rhett
I like both guitars ????
I agree with your description
The Taylor has a brighter, thinner sound and the Bourgeois has a fuller luxurious sound.
I’d be glad to have either guitar though.
I’m 64 years old
I didn’t buy my first guitar until I was as 60
I bought it at a Guitar Center.
It’s a cheap Mitchell md 100s
but I love it, especially because it’s my first acoustic guitar and it suits me well
I’d love to own a better guitar someday, but I’ll never be able to afford one.
I’m glad you were able to find the quality of guitars you deserve
????????????☮️
love your sharing and story so so much! I'm also an owner of Taylor 110 for over a decade, also all-in my earnings from part-time job
My first guitar was a Conrad blonde.6 string paint $75 for it.I still have it and everybody thinks it sounds as good as anything else.I on Taylor's Gibson's.Sometimes it's just the heart that's in the guitar
That Taylor sounds amazing
I gave my first guitar to my daughter and my second guitar is a taylor 110e. I really don't feel the need to upgrade after watching this.
I started out on an old Washburn D10 I bought from a pawn shop for 120 bucks. This year I finally upgraded to a Taylor 214ce plus I got from guitar center for 1399 bucks.
I finally upgraded my acoustic guitar, after about 15 years of playing. My first acoustic guitar was about $200 and was a Delta dreadnought. It sounded good, but it had really high action and was difficult to play for more than an hour or 2. My new guitar is from a local luthier and with a Torrefied spruce top, rosewood back and sides, ebony fretboard, and a custom fret inlay and rosette. It plays and sound amazing.
Should’ve got a real slap shoulder dread. The original J45
What a pleasant audio quality!
I had a cheap jasmin takamine solid top guitar for my first acoustic. I ended up giving it away to one of the kindest person in my entourage as a first guitar hopefully they both stick around for a long time. I can t help myself wondering what musical path everyone will take. So yeah! That s my story! Cheers!
Taylors are great amplified guitars, but they by no means hold their own acoustically towards the boutique brands. Even Taylor’s higher end models don’t hit the same as a bourgeois, Collings, PW, Thompson’s, etc.
it’s also pretty hard to capture the way a real acoustic hits your chest and the sounds of true wood & crafstmanship recorded vs in person.
Pretty obvious I’m an acoustic guy lol – stay boutique baby!
I can’t part with any of my guitars because they all have memories I can’t part with. I still play my Squier Bullet Strat and still love it just as much as my way more expensive guitars. They are all my children.
My first guitar was a $180 Ibanez acoustic that I got when I was 15. I put many many hours and miles on that guitar. I’ve since moved up to higher end guitars and I can now tell just how incredibly high the action is. I’m going to do some research and try to fix it up to where it’s more playable. I have so many memories with that guitar
I was noticing in acoustic guitars each does good at there own thing. A guitar may sound good at finger picking and not strumming. Another guitar may sound better at strumming but not finger picking. Expensive or a step down.
I love the ebony fingerboards on Taylor's I've never owned one and would like to. I play a Tacoma road King right now fantastic sound great guitar. My first guitar was a catalog ordered… You could drive a semi under the strings. Probably could have set it up properly but I didn't know anything about that. Nevertheless bleeding callused fingers and all I learned. Been playing for 55 years now.
loved the Wish You Were Here cover
hopefully, I'm gonna own my dream acoustic in the future, just a classic D-18
For my needs as a hobby guitarist the Taylor checks all the boxes.
The dreadnought sounds better. Simple to hear.
I’ve just ordered and paid for my first acoustic guitar, a Taylor 210CE. I also purchased it site unseen. I played a 114CE and loved it. I got the 210CE because a deal came up where it was cheaper than the 114CE. I hope the dreadnought size isn’t a hindrance but I suspect I am going to love it. It’s also not going to live in its case (bag).
My first (1959, age 15, rural Indiana) was a mail-order Kay archtop, for $15, God knows why. Somehow it led places, to local teenage bands, to my main armchair pleasure in my old age.
In 1978 I put a Takamine EF340 on Layby (layaway?) at my regulr haunt – about 2 weeks in I popped in to the store to make a payment and the sales guy I knew well asked me if he could sell my guitar to a customer with a desperate need and order me in a new one _ sure no drama for me (technically shouldn't be done though) – anyway when he went to place an order the model available in Australia had been upgraded to an EF360SD – this is the model which became the Glen Frey signature Takamine – eventually it came in and it is still my favourite and with to my ears the perfect acoustic sound. She has done some miles but will be with me till I am counting daisies
First was a cheap folk acoustic. Strings were about an inch above. Lost it. Ff 30 years got a Mitchell T3 series mohagany. Better feel.
