Slope shouldered dread

[gevans378]

I'm thinking about acquiring a slope shouldered dread.  I've played Larrivees a lot over the years and my current stable has an OM-04R, an LV-03, and a Koa parlour.  I was originally thinking about a Bourgeous Slope Shouldered D, but thought I should check out members' experience with the SD-50 or the SD-60.  Any words of encouragement from those camps?  Have any members A/B'd the Bourgeois and the Larrivee?

[PortHueneme]

I'm thinking about acquiring a slope shouldered dread.  I've played Larrivees a lot over the years and my current stable has an OM-04R, an LV-03, and a Koa parlour.  I was originally thinking about a Bourgeous Slope Shouldered D, but thought I should check out members' experience with the SD-50 or the SD-60.  Any words of encouragement from those camps?  Have any members A/B'd the Bourgeois and the Larrivee?

All I can tell you is my SD-60 is the best sounding guitar I have ever played and better than most I have heard. I never heard a "Bourgeois" though. The SD-50 I have heard are awesome too, I just like rosewood.

[Novalis]

I personally like mahogany, so I bought an SD-50 last year and it's honestly the nicest sounding guitar I've ever played (compared to high-end Taylors, Martins, Gibsons I've played over the years). I must confess that I've never played a Bourgeous and it's my understanding that they are incredible guitars with a great reputation for immaculate quality and tone. I've never read of anybody being dissapointed with Bourgeous, so I'd imagine you'd be more than happy with one. That being said. . .

Since you are wanting a slope shouldered dread, check out the archives here AS WELL AS other guitar forums and you will find that the Larrivee SD series is consistently praised as being one of the greatest slope shouldered guitars money can buy. Even my guitar tech (who is brutally honest about some of the other high-end guitars he's worked on) commented on the incredible tone and sustain as well as the quality of my SD-50. As you can probably guess, I'd highly recommend getting yourself one. I can't imagine anybody being less than thrilled.   

[Queequeg]

All I can tell you is my SD-60 is the best sounding guitar I have ever played and better than most I have heard. I never heard a "Bourgeois" though. The SD-50 I have heard are awesome too, I just like rosewood.

+1
You took the words right out of my keyboard, PortHueneme . 

[Tycho]

My only issue with the SD is the wide fingerboard.  I tried out an SD-50 and wanted to love it, but just couldn't get past that issue.

Check out the Santa Cruzes as well; their slope dreads are really nice  -- though if I were going to buy a slope dread myself, I'd look for a used Gibson J-45.  The ones I've seen in Toronto are generally in the same price range as a new Santa Cruz, but with much more mojo.

[tikabear]

Mine is for sale at a great price over in Buy, Sell, Trade.

[rpg51]

I have played both, but not in the same room.  My impression was that both are very nice guitars but the Larrivee is not quite in the same league as the Bourgeois. 

[ElJefe]

I have played both but not at the same store.  Also played a Collings slope that was great.  

I have a Bourgeois Vintage-D that I really enjoy.  I believe that the SD is a little wider than my 000-50.

Enjoy what you get.

[Tycho]

I believe that the SD is a little wider than my 000-50.

That's right.  The 000s are 1-3/4", and I believe the SD is 1-7/8".

I would say try before you buy with the SD.  If you like the extra width, great.

[Big Eric]

I'm another one that wanted to really love the SD-50 I played.  But the neck width did me in.  I'm a wimp.   

Bourgeois are very, very fine guitars.  I've played a number of them over the years.  The one issue I have with them is the neck angle.  That angle causes the saddle to be very high.  At least in my opinion.  Obviously the folks at Bourgeois don't think so. 

Besides those two, I'd also suggest looking at a Huss and Dalton slope D.  The one I've tried could most pickers happy.

Or a Martin Ditson Model 111 Special Edition.  I was able to play the prototype.     Also had a 1 7/8" nut.  But the sound was huge.  The biggest sound I've ever heard from a new guitar.  I don't say it too lightly.  I've played a lot over the years.  This one was scary good.  Luckily, I could never afford one.

[Tycho]

One of the interesting things about the extra width on the SD is that it seems to me that it makes it impossible to do fast flat-picking on those guitars.

