Goodall Guitars...

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Originally Posted by BGS

I would encourage you to watch my inventory - I rarely sell them over $4K unless they are a very exotic wood. I usually aim for $3250 to $3750. I'll probably price the incoming 000-12 cocobolo at $3795. I sold a Honduran/Adirondack TR000 with Calton case a few months ago for $3650!

And I agree about James's 12-strings. One of the best I've ever had in the shop was a RCJ-12.

Those are really good prices for Goodalls (though I can't really justify buying another one at this point - if I was going to get another high end guitar right now it would probably be one of the Martins I've been dreaming of for some time, and that I almost bought prior to my first Goodall sweeping me off my feet instead).

I think a concert jumbo 12 string would be just perfection. I have a Goodall jumbo 12 string that I got used, from Dave's Guitar shop mail order. It is a beautiful guitar in all respects (and visually, it has the most beautiful figured, heavily silked sitka top I've seen), but if I could have justified the expense I would have gotten the grand concert 12 string The Podium had a while back instead (and I suspect a concert jumbo would be similar). That grand concert was absolute perfection.

The amazing thing to me about Goodall 12 strings is their clarity. Given the signature Goodall overtones, one might expect all of that lush sound to be too much for a 12 string, but it really isn't the case at all. I also like the Guild 512 12 strings a lot, and they have a somewhat different and really classic sound. But in my opinion you just can't beat a Goodall 12 string.

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The OP might enjoy reading this description from the website of the old original Podium store a few years ago (I miss that website, it was always fun reading Jeff's descriptions of instruments, and the sound clips were always fun):

Goodall CJ - Rosewood/Cedar

There is no other guitar anything like a Goodall. It is simply one of the best modern voiced instrument anyone makes at any price. This is Goodall's best selling guitar. Loud, balanced, resonant and complex with great focus, clarity and note separation. The cedar top adds warmth, midrange complexity and resonance to the already fabulous Goodall CJ but it still can't easily be overdriven, which is one heck of a trick.

This instrument does everything well: fingerstyle, flatpicking and strumming. All Goodalls have a little more shoulder on the neck profile so have a slightly chunkier feel but they still have among the fastest neck and string feel of any guitar...how'd they do that?

Goodalls rank among the finest of any modern voiced guitar built regardless of price. They are complex throughout their entire dynamic range and are frequently, maybe even usually better than the most expensive instruments on the market and this makes Goodalls maybe the best value in high end, modern voiced instruments.

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I'll add one more thing:

Playing a Goodall (or two) routinely sort of spoils some of the fun of visiting guitar shops and trying out guitars. I encounter fairly few guitars that really compare to what has become my everyday norm.

[guitararmy]

What strings do you Goodall owners use on your guitars? The Goodall website still says that he ships with Elixir nano's.....

Still looking for the "right" string set for my rosewood/spruce jumbo. I've had good results with DR Sunbeams 13-56...

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Originally Posted by guitararmy

What strings do you Goodall owners use on your guitars? The Goodall website still says that he ships with Elixir nano's.....

Still looking for the "right" string set for my rosewood/spruce jumbo. I've had good results with DR Sunbeams 13-56...

My cedar/rosewood concert jumbo had D'Addario coated strings on it when I got it (due to string changes at the shop). It obviously impressed me with those strings, but I like Elixr strings better. Initially I used phosphor bronze, but then tried 80/20 strings and loved them - it was a somewhat different but equally wonderful guitar with the 80/20 strings, which tamed the overtones and made an already versatile guitar even more versatile. I'm currently back to phosphor bronze, and I'm liking this a lot. The guitar has changed a bit over the past 5 years or so - when it was newer I would sometimes be bothered by too much overtones for some playing styles, but that really doesn't happen anymore. Things have settled in nicely.

I tried Martin strings on it once (I think they were Martin SP strings?) and hated the result.

On my sitka/rosewood 12 string I'm using 80/20 Elixr strings. Though I can use only light strings on the cedar topped concert jumbo, I can use mediums on the sitka topped 12 string (of course, in 12 string sets mediums are the same gauges as 6 string light sets). I started out with lights, but currently have mediums on it. The mediums give more volume to the midrange and bass in particular, and I like that, but I think the trebles have a sweeter sound with the lights. At some point I think I will be switching back to lights.

I have not tried very many types of strings as you see, but I have been liking the Elixrs. With these strings the guitars sound great with a fresh string change, and they continue to sound great for a long time.

[Goodallboy]

I've never used anything but non-coated strings for what I feel are obvious reasons. Curt Mangan Fusion Matched are what I've used on all my Goodalls in the past and I stick with them on my MCollum.

[penguin71]

BGS - will definitely keep an eye on your website... someday I will own a Goodall.

[Martz911]

I must admit to a slight, tiny, wee bit of a problem with the continual acquisition of Mr. Goodall's sonic works of art, as I have not found guitars that sound better to my ears during my 59 years on the planet. Fortunately, I have not sought help for this issue to date.

[rmyAddison]

Since the OP asked for "opinions", here's mine.

I think they are outstanding guitars, every bit the match of Bourgeois/Collings/Santa Cruz/H&D but....................

for me, as a flatpicker, they have too much going on. I can completely understand fingerstyle players loving them with the very lush overtones/harmonics, they do have a wall of sound. But for me I want more fundamental and a bit less of what I consider overdone harmonics/overtones.

