Guitars??

A Martin. Made by the C.F. Martin company.

Others, such as Gibson, make fine guitars as well.

Gibson.

(But then, I'm of the opinion that all the best guitars are Gibsons, with the exception of Jimi's Fender Strat and the Beatle's Rickenbackers.)

Fender and Gibson are the two most well-known (arguably best) brands out there.

DecemberQuinn said:

Gibson.

(But then, I'm of the opinion that all the best guitars are Gibsons, with the exception of Jimi's Fender Strat and the Beatle's Rickenbackers.)

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Thank you. They're made right here in Nashville, Tennessee.

Depending on the musician and where they are performing, a top notch guitar isn't always used. It's not uncommon to use a beater 'axe' while playing at venues that are a bit rowdy.

Beer and flying objects can ruin a good instrument.

"Riley B. King, better known as B. B. King (born September 16, 1925), is an American blues guitarist and singer-songwriter. He is widely considered one of the best (and most respected) blues musicians in the world. One of his trademarks is "Lucille", a guitar he began using in the 1950s. There have been many incarnations of Lucille (King has had a number of guitars over his career. He calls them all Lucille) but they are usually Gibson ES-355s or (From 1981 onwards) the Gibson B. B. King Lucille."
From Wikipedia

She was asking about an acoustical guitar.

Martin and Gibson are both good choices.

What type of music are they playing? If it's country, use Gibson. For almost anything else, use Martin.

No one will dispute a non-classical performer using either brand.

Yep. Got a factory doing it right here in Montana, actually.

http://vintageguitars.org.uk/graphics/ES355TDSV-detail3.jpg
I think all of his were called Lucille.


Robert Johnson: a Gibson L-00

Here's the Gibson homepage: http://www.gibson.com/

And the Martin homepage: http://www.martinguitar.com/

Apart from those listed, there are decent acoustics by Taylor, Ibanez, Yamaha, Fender, and Ovation.

Many of the guitar's websites list what famous musicians use their guitars. This would be a good guide to what your character might use.

For instance, Ovation lists Al DiMeola, Joan Armatrading, Steve Lukather, and Shania Twain among it's artists.

Aw, EVERYONE has a Martin. ;-) I recall a photo of Elvis with a Martin that must have been loaded down with five pounds of Pearl inlay. Taylor is a more recent brand name that has become popular in the last couple of decades, and there are others mentioned in the article below, but Martin has always been the standard for "flattop" guitars.

But there are many one-person shops around the world that make great handmade guitars at the rate of about 50 per year (as opposed to the big name guitars which are about half handmade and half "production line" made, at thousands per year - since 1833, Martin has made over a half million guitars!). Jim Olson is one of the more famous makers, and charges more than what others charge for equivalent instruments because he's managed to get many big names to play his guitars. Read the second paragraph here - how's this for marketing to the stars...
http://www.olsonguitars.com/rv_guitarist98.html
Here's a list of some other famous players:
http://www.olsonguitars.com/players_lz.html

But the same old boring and correct answer is still Martin.

Taylor also makes great acoustic guitars.

ETA: I see Taylor's already been mentioned.

(I have a Baby Taylor--it's a really comfortable, easy-to-play instrument but that's not what you asked. Heh. )

Asking a question about which are the best guitars is sort of like asking who are the best writers. Many, many opinions.

I play professionally. I have a old Gibson ES-335, a lovely guitar. However, imo, Gibson acoustics are not that great - a few acoustic performers use them, but not many.

Taylor guitars are excellent, but to give a character some cred, I would go with a Martin, not a new one, preferably one made in the fifties, maybe a D-28 or 000-28 for a more intimate venue. The 000 series in some of the fifties years are now very rare and carry a lot of cachet. You should visit the Martin website.

And if we still haven't answered your question, you can call these people:

Gruhn Guitars. (615)256-2033. There isn't much about guitars that they don't know.

When Garrison Keillor did his New Years Eve show last year, he and Vince Gill did one segment of the show at Gruhn.

If you ever get to Nazareth, PA, take the Martin Guitar factory tour. It's fascinating, and at the end, if you are a guitar player, they'll let you try out their different acoustic guitars.
http://www.mguitar.com/visit/tour.html

Ooo, a guitar thread!

I played professionally for nearly twenty years. Martin is one of the most recognizable names in acoustic guitars. Ovation is also well known. As mentioned above, there are dozens upon dozens of manufacturers out there. To what has already been mentioned, you could add Epiphone and Takamine (if they're still around).

But if your concern is to add authenticity to a work of fiction, you should go with a recognizable name. You could have your character play an Allan Beardsell, but nobody outside of hard-core musicians would know what it was.

I'm surprised no one mentioned Epiphone. They're pretty decent, too.

Other brands I think of that are fairly reputable are Washburn and Mosrite. Glen Campbell played a Mosrite 12-string, if I'm not mistaken.

9 times out of 10 a profesional thats making some money wont use an epiphone though.. Im a gibson guy 110% Martins are nice.. I have an accoustic martin bass.. but I like Gibsons far better.. nicer neck.. jumbo body.. I really like mine.. its a 1974 Gibson J-50 Deluxe

Branwyn said:

Thank you all--I think I'll go with Martin.

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Good choice, also check out Ovation.

I'm late but Martin D28 sets the standard so it's a safe choice.

Most all guitars, made of the proper materials, are a good choice. Remember that stage is entertainment and recording in a studio is biased around sound quality. That's why the Martin is chosen in studio and in solo because of their exquisite sound and butter-like smooth action. Louder Gibsons, showy Guilds and others are played in shows and stage. Flashy guitars sometimes are used despite poor quality. The stage and crowd noise forgives all flaws and sound Engineers balance everything anyway.

You play a Martin D28, properly set up including Martin light-gauge bronze-wound strings, then pick up a Gibson J-45 and they will feel and sound so different. Hands down, the Martin’s lower action feels like silk and you miss fewer times and can stretch them until they squeal. (Don’t play Deliverance).

But, on stage, I leaned to the J-45 because I needed the sound to project more. When I play Jim Croce or James Taylor, I go Martin though. They are mellow and string intensive. Pure musicians must play Croce like Croce and Taylor like Taylor.

When I go to Neil Diamond, Cat Stevens or Beatles, it’s the J-45 hands down. Then when it’s just strum or playing sing-along, I liked the Guild Jumbo F-50 Arch-backs the best.

Alternate tunings were also superior on the J-45 and Harmonics on J-45 were the best.

I owned about 10 other guitars over the last 37 years including Alvarez, Fender, Ovation and I currently own a Martin DX1 (which I love by the way) and a Yamaha (oh crap I forget which model) and the above 3 (Martin D28, Gibson J-45, Gibson F50) are far superior than all for the reasons I state.

Unfortunately they are all extremely expensive guitars and I never had any of the 2 together so I just kept changing my repertoire around the axe.

Back to the Martin DX1, since I stopped paying $2,500 and up for guitars, this sweet baby sounds so close to a D28 that I thought I accidentally picked up a D28 when I first strummed it. I had to look twice. After playing it 2 months, I see it doesn’t handle weather and humidity as good as the top shelves but that is just a tuning inconvenience and it is fine until the next weather change. Also, if you have a really good ear (or a tuning meter like me lol) you would see that it drops tone on reverb. It is unnoticeable to the unpracticed ear but I’d hold this axe on stage anytime and apologize to no one. I am playing 3 hours a night again.