"Cheap Boutique" NGD!

[mediocreplayer]

Long post alert!

tl;dr: I bought an incredible acoustic guitar. Honeymoon or not, this is just an exceptional instrument. Sure, I might end up selling it in 6 months or 5 years or whatever because we all have that affliction, but there will never be any doubt that this brand makes some of the best affordable guitars in the world today.

A few hints:

- New brand, has been around for five years. Associated luthiers have been around for longer.
- "Cheap boutique" is how I would describe it (this was $2.5k new, so "cheap" is used in a relative sense)
- One of the more controversial headstocks in recent memory

They have several designs. The one I bought is modeled after an iconic guitar, but with a few notable modifications. Importantly, it doesn't sound like the iconic guitar -- it sounds better (and is cheaper)!

You can stop reading here. The rest is a detailed account of the many guitars I played last weekend. But I have a summary of that too: I played a ton of guitars. Martin failed to impress. Gibson was better. Guild was (surprisingly) the best.
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Appendix

Backstory: I had planned for a while on buying a standard series 18 Martin, but was debating the body shape. I gravitate towards smaller guitars but I had been thinking about the D-18 for a while.

I went to Chicago to see Nick Cave last weekend. I stopped by Chicago Music Exchange and played ALL THE GUITARS.

I followed my plan and started by playing a bunch of Martin 18s, ranging from the smallest O size to the D-18. They were okay. I didn't really feel strongly one way or another.

Then I played a guitar from a new maker that is modeled after another iconic instrument. Incredible. Everything I want in a guitar. CME had many new and used examples of the iconic model itself, and they sounded good, but this guitar was better than all of them and cheaper than most of them.

I didn't want to make a rash decision so I went back home and mulled it over for a bit. I ended up ordering a simpler version of the guitar I liked from another retalier.

Here is a rundown of what I played:

Martin:

- D-18 Standard: it was just...boring? For many people, this is *the* guitar. It felt cumbersome to hold and the sound was not exciting. I've owned Martins and love their sound, so one (very likely wrong) theory is that as I grow older and lose high frequencies in my hearing Martins just sound a bit too dark.

- D-18 Modern Deluxe: Better, more definition and clarity. Amazing neck -- vintage but without heft. Looks awesome save for the gold (which should not be on any guitar). I even loved the gimmicks (liquid metal bridge pins etc.) Very light compared to the standard D-18.

- 000-18 Modern Deluxe: Same as above with the addition of a more manageable body size. Great guitar but too expensive.

- D-28 Modern Deluxe: The best Martin I played that day. I don't care for rosewood, especially on the already-bassy Martins, but this guitar was great and alive (but not as alive as the guitar I fell in love with).

Guild:

- D-20: Guild makes two versions of this model. The "plain" one, and the Traditional one. The fundamental difference is the neck attachment, the plain one has an MT neck (think Taylor) vs. dovetail neck (Martin or Gibson) on the more expensive traditional version. I played the MT neck one. It was easily better than the standard D-18. I was both shocked and pleased. It's signficantly cheaper but sounds and plays better, and has the standard 1 11/16" nutwidth that dreadnoughts should come with. None of this 1 3/4" shit. If you want a wider nut do not play a dreadnought ("Tshirt idea" in Michael Scott voice).

- F-40: uhhh...what is going on with Guild? This is also a great guitar (again, this was the cheaper non-traditional version). I am not a jumbo guitar guy but this was nice albeit not as nice as the D-40.

- M-40: Guild WTF. Every one of these guitars was better than any standard series Martin. This one, apparently no longer in production, was so lovely.

I was under the impression Guild is still owned by Fender. Turns out they were bought by Cordoba? Cordoba knows what they are doing. These are great guitars.

Gibson:

- J45 Standard: Sounds and plays better than all the Martin 18 series I tried. The Modern Deluxes might be better but are significantly more expensive with the boxier body shape that I don't favor.

- J45 50s faded: I am a satin finish guy so this immediately appealed to me. Not a fan of the fat neck so I put it back quickly.

- J-45 Expensive: Dont remember the exact model -- it's Gibson's version of the Martin Authenitcs, maybe Banner? Fancy guitar with an incredible fat neck. No thanks. Standard J-45 sounded better to me on that day at least.

- Assorted small-bodied Gibsons: These guitars are made for music that I do not play, bluesy folk that works best with the dry sound a guitar like an L-00 produces.

I played a few more but that is enough of a rundown. My subjective summary would be if you want a great acoustic MIA guitar buy Guild. If you want the best guitar you can buy on today's market in the $2.5k range, buy the guitar I bought

[marqueemoon]

I immediately thought of Breedlove for the uggo headstock, but that’s an older brand.

[mediocreplayer]

I have always loved American-made Breedlove guitars; the early revival series was absolutely amazing. But yeah the new guitar is a much recent brand.

