The DijonStock Digital Home Recording Support Forum

I am about to buy a new acoustic guitar for use in the studio at home. I am looking for a small guitar (volume is not important) for under $500. I figure that careful mic placement will give me a better sound than the piece of crap Fender dreadnought that I have currently. I plan to keep the fender, add a dobro nut & use it exclusively for slide.

Candidates are:

1. Baby Taylor (3/4 size)
2. Little Martin (3/4 size)
2. A&L Ami (Parlour guitar)

If anyone has any experience with either or both of these, I would love to hear it

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Life's a shit sandwich. The more bread your have, the less shit you have to eat.

Strummed a baby Taylor last week...decent action and ez to play, but a bit on the thin side...of course that makes sense being such a small geetar...but realistically, I think Taylor's shine in the studio because they're a bit brighter than full sized Martin's(I've never tried the lil' Martin) and need very little roll off on the lows if any at all... I've got a 815ce Taylor and it sounds great on tape...really don't have to do much eq on it at all

What's the price difference between a Baby and a Big Baby?

Never heard of an A and L?

O, have you settled into the digs yet?

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it's funny, the older you get, the older you wanna be

The price difference between the baby & big baby looks to be about $50-100.

The A&L is an Arts & Lutherie, which is an offshoot of Godin. It looks great, but I am past chasing after the good looking girl - would rather have the one that is better in the sack ! Luckily the missus is pretty good looking & so I have that one covered.

I think I will go for the Baby, partly because my daughter has expressed and interest in playing guitar. Also, I like the idea of an electric-sized neck & the lower volume. For less than $300, I fully expect some tone sacrifice but like the idea of brightness. Hopefully, careful micing will get good results.

The moving process is complete, but we are not settled in yet. We are struggling with my F@cking government, who have made it difficult for my wife to get her PR sorted out & who have decided (without any justification, I might add) that I am a tax cheat. It appears that living abroad for 20 years sets off all sorts of alarm bells. I am even distrusted by the business community, who seem to consider my absence as some weird kind of betrayal.

The place has become significantly more red-neck since I left. However, we will overcome this cr@p one way or another. The only one who is enjoying the place is our daughter, & I suppose that this is the most important thing. Anyway, I expected this to some degree, as the hardest place to settle into is where you come from ! All that said, a mate of mine keeps trying to lure me back to the Bahamas - if things don't improve soon, it will be hard to resist.

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Life's a shit sandwich. The more bread your have, the less shit you have to eat.

I have a Taylor as well that I purchased in 2002. It's a 414CE, and I've been super happy with the guitar, since the day I purchased it. Anyways....I'm buddies with the Taylor Guitar rep, for the Canadian market. There are a bunch of us on another forum, that really isn't guitar related....despite the fact that we all play guitar. My buddy also posts there. We do talk guitars on occasion (we all own Taylors and/or other higher end brands), and recently the topic of Baby Taylors came up. A few of the guys have them, and like them as travel or parlor guitars. However, some have switched to Taylor GS Minis, and they've sold their Baby Taylors.

I know the GS Mini is more money, but those that have switched from Babys to GS Minis....seem quite pleased with what the GS Mini offers.

http://www.taylorguitars.com/guitars/gs-mini/

I was going to suggest the new GS mini as well. I bought all 3 of my Taylors on ebay. As long as you find a reputable seller, you can find some great deals. Unless you prefer new, a good deal on a used Taylor is exceptional.

Oh and if I didn't mention it, I prefer Taylor.

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GSMUSIC: Hey RZ, Im not no upper class american, the gear I own is what I have special to me. My car sucks, my house sucks, my nieghborhood sucks. Does yours RZ? Does it?

rz-land

To Oscar : I hope your problems will disappear soon and your guitar apears even sooner. Nice to see you keep at it.

To All : I'm considering a new guitar too. I Just invested in some light percussion stuff to color the music a bit. I'm looking at stuff i can do live whilst playing guitar. Footswitches as it is. Trying to play live seems to please me most.

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In a minute it might be gone. Life is a bear in a bubble.

http://www.soundclick.com/bearinabubble

I've had a Big Baby Taylor for several years. I went with the Big Baby vs. the smaller one so that the fret spacing (i.e. scale length) was still a "standard" size. Didn't want to be switching back and forth with fret spacing.

