Greetings from New England.
I'm a new member who has been playing drums in various local bands for the past 50+ years in small clubs and bars.
I've always loved the sound of an acoustic guitar and would pick one up wherever I found one just to pluck the strings and pretend I knew how to play. When the COVID19 pandemic hit with stay-at-home advisories and more spare time on my hands, I decided it was time to buy a quality guitar that sounded good, was durable, and would be at home on a gig. I didn't know much about them, so I asked the guitarists in my band what they would recommend for a quality $1000 acoustic. I was looking primarily at the big-named American guitar companies Martin and Taylor. I wanted to stay away from "beginner" models because I didn't want to suffer from GAS a year or so down the road. Just coincidentally, Taylor had debuted the American Dream series a couple of months before my search began. I listened to a few comparison videos between the Spruce AD17 and Mahogany AD27. I decided on the AD17e as I wanted the versatility to be able to plug in to an amp. It exceeded my initial $1000 budget, but seemed well worth the additional cost. I bought it without seeing one first-hand from an online retailer in August and am very happy with my decision. At first, the dreadnaught size seemed a bit awkward and the medium strings a bit hard to learn with, but I'm adapting and have got some pretty good callouses on my first three fingers. I've been progressing through Hal Leonard's guitar instruction book at my own pace.
I love the sound and quality of the AD17e and am happy to be a new member to this forum. Looking forward to some great conversations about guitars and guitar playing.
https://1drv.ms/u/s!AuZgcVCbwlee5lapA2C6_CrFBDQo?e=ZhFiXf-BuddyO
