Chris' Guitars - Acoustics - Martin, Taylor, Takamine, Guild, Breedlove, new used guitars vintage guitars

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MISC ACOUSTICS AND AC/ELEC GUITARS

GOOD INFO: A good article on choosing an acoustic guitar. Aimed primarily at beginners but there's a ton of stuff experienced players may not be aware of. Go here for the good read. Thanks for the info Ray!

Accoustic Accessories

1. Bill Lawrence Soundhole Pickup, older model by one of the legends in pickup design. Mounts easily in soundhole with a long cord attached, 1/4" jack, and volume control mounted to pickup. $75.

2. BBE Acoustimax Acoustic Instrument Preamp, (close-up), (back panel). Excellent studio or stage tool to tweak your acoustic tone, while providing BBE processing to your tone. I could write a 500-word essay trying to describe the BBE process but just know that it makes your guitar sound crisper, cleaner, with each note sounding more distinct, while making your guitar "jump" out of the mix if desired. Here's a simple video recorded direct, and with the BBE on, using no EQ'ing, just the BBE. The Acoustimax has a 3-band recording-console-quality EQ with sweepable mid and low frequency notch filter, as well as phase reversal, ground lift, line level out, dedicated tuner out, TRS effects loop, and a pre/post switchable DI output with pad. This adds up to a unit that shines in both the studio or stage. This unit lists for $392, selling well discounted to $199. This one's mint in the box for $125.

3. Aphex Acoustic Xciter, (pic2). Excellent sounding acoustic preamp and DI. Doesn't have quite as many features as the Baggs I posted last week but is much more compact and the fidelity is just as good. Features built-in Aphex Aural Exciter with "Big Bottom" technology. Active/Passive switch, Lo Tune - Lo Blend - Hi Tune - Hi Blend controls, 1/4" or XLR outputs. Like other Aphex units, your acoustic voicing will be clean and open, with better articulation, clarity, and projection with the feeling of a fuller reach to the lowest notes. This will probably go to a guitarist but please note that it's made for ANY acoustic instrument including violin, cellos, saxophones, flutes, accordions, xylophones, and keyboards. In Harmony-Central reviews (link), scored a 9.2 overall, 9.4 on sound quality. Click here for a YouTube demo by Tom Bresh on how he sets his Xciter. Perfect condition, not a scratch, but it does have two strips of Velcro on the bottom. Very nice unit for the money, $99.

4. Dean Markley West Coast La Jolla Active Acoustic Guitar Pickup System. Very good sounding complete active unit, with soundhole pickup plus under-saddle transducer, and preamp built into the end-pin jack. The La Jolla Active pickup system perfectly unites the Gold River Accelerator Jack with two world-class pickups, the Dean Markley Tahoe magnetic sound-hole pickup and the Barstow Gold-Plated transducer pickup. The Barstow transducer pickup is connected to a discrete Class A preamp housed inside the Gold River Accelerator Jack. The Tahoe (a passive pickup needing no preamp) is wired to the passive channel of the Gold River, going directly to your amplifier system. This specially designed Gold River Accelerator Jack increases headroom, expands tone and output, and is completely internal. We have several of these in stock which we're using as an affordable mod to transform any of our acoustics. With a list price of $259 but we can install these on any acoustic in stock for $150, including parts and labor.

5. Taylor Prints, original dealer displays. I have the set of 5 (each one different) that I bought around 5 years ago. You can buy them unframed - or I can also include a solid oak frame that I purchased for each one. This was a very successful ad campaign that ran from late '99 with just a subtle reference to the advertiser being a Taylor headstock pictured in the corner. These are very high quality on thick poster stock, 23.5" X 16.5", large enough to be a center piece in your jamming room or den. Email me if you want pics of the 3 that aren't pictured here. Price for a poster and frame is $35 (you cut the mat).