As with all Taylors, it plays very easily. Not a lot of bass, but that could be an advantage when recording.

I'm happy with it.

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Ralph (aka The Head Hog)
"What's Time to a Hog?"
Hog Time Music Website - My Songs on Bandcamp -

I played this today :

http://www.musicstore.com/nl_NL/NLG/Mar ... 020937-000



I almost layed down the 1300 euro's right then and there. I'v never felt so at home on a guitar ever. It sounds and plays like a dream. Even the chords i usually struggle a bit with seemed to flow effortless from that instrument. I'm wondering what to do ...

The Taylor Big baby is not that expensive overhere. How good are they really??

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In a minute it might be gone. Life is a bear in a bubble.

http://www.soundclick.com/bearinabubble

Ute,

I have the same guitar except mine is a 2008 model. Real nice guitar. Not the resonance or round low end like a Martin but a beautiful bright and shiny top end. Great for cutting through a mix.

Gary

I've never played a Taylor Big Baby but I do have a Taylor 314CE myself. It's the one guitar that I would run into the burning house to save - it's fantastic. Every note on every string at every fret sounds crystal clear. Before I bought it, I had a long discussion with a guitar teacher friend of mine about why Martin guitars are so popular but came to the conclusion that there's just so much snobbery about the whole thing. But the Taylor was a dream to play from day one. Did I mention that I like Taylor guitars (I'm with Ron)?

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All progress is made by unreasonable men.

http://www.howardgardener.co.uk/

Hey Gary - how was New Jersey?

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All progress is made by unreasonable men.

http://www.howardgardener.co.uk/

I love my 314CE. In fact, I think I love it more than my 415. I've often though of selling the 415, but I do love that Jumbo look. The 355 is mine for keeps. Best sounding 12 string ever!

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GSMUSIC: Hey RZ, Im not no upper class american, the gear I own is what I have special to me. My car sucks, my house sucks, my nieghborhood sucks. Does yours RZ? Does it?

rz-land

I fly out there on Saturday. Mom should be released from the hospital tomorrow. I'll be there thru Friday next week.

Mom is doing much better. 35 lbs of fluid weight loss in one week. She's real tired and week but no more pain and they seem to have her stable.

Gary

Hi Gary,

Did not now your mom is ill. I hope she recovers soon.

_________________
In a minute it might be gone. Life is a bear in a bubble.

http://www.soundclick.com/bearinabubble

_________________
GSMUSIC: Hey RZ, Im not no upper class american, the gear I own is what I have special to me. My car sucks, my house sucks, my nieghborhood sucks. Does yours RZ? Does it?

rz-land

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it's funny, the older you get, the older you wanna be

In the end, I did not buy any of the three options I listed. I bought a Maton EML/6. It is an all-natural timber 3/4 size Australian guitar (not to be confused with Martin) & included a pick-up & hard case. 900 Smackas aint cheap, but I am relatively pleased. Strangely (to me), it comes with 12 guage strings - the guy in the shop advised not to use anything lighter (they buzz a lot, aparently). Although my fingers are sore, the strings don't feel like 12's.

I have posted a rough take on Dirk's challenge page. The Maton was recorded using a single condenser mic, no effects/dynamics/EQ. Clearly, I have a lot of experimenting to do on mic placement & will also try multiple micing & using some direct input. I have a feeling that multiple mics and/or a direct/mic mix will give good results.

The recording did not really capture the sound of the guitar, which is OK, given the size. However, it IS easy to play & I am happy with it. Still, quite a bit if fiddling to be done yet.

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Life's a shit sandwich. The more bread your have, the less shit you have to eat.

Maton guitars are what Tommy Emmanuel uses so you,re in good company - and I think Neil Finn of Crowded House too.

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All progress is made by unreasonable men.

http://www.howardgardener.co.uk/

The Cheapest Maton i can find here is 1.333,00 (Euro). It's a EM 225C. I might as well buy the Martin which, i must say is still aikin in the back of my head. Sounds and plays like a dream as i said. I think i'm gona look at some washburns this weekend if i can get away for a couple of hours ...

Congrats on the purchase.

_________________
In a minute it might be gone. Life is a bear in a bubble.

http://www.soundclick.com/bearinabubble