Getting geared up to enter the acoustic market...

Well gents it appears I will be testing the waters over on the acoustic side of things for a bit.

My wife's Yamaha she has owned from new (1985) has begun down a path of needed repair that is not going to be financially viable. A neck re-setting just isn't in the cards.

I am in need of your valued opinions on where I might begin narrowing things down a bit.

Electro-acoustic is preferred, thinline body, standard size, brighter tone if possible.

Wot say yee?

I always fancied one of the Gretsch thinline E/As, to be honest but they were always far too expensive for what I wanted to do with them! I played one in New Zealand many years ago and it was a lovely instrument but the owner kept his eagle eye on it and I couldn't spirit it away!

There probably heaps of choice out there now, and I'm equally sure than Barry's going plump for an Ovation....

.....oooooohhhh that's right, thanks John for the reminder.

Anything BUT Ovation UNLESS it is some older model without the carbon fiber cachet.

Sorry Barry...

Why not get another Yamaha?

Really depends on your budget. Ive got a Takemine AN16 which I think is really nice, lovely bright sound. They do an elctro-acoustic version too and one with a cutaway.
Before that had a Tanglewood which I think are great value for money.
King of the elctro-acoustics would be Taylor in my opinion but they are pricey.

I'm gonna say that you need to go play a bunch of them first, regardless of brand. Get your hands around as many as you can. Acoustic's are quite varied in tone and feel, in my opinion even moreso than electrics, so get out to a store and strum away. Especially varied are the acoustic/electric's, which may fail bigtime at acoustic but sound excellent plugged in (or vice-versa).

I'd never entertain the thought of buying an acoustic without playing it first, whereas with an electric solid body I would buy it without playing it first.

The Chad wrote:.... Especially varied are the acoustic/electric's, which may fail bigtime at acoustic but sound excellent plugged in (or vice-versa)

Actually, that's dead right; I have a Samick E/A in storage that is very average indeed unplugged, but chimes beautifully amped up.... do as the man suggests and roam about playing as many as you can, and go for the one that "feels" right to you!

Good advice guys.
I tried an electo-acoustic couple years back, cant remember the make (Taylor or Martin). Was being sold by Dave Edmunds (Sabre Dance, I hear you knocking, Rockpile...) through a shop managed by a mate of mine, but I didnt like it at all.

While I have no experience with these, if I were in your position, I would look for the Trevor Rabin-endorsed Alvarez-Yairi DY-88. I believe it will satisfy all of your requirements.

They come up on Craigslist and Ebay from time to time. I want one.

I have a DY-74 which is quite traditional as compared to the DY-88.