I have a Taylor 114 that I bought as a knock around guitar and is fine for that purpose. I considered a upgrade Taylor, but not after seeing what happened at Namm. Sticking to an Eastman next.
Glad you had Iris Guitars in there. You can also customize them under $3k. For example mine is a 12-fret, torrified Adirondack top. I went with an OG (like a Gibson LG2) and AB (like a Gibson SJ-185). As for over $5k, I was impressed with the Collings, but will need to try the Bedell and Yiari necks. HeH
Great comparisons. Happy to see Eastman at the top of one category. What is the Eastman on your lap? I have an E 10 D that is great and aging wonderfully. Love your channel.
my teacher was amazed by my 450€ guitar (nylon classical) and said it sounded better than his 1200€ all solid guitar. I did my research before I choose one, but still it's just a budget student guitar
@@Whatsisface4 Honestly the search of finding royalty free music can be daunting, and most acoustic guitar tracks have sad vibes, this one just kinda fit! 🤷♂
Unfortunately, a lot of the smaller guys still aren't giving us lefties a lot of choices. They also need to be available through large sellers like Sweetwater that have easy, no interest payment options.
We definitely agree that the leftie options are lacking but we always have some on order from our companies and we try to work with them the best we can to get more options available. We also have 12 month, no-interest financing options, it's not just the big guys! 🙂
@AcousticShoppe Appreciate it, let them know their only hurting themselves. If I may use your inventory as n example: Lefties in the USA are 13% of the population. 3 out your 181 guitars are lefty. That's only 1.6%. To reflect your potential customer base, you should have 23 lefty guitars. (13%of 181 = 23.5)
What model Eastman is that? Custom pick guard? I haven’t seen that in any of your videos (I don’t think). Zoomed in on the tag and looks like something specially built for NAMM?
I believe are you referring to the Eastman John is holding throughout reading the scores? If so that is our Eastman TAS Exclusive model. It's a large soundhole dread with madagascar back and sides. And they are going to have custom pick gaurds. We first played it and talked about it on this livestream: th-cam.com/users/livea0bA70Of2ec We only have the prototype at the moment, but we will soon be getting in more models and we'll have even more content coming soon!
At the moment, we cannot order these models left handed, but I suspect the E1D may be available lefty in the future considering they do build the E1D Lefty and it's basically the same model just with upgrades.
I’ll bet 90% of guitar players are using instruments costing under $750. This is the range where there are MAJOR differences in playability and sound quality. Some cheap guitars really suck, others can rival instruments in the $1500 range. Next time, please add the “cheap-o” category for those of us looking to separate the cheap wheat from the chaff. D’Angelico a great cheapie, for example…?
Do you like Taylor's ? maybe do a comparison of your top 5 Guitars !! Personally I'm not spending over $ 2000.00 I did enjoy your previous videos ! Soooo many choices, How does one decide ? Your mostly buying on line cuz my local Guitar stores have limited selection .. Any way thanks for answering my question ! I know Lindsey Buckingham plays a Taylor as well as Taylor Swift
Taylors have never really been our style for the music we like to play, but they can be great guitars. The best way to decide what guitar to by is honestly by trying out as many as you can and seeing what you like!
Maybe I'm missing something here, but y'all rate most all the 1500$ guitars higher in tone than the ones in the 3000 range. Are you saying that the 1500 sounded better.than the 3000 or are you using different metrics?
No, we are compering by each price point. So for the $1,500 guitars, we’re thinking of the tone for guitars in that price range. Then for the $3,000 ones, we’re comparing the tone with guitars in that price range. We were not comparing $1,500 vs $3,000 guitars when we scored these
I wonder how you couldn't juge these guitars within all this noise : I ended up hearing a piano more than the guitar you played once at least, and could only get a genuine idea of how a guitar sounded in one situation - when you played the (under 1500 dollars) Breedlove...
I was so hoping you’d do a category of “guitars priced at $3,999” haha. So since you didn’t…what was your impression of that new Martin GPCE Inception? Inquiring minds want to know. And why did Taylor deny entry??
John says the inception is interesting but not really his cup of tea. Of course, John is coming from a Bluegrass background, so it's kinda hard to form a strong opinion on something he wouldn't play naturally with the style he prefers. Also Taylor was only allowing dealers in.
This was a fun segment. I just hope players don’t take the results too seriously. I’ve been to NAMM many times. It is impossible to demo any acoustic guitar there for serious listening. The noise level there is akin to a busy airport runway. Yes you can try to subjectively judge quality of build and playability but to judge tone, volume or nuance is ridiculous. Hundreds of small shop offerings and Indi luthiers at NAMM. To ignore these best of the best makes any subjective over $5k results completely bogus. Still, a fun exercise and quite an accomplishment, even if the end result is questionable.
Agree. Also these show guitars are going to be their best looking and sounding with perfect setups. Now if they'd let you buy directly from the show, I'm in.
Thanks folks. Lots of hard work to put this together for us. 👍😮👍
Great to see Alvarez who have put a lot into r+d and have brought out new models scoring well.
