Elixir Phosphor Bronze Nanowebs

These are my current strings of choice - they give the phosphor bronze tone that I like from the D'addarios I liked coupled with the smooth feel that I've grown to like. It's really nifty for reducing finger squeak for recording and somehow I find that I can play slightly faster on strings with this kind of smooth feel.

These strings are still brighter than the D'addarios .. maybe 6.5 on the treble knob if the D'addarios are 5. The brightness gives it a somewhat modern sound. Antoine Dufour uses these strings and you can tell from his recordings that they sound really bright. Of course, I think he mixes in some of the magnetic pickup into the mic-ed signal to achieve his modern-sque acoustic percussive groove-based playing tone.

Have mine strung on my Timothy S10J for about a month now, and it still sounds good. Now it is slightly less bright than when I first strung them on, but still it's plenty bright.

Oh, I think Brendon from http://www.bgwguitars.com/ in Singapore has the best price for Elixir strings.

Goodall Guitars

These are the guitars that are being raved about all over the net. They are expensive boutique guitars and the sound justifies the price. Walked into Guitar Gallery and tried out two of these guitars, a Parlor and a Grand Concert type. Playing it I couldn't help but grin - these sounded really good - significantly better than my Timothy S10J. But the price - ouch.

I couldn't justify getting a Goodall with my current financial situation and playing skill. But something tells me that I am going to get one in the future. :p

Taylor Guitars

Taylor guitars are kind of the de-facto guitars of the contemporary christian worship world. They are immensely popular, due to their trebly cut-through-the-band kind of tone. I think they are just about the most popular "high-end" guitar brand in Singapore, which explains why Sinamex is still going strong after so many years.

So I walked into Sinamex close to closing time. Not too many Taylors left. Tried a 814ce, supposedly one of the best of their "electro-acoustic" series. The tone was as expected, Taylor-like, extremely trebly with not much bass. It sounded nice for strumming and aggresive picking. But I what I wanted was a fingerpicking kind of guitar so balanced and sweet are two adjectives that would fit my perception of such a guitar.

Next I tried a GA4 - sounds warmer than the 814ce but the tone didn't blow me away.

The condition of the guitars were great and many people like Taylors.

Guess I'm just not a Taylor fan.

Martin Guitars

Martin guitars need absolutely no introduction.
They are the guitars favoured by many of the well-known artises who play guitar. Clapton, John Mayer, etc. As a result, they are not cheap at all. But one of them could be the guitar-that-i-would-keep-for-the-rest-of-my-life.

So I walked into City Music and asked to try the Martins. I tried many of the OM/OOO models and these are my thoughts on those I could remember.

OM-28V - Bassy sound. Needs a good setup and new strings. Couldn't get used to the V-neck coming from my Timothy S10J. I actually thought that this would be the one having heard recommendations from a friend. Played it 2-3 times but didn't like it.

000-28EC - Short scale, sounds kind of thinny which I didn't expect. Because, you know, it's a Eric Clapton. Didn't play this one for long either.

000-28 - Similar in tone to the 000-28EC, but with a smaller nut width, I think.

And a few others from the standard series 15, 16 which didn't really make me reach for my wallet. :/

There could be other reasons for my verdict - one is that City Music doesn't have a specialised guitar room with dehumidifiers for the Martins. As a result, they may suffer from humidity, get wet and become less resonant. Also, the person testing out the guitar will have to deal with the noise coming from the salesmen and the electric guitar players. And we all know that guitars sound better in a smaller room where you can hear the reverberation - makes it sound bigger.

Ayers Guitars

I walked into Music Theme and asked to try the Ayers. Having heard rumours that Timothys are actually made by Ayers gave me some anticipation for them. The clean no-bling look of the lower-end models somewhat attracted me. The sound was pretty nice as well for the two low-end OM-shaped ones I tried. One was full mahagony, and the other was spruce with mahagony back and sides (I think).

For the price it was being offered at, these are two I would consider if I wasn't looking for the guitar-that-I-would-keep-for-the-rest-of-my-life. They have a nice woody sound, just need a good setup. But they didn't scream "buy me now!".

Next I tried the higher-end Ayers. They have a different tone, I'm not sure whether it was the gloss finish, but it felt somewhat less resonant that the cheaper ones. I tried one that looked like my S10J , and another that was full Koa. Didn't sound fantastic to me, and I actually liked the lower end models better!

Quest for the guitar that will blow me away...

Having just come back from a country where I could not buy any guitars, and having gassed from a Fender Strat to a Semi-hollow to a high-end acoustic (It's a cycle), I was once again set free to revell in my GAS now that I am back in Singapore.

Hello again Davis Guitars, City Music, Guitar77, Music Theme, Ranking Sports, Guitar Gallery, Sinamex, Swee Lee!

And thus it was set that my next guitar would be an acoustic that I would keep for the rest of my life. Like my Timothy S10J.

And thus the shopping begins...

Right Behind Tommy ... Kotaro Oshio

This guy has his own style - a fascinating combination of picking plus strumming unlike any other guy I've seen before.

Unlike Tommy, Kotaro Oshio doesn't seem to age! He can still pass off as a teenage rocker..

I hereby declare him my no. 2 guitar idol!