Iguitars for mandolin players

[GRW3]

Although I play more and more mandolin all the time I actually think of myself as a guitar player. I bought a Mid Mo as a lark but after I started routine bluegrass jamming and they found out I could play a mando, even if it's primarily rythm, that's what they want.

So, as I said, I'm playing more mando. Now when I play guitar they seem awkwardly large. These are not dreads of which I'm speaking but grand auditoriums. In recent visits to guitar stores I find myself drawn to smaller guitars. Any body else notice this? Anybody have pratical experience with moving to a smaller body guitar? Personally, I have already the desire to get the loudest quiet instrument.

[jeromie]

My guitar feels huge when I pick it up now, too! As the first quality instrument I owned, I'm still in love with it even though I don't play it as much as it deserves, so I haven't thought about replacing it with a smaller guitar. However, when I was auditioning guitars several years ago I considered a Baby Taylor (3/4 size dreadnought) just because it sounded really nice and was reasonably priced. While I'm sure there are nicer small guitars out there, it's where I'd start my search if I was going to look for one.

[theBlood]

Back when I was starting to play, in the early 60's, dreadnaughts were the exception. Serious players started using them, and also some notable rock figures (Stills, Havens), and that changed the picture. Prior to the 60's, however, you wouldn't see a lot of pro guitarists using dreadnaughts unless they were rhythm players. This is my subjective view, of course, but I still remember getting a dreadnaught in '65 partly because it was distinctive. You'd see D-28's in country music but nobody ever did anything but strum with those.

Nowadays the move is back to smaller for several reasons, not the least of which is that they are better for amplification, with less of the boomy. But the biggest factor may simply be that the smaller ones sit on the lap a lot better.

JY

[Wesley]

I had a similar experience. The two guitars I play the most now are my two Collings - an OM and a 000. Before the mandolin I was content with my D-18. But I'm also playing a lot more fingerstyle than I used to. My taste in guitar music now runs more toward pre-war blues.

[Jim Garber]

You'd see D-28's in country music but nobody ever did anything but strum with those.
Hmmmm... I am waiting for the deluge of responses from those bluegrass pickers whose main guitars are D-28s or D-18s. Remember Doc Watson?

Back to the subject at hand. I used to own a D-28 but even before serious mandolin playing found the scale a little on the long side. I switched over to a Gibson dreadnaught which has a shorter scale and it is a good fingerpicker as well. My favorite guitar is a late 1930s L-00, which is lightly built and has a good tone and volume.

Jim

[allenhopkins]

Played dreadnought-sizes exclusively for decades -- Gibson J-50, Guild D-40, Martin D-18, HD-28, D-41. Started using a smaller "parlor" guitar, a 19th-century "no name," when I started doing costume work at a 19th-century restoration. In 1994 was given (25th anniversary present) a Taylor XX-MC, which was the debut of the new "grand auditorium" size. Smaller than a dreadnought, still plenty of volume, recorded very well. Spotted a smaller Martin on the wall at Stutzman's Guitar Center (http://stutzmansguitarcenter.com/)here in Rochester: a 1940 00-28G classical that had been re-topped and re-necked to make a 00-42. Sounded great, plenty loud, balanced across the mid-range.
If I were taking on the full-time role of a bluegrass or string band rhythm player, the D-41 would come out of storage and stand front and center. Doing vocal accompaniment, some duet work, and recording, the 00-42 has all that's needed. For a lot of what we do, the big box isn't necessary, and we're constantly working around the over-emphasized bass when we do lead or finger-style.
Lots of smaller instruments available on the market; the Larrivee "parlor" guitars project very well, as do the smaller Taylors. I'm not sure that a Baby Taylor has the guts to be a good back-up instrument, but the Big Baby probably does.

[otterly2k]

I have had the same experience picking up my guitar, a Martin D-28 which I've played for 25 years or more. It is just humongous! I also have a L'arivee Parlour guitar... and while I like it a lot, it doesn't remotely approach that D-28 in power, responsiveness, full bodied sound, etc. I got it while my Martin was in the shop, and like to have it for those times I don't want to shlep the big 'un. But if I was buying myself a new (or new to me) guitar today, I'd probably be looking for something smaller bodied than the D-28, and bigger than the L'arivee Parlour.

[theBlood]

You'd see D-28's in country music but nobody ever did anything but strum with those.
Hmmmm... I am waiting for the deluge of responses from those bluegrass pickers whose main guitars are D-28s or D-18s. Remember Doc Watson?


Jim
Yes, there was Doc, and Clarence and others that were using Martin dreadnaughts. And all of Monroe's guitarists ,etc.. I was copying their licks in 1964. But I can't think of a recording prior to the early sixties where the soloist was using an acoustic dreadnaught.
Maybe there are examples that I haven't heard about, but the original memory was that of going into stores in those days and seeing 1 or 2 dreadnaughts as versus a dozen of the 000/OM's or smaller. By the mid 70's that had changed.

John