HoboKen
Member
Good points California!
Since getting my ole '67 Martin D-35 back this past year (traded it for a VW to a friend back in '70 and when he passed on last year, I bought it back from his daughter), I've compaired it to a number of newer Martins and it hurts to have to say the Saga Blueridge BR-160 I won two years ago at a local Bluegrass Music Assoc. Picnic came closer to my old D-35 in the quality of woods, tone, etc. than a bunch of newer D-41s, D-45s, & HD-28s. The Br-160 is Chinese all solid wood copy of a pre-war HD-28 that sold two years ago for less than $500 w/arched top hardshell case. I don't know if it just happens to be a one-of-a-kind great guitar, but it even out-did my son's Guild GAD 50.....except for the bottom end tones. There it just matches the GAD 50. A few months ago I saw at GC a regular Martin D-28 that had a sub-par knothole quality spruce top. I could not believe my eyes that a less than "A" level top was on a Martin D-28! And they had it in the glass case area as if it were something special!! No price break on this one either, "after all its a Martin".....at $2200.
I do agree the GADS for the money are a great entry level guitar. Now that the Blueridge BRs are going up so much in price due to the demand out-stripping the supply amongst the Bluegrass folks.
My son likes his GAD 50. And as I told one young man who just made Sgt. with the Army and who will be traveling wolrd-wide with his ax. Finding a left-hand guitar of any quality is hard sometimes. And for the money a GAD 50L is a very good buy. If something happens to it, even with a hardshell case, you will not cry as much as you would to see something happen to say a D-55. He will most likely keep his GAD 50, much like I've kept my Kalamazoo Epi. Texan and later buy a Guild D-55.
Lets see...... I paid new about $500 for My Martin D-35 back in '67, about $365 for my Guild F-212, and $285 for my Epi. FT-79N Texan that year.....all with hardshell cases. Here we are 40 years later and you can still buy an all solid wood guitar of good quality w/hardshell case in about the $500 to $700 range. Granted its not Brazillian rosewood or top quality mahogany like back then, but when you consider what quality back then you could find in a guitar costing 1/5th to 1/4th to 1/3rd the price of a real quality guitar.....well there just were not many to be found back then! If you did find one at that price, most likely it was plywood. I don't mean mahogany, maple or rosewood plyed-wood. I mean pine plywood with a sprayed-on grain finish and a black painted fret board! Can you say "Silvertone" or "Stella" boys and girls! My first real guitar (well after my Gene Autry plastic one and the Stella plywood one) was a Harmony Golden Soverign.......never could get the neck to stay streight.
Oh well, '67 was a good year..... '67 was the year I also bought a prestine '63 Corvette Split-Rear Window Coupe for $2600 total! Oh to have that one back now!
Well, enough of this old geezer's ramblings for one day.
HoboKen
Since getting my ole '67 Martin D-35 back this past year (traded it for a VW to a friend back in '70 and when he passed on last year, I bought it back from his daughter), I've compaired it to a number of newer Martins and it hurts to have to say the Saga Blueridge BR-160 I won two years ago at a local Bluegrass Music Assoc. Picnic came closer to my old D-35 in the quality of woods, tone, etc. than a bunch of newer D-41s, D-45s, & HD-28s. The Br-160 is Chinese all solid wood copy of a pre-war HD-28 that sold two years ago for less than $500 w/arched top hardshell case. I don't know if it just happens to be a one-of-a-kind great guitar, but it even out-did my son's Guild GAD 50.....except for the bottom end tones. There it just matches the GAD 50. A few months ago I saw at GC a regular Martin D-28 that had a sub-par knothole quality spruce top. I could not believe my eyes that a less than "A" level top was on a Martin D-28! And they had it in the glass case area as if it were something special!! No price break on this one either, "after all its a Martin".....at $2200.
I do agree the GADS for the money are a great entry level guitar. Now that the Blueridge BRs are going up so much in price due to the demand out-stripping the supply amongst the Bluegrass folks.
My son likes his GAD 50. And as I told one young man who just made Sgt. with the Army and who will be traveling wolrd-wide with his ax. Finding a left-hand guitar of any quality is hard sometimes. And for the money a GAD 50L is a very good buy. If something happens to it, even with a hardshell case, you will not cry as much as you would to see something happen to say a D-55. He will most likely keep his GAD 50, much like I've kept my Kalamazoo Epi. Texan and later buy a Guild D-55.
Lets see...... I paid new about $500 for My Martin D-35 back in '67, about $365 for my Guild F-212, and $285 for my Epi. FT-79N Texan that year.....all with hardshell cases. Here we are 40 years later and you can still buy an all solid wood guitar of good quality w/hardshell case in about the $500 to $700 range. Granted its not Brazillian rosewood or top quality mahogany like back then, but when you consider what quality back then you could find in a guitar costing 1/5th to 1/4th to 1/3rd the price of a real quality guitar.....well there just were not many to be found back then! If you did find one at that price, most likely it was plywood. I don't mean mahogany, maple or rosewood plyed-wood. I mean pine plywood with a sprayed-on grain finish and a black painted fret board! Can you say "Silvertone" or "Stella" boys and girls! My first real guitar (well after my Gene Autry plastic one and the Stella plywood one) was a Harmony Golden Soverign.......never could get the neck to stay streight.
Oh well, '67 was a good year..... '67 was the year I also bought a prestine '63 Corvette Split-Rear Window Coupe for $2600 total! Oh to have that one back now!
Well, enough of this old geezer's ramblings for one day.
HoboKen