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...I have a new guitar.
It really isn't a purchase we should have made with our budget, honestly. But Devon has been working at a local music store for the last year or so; that store is closing this week (and Devon losing his job). Devon suggested coming to look at what they had since it was the final opportunity to buy something at his discount -- 10% above cost.
So I did. I went in and played several of the guitars (most of which were horribly set up, some of them to the point of being nearly unplayable in their present condition.) I was deliberately looking for an acoustic with electronics, since when the Davis Leigh Duo plays, we plug in on most gigs -- using the installable pickup on my acoustic-only Seagull was a pain (I'd snag the cord dangling from the soundhole at least once a night), and left me without any volume control except at the mixing console, which was a real pain
There were two I liked enough to consider: an Ovation LX Balladeer, and a Martin, but they both were four figures even at the closing sale price and I absolutely wasn't going to spend that much. Devon, though, took the tags and checked out his pricing.
All I gotta say is: man, do music stores make a nice profit on their instruments...
The Martin -- which was priced significantly higher anyway than the Ovation -- had the better sound of the two: nice and warm and round. But the Ovation surprised me, since I am (somewhere) on record as saying I've never cared for the roundbacks. The sound was clean. Not as deep as the Martin but nicely shimmering with excellent projection, the back didn't bother me as I thought it would, and the fingering on the neck was a delight (it was one of the few guitars in the store that actually had a decent set-up; even the Martin suffered from that, with the strings rather higher off the fretboard than they should have been. Another Martin in the store had such bad fret buzzing with the strings too low that you couldn't even tell what the guitar might sound like.) The Ovation, to my ears, sounded as good as the Seagull I have -- I must say that I am highly impressed by the sound of Seagull guitars -- but has the advantage of onboard electronics (including a tuner) and a better-feeling neck.
With Devon's employee discount, the Ovation was -- barely -- affordable while the Martin was still fiercely hanging onto all four figures. I dithered, I cogitated, I wrestled with budget guilt, I looked at Denise to tell me, no, we really shouldn't, and she didn't.
I bought the Ovation. I guess I just like guitars with strange head stocks. If you wanna see it, come to Applecon in a couple weeks; it'll be there.
It really isn't a purchase we should have made with our budget, honestly. But Devon has been working at a local music store for the last year or so; that store is closing this week (and Devon losing his job). Devon suggested coming to look at what they had since it was the final opportunity to buy something at his discount -- 10% above cost.
So I did. I went in and played several of the guitars (most of which were horribly set up, some of them to the point of being nearly unplayable in their present condition.) I was deliberately looking for an acoustic with electronics, since when the Davis Leigh Duo plays, we plug in on most gigs -- using the installable pickup on my acoustic-only Seagull was a pain (I'd snag the cord dangling from the soundhole at least once a night), and left me without any volume control except at the mixing console, which was a real pain
There were two I liked enough to consider: an Ovation LX Balladeer, and a Martin, but they both were four figures even at the closing sale price and I absolutely wasn't going to spend that much. Devon, though, took the tags and checked out his pricing.
All I gotta say is: man, do music stores make a nice profit on their instruments...
The Martin -- which was priced significantly higher anyway than the Ovation -- had the better sound of the two: nice and warm and round. But the Ovation surprised me, since I am (somewhere) on record as saying I've never cared for the roundbacks. The sound was clean. Not as deep as the Martin but nicely shimmering with excellent projection, the back didn't bother me as I thought it would, and the fingering on the neck was a delight (it was one of the few guitars in the store that actually had a decent set-up; even the Martin suffered from that, with the strings rather higher off the fretboard than they should have been. Another Martin in the store had such bad fret buzzing with the strings too low that you couldn't even tell what the guitar might sound like.) The Ovation, to my ears, sounded as good as the Seagull I have -- I must say that I am highly impressed by the sound of Seagull guitars -- but has the advantage of onboard electronics (including a tuner) and a better-feeling neck.
With Devon's employee discount, the Ovation was -- barely -- affordable while the Martin was still fiercely hanging onto all four figures. I dithered, I cogitated, I wrestled with budget guilt, I looked at Denise to tell me, no, we really shouldn't, and she didn't.
I bought the Ovation. I guess I just like guitars with strange head stocks. If you wanna see it, come to Applecon in a couple weeks; it'll be there.