I played one of the best dreadnoughts I’ve ever heard this weekend, and no, it wasn’t a Collings, it was this guitar:
Santa Cruz 1934 D

The neck was a little on the skinny side, but the whole body shook when you played it, and it made my D2H sound small and scared . It's not the greatest Brazilian to look at, but definitely the best I ever played, and if I'd had $13k to drop, it might very well have happened right there.

For those in the area with some time to kill, this one is worth a sit-down, even if just for fun.

Dave,

It sounds great. I'd sure like to play one of these.

Boy, the price really has jumped since NAMM. Acoustic Vibes still shows their's at nearly $4000 less:

http://www.acousticvibesmusic.com/catalog/index.php?mai...=1_8&products_id=444

Acoustic Vibes model will not have Brazilian, thus the much lower price. My friend, Jim Lehman(www.guitarrez.com) played the Braz model at NAMM, and has been raving about it since. This is not a man easily impressed.

quote:

Originally posted by bill browder:
Acoustic Vibes model will not have Brazilian, thus the much lower price. My friend, Jim Lehman(www.guitarrez.com) played the Braz model at NAMM, and has been raving about it since. This is not a man easily impressed.

Now that would explain it, wouldn't it. When will these guys quit giving us newer and cooler stuff to desire? I had thought Santa Cruz was a "been there, done that" for me. Now I have to put them back on the list. This one looks and sounds just great.

I know that Guitar has me dribbling saliva everywhere.

Its too expensive
Neck is too small
French polish is fragile
Other Tony Rice models dont sound as good as Collings
Soundhole is too big
Glued neck may cause reset problems later
Steve Swan said long saddles on T.R. were problematic
Brazillian aint all that.
Help me here, anything else to stop the fantasy.

I know..... for a couple of grand less you can have the Sunburst Varnish D42 Collings Brazillian at Music Emporium.

Or even better
Home equity loans arent easy to get right now.