‘Zager’ Guitars -??
I’ve got that bug again - I want to learn, I have a taylor big baby, but now want a ‘full size’ dust collector and the premise of these being ‘easier’ to play has me intrigued.
Wondering if any of the more knowedgeable guitar folks here have any info on these, or should I just go get a Taylor 110?
Short answer: don’t do it.
Longer answer: Zagers are almost always entry-level, really cheap Asian guitars that Denny has supposedly worked his magic on. In reality, the mechanics behind a good set up are no secret, and any decent guitar shop can do the same job for less, in response to your own personal preferences and needs.
If you’re in the mood, you could go to someplace like the Acoustic Guitar Forum and read the same assessment (or something much les charitable) hundreds of times over. It’s a thread subject that pops up over and over and over again.
Get yourself a nice used vintage Yamaha. Have it professionally set up by a luthier. I have an old FG-300 and I love it. I only paid $400 For it I think.
Seems like a smart idea. Some of those older Yammies (why, yes that is how die-hard Yamaha fans sometimes refer to the brand on line :rolleyes:) are excellent.
I just looked around for a “beater” acoustic that I could travel with, play outdoors, etc. and ended up with a Taylor GS-Mini. For what I was looking for it was great*. I know you have a Big Baby which is a bit bigger vs. a GS-Mini so you have the 3/4 to 7/8 size already, but want to consider something bigger. But I find the GS-Mini to be just fine for my random guitar needs - it is much more playable vs. a regular Baby Taylor, which is too small to be fun to play for me.
While I checked out the GS-Mini, I played a full-sized Takamine dreadnought priced at $299 at GC. It was great - sounded like a nice big full-sized dread - much better than the lower priced Seagulls, Fenders and new, similarly-priced Yamahas. It had no pickguard (not an issue for me - just describing it). I wanted a smaller guitar I could more likely fit into an overhead, so went with the GS Mini but would’ve snagged the Tak if size wasn’t an issue…
My $.02.
*I think Taylor make consistent, reliable guitars in the inexpensive price ranges. Once I start looking at pricier guitars, I find that I consistently prefer other makes. The reliability and quality construction that seems to work for lower-priced Taylors don’t seem to translate to their higher-priced models, IMHO (there is a vast number of folks who disagree with me…)
I think Yamaha still makes the best quality for the dollar entry level guitar.
Thanks folks - tragedy averted - now to figure out what, if anything, i’ll do - might make a trip to GC one day soon.