First electro-acoustic advice Fender CD-140SCE or Sigma 000MC-15E?

[onemore]

Hi all!

 

I'm toying with the idea of buying an electro acoustic guitar, my first acoustic. Unfortunately money is tight and I can't spend more than 500€.

 

I found this models that fit my requirements (it's an electro, with a preamp, and has a single cutaway):

 

- Fender CD-140SCE All Mahogany

- Sigma 000MC-15E

 

The Fender seems nice (can buy it for about 350€) and it already comes with a nice hard-shell case. I know that Fender does not has a great reputation regarding acoustics, but these 140 All Mahogany seem to be step up the game for Fender (according to what I read)

 

The Sigma is more expensive (about 450€), no case, but has some great reviews...

 

I will do mostly fingerstyle stuff, not so much strumming.

 

So what do you think, for a first time acoustic, are these both fine instruments and on par with each other? Can't go wrong whatever I choose?

 

All opinions are all welcomed and thanks in advance!

[Freeman Keller]

Hi One and welcome to HCAG. If you strictly go by the specs, they are remarkably similar - solid mahogany tops, laminated backs and sides. The Fender is a dread so it is slightly bigger, will be biased slightly towards the bass, the Sigma is a triple ought which is a little smaller and will be more mid-range. As you probably know, a mahogany top is often thought to be '"warmer" than spruce, people often describe the sound as woody or bluesy. Many fingerstyle players gravitate to smaller bodied guitars for their better balance across the strings - I'm a fingerstyle player and while I own a very nice Martin dreadnaught I mostly play 00 and 000 sized guitars.

 

So, while I don't think you will hear much of a difference, it is worth while playing both guitars to see if you can tell - both sound and feel.

 

I'm not familiar with either of the pickup systems - I assume they are both UST's which work OK but tend to be a little quacky. While you are trying them out you should run each thru a good acoustic amp and see what you think.

 

Lastly, I work on guitars and frankly have never seen a Fender acoustic that I've been impressed with. However I try to keep an open mind and the reviews of the new Fenders have been good. Sigma, on the other hand used to be Martin's budget brand but they dropped the name and Sigma is now produced in China. At one time they were highly thought of but again, right now I really don't know.

 

I don't know if you are completely hung up on all mahogany - if not there are many other options in your price range. Yamaha has several hightly thought of AE guitars and I think a better option is to buy a great sounding all acoustic guitar and add an aftermarket pickup.

 

So bottom line, get out an play everything you can, let your ears and hands guide you.

[Emory]

Welcome. 500 euros doesn't sound all that tight a budget. Not sure about which country you are in, but should be very very large number in that price range to choose from. My advice is to take your time about it. Like they say "marry in haste, repent at leisure", but sub "buy guitar". And don't pass up a good used guitar. Already broken in, may have had pro set up, and if lucky will be "pre dinged" so you won't have to worry about that!

[Mikeo]

Here's my approximately 500 dollar pick.

 

The Taylor GS Mini e

 

That is if you can deal with a 23.5 scale guitar.

 

Comes with gig bag

Sounds very nice unplugged

Sound good plugged in with there E2S pick up.

 

They have a koa, which is more costly, a mahogany, there was a rose wood, which is hard to find now, and the walnut is there new one.

 

Give one a whirl and see how you like it.

 

 

I have 2 of them, one is in mahogany and was built before they put in the E2S pick up system. The other is a Koa Mini e. It's a grab and go and a great living room parlor player.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Freeman Keller]

Mikeo, my guess is that the OP is an electric player that wants to add an "acoustic" to his quiver (he talks about his "first" acoustic, wants a cutaway which most acoustic players really don't need, wants on board electronics and has gravitated to Fender). As much as I like the GS Mini (a friend has two of them, I just put a K&K in one of them) I don't know if I would recommend the size and short scale. I do think that if he is truly used to playing an electric that the size and shape of the neck would be a factor which is why I suggested getting out and playing as much as he can.

 

Maybe he'll come back and tell us more what he is looking for.

[Mikeo]

Mikeo' date=' my guess is that the OP is an electric player that wants to add an "acoustic" to his quiver (he talks about his "first" acoustic, wants a cutaway which most acoustic players really don't need, wants on board electronics and has gravitated to Fender). As much as I like the GS Mini (a friend has two of them, I just put a K&K in one of them) I[b'] don't know if I would recommend the size and short scale. I do think that if he is truly used to playing an electric that the size and shape of the neck would be a factor which is why I suggested getting out and playing as much as he can.[/b]

 

Maybe he'll come back and tell us more what he is looking for.

