It’s not like Shawn needs all the nice guitars… I mean, he doesn’t have four arms. He ought to share 
So I walk into the guitar store
— Begin quote from "mreisz"
It’s not like Shawn needs all the nice guitars… I mean, he doesn’t have four arms. He ought to share
— End quote
Haha, I hear ya Mike. These are definately better guitars than I am a player. I am basically moving (money) from one hobby to another now that I have a great place to learn from. I spend way more time playing these days and I love it. My playing has improved here over the last year and a half more than it has in the previous 10.
Welder- I had a Taylor 414 for years as my only acoustic and I loved that thing. I thought it was the best guitar in the world. Then I started looking at a bunch of guitar forums and seeing what all is out there. That is a bad idea. I think I can talk myself into buying almost anything. I need a Dread for this, an OM for that, a Rosewood guitar and a Mahogany guitar. It can be an addiction and a distraction to what really counts. Making music. Acoustic guitars are almost like art to me, I love everything about 'em.
One thing I like about Taylor guitars is that they play great.
Hey that addiction is serious and can cost lot’s of money! I found myself some days spending more time on the computer looking at guitars than playing guitars, so I finally realized the error of my ways and quit doing that…one guitar I never see mentioned here is Eastman, ya I know Made In China, but I need to tell you these are great guitars. I presently have a e8om and have had it for a year and it sounds as good as most of the high end ones I have played lately. Scott Nygard reviews one on Acoustic Guitar and was impressed as well. The playability on mine was spot on out of the box and it even has herringbone trim. When I play a guitar like this at 800.00 it’s amazing. I just looked at a sunburst dread with 1 3/4 nut herringbone rosewood with a adi top for 1160.00 at Sound Pure an amazing instrument for the money! I might also add the nitro finish’s are flawless.
OK Silence, did I violate the site by mentioning a Chinese guitar??? Anyway I notice Ben uses a Eastman mandolin. Jerry
I don’t think there is silence due to mentioning Chinese guitars. They have quite a few fans on here. I played an interesting guitar yesterday. A Recording King that was built like an old gibson L 00. It was a 13 fret guitar. Apparently it was modeled after one Dylan owned or owns. It had a very nice tone to it.
— Begin quote from "Jerry M"
OK Silence, did I violate the site by mentioning a Chinese guitar??? Anyway I notice Ben uses a Eastman mandolin. Jerry
— End quote
Haha, no! I think I’ve played one Eastman Om and I liked it. I would love to try an E20D, but the last thing I need now is another guitar. You’re killin’ me Jerry. 
I think there has been some discussion here about Eastman. I know it was mentioned in the Zeb Snyder thread (still haven’t figured out what kind of guitar that is). I’ve never heard a bad word about Eastman.
HEY GUYS I DID IT!!! Finally got a new guitar, gitfiddel, gitter, whatever, been looking for months and spending enough time at the store to drive the poor guys nuts looking at Bourgeois, Collings, Martin etc. and yesterday I was pretty much set on a Collings D2h dread but told them I wanted to ponder the separation anxiety I would suffer over the 4225.00, man that’s a lot of bread and it takes me forever to save on fixed income being retired and all…
SOOOOOOOOOOOOOO I WALK INTO GUITAR CENTER, in Eugene a place I normally avoid as the acoustic room usually resembles the rec hall at the nut house, but I was passing by on the way home anyway, went in to check out the Martins and Taylors thinking about the 4200 bucks I was considering laying out, and no one was in there, wow now a quiet day at GC here is rare, but nice, went into the acoustic room and sitting on a stand all by it’s lonesome is a 2009 Guild D55 antique burst, it caught my eye and when I picked it up and tried it OMG what a beautiful guitar and mint unplayed condition. As I’m trying it out the guy comes in and tells me the fellow who traded it in does so on a regular basis says he’s in every month buying more and never even plays them! Gets bored with them and returns again and again buying and trading. He came in Thurs. and traded this Guild in. Well not knowing anything about them I left it there was late in the day and went home to look it up. $3795.00 new holy cow, they had it marked 1699.00, so I called back this morning first thing,yes we still have it and we will hold it for you to get here, and put on some fresh strings for you as well as the ones on it are definitely old.
So I drive the 70 miles there walk in and fall in love! man what a nice guitar and they give me 450.00 for my old Eastman OM and out the door I go for 1250.00 and the case is tweed plush lined with the original book and papers inside. This guitar was made in 09 and has wonderful straight grain rosewood with the strip down the back siika top , bone bridge and pins, two saddles of different height and I am a happy feller…
Wanted to share with you guys it’s been a good day here in Oregon, not good weather but good for guitar! Jerry
By the way I will post some pics if I can figure out how you do that on here…Jerry
Hope these show up don’t know if I did it right…
One more
Now I know why I never made it as a photographer sorry for the lousy shots…Jerry
Congrats Jerry!!! Those are awesome guitars. I reckon an '09 would be New Hartford made? I had an '03 Corona D55 (supposedly the bad years), and it was one of the best guitars I’ve ever had.
I like the pickgaurd on yours and the 'burst is great! I have only seen those tuners on high end Gibson’s (J-200’s). Wonder if those are stock?
Bad picture of my old 'un. It wasn’t purple. 
http://i596.photobucket.com/albums/tt45/90RCnTN/Picture051.jpg
Congrats Jerry! I like the sunburst.
