Been a good week, a very good week.
Yes, went to Llandudno yesterday to see if I could try out a Freshman, in the flesh as it were. Disappointingly, they didn't have a folk body in stock, and they are unlikely to in the near future. The guy I spoke to said something which made sense at the time, but I can only be vague in explaining it; the folk shape on 12-strings is rather weak and he reckons that they couldn't quite get the strength/sound balance right. I did try out it's bigger sister though...and she sounded absolutely gorgeous. It was about £100 more than I wanted to pay, I'm not 100% happy with the machine heads and shape of the body, and it only has a pickup, not an inbuilt tuner as well. SOH (who was set on me buying an Ovation or another Epiphone) said I was mad to walk away for very minor reasons - the sound he said, is all important, and he was impressed. Guy in the shop was very keen to make a sale; offering £50 off of it, or the guitar plus a case for the listed price. Again, SOH said I should have ripped his arm off :-)
I'm thinking it over for at least a week, I think I may try another music shop, but perhaps be not quite so picky on the "model", just be clear in my head what I do want from it. It will be with me, I hope, for a long, long time, I want it to be right.
Practice went very well last night. There are 6 lined up for this week, but we seem to be confident, so one less thing to worry about. Not that I worry about stuff. Oh no. :-)
And another working week ends, sunny, very very hot, but here's to a blessed weekend, wherever you are.
Hi again... I've always found music shops will drop 20% quite readily. Be clear what you want your new guitar for... is it a working instrument or primarily for personal pleasure? My last purchase I sat with my current Ovation and it's fancy electronics on one side and a beautiful sounding but basically acoustic Taylor on the other. I wanted a stage guitar. On anther occasion though my daughter chose a Taylor and she lives with the more natural sound when amplified quite happily. Remember acoustic pickups have more potential for feed-back compared with under bridge dedicated factory fitted pickups.
ReplyDeleteThanks for that David, v good advice I'll bear in mind.
ReplyDeleteJust thinking again... before you buy be aware of the weight if you have to stand a lot. That's why I like plastic backs. And I've always forgotten to take proper note of the neck thickness and width which affects bar chords and finger speed as much as string height.
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