Agreed!
Thx John. Very informative. Thank you for taking the time to put this together.
Love your channel! Keep up the great work!
Thank you! Appreciate all the hard work.❤
I appreciate that was a big challenge that you done there. Interesting as well
Alvarez has some great instruments at pretty much any price point.
Glad to see them getting some of the respect they deserve.
Finally, someone recognizes the quality of Bedell. Love my Angelica Bellissima
Thank you for this awesome video !!
Thanks for watching!
Thanks John. Great ranking video.
I just put my 2008 Larrivée D-03 up against 2 Martin D-18’s, 2 Gibson J-45’s and many Taylors. I’ll be getting another Larrivée.
My two Alvarez guitars on your list. Thank you for sharing your review. I really trust you, guys.
Thanks for your scores and really interested and informative content.
I have a Taylor 114 that I bought as a knock around guitar and is fine for that purpose. I considered a upgrade Taylor, but not after seeing what happened at Namm. Sticking to an Eastman next.
Glad you had Iris Guitars in there. You can also customize them under $3k. For example mine is a 12-fret, torrified Adirondack top. I went with an OG (like a Gibson LG2) and AB (like a Gibson SJ-185). As for over $5k, I was impressed with the Collings, but will need to try the Bedell and Yiari necks. HeH
Great comparisons. Happy to see Eastman at the top of one category. What is the Eastman on your lap? I have an E 10 D that is great and aging wonderfully. Love your channel.
That's our new TAS exclusive. It's a Largesoundhole Tony rice style dread with Madagascar Rosewood, we're excited to see them in!
Love those Yamahas..
No better bang for the buck
P.S. Love the thumbnail😂
Thanks Carole!
So I'm a newbie ! But no Taylor's ???
Taylor had a private room this year and wouldn't let us in to demos their guitars... maybe next year.
@@AcousticShoppe , I'm not surprised. But you have two Alvarez, that I have.
Just curious how you judged playability and were there any 5 out of 5s in this area?
The noisiest thing at that conference was your shirt 😂😂😂
my teacher was amazed by my 450€ guitar (nylon classical) and said it sounded better than his 1200€ all solid guitar. I did my research before I choose one, but still it's just a budget student guitar
Why, on a video about acoustic guitars, do you have a backing track of electric guitars?
Vibes
@@AcousticShoppe It's like you're saying the acoustic guitar doesn't count.
@@Whatsisface4 Honestly the search of finding royalty free music can be daunting, and most acoustic guitar tracks have sad vibes, this one just kinda fit! 🤷♂
Did you play anything by Zaar? Been real interested In them lately
Unfortunately, a lot of the smaller guys still aren't giving us lefties a lot of choices. They also need to be available through large sellers like Sweetwater that have easy, no interest payment options.
We definitely agree that the leftie options are lacking but we always have some on order from our companies and we try to work with them the best we can to get more options available. We also have 12 month, no-interest financing options, it's not just the big guys! 🙂
@AcousticShoppe Appreciate it, let them know their only hurting themselves. If I may use your inventory as n example: Lefties in the USA are 13% of the population. 3 out your 181 guitars are lefty. That's only 1.6%.
To reflect your potential customer base, you should have 23 lefty guitars. (13%of 181 = 23.5)
What model Eastman is that? Custom pick guard? I haven’t seen that in any of your videos (I don’t think). Zoomed in on the tag and looks like something specially built for NAMM?
I believe are you referring to the Eastman John is holding throughout reading the scores? If so that is our Eastman TAS Exclusive model. It's a large soundhole dread with madagascar back and sides. And they are going to have custom pick gaurds. We first played it and talked about it on this livestream: th-cam.com/users/livea0bA70Of2ec We only have the prototype at the moment, but we will soon be getting in more models and we'll have even more content coming soon!
Did there happen to be a Guild there and if so what was your take on it?
John played one this year & we really like guild guitars. Unfortunately, they have been underrepresented the past few years an The NAMM Show.
And what about Kepma ?
Didn't Dowina have a booth this year?
We may have missed them!
A pity because they make amazing guitars. @@AcousticShoppe
@@bmac5085 Next year we'll try to hit even more. Realistically this was quite the challenge in between meetings and Livestreams.
The problem with comparing the sound of guitars is that WHAT SOUNDS GOOD TO YOU MAY NOT TO ME.
Excellent video, except you gave the Bedell a 5/5 for Asthetics?? Hmm did they slip you a little something on the side? It looks bloody awful.
Different strokes for different folks 🤷♂️
Does either the Eastman e1d deluxe or e1ss deluxe come in lefty?
At the moment, we cannot order these models left handed, but I suspect the E1D may be available lefty in the future considering they do build the E1D Lefty and it's basically the same model just with upgrades.
