benbmw - Posted - 11/23/2020:  09:27:49

Hello All,

I am looking for suggestions/requests in planning my comparison video of four budget bluegrass guitars, here is the background info:

I have recently been searching for a budget-minded, solid wood dreadnought guitar for playing bluegrass style music. While I like the sound of the classic Martin D-18 and D-28, I could not justify spending well over $1000 on a guitar at the moment. After doing some research I discovered that I preferred the sound of mahogany back and sides and further narrowed my options to the following four guitars:

Blueridge BR-140
Eastman E10D
Recording King RD-318
Alvarez MD60BG

The Recording King and Alvarez are well under the $1000 budget; both can be found new for $600, whereas the Blueridge is $800-$900 new and the Eastman is $1100-$1200 new.

Unfortunately I was not able to find either of these guitars locally to play and have only identified them as options based on YouTube reviews (J.P. Cormier has good things to say about both the Alvarez and Recording King) and other forum recommendations (often Eastman and Blueridge are highly recommended). The ideal situation of course would be to have all four of these in my hands and do a direct comparison. So... I was able to find them all online with a free return option except for the Alvarez, but I figured I could buy it used and be able to re-sell it locally for minimal loss (less than the $100-$150 return shipping). The Eastman I found used as well on Guitar Center for $799 which brings it below the $1000 budget (and I can return it for free to my local guitar center).

I imagine there are plenty of people who are looking in a similar price range for similar style guitars and will likely consider at least one of these in their search, so I bought a Zoom H1n recorder to do a guitar comparison review and post it on YouTube. The guitars should all arrive sometime next week, so in the mean-time I would like to plan out the comparison video. Are there any licks/tunes that would do well at showcasing the differences in tonal qualities between these guitars? Any general recommendations are welcome as well!

Thanks,
Ben

ITACUD - Posted - 11/23/2020:  14:11:04

If you have time, look at the used market. I just saw a BR 240 mahogany in TN for under $1000. I bet within a few weeks you can find what you want in Sandiego.



I saw this one with a single search. Not exactly what you want, but if you can wait.....

sandiego.craigslist.org/esd/ms...3792.html