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Posted by: Mertay Sep 10 2023, 09:03 PM

Hey guys, its been 2-3 month since I moved to Istanbul and just wanted to share a small update.

Things are going nicely here with my gf. and we pretty much feel settled in to the new house and area. She's motivated by her job and I'm still searching for one suitable for me (as guitar teacher or something else).

I left my guitars at my parents house and will get them sometime later (didn't want to carry any of them on plane) and after 2 months without one I had to get one funny thing; though I've played so many acoustic guitar never owned one and seemed like a perfect time for me to get out of my "ibanez shredder" comfort zone

https://guildguitars.com/g/f-240e-natural/



Budget was low so I did a lot of research and realized specially where I live these guitars had the best bang for the buck, probably because Guild isn't known here and the distributor wants to popularize it by selling them for low profit. The international reviews were also pretty good.

It was the end of a very busy day when I got to the store, immediately grabbed and played it thinking I picked the dreadnought model liked the tone very much and felt comfortable, would never thought a jumbo size would click with me

Anyway, its been day 2 and so far so good my fingertips are happily always feel numb

Posted by: klasaine Sep 11 2023, 02:39 PM

Cool!
A Guild D-35 was my first 'good' guitar.
I wish I still had it.

Posted by: Monica Gheorghevici Sep 11 2023, 06:21 PM

It's great to see news from you. Moving to a different place and house is a big step, but I'm happy to hear that everything is going well.
Also, congrats on the new purchase.

Posted by: Kristofer Dahl Sep 12 2023, 07:22 AM

Happy to hear things are working out in your new place!

That jumbo body acoustic gives me instant gas - seems to be around €500 here 👌

Posted by: Mertay Sep 13 2023, 09:10 AM

I checked out the d-35 and yeah even visually they looked nicely built.

Seems to have an active used market in USA and asked prices seem not too high. I have a friend who found his first guitar 20 something years later in the used market and he always keeps it near him at home so who knows hopefully you'll meet it again!



Thank you!

Yeah it was and still is hard but fun at the same time we had to be located a bit outer from the city center but managed to find a comfortable house to rent which made things easier. I guess until we create a social environment for us (finding good friends gets harder with age as we all know...) enjoying a big city like Istanbul will be our main goal

Posted by: Mertay Sep 13 2023, 09:47 AM

Thank you!

-The body shape took only a day for me to adjust and after 3-4 days feels natural.

-The string spacing from the nut is cut narrow which is the only mixed bag for me. In a standard sitting position its not much of a problem infact can be advantageous depending on whats played. But say if you're resting on a couch sitting very relaxed then strings might get muted accidentally cause of the holding angle. I'll give it some time to see if I prefer it like this or not.

But other than that the tone is very balanced and versatile. Not bright or very musical mids in character like most guitars I played but be it strumming, arpeggio, fingerstyle, solo with pick... it delivered a satisfying result. I felt sentimental being able to "create" tone by how I play.

Final note; all my friends who play electric got the thinnest strings (0.10 I think) for their acoustic guitar cause of the natural stiffness. This comes with 0.12 and I've already bought a 0.12 again, meaning its likely one of the more comfortable guitars out there.

Posted by: klasaine Sep 13 2023, 03:11 PM

That's great that you dig the heavier strings. The guitar will respond and sound better, always!
.012 - .52 (or .53) is considered "Light Guage" for a steel string guitar
If one can get used to them, an acoustic will always sound, play, and be more in tune with a set of .12s or .13s. That's what they were designed around.

Posted by: Mertay Sep 13 2023, 07:36 PM

A hack I learned from someone was to detune half-step and add capo to the first fret, it makes it much easier to play but downside is if the capo is forgotten say overnight then that first fret will need to be replaced so I never risked that.

Also noticed these as an option; https://www.daddario.com/products/guitar/acoustic-guitar/silk-and-steel/ej40-silk-steel-folk-guitar-11-47/ they sound different but might try for fun someday.

Posted by: klasaine Sep 14 2023, 03:48 AM

Not true.
I have an electric that I keep a capo on the first fret most of the time. I've literally kept it on continuously for months at a time.
No issues.

*Silk and Steel strings can sound 'weird'. Try them but be prepared not to like them.

Posted by: Kristofer Dahl Sep 14 2023, 02:40 PM

On electric guitars I love narrow necks. It might be a little easier to mess up, but it really allows for a comfortable hand posture!

Posted by: Mertay Sep 15 2023, 08:46 AM

Then probably that is a quality issue, frets on cheaper guitars can be much softer.



ok



umping from this to my ibanez will be interesting as my electrics neck is pretty wide, but rather than worry I think it will be fun