@@AcousticShoppe thanks, big fan of the channel, if these ever become available left handed please let us know, I'm pretty interested
I’ll bet 90% of guitar players are using instruments costing under $750. This is the range where there are MAJOR differences in playability and sound quality. Some cheap guitars really suck, others can rival instruments in the $1500 range. Next time, please add the “cheap-o” category for those of us looking to separate the cheap wheat from the chaff. D’Angelico a great cheapie, for example…?
Try them all. Then buy the yamaha or the Alvarez.
They beat everything at their price point
Glad to help😅
@@ralfybaby Eastman are great too.
@@ralfybabyyour right!!! people have to accept the fact Yamaha is top tier
Yamaha beats things beyond their price point 😂
I've also heard good thinga about eastman and Alvarez/Yairi
You guys are consistent in your choices. Yamaha, Collings and never a Huss & Dalton to be seen .😮
Gr8 video but 99% dreads. Is there a good om there somewhere?
This year there were quite a few options of these models in an OM version as well.
when are you going to talk about the bougeois touchstone signature?
As soon as possible! We’ll give them full reviews as soon as they arrive!
* Top five plywoods* … some even include Lisa Frank designs 🎉
Do you like Taylor's ? maybe do a comparison of your top 5 Guitars !! Personally I'm not spending over $ 2000.00 I did enjoy your previous videos !
Soooo many choices, How does one decide ? Your mostly buying on line cuz my local Guitar stores have limited selection ..
Any way thanks for answering my question ! I know Lindsey Buckingham plays a Taylor as well as Taylor Swift
Taylors have never really been our style for the music we like to play, but they can be great guitars. The best way to decide what guitar to by is honestly by trying out as many as you can and seeing what you like!
Did they ever get to the topic, I gave up after 2 and 1/2 minutes. I wish somebody would make a video on this subject though, sounds interesting
Breedlove. Yeah baby
Takemine ! All price points .
interesting that jang, greenfield, galloup, kevin ryan seem to not be on this list….
Maybe I'm missing something here, but y'all rate most all the 1500$ guitars higher in tone than the ones in the 3000 range. Are you saying that the 1500 sounded better.than the 3000 or are you using different metrics?
No, we are compering by each price point. So for the $1,500 guitars, we’re thinking of the tone for guitars in that price range. Then for the $3,000 ones, we’re comparing the tone with guitars in that price range. We were not comparing $1,500 vs $3,000 guitars when we scored these
I saw you playing a Cole Clark in the video, how did it rate?
Man, a lot of work to put this together! But you must not have played a Greenfield guitar. :)
I wonder how you couldn't juge these guitars within all this noise : I ended up hearing a piano more than the guitar you played once at least, and could only get a genuine idea of how a guitar sounded in one situation - when you played the (under 1500 dollars) Breedlove...
Did you skip taylor for its superiority?
Taylor did not have a booth open to the public or else we totally would've stopped by and included them!
I was so hoping you’d do a category of “guitars priced at $3,999” haha. So since you didn’t…what was your impression of that new Martin GPCE Inception? Inquiring minds want to know.
And why did Taylor deny entry??
John says the inception is interesting but not really his cup of tea. Of course, John is coming from a Bluegrass background, so it's kinda hard to form a strong opinion on something he wouldn't play naturally with the style he prefers. Also Taylor was only allowing dealers in.
As always, love your NAMM reviews but please don’t string us along (see what I did there) for over four minutes before you get into the reviews.
I thought the bedell was 8990?
It is, this was an estimation at the time of filming I believe, whoops!
@@AcousticShoppe ahhh drat
The Eastman logo missing on that headstock makes me big sad
I kind of disagree...reminds me of the SCGC headstock with no logo...VERY unique
This was a fun segment. I just hope players don’t take the results too seriously. I’ve been to NAMM many times. It is impossible to demo any acoustic guitar there for serious listening. The noise level there is akin to a busy airport runway. Yes you can try to subjectively judge quality of build and playability but to judge tone, volume or nuance is ridiculous. Hundreds of small shop offerings and Indi luthiers at NAMM. To ignore these best of the best makes any subjective over $5k results completely bogus. Still, a fun exercise and quite an accomplishment, even if the end result is questionable.
Agree. Also these show guitars are going to be their best looking and sounding with perfect setups. Now if they'd let you buy directly from the show, I'm in.
No Authentics?
Aesthetics
Faith guitars????
Don't believe they attended, we truly hit every acoustic booth, it's also quite a trip for them.
not seeing a link to your last year video Best under 1500.........
th-cam.com/video/JaO3A3CB6Go/w-d-xo.htmlsi=KY2Y1SzOqzP3STHv
You look like Goddess Durga with 10 arms.
5 minute introduction, ugh
2:21. Turn the guitar. You need to be smarter than the piece of rubber holding it.
Unfortunately, they were zip-tied to the wall.
@@AcousticShoppe Wow, worrying about thieves at NAMM. What has the world come to? Sorry I assumed.
@karlburmeister1552 Yes, unfortunately, almost every guitar in their booth was tied down.
play a RIVERSONG......pay 20 grand or 400 or 1300 or whatever........stop the bickering.
What kind of drugs are Ibanez smoking for that price?