Guitars

[damian5000]

I don't want to get something super expensive. A 2nd hand one in good condition or a mid price range.

The problem is, I don't really know what the good brands are here. Back home a good mid-expensive price range guitar is Washburn. What's the equivalent here?

[Rasseru]

Classical, steel string or electric?

[cm das]

You can get Washburn guitars at the Music Collection. It's on the superhighway, between Tesco/Lotus and the Kuang Singh intersection (Mae Rim Rd.) I've bought two Washburns there, 1 electric and 1 acoustic. They do a good job with servicing instruments too.

If you're looking for something a little cheaper I can recommend Baracuda guitars. They're made in Korea, play nicely and sound good. My 5 year old Baracuda bass has taken lots of abuse and is still going strong. A friend plays a Baracuda strat copy and he's very happy with it. Baracudas are available lots of places, definitely the guitar shops in both Airport Plaza and Kad Suan Kaew carry them.

[damian5000]

You can get Washburn guitars at the Music Collection. It's on the superhighway, between Tesco/Lotus and the Kuang Singh intersection (Mae Rim Rd.) I've bought two Washburns there, 1 electric and 1 acoustic. They do a good job with servicing instruments too.

If you're looking for something a little cheaper I can recommend Baracuda guitars. They're made in Korea, play nicely and sound good. My 5 year old Baracuda bass has taken lots of abuse and is still going strong. A friend plays a Baracuda strat copy and he's very happy with it. Baracudas are available lots of places, definitely the guitar shops in both Airport Plaza and Kad Suan Kaew carry them.

Baracuda...Great.

re Washburn, I guess I'm not SO interested in buying american brand...I'll probably be paying more just because it's american as opposed to some of the more "local" brands.

I'm looking for an acoustic (non-amplified) How about "Future"? It seems to be all over the place at the mall and they look decent. Anybody know about this brand?

Edited June 22, 2008 by damian5000

[FolkGuitar]

I don't want to get something super expensive. A 2nd hand one in good condition or a mid price range.

The problem is, I don't really know what the good brands are here. Back home a good mid-expensive price range guitar is Washburn. What's the equivalent here?

You get a lot of guitar for your money with a Yamaha. Low cost. The action is fast and the tone tends to be balanced. Have the shop on the south end of Changklan Road make a custom saddle for it out of bone (they only charge about 200 baht to make it and another 200 baht for the bone blank) and the sound of the guitar will improve 100%.

Tell the luthier about your playing style (hard strumming or fast picking) and he'll adjust the tension on the neck to reflect that perfectly. That will boost the sound quality another hundred percent.

I play a lot of guitar (surprise!) and think that the very best investment a player can make (without upgrading to a different instrument) is in the saddle and nut. Getting them custom made from good bone is REALLY worth the pittance it costs, and he can do it for you in one day.

Actually, I'd recommend this guy's work to anyone who wants to improve the quality of their instrument for just a couple of hundred baht!

[wjmark]

I am not a great guitarist (by any means!), but I agree about the Yamaha - great guitars.

I played a friend's Future - I was impressed - good action, easy playing, and decent sound...

[FolkGuitar]

I am not a great guitarist (by any means!), but I agree about the Yamaha - great guitars.

I played a friend's Future - I was impressed - good action, easy playing, and decent sound...

Very true. You should hear how they can sound if you customize the saddle and nut..... remarkable improvement!! The OP mentioned Washburns... They are available in Chiang Mai. I bought one here some years ago, and just sold it 6 months ago to a poster here!

[dotcom]

Ovation used to be made in USA. Now Korea I think.

[FolkGuitar]

Ovation used to be made in USA. Now Korea I think.

Wow! Now there is a guitar with an either 'love it' or 'hate it' sound.......... The higher end models really could throw a sound out there though. Almost didn't need amplification! I'm afraid I'm from the 'hate it' group. Every time I hear one all I can think of is Glen Campbell.

Pretty looking. Nice to play on. Well made and worth the money. But the sound just isn't for me.

[bunta71]

I am not a great guitarist (by any means!), but I agree about the Yamaha - great guitars.

I played a friend's Future - I was impressed - good action, easy playing, and decent sound...

