Thanks guys. I've actually checked out several Yamahas and haven't ruled them out (same goes for Breedlove), although, it's gonna be tough to convince myself NOT to go with a Taylor or Martin at this point. I should have never even let myself pick those guitars up.

As for mic'ing up my current Ibanez, as I mentioned above, I've tried every combination of DI and mic'ing imaginable and I've used some good tube and solid state mics, Focusrite and SSL preamps, etc. The problem is that it's just not a nice sounding guitar and all I've been doing is a whole lotta turd-polishing. So, it's time to start over with a better instrument. Besides, as I mentioned, I'm also very interested in getting something that plays better, has better intonation, etc.

I'll say it again, Seagull...I use to sell them along with Martins and Taylors, Seagull stacks up nicely. If not a Seagull dont make a mistake and go cheap like a yami, you want a solid top. If you sit down with a laminate top guitar and a solid top guitar you WILL hear the difference. That's likely why your Ibanez is not nice sounding, but you dont have to pay Martin and Taylor prices to get that tone.

Myself I'm happy with my ovation and I use to hate ovation

Yamaha make quite a few good solid top guitars too though. I woudn't buy their low end guitars if I had the money to spend, for sure, but they make some pretty good guitars in their high end range.

true but I'm still iffy on them tbh, they have solid tops cheap as well and it worries me about what they cut back on. Yamaha was great back in the day, awesome first guitars but in later years finding ones I liked got harder and harder (much of that is from working in a store where I could play them all and one store was small with not many customers so I played a lot). A little more for a Seagull but no where the price of a Martin or Taylor...best of both worlds imo

I agree. Seagulls are amazing guitars, even the lower end ones like the S6. I'd definitely go that route ahead of a Taylor, which IMO is highly overrated until you get to their more expensive stuff.

Check out the Martin DRS1.

G

I honestly think that this is the trick to finding the right guitar - play a LOT of them. You can pick up 13 copies of the same brand/model & only find one that "speaks" to you. Play every single guitar(that you can afford) in the store & the same time; keep an open mind about other brands you've never heard of

the right one is out there . . .

peace

Spent my lunch break at a different store trying some more guitars.

@Hink - Yup, I'm definitely only interested in a solid top, and I'm also starting to lean toward solid sides/back as well (one of the reasons I like the Martin). I've tried several Seagulls and they sound great, but something about their playability isn't wow'ing me the way some others are. As I mentioned, though, I'm a life-long bassist and I like big beefy basses (e.g., G&L 2000), so I think that's probably affecting my judgment.

The other problem that I'm having is that my fingers are not conditioned/calloused enough to play acoustic guitar as much as I've been playing and that starts to affect my judgment when my fingers start burning after a while. So, my plan is to give them a rest for a day or so. I may actually bring one of my guitarist friends to GC with me next time and let her play while I just listen. She's one of the singers that I work with and she'll be recording with it quite a bit, so I'll take her preferences into consideration as well.

I really appreciate all the input here, guys!

yup, and it gets worse with guitars built overseas because often the work is farmed out...but you're right, my number one deciding factor in buying guitars is indeed (and I use the exact same words) are the ones that speak to me

well I cant argue with that, we all have different tastes

I have been a strictly electric player for some years now, but have found this to be very true. I audition guitars and if they have real playable feel to me, I consider it. The last audition session went with guitars starting at $500 and ending in $2000 and I had the money to get anything I wanted, but stuck with my 12 year old Ibanez with upgraded hardware because that axe sings to me like none of the others could do. It ended up getting an $85 tuneup from a really skilled luthier and he made it sing to me even more.

Take today's guitars on a trial run before picking. One reason I will never order a guitar online. Unlike a synth where I am a keyboard hack and they all speak about the same, the guitar is very personal after 30 years of playing. If you ind one that speaks to you immediately, buy it!

I dont sweat buying a guitar online, chances are any guitar I'm looking at will have my prerequisite needs and I can set up most guitars to my liking. When I bought an Ibanez on ebay hibidy was of course excited for me, but he expressed his concerns on whether it would be what I hoped it would be what I wanted. My words to him were, if it comes as advertised I can make it mine. Typically I do just that, this time I didn't have to. In fact I have bought most of my guitars online or built them buying most of the parts online (or modding old guitars). I have a pretty good grasp of common wood tones, pups, neck shapes and contours so I'm not really flying blind. If the guitar really catches my attention it has spoken to me, from there I do the voodoo that I do (stolen from mash )...and I wouldn't have it any other way

Well, I am usually frugal (cheap) when it comes to purchases, so with the crapshoot that is today's guitar market, I like to find the gems that are in the lower budget group and then work my magic on them.

My Ibanez happens to be an artist series with upgraded hardware. I am a stop bar tailpiece player for 90% of my guitar years and I have scalloped my own fretboards on previous guitars, built in Boss Heavy Metal pedals under the strings in plexiglass, resurfaced necks, replaced nuts and all hardware, but I still take it to luthiers for really fine tuning. In my case with this artist series, it was a gem. The neck is perfect fit for me and after so long playing is really comfortable. No scalloped fretboards on this one, just stock with dot inlays. Hardware is upgraded though, but it holds its own to guitars 4 times the price easy.

That's why I don't buy online. I can pick one up and know if its gonna suit me with a little work or a lot of work.

Horses for courses.

what he said....
rsp

I totally get what you're saying, but myself I spent a large chunk of my life just happy to have a guitar. I couldn't be picky and did the best with what I had, which meant mod, mod, mod too as well has a lot of fine tuning. I played 80s metal with a tele custom...and I really took custom to heart So I have this other way of seeing things and now I have more guitars. Most of my guitars are what suits the concept I have in my head at that time (I dont really impulse buy a guitar). For instance my intent was to build a warmoth strat with a with a maple neck and I wanted the wizard neck because I already have a warmoth with a wizard neck and I love it (I built it in the late 90s).

But the wizard neck is indeed Ibanez and I found a great deal on an Ibanez 1550m Prestige, cheaper than I could have got the neck and body for. (I have everything else from pups to several FR tremolos) The Ibanez had everything I had been thinking about when I did a quick ebay search and like I said I knew if it was as advertised I could make it my own (it was as advertised). But for me much of my enjoyment and passion comes from building or modding my gear as well so I'm always brainstorming...it's really a sickness but I can bring the brainstorm to reality