[DCannon]

If and when I find a guitar I'm truly interested in, I spend a lot of time with it, checking the neck/overall setup, getting the feel of the neck, tone, intonation, playability, and how it responds to DADGAD tuning. But most of all, how it sounds and plays when capoed since I play capoed 90% of the time up to the 10th fret. Often, I'll take one of my guitars into the store for comparison. I look for clarity, depth, good balance with nice mids and non-overpowering balanced bass, and overall character of tone. So, I spend time playing things I normally play with my Irish/Celtic band, taking time to play capoed at each fret up to the 10th, both fingerstyle and strummed lightly to aggressively. I look for good, balanced tone and sustain on the higher frets. If a guitar sounds good when played open but begins to fall short when capoed, it's rejected. All of my current guitars were chosen based on the above requirements and all sound consistently excellent when played open or capoed, whether playing fingerstyle or aggressively strummed. I spent at least 2 hours playing each guitar. The Martin OM-16 was picked from three, Guild F-30R picked from four, Guild F-130R picked from three, Gibson J-35 picked from three, and the Wechter TO8418 picked from three.

DC