Very true. You should hear how they can sound if you customize the saddle and nut..... remarkable improvement!! The OP mentioned Washburns... They are available in Chiang Mai. I bought one here some years ago, and just sold it 6 months ago to a poster here!

matter of fact ,Steve, I am following this and wondering if the modification you are speaking of would be benefitial to the washburn you sold me. My daughter will be here next month from Baghdad and my plan is to give the Washburn to her to take back to the sandbox. Jack

[gobs]

Hi all,

For my part I play a string guitar Yamaha, and an electric one Ibanez Hollow body (jazzy sound...).

With these two toys I'm very pleased.

I agree: Yamaha is a good and cheap brand...

But... As I'm not a native english speaker, what are saddle, nuts and bones? Modifying my guitars may improve their sounds as well... But I don't "understand" in doing what

Thanks to all

Gobs

[FolkGuitar]

I am not a great guitarist (by any means!), but I agree about the Yamaha - great guitars.

I played a friend's Future - I was impressed - good action, easy playing, and decent sound...

Very true. You should hear how they can sound if you customize the saddle and nut..... remarkable improvement!! The OP mentioned Washburns... They are available in Chiang Mai. I bought one here some years ago, and just sold it 6 months ago to a poster here!

matter of fact ,Steve, I am following this and wondering if the modification you are speaking of would be benefitial to the washburn you sold me. My daughter will be here next month from Baghdad and my plan is to give the Washburn to her to take back to the sandbox. Jack

Do you love her 200 baht worth of experimental costs? (Actually 400baht. 200 for the bone blank and 200 for labor.)

In my not-so-humble opinion, I think that replacing a plastic saddle with a bone saddle will help the tone of any guitar. (I'm told that it is even more evident with the nut, but that takes a lot more skill to make.) I was going to put one on a 3,000 baht Yamaha that we gave as a gift to a young Thai friend, but didn't have the time to do so. I made my own and was surprised to discover that the shop only charged 200 baht to make them for you. I'm sure a pro luthier would get the measurements even more accurate than I did re nut-to-saddle distances for each string. I only set back the B string to compensate for its problems. That Yamaha's plastic saddle had the B-string compensation built into its molding.

There are two man-made substances ('micarta' [which is actually formica!] and 'tusq' that many of the better manufacturers use and is sold by most guitar repair parts companies,) that come close and are easier to work with, but the tone seems better with real dense bone or ivory. Ivory is pretty much out of the picture these days as not being politically correct or in many cases not even available (although you can still legally purchase both fossil mastodon and walrus ivory, even in the US,) but some purists will find old piano keys and take the ivory off of them. I don't think there is much sound difference between ivory and a piece of evenly dense bone.

Me? I'd go for it. The difference is sound is really THAT noticeable, both in tone quality and volume.

The shop is on the east side of Changklan Road, on a corner facing a Yamaha bike dealer, about 5 blocks south of the intersection of the Lanna Palace (?) Hotel and Changklan Rd.

[FolkGuitar]

Hi all,

For my part I play a string guitar Yamaha, and an electric one Ibanez Hollow body (jazzy sound...).

With these two toys I'm very pleased.

I agree: Yamaha is a good and cheap brand...

But... As I'm not a native english speaker, what are saddle, nuts and bones? Modifying my guitars may improve their sounds as well... But I don't "understand" in doing what

Well first the easy part; bone. They are the hard bits in your body that keep you from being just a water-filled balloon! You know... the white hard skeleton stuff.

The 'saddle' is the white strip that sits in the 'bridge' of your string Yamaha near the sound hole, and the strings actually touch it, coming from the back of the bridge, through the hole with the 'peg' in it, then sit on the 'saddle,' go over the 'sound hole,' up the 'neck' of the guitar and once again touch the guitar at the 'nut' (it has grooves in it to keep the strings apart,) and continues into the 'tuning pegs.' This is how almost all acoustic body guitars are made. Electric guitars usually have metal bridges and saddles that are adjustable with a screw driver, but the nut is often the same as on acoustic guitars. Very expensive electric guitars will often have adjustable nuts as well.

http://www.guitarlessonworld.com/lessons/images/l1_f1.jpg

By changing the nut-to-saddle distance you change the tone produced by the string. The difference of just .02mm can change the sound a lot! In theory, each string has its own required distance, but most lower cost to mid-cost guitar manufacturers just average out the distance for all but the B string. That one requires a big difference! Hope this clears things up for you. If not, PM me and I'll try to explain in a different way.