I agree with Rhett's critique – the more expensive guitar DOES sound better, and for the reasons Rhett stated. More mid-range, a "fuller" sound. Does it sound 10 times better? Absolutely not. Not being a real musician, I'd likely be happy with the Taylor. My own first guitar was a Goya 12-string, which I played religiously for a few years, and then put away, much like Rhett. Then I got it out again on a whim about 10 years later. Tuning remained, just like before, a major hassle, and the neck felt like my left hand was holding a 2 x 4 compared to the electrics I'd been playing. I put the Goya away again, and eventually gave it to the husband of my niece. He's a better player than I am anyway, and closer to being a real musician. I now have a small collection of quirky electrics from Eastwood, Parker, Firefly, Eart, Squier and Orangewood. They're mostly low-end, but they play and sound fine.
Taylor 100 does sound so much better, with smoother sound and being in the middle as not so loud.
Yes there is a noticeable difference but not worth the price and I am glad I own the Taylor 110. My first was a cheap Fender acoustic from Japan but I play that more than my Taylor. I own several electric guitars as well and Epiphone 335, Gretsch and another Fender Strat. Next will be a Gibson acoustic old school and then a Gibson Les Paul electric and of course round it off with a Telecaster!!
I still own my first guitar ever. An Esteve classical nylon string guitar. It was then about 200 euros… ( before it was euros) It was 1991… the ramones move me into rock 'n Roll and made me through away my flute which I was practicing with no real good motivation… t 2:14 ill I discovered the ramones and knew… this is what I wanna do! Nirvana… and all the bands back then always motivated me more and more to play. So I played my esteve every day… for at least 3 years. My first electric guitar… a strange 90ies metal guitar shaped epiphone… helpen me a lot back then. But it was after I got used to the more les paul double cut kind of things , I knew that was what I really wanted. So later on I sold my epiphone and never regretted doing that. It was an ulgy guitar if I see it back now. A guitar needs to be sexy…
As for my acoustic… he got some Brothers and sisters but still sounds good…
it does not sound 5 grand better no
Huge difference
Still have all my guitars they are all part of my family. First acoustic 89 pounds Stirling. Most expensive Taylor 814. My fav guitar is my Gibson J45 walnut
At my local guitar center, we have Eric Clapton, Slash, and Sheryl Crow
What would be a great video would be buying an expensive and a cheap guitar built with the exact same materials, that are the same shape, dimensions and with the same strings. Then we can really compare tone. Feel will never compare in these price bracket differences but tone wise I doubt with an exact copy there would be a different tone because someone says it should cost more.
I have never heard a guitar, that sounds better than my Taylor 110.
My dad always play guitar since I before I was born and grew up loving watching and listening to him play, I loved music in general. I finally started showing more interest in learning about a year ago always wanting to pick up my dad's blueridge and asking questions to the point one day he said hold on one second… I was like okay.. he went into his room.. into the closet.. and grabbed a brand new taylor 114ce and handed to me and said "if your going to keep learning a playing your going to need something to learn on, so you and borrow this." I was stunned.. i played everyday for hours sometimes and loved the way the narrow neck and ebony fret board felt.. loved the way it sounded bright and snappy but resonated very well.. and learned everything on that guitar and one day when my dad noticed I was going to keep playing and it wasn't just a phase he basically said that I had inherited that guitar and I started playing in our local church we been attending about 3 years now.. in the last 6 months or so I bought a breedlove and I love the way it looks, sounds and plays but it will never take the place of my first guitar. I honestly like the playability of the Taylor much better, it's more comfortable and easier to play but I do like the sound the breedlove produces. Would love yo get my hands on a taylor with the koa wood.
"First real guitar" oh do fuck off.
Rhett, I have a TYLOR 210CE and a cheaper Martin DX1E. I live in the desert, and it seems I can never leave my acoustics out and because of that, I never play them. The reason is the humidity issue. I keep both in a hard case with humidifiers. I bet you do not live in a desert but what do you do for humidity? As a result of having them locked up and out of sight, I now own a Strat, Tele, Les Paul and my new one, a 335 and being I have them on wall hooks, those are my players! Any suggestions for my acoustics where I can put them out to use? Do you think they would be ok with a humidifier in the sound hole and open to the air? I would appreciate any suggestions. I am a collector of guitars but not a good player, but I pretend! I love playing my own songs that I make up.
