For those who moved from dreads to smaller guitars

[picassov7]

Originally Posted by guit3090

I have always had Dreads, but I have a bad neck and it is painful to play, would a 000 be more comfortable? What I really like sizewise are Taylor 214s, but I don't know anyone who makes a guitar that size, that I could afford.

Check out some used Eastman AC models.

[picassov7]

I didn't necessarily go smaller. Instead I chose a guitar with the body similar to a Gibson J-185. I feel that it has better tonal balance and is also much more comfortable to play with the pinched waist.

[j3ffr0]

I have a few reasons:
1) Bigger is not always louder. My little 00-SP is probably the loudest guitar I own. Also, louder is not always better.
2) Absolutely needed a wider nut and wider bridge string spacing than most dreads offer.
3) Wanted something a little less bulky to play sitting down.
4) If most people are playing dreads, then I would want to play something else.

[lodi_55]

To be honest, I just picked up an OM one day, loved the sound and took it home. I wasn't planning to go looking for an OM!

[davwir]

I'll echo some of the reasons already given:
Size and Comfort..
Intimacy..
Generally wider nut..
Short scale and 12 frets are favorite preferences for me as well; although they can be found on Dreads, its certainly less common..

I also find the smaller and curvier body shapes "sexier" for sure! lol

Nothing wrong with the bigger guitars too, I have some I absolutely love.
But for my usual playing, which is lighter, and mainly just fingers, I have learned that I get more enjoyment and ease of playing from the smaller ones.
I don't really feel Im giving up anything tonally or volume wise, as I am not playing any music like flat picked bluegrass anyway..

[billgennaro]

I went to smaller guitars because I primarily like Rosewood back/sides and always found dreads to be too heavily loaded towards the bass end of things. OM's seem to be much better balanced overall. Also, I play sitting down and dreads suck for that as far as comfort goes.

Bill

[lunchie]

Right now I have a dread and a classical, oh and my little Gretsch. I prefer O-OOO bodies since I'm more of a fingerpicker then anything. They are just easier to play. I will have another one eventually I am just waiting on the right one/deal to come along.

[DRodgers]

Originally Posted by Wade Hampton

For me it had nothing to do with size (I'm 5'10" with longer than average arms and long fingers) and everything to do with tone.

The first guitar I ever played that totally blew me away was a 1939 Martin 000-28. It was an astonishing guitar. The first guitar I ever bought and used onstage was a 1950's Harmony Triple O copy, which was a remarkably good-sounding guitar, though nowhere remotely within the 000-28's class.

A few years after that I got my first professional quality guitar, which was a rosewood Mossman dreadnought, and that's what I used onstage for years afterwards. But I kept the Harmony Triple O as my backup.

After I'd been married a few years I decided to look around for a pre-war 000-28, but the guitar I could have bought for $850 in the mid-70's had risen to ten or twelve grand by the mid-80's. So I talked Scott Baxendale, who then owned the Mossman brand name, into building a custom Triple O for me.

I ordered it as a herringbone 000-28, but as it came together Scott felt it was going to be such good guitar that, quite on his own, he decided to make a 000-42 out of it at no extra charge. Which was pretty amazing to me, but the guitar itself was and is superb.

Anyway, the reason I've always liked this body style is that it just has a great sound and a perfect tonal balance between the bass response, the midrange and the treble response. You can play a chord anywhere on the neck and have all the notes be equally audible; it's not bass-heavy like most square-shouldered dreadnoughts. What's more, you can walk out onstage and tell the person running the soundboard to run it flat, and it will sound great.

Translated to English, what that means is that Triple O's and OM's don't require turning down any of the bass in order to prevent feedback, the way that dreadnoughts usually do. Triple O's can be "run flat," meaning that all the EQ controls can be left in a flat line, with none of the frequencies boosted or turned down.

Some of that depends on the quirks of the room itself, of course, but Triple O's are much easier to mic than most dreads.

Anyway, from the late 80's onward that Baxendale Mossman 000-42 became my main stage guitar, and the Mossman dreadnought got less and less use until one day when I realized it hadn't been out of its case for a couple of years. So I sold it.

Back then Triple O's and other smaller guitar body styles were very uncommon when compared to the sheer number of dreadnoughts in use, and sometimes other performers at music festivals would make snide comments like "When are you going to get a REAL guitar?!?"

