Decision Made!! Pics Inside!!

I'd suggest you decide whether you want the cedar or spruce top type sound and proceed from there. Otherwise it's a bit of comparing apples to oranges.
When I was poking around before I bought my Seagull, the general consensus was a good high gloss finish is a very labour intensive process and would be reflected in the price. Meaning lower end glossy guitars would not 'age' as well due to the crude laquering process.
So I bought a 5 year old, well cared for S6 with a satin finish. It had a few miles under it's belt and a full rich tone to go with it. And a satin finish to help with the aging process :wink:
Word of warning though, that satin finish will scuff if you even look at it sideways, so if you're into shiny things....
Good luck!

I'd suggest you decide whether you want the cedar or spruce top type sound and proceed from there. Otherwise it's a bit of comparing apples to oranges.
When I was poking around before I bought my Seagull, the general consensus was a good high gloss finish is a very labour intensive process and would be reflected in the price. Meaning lower end glossy guitars would not 'age' as well due to the crude laquering process.
So I bought a 5 year old, well cared for S6 with a satin finish. It had a few miles under it's belt and a full rich tone to go with it. And a satin finish to help with the aging process :wink:
Word of warning though, that satin finish will scuff if you even look at it sideways, so if you're into shiny things....
Good luck!

Fair comment,

After some consideration I have decided to remove the A&L from contention. The options are now the used Hummingbird or the new FG700MS. Links are in the first post.

If possible, could an admin or mod edit the poll to reflect this change?

OK, I voted for the Yamaha. So it's 1 to nothing.

Get the Yamaha. :D

And then we need pictures. :wink: :wink:

I'd suggest you do this:

When you get some time... and not 15 minutes.... :roll:

Go and pull those three and maybe a fourth aside. Place them, if you can, in a place where you can sit down in front of them. Then ask one of the clerks to come over and do a "Blind" test for you on those guitars you picked out.

Point here is, you already know you like em, how they feel, play, look etc.
Now have someone sit in front of you while you keep your eyes closed, BE HONEST about this part.

Tell them once you close your eyes, have them pick one up and start playing for you..a few minutes at least. Then have him/her put it back. What you don't want to know right away is which one they're playing. Just sit back and listen to them individually without knowing which is which. Let your ears tell you which one.

Repeat 3 or 4 times or more and make him/her go back to the one that you think sounded the best, but KEEP YOUR EYES CLOSED when they do.

NARROW it down by the sound you like best.

My .02 cents

Cheers.

BTW I plan on doing this for my birthday, I'm working on a trade-in deal with my Strat to get into a higher end accoustic. This is exactly what I'm going to do to narrow the field down.

I haven't played any of the others, but I really like the sound from my Yamaha FG700S. If it helps the finish on it seems to be tough as nails, I keep bumping it into things cause I'm a clutzs, and its only got 2 small marks on it.

I'd suggest you do this:

When you get some time... and not 15 minutes.... :roll:

Go and pull those three and maybe a fourth aside. Place them, if you can, in a place where you can sit down in front of them. Then ask one of the clerks to come over and do a "Blind" test for you on those guitars you picked out.

Point here is, you already know you like em, how they feel, play, look etc.
Now have someone sit in front of you while you keep your eyes closed, BE HONEST about this part.

Tell them once you close your eyes, have them pick one up and start playing for you..a few minutes at least. Then have him/her put it back. What you don't want to know right away is which one they're playing. Just sit back and listen to them individually without knowing which is which. Let your ears tell you which one.

Repeat 3 or 4 times or more and make him/her go back to the one that you think sounded the best, but KEEP YOUR EYES CLOSED when they do.

NARROW it down by the sound you like best.

My .02 cents

Cheers.

BTW I plan on doing this for my birthday, I'm working on a trade-in deal with my Strat to get into a higher end accoustic. This is exactly what I'm going to do to narrow the field down.

Actually, after I posted the poll I figured I would do this. :D

I'm still very interested in hearing what you all have to say. So far the advice has been very good.

Some more for all of you to think about:
1. I already own a bass made by Yamaha (with a satin finish). I am well aware of their quality and craftsmanship.
2. I have become enamored by the look of the Hummingbird. I thought it was ugly in the pics I've seen on the Epiphone website. Changed my mind when I saw it in person.

Until I do a blind taste test, I don't know which I will prefer soundwise. The salesguy was playing them while I was talking to him, he really seemed to enjoy playing both and said that I would be good either way. I guess I'll find out on Friday. I may buy one then, it may be next week, either way, you will get pictures. :mrgreen:

In fact, since I like you all so much, here's a pic of my bass to tide you over:

Hey all,

After the blind listening test (and some more thinking), I have decided to go for the Yamaha FG700MS. I fond that the Hummingbird was too "jangly" for my taste, plus I figure that the look of that guitar will begin to lose it's appeal to me over time. I liked the sound of the A&L as much as the Yamaha, the Yamaha just seemed a little tighter to me. Plus I was already seeing finish issues with the A&L. I know that satin finishes aren't the most durable either but I have more than one FG700MS to choose from, so I can minimize the initial finishing issues.

I haven't bought it yet, but I will soon... and then Pictures!! I am about to have a satin finish electric bass and acoustic guitar both from Yamaha. It's a good thing I haven't found a motorcycle from them in a satin finish, my girlfriend would probably kill me!

Later.

Hello all,

OK, I was planning on buying my guitar this week. I made the mistake of thinking about it and realized that it was valentines day this week and had to make up for an anniversary and christmas gift to my girlfriend (I was in school and had no money) so I took my guitar money and bought her a ring instead. Today I come home from work and what do I find? My girlfriend went out and bought me the Yamaha FG700MS that I wanted!:shock: :shock: :shock:
Here are the pics:

The Front:

The Headstock:

The Back:

I'm in love ... with my girlfriend too. :wink:

And they all lived happily ever after!

Congrats to you and her, and to your girlfriend too. ;)

Congrats! on the girl and the guitar!

My 2yr old son just added his own touch to my Yamaha acoustic via a Doc Hudson sticker (ala Cars movie).

I'll take the sticker over a ding any day... ;)

My Breedlove Northwest CASE has a Finding Nemo sticker on it, courtesy of my son. Sweet as he is he had no delusions of succesfully putting it on the actual guitar.

That Yamaha does look nice. Why not post a few sound clips?

I love these kind of happy endings.

Very nice. Now take good care of her, Love her, Hold and Caress her. Spend 'quality' time with her and let her sing.

Oh yeah and don't let your girlfriend get jealous.....hehehe.

Happy for all 'three' of you... :)