Then one day I walked into Sam Ash and they had two Gibson acoustics hanging there I had never seen, a new model called the HP-415w. One was used in mint condition and priced about $100 less than the new one. It also had two cool looking nature stripes in the wood on the top that made it stand out all the way across the room. It played nice, sounded nice and was quite affordable for a Gibson. I bought it. I finally had myself a Gibson. Of course it saw a lot of play in the following months after I got it. The weakness is the bottom end, it just does not have the punch I like, especiallyh in Drip D tuning. Then Stevebway got me all GAS'd up over parlor guitars. I ended up with four of them before the GAS subsided.
Amongst the parlors were/are a Tak New Yorker which I still have and it exquisite in every way but it is quite bright. One was a Martin with HPL sides that was awful and I got rid of it after a short period. Two Taylors in the group, a KOA mini and an Academy 10E. Both are very nice and I still have both. The Academy has seen a lot of gig play and is a workhorse. It is actually almost full size. The mini is a great player but is also a little bright for my taste. I can amp up the mini or the Tak NY and EQ them to my liking though. Two others were a PRS and another Martin Dreadnaught Junior all mahogany. The PRS sounded like ass unplugged but was decent amped up. I sold it recently. The jewel of the bunch is the mahogany Martin.
I found myself going back to the Martin and finally it became all I played at home. I started to realize that I really like the sound of a mahogany acoustic. The ringing overtones are not there. It is so much more mellow and warm than even my old Tak with the cedar top. So I started on a quest to find a full size mahogany acoustic electric for gigging. The Taylor Academy is great but it uses those 1032 batteries and I have really come to hate them. They die quickly and they are a bitch to get out of a package. I had to start buying them in bulk at Sam's and carrying a little pair of scissors with me to get the damn things open. BTW the Masterbilt uses them too. I have also noticed the new Academy models now use 9V batteries. I am tempted to sell mine and get another one that uses the 9V. That is just crazy talk.
During my search I listened to a review on youtube of the new Martin all mahogany SC 10E. It is a strange bird indeed. The shape is completely different for a Martin and it has a bolt on neck that can be finely adjusted to play like silk. The reviewers raved about it and called it a real gigging artist dream guitar. I was looking at all the Martin mahogany models especially the Streetmaster models. I also was looking hard and some very interesting offerings by Breedlove. With Black Friday upon us I knew GC would be stocked up so I made my way down there Saturday. Sure enough they were chocked full of all brands even a bunch of Breedlove exotic wood models. I must have played at least 25 different guitars and in the end I walked out with a Martin SC 10E. I would have never thought about owning a bolt on neck acoustic but I have to admit it claimed me. I kept going back to it over and over after playing the others and it was the one. It has that mellow or as some call it "darker" tone like my Martin Junior that I have come to love. It runs off of a 9V too! I think I have found my gigging guitar for quite some time to come.
