Garrison Guitars

I have played two very briefly in a couple of different shops. They were good, but didn't really stand out to me as being that much different.

They seem like a great value for the money, but i dont like the sound of the plastic braces.

I haven't played one, but a freind of mine who's been playing for about 60 years (no knidding) was considering one, but droped the idea when both of the ones he tried fretted flat from the fifth fret up. This, of course, may just be a sad coincidence.

Keep in mind that there is no such thing as perfect intonation up and down the fretboard with any guitar... but the more you spend the better the intonation typically is.

Proper set up is also critical and too many music stores don't have someone with the knowledge or ability to do that with the guitars they get in... and intonation problems with an acoustic are more difficult to cure.

Many music stores will tell you that all their guitars are set up at the plant prior to being shipped but no guitar is completely dialed in. I bought a Martin without ever playing it from Elderly Music last April, and Elderly fine tuned it and it came ready to play... but that's an exception based on my experience with both mail order and music shop guitars.

Keep in mind that there is no such thing as perfect intonation up and down the fretboard with any guitar...

Sorry, but you're wrong and furthermore, I've played one. However, there are drawbacks - cost being one.

Great guitars, I'm thinking of buying one, I frequent a shop owned by the same guy who owns Garrisons. High quality, good sounds, price is high, but you can check out the AG series, they're easier on the wallet.

I actually posted this topic for a friend. He's considering buying one, the 20 series I think. I read in an article on this site though, that plastic brasing ruins the instrument over time.

^Yup thats what i was talking about. :) It would make a great gigging guitar if you smashed it at the end of each show! :shock: :lol:

Greybeard,

If you have a guitar that has perfect intonation on every note up and down the fretboard.... DON'T EVER SELL IT!!! And treat it like the guitar it is... one in a million.

Take your chromatic tuner and run up every string hitting every fret. I have a hard time believing that every single note is dead on the money. I've played some serious high end guitars set up by the best and still no such thing as "perfect" intonation on every string, every fret, every note.

Somebody else???

I actually posted this topic for a friend. He's considering buying one, the 20 series I think. I read in an article on this site though, that plastic brasing ruins the instrument over time.

Its not plastic bracing, its glass fibre, very strong. Don't worry about ruining the instrument thats the stupidest thing I ever heard. The bracing has one awards for being the greatest acoustic innovation in years, its certainly not going to hurt the instrument.

maybe, but it certanly won't help the sound over time like solid wood does. IMO this is kind of like tubes and solid state, sometimes its better to stick with the original.

I do admit though, those braces might support the guitar better, but i'm not sure.

But the guitars are solid tops they do get better with age.

I have a Garrison G40 (the few years they were making it with Engelmann Spruce versus Sitka... they've gone back to Sitka again). The guitar sounds VERY acoustic and actually sounds decent. I chose this guitar over the Seagull S6 and a Takamine (can't remember the model, but it was in my $400 - $500 range). The guitar has a great sustain and good tone and string-to-string separation (could be because of the Engelmann top, though).

As far as the complaint on setup, my guitar is being worked on by a luthier now and he said it needed a some work to getting the intonation correct (which I thought was suppose to be handled by the Buzz Feiten system).

I haven't played the G20, so I can't comment on how it sounds.