Is this a regional thing?

Gary Blanchard

Gary Blanchard

beloved, local musician
Over the past 14 years I have come to know a large number of acoustic performers in the area. Most of them play Taylor guitars. I don't recall seeing that many Taylors when I lived in Baltimore.

What seems to be the acoustic guitar of choice where you live?
 
Martin and Gibson are definitely the east coast brands of choice. Everyone hated my Taylor, but I love it. Everyone likes Taylor here.
 
Gary Blanchard said:
Over the past 14 years I have come to know a large number of acoustic performers in the area. Most of them play Taylor guitars. I don't recall seeing that many Taylors when I lived in Baltimore.

What seems to be the acoustic guitar of choice where you live?
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How long ago did you live in Baltimore? I don't think I even heard of Taylor until the 90s and didn't really see them all over the place until the early 2000s. But acoustics aren't really my thing.
 
Taylors tend to appeal to electric players who later on switch to acoustic. They feel much closer to an electric than most acoustics do.

Out here...hmmm....probably Martin is the #1 brand I see followed by Taylor. At my church the acoustic players tend to favor Martin for sure along with the occasional Collings or Taylor.
 
I don't know. I play Fender acoustics. I've played a number of Taylors but they always sounded to thin and tin like for my ear. I like Martins and have played several nice sounding ones. With both though, for my ear, I just don't get double the sound quality for the price. Perhaps if I had to rely on someone else to tweak my guitars I would think otherwise. I just saw a couple of Gibson model in a Anderton's video recently that really peaked my interest though.
 
I see a bunch of mixed acoustics in SoCal. Not one real preference when I attend the open mics. Of the few that I know in Pro scene it has been Taylor's. One of them told me that if I was interested in getting one at nice price I could get one through him.

I know that in Hawaii it was Ovation and Martins.
 
The big guys here in Daytona play Taylor and Gibson that I have seen but I have only seen 3 or 4 and I know there are a ton more playing. Or there were before COVID.
 
Gibson acoustics are rare as hens teeth around here. Your most likely to see a 60s or 70s Gibson than a newer one.
Its Taylors and Martins in about equal measure, with Taylor winning out with the worship crowd.
For the singer/sonwriter types, Martin gets the guys and Taylor gets the gals usually..
Bluegrassers are gonna have a Martin, unless they have some rare thing like a Santa Cruz or Bourgeois, or an ancient and mystical Gibson or Epiphone that really barks, But in the majority, Martin.

But if you actually counted up all the acoustic guitars that players and nonplayers alike actually own, Yamaha would win in a landslide. Theres more Yamaha FGs floating around than guitar players, and thats been true for 50 years.
 
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In San Antonio, it seems like Martin for the guys and Taylor for the girls too.

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I appreciate the replies. Taylors just don't do it for me, but I do see them everywhere around here. Martins are maybe the second. As PAS said, Gibsons are quite rare here. I do see a lot of national acts on TV with Gibson acoustics, though. They seem popular with the Americana crowd.

I may be the only one in the area with a Macrae, though Devin recently moved out toward Boston so a few more may show up.
 
My guitar mentor from back in the day was able to afford a Martin but chose a Taylor.
 
I bought a Taylor years ago when I was gassing for a new acoustic electric. I sold it a couple years ago after playing it maybe a couple of dozen times. The day I bought it, I also tested out a couple Bourgeois they had in the store. One was six grand and the other seven grand. Not that I could have afforded either, but they we're perfectly unimpressive, not even close to being as nice as that Taylor. I guess what I'm saying is, well . . .
 
I don't know what the local preference is to be honest. I currently have three Martins and three Taylors. I love them all for different reasons, but when someone says "play something", I'll grab a Taylor. It may be the spacing of the strings or the bright tone that sounds better to my noise-damaged hearing, I'm not sure. I also have a couple Yamahas, A Takamine, an Epiphone, a Regal and a Silvertone. They all sound great and play nicely. If I had to evacuate suddenly, I'd grab a Martin and a Taylor.
 
Seems that most of the people I know play either a Martin or a Taylor...IF they can afford it. Before covid, I used to bring my Takamine to Saturday morning jams at the luthier's shop. Always a blast, and there was a lot of gear tryouts once you became a regular.
 
I have a lower end Taylor right now. A 214ce. I see a high end Taylor in my future. These ones in the Sweetwater catalog that came today are exquisite. I especially like the builder's edition models.
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Growing up in bluegrass country, Dreadnoughts were the only thing with enough volume and punch to sit in a mix with a banjo. By default, that crowned the Martin D-28/35 king. Some high-end boutiques were around as well, but only the handful that could boom like a Martin D-28 ... Froggy Bottom, Henderson, and a few others. Like a muscle car or Harley, there is something "all torque" and no finesse about a D-28 and I don't think I can name a Dreadnought made in the Western U.S. that successfully broke into that market.

Move into a solo act, or a duet of players, singer-songwriter, folk, etc., where the sizes drop down to Concert, Auditorium and Grand Auditorium, then people's tastes open up a lot more, and you see a lot more Taylors and others brands.
 
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