6. Taylor X-12 or X-10 Luggage Case, for your X-12 (312, 512CE, W12, etc.) or X-10 (also available) for your 410, 710, K10, etc.. Very heavy, very plush, and the best protection around for your prized Grand Auditorium size acoustic. Mint condition. $165.

Classical/Flamenco

Acoustics/Acoustic-Electrics

1. B.C. RICH U.S.A. ACOUSTIC - THE ULTIMATE GUITAR FOR THE B.C. RICH COLLECTOR: (Bernie Sr's. Last Guitar), (pic2). More pics and full description at this link: www.chrisguitars.com/bernie.html. Owned by Martin Miranda, my world-class tech, who was a close friend of Bernie and this was the last guitar that Bernie ever built, albeit not quite finished, and he was working on it the very day of his untimely passing. Click the link for a full description and feel free to email Martin Miranda directly at the address on the page.

2. Ibanez Artwood AW20CE, very good quality acoustic electric at a price that's unmatched for a solid spruce top with Fishman system. The AW20CE has an attractive Antique Violin finish, Ibanez/Fishman preamp system, solid Spruce top with maple back and sides. Appointments include multi-ply body binding front and back, maple headstock overlay that matches body, and Venetian cutaway to allow easy access to the upper frets. One really nice appointment is an Earvana nut, usually found on higher end guitars and makes a huge difference on proper intonation. List price is an amazing $499 and sells in stores for $345, but if you can live with a cosmetic flaw that I can't even find, grab this one, fully setup and ready to gig, for just $275.

3. 2010 Martin 000X1AE Acoustic/Electric, (front), (back), (side), (headstock), (controls). I haven't had many of these but I'm impressed by the tone. I find it compares very well to other non-wood bodies. It sounds more natural than an Ovation and even close to a Rainsong, which costs around 4X as much. It's a remarkable flattop for the money. Although it's a solid Spruce top, the sides, back, and neck are high pressure laminate. I wouldn't have though that alternative source guitars would sound so natural; so "woody". The tone is nearly indistinguishable from a mahogany or rosewood body. Similarly, the projection is excellent and even with the smaller auditorium body style it sounds very big and is quite loud. It's very comfortable to play with the scaled down 000-size body, while featuring a full-scale 25.4". Sounds good amplified as well, with control wheels for volume and tone just inside the soundhole. You may have noticed that Martin action has come down over the past few decades and this guitar is no exception. Action is low and comfortable, although it can easily be raised if you do very hard strumming. For the money, this is a hard guitar to beat. Extremely clean shape with no flaws to speak of. You'll see these online at $599. Get this one for just $419. Add a new high quality Gibson Blues King gigbag for $35 (pic).

4. 2014 Martin D-16RGT, (front), (back), (label), (binding), (headstock), (case). Mint condition and a surprisingly superb sounding USA Martin for this price range. It's loud, well-balanced, with excellent clarity and full bass response. The D-16RGTE offers the vintage look of a gloss finish top, but the back and sides have a satin finish, which is less labor-intensive but is actually conducive to better tone. It's nicely appointed with multi-ply top binding, back binding, bound neck, and herringbone rosette. Features include dreadnought body shape, solid East Indian rosewood sides and back with solid Sitka spruce top, solid Spanish cedar neck attached with Martin's fine mortise-and-tenon joint, solid Micarta fingerboard and bridge, modified low oval neck shape, D1 bracing pattern, white Corian nut, 25.4" scale, 1-11/16" nut with, pearl dot inlays, tortoise pickguard, chrome enclosed gears, gloss finish top, satin finish body & neck. I've had around 5 of these in the 000 size which are excellent fingerstyle guitars. This one is equally impressive for its bold, powerful strumming tone. I give it a solid 2 thumbs up. Sold new for $1859 ($2299 list) which makes this a nice deal on a clean used one at $1259(HOLD-Jack W 6/1/22). Offered in immaculate condition with a superb set up. Includes original Martin case, manual, unsigned warranty, etc.