Small Body Guitars

Comment

Comment by Deryl Hilliard on July 11, 2011 at 1:06pm

I enjoy playing a Little Martin as my couch guitar and I also own a 100 year old parlor guitar that belonged to my great-grandmother.  I keep it tuned to DADGAD. I like the reduced string tension of a shorter scale guitar and the small body is more comfortable for me to play.

Comment by GNuck on July 2, 2011 at 2:25pm

I used to live in Mt. Juliet Tennessee and I think that's where Charlie's farm was at.

 

I was trying to work out a trade for a Big Baby Taylor about a month ago but the guy never met with me even though he said he wanted to trade it for my Epiphone Dot. That led me to eventually buying a Seagull mini jumbo to add to my guitars, how I settled on that guitar is another story.

 

I hope to add a Taylor to my collection in the future and it could be a Baby or Big Baby when I do. They both play really well. Also the Taylor GS Mini plays great as well, I'm surprised at the sound it puts out for it's size but I really like the Big Baby except for the screw they put in the neck. :)

 

Thanks for the info on the Fernandes Nomad cool looking little guitar.

Comment by Wes Millette on July 2, 2011 at 6:45am

Thanks for the welcome Gary, the guitar you were wondering about is a Fernandes Nomad electric travel guitar. It's a great little guitar with onboard Digitech electronics (effects, drums, modeling, etc). The sound hole is actually a small speaker. I ordered it and a Baby Taylor while I was working in Iraq a few years ago and have enjoyed both ever since. Charlie Daniels signed my Baby Taylor when he came to our little base over there and did a show for our well deserving troops. These are two special little guitars I hope never to part with.

Comment by Michael S. Jackson on June 30, 2011 at 10:25am

You're welcome.

Keep in mind that I like stiffer strings so that might jade my opinions.

The Goodtime is a great banjo! Keep with it!

Later,

m

Comment by GNuck on June 29, 2011 at 10:14pm

That is some great info on the strings, I appreciate the info.

Before the D'addarios I had used Dean Markley mediums for years, but once I tried the D'addarios I liked them, that is until the Martin Lights came along. I do plan on trying some Elixirs some time in the future though.

 

Joined your group. Love your banjo that you did so much work on, boy you did a bunch of work on that banjo, the inlays and everything is beautiful!

 

I have a Deering banjo (Good Time model) and like it even though it's not a high end banjo. I'm just a beginning banjo player though. I'm concentrating on the guitar mostly. Also play at the mandolin, have a cheap Johnson mandolin.

 

Thanks again for the info!

 

Gary

 

Comment by Michael S. Jackson on June 29, 2011 at 12:48pm

OK. Here's what I have so far:

Martin Eric Clapton OM: I assume she came with Martin MEC12 strings which sounded great with distinct, even tones. Volume was surprisingly loud. I changed them to Martin MSP12 strings and they are bright, clear, and easy to play. I think I'll go back to the MEC12s (assuming those were the ones the guitar came with), but they will have a long way to go to beat the MSP12s.

000 Recreation (I know I wrote 00 before but I meant 000): Came with D'Addarios, now sure which ones but they sounded really good. Not really loud but I don't expect this guitar to be loud. Tone is even and clear. I put some Peavey phosphor bronze 11s on her and she still sounds the same. Easy to play.

L-1 Recreation: Came with D'Addarios, don't know which ones but they were clear with a depth to the tone that I haven't had with others except the Martin phosphor bronze (e=11) Custom Lights (MSP7050). These are very clean, even, and bright with great mid tones and a deep bass. Very impresisve for such a small guitar; maybe the enlarged sound hole has something to do with it? I've also tried D'Addarios EJ26 Custom Lights which proved to be very light, bright, and hardly any depth. Finally, On this guitar I've also tried DR phosphor bronze RPL10 which were too light, with little tonality. These strings also "jangle" if played even the slightest bit aggressively. The DRs have not worked out for me at all on any guitar I've tried them on.

You can see photos of the 000 and the L-1 at The Music Link Instruments group where I also describe them.

I'm always interested to hear what others like about their smaller guitars. I really like the fact that I can sit on a chair, scoot my feet up underneath myself, and play quietly for a couple of hours at night. I find them very comfortable and easy to live with.

Take care - m

Comment by GNuck on June 28, 2011 at 5:48pm

I was using d'addario strings mediums on all my guitars. But I switched to Martin MSP4100 lights after trying one set on my 000 Epiphone acoustic.

When I bought the Martin OM it came with the Martin lights and I really liked how it played so I decided to try a set on the Epiphone. It made such a difference that I then put a set on my 1970 Grammer Dreadnought (Brazilian Rosewood) and what a difference in playability they made on it as well.

 

So I'm pretty set on the Martin lights now. As soon as I get ready for a set on my Seagull that's what I'll put on there as well. I can't believe what a difference it made in the playability with no noticeable difference in the tone.

 

Which ones have you been using?

 

Thanks;

 

Gary

 

Comment by Michael S. Jackson on June 28, 2011 at 8:47am

I'm still experimenting with strings. What have you found to work well on your OM? Why?

Thx - m

Comment by GNuck on June 27, 2011 at 8:40pm

Welcome Michael;

 

Glad to have you, I'm sure the group will grow with time since I just started it. I have one dreadnought and the other 4 guitars I have are small body, except for one mini jumbo.

 

I love my Martin OM, it plays and sounds great for a small body guitar. As you said the smaller body guitars seem to just fit me better and are much easier to play.

 

You have some great pieces in your collection there!

 

Thanks again;

 

Gary

Comment by Michael S. Jackson on June 27, 2011 at 12:36pm

This sounds like a good place to be 'cuz I really like small bodied guitars. I have a Martin Eric Clapton model, a recreation Gibson L-1, a Martin 00 recreation, and a 1964 Gibson Tenor. Not to mention other smaller-than-dreadnaught body classical and resonator guitars.

I find them to be very comfortable to play and I like their tone, especially for softer finger-picking pieces.

• ‹ Previous
• 1
• …
• 67
• 68
• 69
• Next ›
• Page