 

 

The short scale was the concern I had.

 

How's the K&K pick up system. I have an early mahogany one without any pick up, and didn't like the ES Go pick-up at all.

 

Which K&K did you install and does it have an active pre amp? Did you make a covering for the end pin jack as I believe it would leave a holes when you replace the the strap button. It's seem large than the standard 1/4 jack, and was made for the ES Go pick up.

 

A picture would help, if you have one.You work is amazing. You have a knack and some really talent. I may not reply every time you post a new guitar, but believe me, I keep my eyes peeled at your work. Candy for the eye and ears.

 

You might be talking me into a trip to my local luthier.

[Freeman Keller]

 

 

The short scale was the concern I had.

 

How's the K&K pick up system. I have an early mahogany one without any pick up, and didn't like the ES Go pick-up at all.

 

Which K&K did you install and does it have an active pre amp? Did you make a covering for the end pin jack as I believe it would leave a holes when you replace the the strap button. It's seem large than the standard 1/4 jack, and was made for the ES Go pick up.

 

A picture would help, if you have one.You work is amazing. You have a knack and some really talent. I may not reply every time you post a new guitar, but believe me, I keep my eyes peeled at your work. Candy for the eye and ears.

 

You might be talking me into a trip to my local luthier.

 

 

I'm sorry that I didn't take any pictures but I have installed quite a few K&K's now in various guitars. The store that I work with is a dealer so I use the trademarked one, there is a much cheaper version (JRS or something) available on the internet that is considerably less and people say is just as good. I have always installed the passive version, one time I had a guitar with a Fishman undersaddle and the owner asked about using that preamp with the K&K. A nice e-mail from them said they did not recommend it - different balance on the piezo crystals. I have not installed any of their preamps.

 

I trust your opinion on electronics - we have always told people that an external preamp or DI box is recommended. The GS Mini belongs to the guy who was looking at acoustic amps (recent thread) - he bought the new $400 Fender amp but I have not seen or heard it yet. I think he is going to try just running the K&K into the amp - I'll do a review when I see/hear it. He has a second Mini with factory ES - it will be very interesting to see how they compare.

 

The GS Mini was drilled for an end pin jack and had a dummy strap pin installed. The drilling was 15/32 or 1/2, but it had a little recess around it that the washer on the K&K jack wouldn't completely fill. A quick trip to the music store found this

 

https://www.allparts.com/EP-4605-010...ck_p_1448.html

 

Which fit the recess and drilling perfectly. It was a simple matter to unsolder the wires from the K&K jack and use this one (the three transducers are all brought to the jack and wired in parallel). Put a piece of shrink wrap over the solder connections.

 

I'll add a foot note - I've installed about an equal number of Fishman style UST's and K&K's - maybe a dozen of each. The K&K's are dead simple, takes me about a half hour (most of the time spent waiting for the gel CA to kick off before doing the next transducer). Every installation has worked well and has a nice balances non-quacky sound. The Fishmans take about an hour, the double sticky tape on the battery bag and electronics frequently doesn't stick well (I add a small dab of gel CA) and I have had a couple that were a b*tch to get the strings balanced - you need a perfectly flat saddle slot and saddle bottom and the saddle needs to fit well. I charge twice as much for a Fishman and warn the buyer that they may have to equalize the signal to get it balanced (I do the best I can).

 

I just did a little Martin 00-15 that had a Bragg's mic in it - the customer wanted the Fishman with the UST and mic. Kind of cool to be able to blend the mic and piezo, but if positioned wrong the mic sure does feed back. Also recently had a customer want me to disable the factory UST on his Alvarez and install a cheap no name soundhole mag pickup. He was using light gauge electric strings and frankly the mag sounds much better (the UST was poorly balanced).

 

Anyway, lots of ways to skin this cat - hope some of this is helpful to the OP (and thanks for the nice words)

[DeepEnd]

First, what's available where you are? Is it just Fender and Sigma or are those just the brands that caught your eye? Takamine and Crafter are available in Europe. Freeman has already mentioned Yamaha. More information would help.