Yes guys this is from New Hartford Ct, I assume the tuners are stock but don’t know for sure, they are Grover, the book I have is from 2010 and shows different ones but this is an 09 so can’t say. I do know the string spacing seems a little narrower than my old one and a 25.5 neck vs. 25 but I am seeming to get around on it ok so far but different for sure. The nut measures 1 3/4 and 2 3/16. Seems I fret better and I know one thing for sure this has sustain forever and really clear sounding notes my old one I never realized got a little dead at times.
hey guys my new guitar didn’t last long, after Shawn mentioned the tuners I took a close look under good light and he’s right they are not stock, changed out to Grover Rotomatics from the original Gotoh open backs, I then could see at the top of each one a filled hole on the back of the headstock, and noticed the guitar was a little neck heavy after playing standing up for an hour, so I weighed it and it came in at almost 6lbs. Started the search for the original tuners and found them but to change back and redo everything is over 200 bucks, then the luthier told me the pins had been changed over as well from the orig. bone. So I put it in the car and drove over to guitar center and returned it, they claim no knowledge of course but didn’t argue and gave me a full refund, so that’s the end of that tune…Just goes to show when your not fully aware of all these things you can get hurt. I also noticed after playing it for three days I will NEVER get used to a 1&11/16 nut width, I tried and tried for hours on end, it got better but never like it was with my 1 3/4 on my old guitar, which I now have back as I asked and they had not put it out yet, thankfully.
So that’s my sad story and I’m sticking to it. :mrgreen: feel a little stupid over the whole thing but live and learn? 
Now I am back to square one, looking for an American made guitar, played the Collings Loved the dread, played the Bourgeois liked the dread, and played a Santa Cruz liked it as well but all three give me indigestion just thinking about the price, so I am going to concentrate on a Martin, traditional sound that I love and more reasonable in price. The only thing is they are all the 1 11/16 nut widths,But wait, a D28P is 1 3/4 and has the new neck shape.
I called Sweetwater and they have them in stock as well as the D 18 which also has the 1 3/4 nut, finally someone listened to us fat fingered guys and I won’t have a dead first string on C…it’s not my hand position either tried every conceivable way to play and my first finger will not fit on the first fret B string without damping the E…a problem I have had for years on narrow necks. The Guild was especially narrow and made it worse.
So now I have two great guitars to pick from the D18 and the D28 and I can only have one???any ideas???Shawn I know you have both and you seem to like both but your 28 has the narrow nut I would assume?
Unfortunately there is No Place in Oregon that has either naturally,my luck, weird thing is Guitar Cntr. doesn’t even stock them here, no 18’ at all and only regular 28s. So I guess I am going to have to rely on mailorder which I hate but Sweetwater does have HR photos and several to choose from and seems willing to do live comps over the phone, have any of you guys done business with them? By the way Happy Turkey Day
Jerry
If I were looking for the parameters you indicate, I would find a new spec D-18 to play. They have much of what you are looking for, and in an American made guitar, it’s a good price point. One of the reasons I suggest trying one is that the neck profile is relatively new. I like it very much, but everyone has different tastes. Do be careful about buying a “2012” D18. I have played some listed as such that were not the new spec guitars. I don’t remember the starting serial of the new spec, but a call to Martin would give you that.
When I bought my D-18GE, one of the biggest factors was the 1 3/4" neck. If the new spec 18 was out when I made that purchase, I might well have just bought one of those. With all that said, the GE’s are pretty nice guitars. I liked all that I have played, and a few of them have been rather special.
As far as rosewood versus mahogany… that’s a tough call and I think there is not a right answer. I like them both for different reasons.
If purchasing via mail, I would consider buying from a smaller guitar shop like Elderly, Gryphon or Gruhn (there are many others). Sweetwater might be a good place too, but my impression is that it is a big box place. I have bought 4 guitars from Gruhn without seeing them, and they have always picked well and represented well what I was getting. The point is, I like having a knowledgeable picker on the other end of the phone who can evaluate the instrument for me. I have been talked out of multiple instruments I have called about.
Another option is talk to Guitar Center. Maybe they can get a couple options into the store for you to try out. You never know until you ask.
For what it’s worth, I get better pricing from many of the little shops than I do from the big box places.
Thanks Mike, talked to GC but they will only order prepaid and no return on special orders, that’s when I called Sweetwater and they beat GC’s price by another 50 dollars and free shipping. They have three 28’s in stock to choose from as well as the new 18’ they just got in. Tough decision they have a 30 day return so that is good. Right now I am trying to decide kind of bummed the Guild didn’t work out but I can only afford one so it’s gotta be right. Have a great Holiday…Jerry
Hey Jerry,
I went to check out the Sweetwater listing for the D18 (new.gruhn.com/Inventory.aspx?Cat=aaab). If you call Gruhn, talk to Glenn or Billy. I usually end up with Billy, but they are both very helpful. The new 18s are pretty hard to keep in stock so no one is going to take a loss on it (and they may even run at a premium compared to other models), but I would take the time to ask around. Shipping from Nashville usually runs me like $50. I have literally tried out a guitar in Nashville and then later ordered by phone as shipping was much cheaper than TN state taxes. I am not trying to push Gruhn’s, but I don’t want you spending more than you need to and they have always taken good care of me.
Have a great Thanksgiving,