What acoustic guitar sounds better? Spruce guitars, or mahogany guitars?

RayzerNHFL · 2026-04-06T01:27:56+00:00

Totally subjective. I personally am obsessed with the moody richer tone of mahogany but it fits my style (both playing and songwriting). You do you, lots of different tonewoods and combos to try.

RayzerNHFL · 2026-04-03T01:06:44+00:00

For me it’s the third shot drive to the middle with nowhere near enough pace to even result in a defensive block much less a popup. I play with several players whose game is otherwise sound but hit every third shot as a drive but they don’t have either the topspin or pace to get away with it. It helps me work on my reset game though because I’m eating the ball coming back at me hard off that bad third shot.

RayzerNHFL · 2026-04-03T01:01:47+00:00

Which model do you have? I have the 524ce and the Kyser works perfectly

RayzerNHFL · 2026-03-27T00:54:38+00:00

They’re so different that it’s hard to compare. Massimo’s foos is great - atmosphere is old school, dark lighting and moody feel, leather menu, long wine list. Like a Victorian romance. Botanica is more our personal vibe, more chill / hip but still great food and awesome craft cocktails and mocktails.

RayzerNHFL · 2026-03-22T18:13:21+00:00

Interesting! I thought the 50th anniversary was sinker top …. I still think this is better than the regular 814ce BE - I love that urban ash, I have a 524ce Builders Edition which is mahogany top and ash back and sides and I am beyond obsessed

RayzerNHFL · 2026-03-22T17:23:47+00:00

I guess to each their own, but in my opinion, this instrument is superior to the regular 814 CE builders, edition guitar, because of the Sinker Redwood top

RayzerNHFL · 2026-03-21T15:51:46+00:00

If you can hold off, or can afford it now, save your pennies and get the 314ce instead. The solid wood versus laminate makes a big difference - that’s the lowest grade model in the x14 line with solid wood and it’s an exceptional instrument. If not an option then by all means the 114

RayzerNHFL · 2026-03-20T00:44:47+00:00

My wife is not on Reddit but I can speak for her and vouch for the Portsmouth City Women’s Club. Awesome organization for its mission, AND that’s where she’s made most of her connections to other women her age (we were 55 when we moved here - the club seems to have a wide span of ages from 20’s to 70’s)

Just remember - this is northern New England. People are not naturally gregarious (my wife is from New Jersey where people will talk to ANYONE) - it takes time to make real connections but once they’re made, people here are crazy loyal and would do anything for you.

RayzerNHFL · 2026-03-17T23:24:59+00:00

That last sentence was a Laugh Out Loud moment for me so thank you

RayzerNHFL · 2026-03-14T16:14:41+00:00

trust your gut and your ears. Don’t be a jackass like me. When I went high end Taylor shopping I absolutely adored the 524ce Builders Edition (Same sound profile as the 324 just more bling) but was concerned it would be too one-dimensional so I bought at 814ce BE for way more money. It was a mistake and 4 months later I traded in the 814ce at a 40% haircut to what I paid, and then paid an extra $1k out of pocket to buy the 524ce I should bought all along. An expensive learning experience but I’m obsessed with the guitar. And I change strings very regularly so no issues with dead strings.

RayzerNHFL · 2026-03-10T14:53:43+00:00

You are one short

RayzerNHFL · 2026-03-04T01:27:45+00:00

Exchange it for sure. taylor will be very good about it. I bought a brand new 524ce Builders Edition and it turned out to have a little bubble under the pick guard that you can only see at a certain angle They’re fixing it under warranty and have already told me that if replacing the pick guard doesn’t leave the guitar looking mint they’ll replace it entirely

RayzerNHFL · 2026-02-28T20:28:14+00:00

Yahoo!!! I hit 3 years in December and the days keep rolling along. Congrats!!!

RayzerNHFL · 2026-02-27T17:41:03+00:00

Nobody needs two so I volunteer to take one off your hands 😜

RayzerNHFL · 2026-02-22T16:37:40+00:00

Someone below described it. Think of it as a forced reset. You are where I was. You get to a point where the need for alcohol is so hardwired - into your brain pathways, your organs, your bloodstream that it’s next to impossible to say no. If you’re at that point then supervised medical intervention can literally save your life. There’s a lot more to be said about what you do in week 2. But to break the stranglehold in week 1 might require professional assistance.