To me both of those sound near the same, being a long time (almost 20 years) acoustic player myself. After trying hundreds of different priced acoustics I can safely say that price really doesn´t matter lot in acoustic guitars as the sound can be very easily changed by using different strings and picks. It took me many years to find the ultimate string and pick combination to get best sound out from my acoustic guitar.
only prob is the micing 🙂
Well, I’m the kind of player that can make them sound equality bad. I guess that’s something.
Thanks for sharing.
Probably we are not getting the full effect listening to this through speakers on YouTube. But, in my opinion, my ear seems to think that the $5k is,,,,,, warmer. Tonally, it sounds,,,,,, sweeter, or smoother. It just sounds,,,,,,, better. But that's not exactly the question you set out to answer is it? Your question was, is the $5k guitar 10 times better then the $500 guitar? …………. I don't know, and I don't know that the answer is straight forward. If you are an accomplished player that demands the best, the $5k guitar has a place. For recording maybe? But what's the goal? Your not going to bring a $5K guitar to a camp fire. If you didn't hear the two guitars back to back, would you REALLY know? Would you enjoy the music as much? I mean I think you would. Let me shift gears for just a moment so I can talk about my Electric Guitar experience.
Why is a $6k guitar worth $6k? Or a $10k guitar worth $10k? Some of the most iconic rock stars of all time played on guitars they bought in pawn shops or garage sales. Some of those guitars have been repeatedly DIYed, carved up and out. Kurt Cobain played a guitar he payed $30 for at a pawn shop. I'm virtually certain that Ed Sheeran became famous paying a $500 guitar you can get from any guitar center. And Brian May made his guitar out of the mantle piece of a fire place. In my humble opinion, a $700 to $800 Fender Strat Player is enough guitar to become a millionaire and famous if you have the talent. When it comes to electric guitars, there is in my opinion a HUGE exponential curve of diminishing returns once you pass the $1k mark. All the bling in the world isn't going to make a guitar sound better.
Back to acoustics. Does the $5k guitar sound better? Yep. I think so. But I think the $5k guitar also comes with additional costs above and beyond the greenback kind. That $5k guitar isn't exactly a "Working Mans" guitar is it. You wouldn't throw it in the trunk of the car in the middle of the winter. You are going to keep it in a nice climate stable home. You're not going to drag it to xmas parties where your nieces nephews and or grand children can accidently get to it. I think in my opinion, there's a sort of sweet spot around the $2000 mark in terms of high end acoustics that can be rationalized by most accomplished musicians who aren't recording in a studio (given that most $2k acoustics can easily be recorded in the studio, the point is most accomplished musicians who aren't recording artists really can't rationalize much more beyond just the pride in owning something expensive). The $2k guitar is the one they play when they gig, Or when they are with a group of musicians that they want to bring their A game. But it's still not the guitar they play around the house, at parties or around camp fires. For that, they play your $500 acoustic.
You know what Id really like to see, is a comparison between your $500 Taylor, a $2000 acoustic of your choice, and your $5k guitar. And then ask the question, is the $5k guitar worth two and a half times more than the $2000 guitar. I think your $5k guitar is really in the realm of Recording studio niche.
I started playing at age 6 about 28 years ago. I started going the classical way, so I got a 3/4 classical, but when it was time to get a bigger size, I wanted to play electric. I got my Yamaha Pacifica and one of those tiny guitar amps on Christmas 1999 and I played it all day and all night for the next week or so, literally till my fingers bled. I still have the guitar and the amp, and the Pacifica still holds up pretty well. But then in 2003 I needed an acoustic guitar and I asked my guitar teacher where to look. He led me to a tiny guitar store in Cologne called Uli's Musik. And I remember everything, how the store looked, I remember Uli and I tried lots of guitars that day. My budget was super small and I ended up with a Hoyer, a brand I had never heard before, and this is actually the guitar I still play. I took it back to the shop a year later or so to add a pickup for my first acoustic band and I still love this guitar. Objectively it's nothing special, it sounds alright, plays great and the pickup is alright, but this guitar lived through so much stuff happening over the past 20 years that I wouldn't sell it. It has loads of battle wounds and the fretboard starts wearing out (like you see on those relic electric models) and I absolutely need to upgrade to something better. For example it doesn't have any kind of preamp controls, it's just an active piezo, you plug it in and go. It's an absolute workhorse, it got dirty, I played in the rain, it's been dropped, but it keeps going strong. It's a keeper.
Guitar center will give you $10.00 for it on a trade-in