What I Wish I Knew Before I Bought an Acoustic Guitar

Thanks to Chris Alvarado from @DriftwoodGuitars for joining me today, here are some of my favorite videos from their channel:

Thanks to @sweetwater for sponsoring today's video, heres some links to a few acoustic guitars I think are great places to start (affiliate links)

Yamaha FG820 Dreadnought $299

Eastman PSH1-OM $349

Taylor "Baby Taylor" Walnut $549

Yamaha LS6M ARE Concert $509

Eastman E1D Special $779

Yamaha LL16M ARE Original Jumbo $799

Martin GPC-11E Road Series $1,099

Taylor 214CE Plus $1,399

My Most Popular Courses

🎸 Fretboard Fundamentals Bundle:

🎸 The CAGED Course:

🎸 Barebones Guitar Theory:

🎸 Breaking Out Of the Pentatonic Box:

My Favorite Gear (affiliate links)

Line 6 HX Effects

Neural DSP Quad Cortex

Zoom H6

Shure SM57

0:00 Intro
1:05 Don't buy what looks good, buy what sounds good
2:16 Body Size and Shape
3:12 The right body shape for your playing style
4:22 Acoustic setup's are important
5:58 The neck reset problem
7:01 Sweetwater AD
7:45 Humidity and maintenance
9:50 Which brands are best?
12:13 Outro

Sennheiser MD 421-II

AEA R92

Sennheiser MKH 50

Universal Audio Apollo x8p

Want to get in touch?

[WillHammerhead]

Something worth mentioning about neck resets and Taylors. If you are the original owner of the guitar, it is under a lifetime warranty. The necks are bolt-on and use neck shims to get the right spacing. I literally got a neck reset done yesterday. Work was really simple, and it was free through the warranty service.

[gtr]

In the late 60's - early 70's I was an apprentice at a guitar shop. The owner bought 18 Martins at a time. My job on Saturdays was to 'voice them' partially by cleaning all the glue squeeze out inside the box from braces, and everything else. The luthier would then further voice them by trimming braces. After that, they rated each one, and priced them by how they sounded. I learned a lot about wood, construction and tuning. 8) Peace --gary

[alexschlessman]

Love the thumbnail puzzled face Rhett. Keep up the good optimization

[divindave]

My very first guitar was a Christmas gift from my parents. It was cheap cheap chap and today I wouldn't even call it a real guitar. They got it at a department store and I swear, looking back on it, the action had to be 1/4 inch. I actually did learn to play a few chords and tunes on it, but it was bad and getting it in tune was a struggle, and as much my fault as the guitar! That was 1971. In 1974, I bought my 1st " real " guitar, it was a CF Mountain lawsuit copy of a Martin D-35 and actually is a halfway decent guitar. I put it on layaway at the music store and it took me a few months to pay off the 165.00 price that it cost me. Every couple of weeks when I would go to the store to make a payment, Mr Buzz wold let me play the guitar for a little while. I vividly remember paying off the layaway and finally getting to bring it home with a giant smile on my face. In 1974 I was 16 years old and 165.00 was the next thing to a fortune for me. I still have that guitar, it needs a new nut and saddle and who knows what else, but its my favorite for sentimental reasons. It's been hanging on the wall in m living room for almost 30 years. Im looking at it right now. I just might take it to my repairman and get the oil changed and the tire aired up... man the memories of a young me wild as hell, playing that guitar in danky bars, pool halls and back porches are flooding back on wow.

[kingbryn]

I picked up a 2004 Taylor 110 about a year ago. Did some minor maintenance on it and it’s been my #1 ever since. Granted I don’t have any other good acoustics but man, it has that “it” quality! Definitely see how they treat the craftsmanship the same as their higher end guitars. My uncle has a couple really nice…read expensive…Taylors. Everyone else I’ve let play it is amazed at how little I paid for it. Very solid build quality. I expect it to outlive me. Great video. Cheers Rhett!

[TheWhiskeyCowboyLife]

Buying the wrong guitar is a killer for learning and then continuing to play. What many "think" they want or need, isn't really what is best for their actual use. I thought since I am a big guy, and a "cowboy", I needed a dreadnaught. And I thought I wanted and needed a Martin dreadnaught. I could not afford one, so went with a Fender dreadnaught. It worked fine, but since I am NOT a bluegrass player, or a "strummer" in general, it was just not really the "right" guitar for me. And then when I played a couple Martins, I just didn't like their neck profiles. Thus.. .Taylor. I don't like how Taylors sound when strummed hard (over driven), or for bluegrass type applications, but for finger style and modest flat picking... there you go! The body shape is amazing, and the neck is wonderful. And you will get that with almost all Taylors. But the sound and type of playing you TRULY want, and do, matters. There are others now that offer a similar experience, and if you glanced at them you would think they ARE a Taylor (but are not), so whether you actually get a Taylor or not isn't the point. What makes a Taylor what it is, is what matters. And like I said, depending on your body size, your intended use, and other factors, you may gravitate to some OTHER size, shape, or manufacturer of guitars. It's AWESOME that we get so many options though. But getting the right guitar is so important. Cheers!