[marqueemoon]

I can’t even think of an acoustic brand that recent.

Interested to see what it is.

At some point I’d like to get a modern acoustic that intonates properly, etc…

[Embenny]

My first guess would be Avian guitars, but they're hyper-modern in design and all those cross-shopped models you mentioned are squarely in the traditional camp, so it would be a bit out of left field.

[Telliot]

Hmmm…Iris?

[F15hface]

- One of the more controversial headstocks in recent memory

Someone put an early AVII Jazzmaster neck on an acoustic?
No clue but interested to see what the real answer is.

[mediocreplayer]

Hmmm…Iris?

You got it!

It’s an Iris DF (after Dale Fairbanks — Iris’s co-founder and master builder of Gibson-esque guitars).

Extremely light. Super loud yet so articulate. Fingerpicking Leonard Cohen tunes is great, banging Neil Young songs is fantastic. The understated aesthetic (satin, open pore) is what I look for in any of my guitars. I never cared for sunburst but these guys know how to do it right.

I’m so in love!

[mediocreplayer]

My first guess would be Avian guitars, but they're hyper-modern in design and all those cross-shopped models you mentioned are squarely in the traditional camp, so it would be a bit out of left field.

Never heard of this brand before — I’m no traditionalist so this has me very intrigued!

[Telliot]

Very nice! I’m a big fan of Iris guitars (although if I ever get one it will be the 12-fret, slotted headstock model). Congrats, that’s a great purchase!!

[Flurko]

I like this headstock! I feared some more pointy contraption when you said it was controversial, but it fits well with the traditional style.

[Maggieo]

Congrats! I played a DFe type Iris and it was fantastic. Here:

[Embenny]

My first guess would be Avian guitars, but they're hyper-modern in design and all those cross-shopped models you mentioned are squarely in the traditional camp, so it would be a bit out of left field.

Never heard of this brand before — I’m no traditionalist so this has me very intrigued!

Congrats, that guitar looks great.

Avian's models were designed by Michael Bashkin and Harry Fleishman, but are made in China, and incorporate things like soundports, beveled "scoopaways" (instead of cutaways), and off-center soundholes depending on the model.

In order of increasing uniqueness, they have the Songbird:


The Dove:


And the Skylark, which is what I picture when I think of their guitars:


I think they might have started with the Skylark and then worked their way back toward less radical designs, because they seem less wild as a company than the image I had in my mind.

But, in fairness, they also used to do some crazier stuff on the other models, like multi-scale fanned frets. I thought they did scoopaways instead of cutaways on the Songbird, too.

Oh! My memory didn't fail me. That model did have that, before. It looks more like a Taylor now. This is how it used to look:



Fanned frets, scoopaway, and carved arm rest. I guess they scaled it back to a more conventional design over time, and left the Skylark as the only "hyper-modern" design.

Actually, scratch that. Looking at their site, the Songbird can still be ordered with the arm rest and fanned frets. It just lost the scoopaway. They basically started out as "Bashkins on a budget," as Michael is one of the preeminent modern luthiers of the 21st century but his prices are stratospheric (current base price starting at $11.2k USD).

[Larry Mal]

Hey, there you go! Nice guitar. I actually had seen this thread and earmarked it.

They look like great guitars, and I listened to some demos, sound wonderful. I was actually wondering if this guitar used the standard modern Gibson bracing or the "advanced" bracing like they were doing on the J-35s and the short lived J-29, and, of course, the Advanced Jumbo.

This video will show you the difference.

The difference in sound is very much, the advanced bracing brought out a lot more treble in my opinion. Other people have commented that it has more bass, I haven't found that.

I wonder which one your has, I would guess it's got the modern bracing, which I tend to prefer, then again, I do own a J-29 I was just playing yesterday and a J-35 I never should have sold. The J-35 was bright, metallic, and absolutely killed when put in front of a microphone. The J-29 I am always back and forth with, even offering it for a trade for a Les Paul Deluxe that was rudely refused. But then I started playing it last night and realize that it really is a great guitar and I wouldn't easily be able to trade it for anything better.

Anyway I notice your guitar has the Adirondack spruce bracing, that's something modern Guild is doing also, the idea is that Adirondack is stronger than Sitka spruce and so you can get away with less of it. I'm not convinced that isn't marketing but hey- why not. It's a fun talking point.

I have to say I very much like 1.75" nut widths more, but that's all just preference, I bet we see more and more guitar makers move that way now that Martin has, though. Gibson always claims to have a 1.725" width, which I guess is them splitting the difference, in reality though the widths are usually wider than that. But I'm glad you found a neck you like- if you get inspired to get one of those Guilds you liked, they almost always have the narrower nut widths there.

Anyway, Iris! Congratulations.