My first Bourgeois Touchstone experience

[Ken Carr]

Today I was in my local guitar/music store, Blues Angel Music, in Pensacola, FL. Every once in a while I get to go there to just hang out and play different guitars they have. I have known the owner, Jim DeStafney, for a very long time. He is a former Navy fighter pilot and just an overall great guy. Jim has a very broad selection of Eastman guitars. I think Blues Angel Music is one of the largest Eastman dealers in the world. They also have a few Martin and Taylor guitars as well. Every time I go there, I lean towards the Eastman acoustics. Jim came over and talked to me while I was putting one guitar away and about to try another. I've been reading the buzz on this forum about the Touchstone guitars. I asked him if he has seen any of the new Eastman/Bourgeois collaboration guitars yet. He told me that they were waiting on their first shipment of the new Touchstone guitars to come in any day now. After some small talk, I picked up an Eastman, Frank Vignola jazz guitar and sat down to play that for a while, just thoroughly enjoying it. Jim Comes over to me and says "Ken, you're not going to believe it. The shipment of new Bourgeois Eastman guitars just came in off the truck and I want you to be the first one on the Gulf Coast to try one out." They had just received a shipment of two dreadnoughts and two OMs. The first one they pulled straight out of the box and tuned it up and handed it to me. It was a herringbone Rosewood dreadnought. It is gorgeous to look at and to listen to. It is very powerful and harmonically rich. It has that deep low end growl in the bass and thick sustaining trebles. It is a fantastic bluegrass guitar. It was set up right out of the box for bluegrass. My opinion for what little it is worth is that this Touchstone dreadnought gives up nothing to a great Martin hd-28. I have owned a couple of Martins in the past. And I have heard and played a few hd-28s. If I were in the market for another dreadnought, I would not hesitate to buy the Touchstone and save about $800 instead of a brand-new Martin hd-28. I personally am not a great bluegrass guitar player, I'm much more of a fingerstyle guy. I would love to have played on the OM, but that was still in the factory shipping box. A bluegrass guitar setup is not the same as a fingerstyle setup, so I didn't do the Touchstone justice of what it is capable of in the right hands. The neck is very comfortable, the workmanship is impeccable, and the sound is soulful and powerful. One thing that jumped out to me is how beautiful the compensated saddle is shaped. It is like a work of art. I might go there next week just to try one of the OMs if they are still there.

[KenL]

Glad you liked 'em. I like 'em too. Played one a couple months ago at Eddie's Guitars in St. Louis. It was a dread, and played/sounded terrific.