[Madmanmarque]

I've been a luthier for over 30 years and this is a brilliant video! I agree with everything Mr. Alvarado has said.

[eddydorr]

I got a neck reset done on my old Martin 12 string. It's a mid 70s. It cost me around $400 - $500 a couple of years ago. It was a huge difference. The luthier had to replace the entire bridge too since it was filed way down. It plays way better now!

[konradhof]

A cool thing about Taylor guitars is the non-traditional neck attachment. To reset the neck you can unscrew it and insert shims.

[lhvent]

It took me years to find my favorite guitars. It started in 2020 at the height of the pandemic. I bought a Yamaha FG830. Wow, what an ah ah moment. I had turned 65, having played since I was 11 years old. I have since purchased a Yamaha LL6M A.R.E. as well as an LS6. Yamaha does it for me as well as my Alvarez AD66SHB.

[garthstrydom]

Before doing a neck reset you should look at a belly bulge reduction, it's way less invasive and fixes the main issue of the top being "pulled up" resulting in a bulge, which raises the bridge. With the top flat again there is no need for a neck reset. I've had it done on 2 of my 50+ year old Yamahas.

[donrepcon]

I bought a high end dreadnought Takamine from a pawn shop about 35 years ago. It had huge projection and the sound would fill a room. Best $100 I ever spent! Four years ago we had a house fire and that guitar got heat, smoke and water damaged. Wound up with a small hairline crack from the sound hole down to the bottom, right in the center. Now that guitar sounds better than it ever had before and I wouldn't have thought that was possible. You never know.

[telecopter]

As a kid I only had an acoustic. I'd been playing 3 years+ before getting an electric. I used to go busking & figured out that after a certain point, strumming harder makes the guitar quieter. It just becomes a percussion instrument. I also figured that the angle of the pick & where you strum drastically effects the tone of an acoustic. These are things that are often ignored by most electric players who just dabble with acoustic when required. Add a piezo system to the mix & these factors become super important. If you take time to find out how an acoustic responds to these variables & alter your playing to suit the instrument, even cheap acoustics can sound really good. Even laminate/hardwood tops. First acoustic was an Eko Ranger 12 string. Boot camp for tendons...

[jackprice]

Rhett I don't think I've ever heard you finger pick especially with a little Chet style. Love it! Great video. He's absolutely right. With acoustics you really need to know what you want in terms of tone, volume, and these days, pickup systems. I have a Taylor 810CE which is 20 years old and I still use and love. Your Taylor sounds incredible to me.

[pdxbohica]

I've had my 1967 Guild F-47 for 45 years. Only have had to get the frets dressed, stays in tune, all original. Going to pass it on to my grandnephew when I'm gone. Guilds are one of the most under appreciated guitars IMHO.

[jimross]

I knew someone that had a Driftwood guitar and got to play it. While it was a beautiful instrument and sounded great I could never afford $10k+. I ended up buying a J-45 and a Furch Vintage 2 OM. The Furch is a great example of a small body guitar with a big sound. The J-45 is a mahogany guitar and the Furch is rosewood.

[jamesc]

I’m incredibly lucky to have two great acoustics. A 1930 12-fret Gibson L1 flattop that used to belong to my great-grandmother, and a handmade OM-18-style guitar I got in 2017 from a local builder, Johnny Rushing, who lives about 20-30 minutes down the road from me.

Johnny insists he’s a “guitar guy” as opposed to a “luthier”—he says “If anybody asks me if I’m a luthier, I tell ‘em no, I’m a Baptist.” When I was searching for a backup to my Great-Granny’s old Gibson (since it’s an irreplaceable family heirloom I don’t take it anywhere), I tried a ton of high end Martin, Larrivée, Bourgeois, Huss and Dalton, Collings, all amazing instruments but not quite what I was after…then I ended up in Johnny’s workshop, strummed a few chords on the OM-alike, and paid him on the spot.

One of these days Johnny might eventually convince me to buy a dreadnought or a superjumbo off him (or his brother Jimmy, an equally-talented builder who lives about 45 minutes down the road from me in the other direction from Johnny), and I wouldn’t mind finding a decent 12-string somewhere, but otherwise I’m out of the market, not even looking at anything else. I’m always jonesing for another electric, trying out this that and the other, trading and buying and selling, but as to 6-string acoustics, I’m pretty much satisfied.

[rudolphpyatt]

The OM was built for strumming, actually; it’s right there in the name: OM stands for “Orchestra Model, ” and the guitar was designed as a direct competitor to the Gibson L5 for Big Band “orchestra” use at the behest of Perry Bechtel, who felt the L5 sounded too harsh. And it is a great instrument for strumming (as is a 000).

[robertdablemont]

My first acoustic I bought was in 1979 and it was a Takamine 360 EFS. Still have it today and it plays beautifully. My next was a Taylor 310, a Ibanez PF 5-12, and now a Taylor Mini Koa.

[jakobmorningstar]

Gotta do the neck reset on the Taka-martin