another top 10 list

[evenkeel]

In response to the ten "best" list, here is my list of the ten most "important" acoustic guitars.

#10. Ovation Balladeer. I'm not a big fan of Ovations but they did introduce the whole idea of acoustics made of something other than wood.
#9 Guild Jumbo 12. F-212/412/512. At least for me what a Jumbo 12 should sound like.
#8 Washburn Festival. Seems normal now but in the mid 80's the thin body acoustic electric was pretty revolutionary. Bettencourt's finger picking on "More than Words" made the idea popular.
#7 Gibson L-1. Most often associated with Robert Johnson. The small blues box.
#6 Epiphone Texan FT-79. McCartney used it to record Yesterday.
#5 Harmony Sovereign H1260. A poor mans D-18 but Page put it to good use on the intro to "Stairway to Heaven".
#4 Martin Om/000-28. Going to 14 frets clear with a solid headstock made the "Orchestra Model" the first modern flat top.
#3 Gibson J-200 King of the Flattops.
#2 Martin/Ditson Dreadnought. 1916, the first "dread". Out of that came the D-18 and D-28.
#1 Martin D-45.

[sunvalleylaw]

I am curious EK, I have played a D-45 (for about 10 minutes), and certainly it has been played by many important players, but the D-28 is essentially the same guitar (depending on if it is a HD, HDxx-V, and accounting for scalloping and positioning of bracing etc., but I would hazard was played by many more working musicians than the D-45. Why D-45?

Not that I am necessarily arguing, just finding out more about your reasoning. The D-18, (Hank's guitar) is a big one too.

[evenkeel]

I am curious EK, I have played a D-45 (for about 10 minutes), and certainly it has been played by many important players, but the D-28 is essentially the same guitar (depending on if it is a HD, HDxx-V, and accounting for scalloping and positioning of bracing etc., but I would hazard was played by many more working musicians than the D-45. Why D-45?

Not that I am necessarily arguing, just finding out more about your reasoning. The D-18, (Hank's guitar) is a big one too.

Good point. In terms of raw numbers you could make a pretty good case for the D-18. By it's second year, 1935, it was outselling the D-28. My reason for the D-45 is the iconic nature of the instrument. The guitar had a huge impact on what we think of as "Martin". Martin only made 91 D-45's before discontinuing the model in 1942. In 1968 Martin hired Mike Longworth to redo the prewar D-45. At the time Longworth had a good business, reworking D28's to make them into D-45's. This created the high end business Martin in now known for. But certainly you can make a pretty good case for the 28 or the 18. Both of those models came out as a result of the success of the Ditson dread, hence my #2 slot.

FWIW You could also make a pretty good case to place the Gibby J45 "workhorse" somewhere in the top 10. I did not as I could not really come up with a musician really known for playing one.

[ibanezjunkie]

all decent acoustic guitars seem the same to me

some are boomier than others, and have more/less frets and different scale lengths etc. but i feel little difference between a £4000 martin and a £500 gibson :/

[luvmyshiner]

all decent acoustic guitars seem the same to me

:

Son, son, son. It's better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to open your mouth and remove all doubt.:

[ibanezjunkie]

well i am a fool when it comes to acoustic guitar

i have no shame in admitting that