Then Eric Clapton played his famous MTV Unplugged concert playing a Martin 000-42 remarkably similar to the guitar I'd been gigging with for a few years, and overnight all those snotty comments CEASED.

I've never seen anything like it, the way Triple O's went from being perceived as being oddball, less-than-desirable folky guitars to highly desirable instruments, with one influential televised concert.

So, long story short, I've always been a fan of Triple O's and OM's for their tonal and musical qualities, not because I'm getting old and creaky and can't wrap myself around a dreadnought any longer. I would have bought that 1939 000-28 I mentioned if I'd had the money, and I was in my early twenties then.

By the way, I still can and do wrap myself around dreadnoughts: when I visited John Pearse's widow Linda in Germany four years ago, she took me up to John's guitar room and told me that she thought John would want me to have one of his guitars. I surprised myself by picking out a Gibson Advanced Jumbo, which is a terrific design. It's also both wider and deeper than a Martin dreadnought.

And of course I've got a McAlister acoustic baritone guitar, which is quite large and has a 28.3" scale, besides.

So for me my interest in Triple O's and OM's has always been based on their musical merits, (which are considerable,) not their size.

Hope that makes sense.


Wade Hampton Miller

Thank you for taking the time to write this! I thoroughly enjoyed reading your post.

[rmyAddison]

For me arthritis had something to say, and I lost a LOT of money turning a stable of high end Martin dreads into high end Martin OM/000's.

Now after a few years of only owning OM/000's I wouldn't go back if I could. OM's are more comfortable, better balanced (they really are, and I've owned some of Martin's finest dreads), and while they don't have quite the low end rumble they can project just as well. A quality OM with 13's tuned down 1/2 step has a very full sound.

Plus if you are a vintage voice fan Martin has a lot of great OM/000's models, the choices are many not few, I love Martin OM's.........

[roylor4]

Comfort. Period.

The best sounding guitar I have ever owned was a Tacoma DR12. Rosewood and spruce with beautiful silking on it. Big sound. Lots of of everything - big bass, excellent mids and sparkling treble.

The lower bout cut off circulation to my lower arm after 25-30 minutes of playing and left a huge "dent' in my arm for over 30 minutes. One of the reasons I got rid of a L Larrivee as well (among many).

I still really like the sound of a dread and occasionally pick one up but for the long haul (for me) it's got to be a GA or smaller.

[bizango1]

I just started out small because I liked the sound and feel so it was a gut thing rather than well thought out or brought on by shoulder issues or size. I'm 6' 2" with long arms and I love hugging small guitars. First six string was a 000 Takamine in the 70's. Still have it along with three OMs, 0, 00, another 000, and a couple dreads and twelve strings. Latest is an OM-42 and if I read any more of those posts raving about OM-18A 1933 I'll probably get one of those, too. Can't get enough small guitars.

[DRodgers]

Originally Posted by bizango1

I just started out small because I liked the sound and feel so it was a gut thing rather than well thought out or brought on by shoulder issues or size. I'm 6' 2" with long arms and I love hugging small guitars. First six string was a 000 Takamine in the 70's. Still have it along with three OMs, 0, 00, another 000, and a couple dreads and twelve strings. Latest is an OM-42 and if I read any more of those posts raving about OM-18A 1933 I'll probably get one of those, too. Can't get enough small guitars.

I know what you mean about the OM-18A. I keep telling myself Never play one never play one never play one. The thought is terrifying.

[gip111]

While browsing in my local GC not long ago I picked up a Dirty Thirties RPH-05 used.
I did a set up on it, added a custom cut pickguard and it plays great, it has a surprisingly loud tone for its size, I can't really judge it against other small guitars since I haven't played any others this size but I really like it.
I'm 6'2" with long fingers but somehow it's size and comfort makes me want to practice and play more, I have already sold one of my full size dreadnoughts.
I'm mostly a play at home person so it just fits the bill and I'm already looking to purchase another parlor/small bodied guitar but this time maybe with a wider nut size.

[JamesTGS]

Because I am fat. Big guitars sit too far out when I am standing up.

[Daveso]

I tried a Martin Dread… too big. If it's not comfortable for me (noob) I won't play it as much. I liked the sound of the 000-16GT just fine so it worked for me. And I love the look and quality of the Martin. Now going back and forth between my SG and the 000 is challenging for sure still… lol