If I were ever to buy a slope D, it would be to try to do Norman Blake-type stuff.  But I can only barely do cross-picking as it is on a normal dreadnought, and on my OM, forget it; the extra width between the strings just makes it that much harder for me.  So it would basically be impossible for me to cross-pick on an SD.

[Novalis]

One of the interesting things about the extra width on the SD is that it seems to me that it makes it impossible to do fast flat-picking on those guitars.

If I were ever to buy a slope D, it would be to try to do Norman Blake-type stuff.  But I can only barely do cross-picking as it is on a normal dreadnought, and on my OM, forget it; the extra width between the strings just makes it that much harder for me.  So it would basically be impossible for me to cross-pick on an SD.

Norman didn't seem to think the width was a problem as he bought a couple SDs.

[prof_stack]

I have played both, but not in the same room.  My impression was that both are very nice guitars but the Larrivee is not quite in the same league as the Bourgeois. 

That may be true as Bourgeois guitars are "tap-toned" from what I hear.  That is, the braces are shaved and shaped to get the right resonances for the builder.  More attention to detail, so to speak.  Rightly so then it should cost A LOT more money.

I have played two of them and one was incredible and the other, a slope shoulder dread like the SD-50, was tight-sounding and not super. 

So you just have to get out and play them.  BTW, my SD-50 is a great guitar.

[unclrob]

I ended up with a Gibson Vintage AJ from 95.I tried to like the SD but it just was to wide.

[spenser]

For the record, I am a large man with big fingers.  That being said, my SD would be the second thing that I grab if my house ever caught on fire.  It really stopped GAS, and I have found nothing that would make me sell or replace.  That being said, you need to like the wide fret board (which was one of the reasons that I bought it, other than the kick butt tone).  It is not, however, my flatpicking guitar (yet) but I have the OMV 60 for that!  You cant go wrong with the SD  even without letting price enter the decision.

[Tycho]

Norman didn't seem to think the width was a problem as he bought a couple SDs.

But Norman's a better player than I am.   

[jeremy3220]

But Norman's a better player than I am.   

I heard he got rid of them, too.

[Tycho]

Norman seems to do a lot of buying, so I'm guessing he does a lot of selling as well.

[dermot]

If you can find it, and fit it... a 12 fret D is pretty amazing.... be it from Larrivee, SCGC, H&D, Collings, or Martin....

My choice has been Martin tho.. i have two, one sitka/mahog, one sitka/rosewood.... happy happy happy sounds emenate from their general direction daily.....

Ta,

d.

[Novalis]

Sounds like the deciding factor in liking or disliking the SD series is the neck width. If one is used to narrow necks, it might take some getting used to, or maybe one won't ever get used to it. I spent a LOT of time considering the pros and cons and played a few classical guitars at the local shops to get an idea of what I was getting into and if I could get used to the extra width. I read an article convincing me of the benefits of playing a 1 7/8" neck by one of my favorite (and not very well known) fingerstyle players Chris Proctor that nailed home the point:

You can read the whole article at: http://www.taylorguitars.com/artists/411/cp_praise.html

"I'm also a strong advocate of having the extra wide, 1-7/8-inch neck to complete the package (in this article, all neck-width references are measured at the nut). The Grand Concerts and Grand Auditoriums normally come with a 1-3/4-inch neck width, but I like to push that advantage even further. The fingerstyle guitarist needs a string spacing that allows for separate voices to be played with equal ease with both right and left hands, and the wider neck liberates the player to do just that.

Remember, when a classical player buys a guitar, he or she is given only one neck-width choice: two inches. It's not a hand-size issue, it's a utility-of-use issue. Classical players need the spacing described above for the same reasons that the steel-string instrumentalist needs it. In spite of the 1/8-inch difference between them, Taylor's 1-7/8-inch neck is almost exactly equivalent to the classical two-inch neck in the actual spacing of the strings, because steel strings have thinner diameters than nylon strings.

It's long been a popular, but flawed, belief that only people with big hands should play wide-neck guitars. To refute that thesis, and to fully appreciate that the moving lines and gymnastic chord forms used by the fingerstylist are much more achievable with wider string spacing than they would be on those narrower necks, you need only consider the small hands and stubby, sausage-like fingers of the late virtuoso, Andres Segovia"

The comment on Segovia nailed it for me.