Well I went on my quest for a dream guitar checked out places here and in London, went to places that advertised they had Atkins in stock but none of them did (I know he is more of a made to order Luthier but I wanted to try one first and see how it resonated with me, guitars preferences are so personal) I was even ready to go to Canterbury. I tried Martins, J-200s J45s old epis all sorts and ages. Then whilst in London I checked out a shop in Kew that advertised having Atkins, J-200s and plenty of other vintage guitars. Well they didn't have any Atkins they has some lovely old Martins and gibsons which weren't quite what I wanted and they had a Pete Townshend sig J200 which I thought might be the one as I love the sound Pete gets out of his J200...but no, boomy and unbalanced. Then there was a Sunburst J200 on the wall 2008. I had wanted a natural one but the guy recommended I try it so I did and..instant Pete Townshend - it had THAT sound You know the start of Wonderwall, early Cat Stevens sweet clear no breaking up when you strum it hard. It was a 2008 standard, not the year or the colour I had wanted but..but I didn't get it. The shop was closing and I didn't wan't to make a rash decision on such a big purchase. I said "if it had been blonde I would take it now but I don't know". So I went home some 80 miles away and it wouldn't leave my head, this was the 7th J200 I had tried most were totally dead sounding or just mediocre and unimpressive. Woke up in the morning and knew I had to get it. So phoned up and bought it.
So here it is:
and it is inspiring and encouraging. I actually feel like I am not as bad a player as I thought. I could never get an even strum out of my other guitar, recording them was always a case of eq-ing and compressing, struggling with the mic position. This guitar, stick the mic somewhere out front and it sounds great. I wasn't sure how much difference there would be between my other acoustics and a high end one but after playing that one I couldn't actually bring mysellf to play my cheaper Jumbo. I had it in the shop and what I thought sounded half decent sounded complete crap after that one. Phew I finally got the sound I wanted.
..now for the hit album to pay for it