“Best” mahogany top guitar?

[BoneDigger]

I own three Martin 15 series guitars, a D15M, a DSS15M (Streetmaster), and a OOO15SM. All are great. For fingerstyle I'd go OOO15m. For strumming, either of the other two are awesome.

[merlin666]

Originally Posted by Nctom

The all mahogany guitar I've enjoyed the most is my Waterloo WL12Mh. Great sound and tone, perfect fit and finish, and the 12 fret neck is heavenly.

That sounds like a top pick. Guilds in various sizes and price segments can also be nice and are probably best value in the range below the Waterloo.

[gfspencer]

My vote would be for a Martin 00-17 Authentic 1931.

[tadol]

If you can find one of the original Larrivee Forum 1 guitars, that was an extremely nice all mahogany guitar at a very good price. My favorite, though, was a Santa Cruz 000-29, which I got talked into selling, and quickly regretted - but I was able to replace it with a beautiful SC OM-29, and I’ve been extremely happy with it -

[TBman]

I have an all hog Guild D-120. Its not on the same level pricewise as the Taylor and Martin, but it's an all solid wood guitar. Its tone is on the Taylor side of the tone bar.

[Boozehound]

Originally Posted by Cool555

“Best” is very subjective, like you mentioned. Let me add more to the list. Taylor 324. Martin 00-15m or 000-15m. Enjoy your hunt!

I think Taylor 324 is interesting as it has hog top with Tasmania blackwood b/s. I also remember reading good reviews sometime ago here on AGF.

I owned a 324 for a while. It was a very nice guitar. I ended up selling it because I really just don't love the Taylor sound, but it was the last Taylor to survive in my collection and was a very good guitar.

[mawmow]

I was not impressed by the three Martin OO/OOO-15 I tried/owned.

The Taylor 524 was clearly superior to the Martins !

But my basic Taylor 322 (Mahogany/Blackwood) does the job for me.

[boneuphtoner]

Originally Posted by mawmow

I was not impressed by the three Martin OO/OOO-15 I tried/owned.

The Taylor 524 was clearly superior to the Martins !

But my basic Taylor 322 (Mahogany/Blackwood) does the job for me.

+1 on your experience with the Martin 00/000-15 - plus I would add the D-15M to the list - or pretty much any Martin-15 series save for the recent Streetmaster DSS-15 - I could see myself owning one of these.

Even though I'm favoring the Martin sound more overall these days, in my opinion, Taylor has magic sauce that they sprinkle on their hog top guitars - I've owned a 324ce (pre-V-Class), 2 GS Mini hogs, 322ce 12 fret, 324ce BE, and now my current AD27e, my favorite of the bunch. It doesn't seem to me that the back/side woods matter at all with Taylor as I thought they all sounded rich, dark, with lots of soul!!!

[DukeX]

I have two that I think are terrific:

Taylor 324
Martin 000-15sm

[sdelsolray]

I spent about two years looking for a quality mid-sized all mahogany guitar for solo finger style playing. I ended ups choosing from the Santa Cruz all hog 1929 Series, specifically the 000 and 00. Wonderful instruments. The all hog mid-sized models from Collings were also impressive, as were two Froggy Bottoms I auditioned.

[Methos1979]

As a 'connoisseur' of mahogany topped guitars, I recommend two depending on your playing style.

If you're a strummer or singer with a loud voice looking for a big, beautiful, booming warm woody forest-like dry tone then something like this Martin D-1 12-fret custom dread. (The D-15 would be the closest to this.):



If you're more of a delicate fingerstyle player looking for a wonderfully intimate dry warm tone to accompany a soft voice then something like this Santa Cruz 1929 00 (here's two!). Something like this:

[penname]

I went through a similar search and my final choice turned out to be the Martin 00-17 Authentic 1931. Along the way I played the Santa Cruz 1929 00, multiple Alvarez and Guild, plus every other mahogany top I ran into. Most notably a wall of Martin mahogany topped factory and custom guitars from 0 to D at Gruhn’s in Nashville over multiple trips. I also bought a Oxnard Guild M-20 that managed to keep my mahogany top GAS at bay for two years until Martin announced it was discontinuing the 00-17A and forced my hand.

[Tony Burns]

Find yourself an older mid seventies Guild D-25 , put a decent set of tuners on it and some new strings- and your good to go . remember to get a original Guild company made one, not Fender !

[usb_chord]

1931 Martin Authentic 00-17

[Mr. Paul]

Love Santa Cruz guitars, so when I didn't care for the 00 1929 I just figured the all mahogany 00 wasn't for me. The Martin 00-17 Authentic changed all that. Great guitar.