Obviously this is about personal preference and not the quality of the instruments. Goodalls do have a reputation for heavy harmonics/overtones, if that suits the player they are heaven, for bluegrass and flatpicking I want a little less going on than I've found with the Goodalls I have auditioned.

By the same token I could see a Goodall fan finding Martins too dry with not enough going on, to each their own.............

[fitness1]

I've owned a couple dozen over the last 10 years or so, and I like the Parlor and GC Goodalls with the drier woods (walnut, mahogany) back and sides and spruce top.



Had a falling out with the builder a few years back and won't be owning any of the guitars anymore.

[posternutbag]

My main acoustic is a Goodall TBRD (Traditional Brazilian Rosewood Dread), a dreadnought with an Adirondack top and Brazilian back and sides. It doesn't really have that characteristic Goodall tone, instead it sounds more like a really great D-28. I flatpick with it; I can't afford a pre-war D-28, but my Goodall makes an incredible substitute.

[SuperB23]

I've owned and played a lot of really high end 5 figure guitars from some of the best builders in the world including Ryan, Petros, and several others. Goodall is the only guitar for under $6000 that I think is on the same level as those 5 figure guitars I'm talking about. I have a 2007 Goodall Jumbo that is just incredible. I've played about 6 of the new California made Goodalls and all of them were superlative!!! They outdid every other guitar at the shop I tried them at by quite a bit.

[usb_chord]

Originally Posted by rmyAddison

Since the OP asked for "opinions", here's mine.

I think they are outstanding guitars, every bit the match of Bourgeois/Collings/Santa Cruz/H&D but....................

for me, as a flatpicker, they have too much going on. I can completely understand fingerstyle players loving them with the very lush overtones/harmonics, they do have a wall of sound. But for me I want more fundamental and a bit less of what I consider overdone harmonics/overtones.

Obviously this is about personal preference and not the quality of the instruments. Goodalls do have a reputation for heavy harmonics/overtones, if that suits the player they are heaven, for bluegrass and flatpicking I want a little less going on than I've found with the Goodalls I have auditioned.

By the same token I could see a Goodall fan finding Martins too dry with not enough going on, to each their own.............

This was really well said, Rich. I personally love Goodalls but the reperitore has to be compatible. As a fingerstyle player. I've found myself moving towards the Martin-style builders to get the richer fundamentals and increased versatility overall.

[BGS]

Originally Posted by penguin71

BGS - will definitely keep an eye on your website... someday I will own a Goodall.

Watch out for a used Aloha model. They can be had for $2200 to $2500, and if you close your eyes you almost can't tell the difference.

[wcap]

Originally Posted by rmyAddison

Since the OP asked for "opinions", here's mine.

I think they are outstanding guitars, every bit the match of Bourgeois/Collings/Santa Cruz/H&D but....................

for me, as a flatpicker, they have too much going on. I can completely understand fingerstyle players loving them with the very lush overtones/harmonics, they do have a wall of sound. But for me I want more fundamental and a bit less of what I consider overdone harmonics/overtones.

Obviously this is about personal preference and not the quality of the instruments. Goodalls do have a reputation for heavy harmonics/overtones, if that suits the player they are heaven, for bluegrass and flatpicking I want a little less going on than I've found with the Goodalls I have auditioned.

Very valid points about preferences (and I would never fault anyone for preferring other guitars).

I will say though that when I was playing guitar with a really good bluegrass flatpicker friend of mine a year or so ago and we swapped guitars (his guitar was a D28), in his hands what I heard coming out of my Goodall cedar/rosewood concert jumbo was not an overtone-burdened sound, but a really strong, loud, clear bluegrass guitar sound (I thought it sounded better as a flatpicked guitar than his particular D28, which actually was a pretty nice D28). He was most impressed.

I will say also that this Goodall responds really well to a really strong, controlled attack, which brings out both the clarity of the sound and a sort of depth that I don't hear with most guitars. Without the right technique for this guitar, I think there is more potential for its sound to become a noisy mass of overtones.

I will say though that though I love my Goodall for strumming, it has a different sort of strummed sound than my Martin, and in some contexts the Martin's sound works better. And for some sorts of strumming, and other things too, my 000-15 records really well.

Originally Posted by rmyAddison

By the same token I could see a Goodall fan finding Martins too dry with not enough going on............

Not at all (at least not in the case of this Goodall fan). Though they are different sounding guitars, higher end Martins are my other absolute favorite guitars.... a great Martin is in the same league as a Goodall in my opinion (but alas, I don't have one of these high end Martins, though the 000-15 is pretty darn nice). Actually, they appeal to me for similar reasons. Aside perhaps from the all mahogany Martins like my 000-15, I don't hear the Martin sound as being dry at all - what I like about the better Martins is the depth and richness of the tone.

Actually, the 15 series doesn't really have a dry tone lacking in overtones either. What I hear is very strong overtones, but simpler overtones dominated by the major harmonics, giving a very sweet tone.

Interestingly, I actually know of several other guitar players besides me whose main guitars are a Goodall and a 15 series Martin, and these Martins tend to get equal play time!