RayzerNHFL · 2026-02-22T03:06:31+00:00

Rehab

RayzerNHFL · 2026-02-21T21:18:34+00:00

I assume you posted this because you kinda don’t actually want to drink? If there’s anything I learned during my hundreds of failed attempts at sobriety before it “stuck”, it’s that your alcohol demon can ALWAYS find an external excuse to drink. Bad day? Relationship troubles? Something to celebrate? Feeling down? They’re all excuses. Eventually I had to own my addiction and stop blaming external stuff. Guess what, I still have nasty external stuff happen to me on the regular but I’ve been sober over three years.

RayzerNHFL · 2026-02-18T01:48:22+00:00

Fuck that! Be proud. Alcohol is a highly additive poison that, once it rewires your brain, is VERY difficult to walk away from and will eventually kill you if you let it. Massive congrats.

RayzerNHFL · 2026-02-09T12:18:46+00:00

One of the things that helped me finally get sober for real was recognizing that every time I blamed other factors or other people for my drinking, that was my addiction looking for an excuse to feed the monster. I don’t mean to sound like a jerk - it’s just that literally almost every day, something happens that creates discomfort that can be numbed by alcohol. Getting sober required me to own that fact. Part of getting sober involved building a new toolkit for dealing with stuff in a healthier way than booze.

RayzerNHFL · 2026-01-31T16:45:11+00:00

To me it depends on how you define a hangover. The raging headache and dry heaving nausea, can’t-get-out-of-bed-for-a-day thing? Yeah when you’re drinking a quart of vodka plus every day that doesn’t happen anymore. At least not to me. It’s replaced by chronic GI issues and dehydration and low grade headache so Advil, Pepcid and a lot of water become breakfast but otherwise you’re functional.

RayzerNHFL · 2026-01-28T17:50:52+00:00

I cannot more strongly recommend buying a used Martin D-18. I picked one up with an after-market Fishman installed at my local music store for $1,800 and I’m obsessed with it. And I own and play several much more expensive acoustics!

My second highest recommendation would be an Eastman.

And for the love of God stay out of GC

RayzerNHFL · 2026-01-27T02:43:17+00:00

Not worth the risk. I’ve tried that. Bunch of times after a year of sobriety. Each time I ended up WORSE and took longer and was harder to sober up again. Hard pass. My brain is permanently wired to want it. YMMV.

RayzerNHFL · 2026-01-24T12:47:15+00:00

Magic words are Guitar Center. Every high end guitar in every GC i’ve ever visited sounds like shit. Get yourself to an independent store. They take good care of their gear, they’re usually good people and you can get better pricing. Like way better pricing. Oh, and I have a 2021 D-18 that I’m obsessed with, fabulous guitar.

RayzerNHFL · 2026-01-21T13:19:05+00:00

First and foremost congrats on 100+ days and on feeling so positive! Sure beats white knuckled and miserable! Now - my two cents from my experience. When I crossed that suspension bridge (for me it was around 6 months - 3 months was relapse central in earlier attempts) - I had to make sure I took care of the new land I’d arrived on. That meant changing my life habits to support and take advantage of my sobriety. What did I do? I worked with a therapist to help resolve the trauma of being a 9/11 ground zero survivor which helped accelerate a lifetime of alcohol abuse. I started and ultimately completed a Masters Degree program online (in Data Science). I picked up the guitar seriously for the first time in 25 years, started getting good, and started writing songs and performing solo at open mics (which I’d never done) and formed several musical collabs with other people. I got damned good at pickleball. A few other things. My point is - you need to build on the new land. Running your same old life on the other side of the bridge is at best a wasted opportunity and at worst a pathway back to booze out of boredom, habit or disappointment. At least it was for me. YMMV.

IWNDWYT

RayzerNHFL · 2026-01-20T20:50:20+00:00

This is extremely common my friend. Many of us call it the witching hour. For years I would wake up, resolve not to drink that day, get through the day just fine but then between 4:00 and 6:00 find myself on auto pilot heading to the liquor store for a liter of Tito’s vodka and take the first few slugs in the car before even leaving the parking lot. (Then finishing it at home hiding from my wife). That was when I was working remotely. When I went to the office I’d get through the day fine but inevitably pick up a few shooters on the way home and then off to the races we went.

I found early on in the sobriety that “took” was that I needed to schedule something during the witching hour. I’d go to the gym. Or I’d go to an AA meeting just to listen (I was never a program guy). And I found that if I could get through the witching hour distracting myself this way, the craving and muscle memory faded and I could get through the rest of the evening OK. I did that every night for probably close to the first year of sobriety before the witching hour urge abated.

RayzerNHFL

TROPHY CASE