Both the Taylor and Martin are incredible guitars for the price. For a $200 guitar, the Orangewood is pretty good, but it's not in the same league as the other two. I had hoped I would like the Taylor the best, because I'm not a big fan of dreadnought shape, but after listening, I have to give the edge to the Martin.
Great comparison. The Oliver was impressive, for sure. It would have been nice to compare it with the GS Mini Mahogany. When I test drove the Mini's I found the Mahogany to have plenty of crisp but a better low end than the spruce.
The Martin sounds a tad better than the Taylor. The Orangewood guitar wasn’t bad, but I can hear a definite difference in the tone. You do have to remember $300 is a big difference in price. The Orangewood is very nice compared to the Jim Dandy or Fender parlor guitars in my opinion
I first found a second-hand Jim Dandy parlor guitar: it looked great, but had no sound... So I sold it. Then I went to a music store and tried out the Taylor GS Mini and the Martin Junior. Both guitars are excellent, but I preferred the Martin 000-Junior. I prefer the sound of the Martin (all massive woods!), and it feels better in my hands too. In fact, it's just perfect.
@@empnadajhhh9469 the Taylor GS Minis all have solid tops, the Oliver Jr has a solid Mahogany top and I’m like 99% sure the Martin is also solid top. I don’t know a ton about that Yamaha but it seems to have a bigger body than the Taylor and Oliver Jr.? It’s so interesting how subjective “good” is when it comes to acoustic guitar sounds. I went and found a review of it and compared to even the Baby Taylor I found the Yamaha’s sound quite inferior (and of course, it’s like a $200 guitar compared with the $400-$600 Taylors/Martins. Same way the Oliver Jr. sounds inferior to them). Then again, I also absolutely love the bright, shimmery tone of Taylor guitars. But yeah, I just wanted to clarify that all 3 of the guitars in this video have solid tops.
I recently bought a Martin Dred Junior, and it’s a dream to play on. for those of you who are wondering whether the Martin or the Taylor is better, when I played it in the store i immediately came to the conclusion that it really is just personal opinion. They both sound amazing.
I played the range in store a few years back, and, well, unfoetunately can't remember which I preferred the most... but I 100% found that as soon as I picked the them up the feel of "the one" was immediate and obvious, and will probably sway any buyer's decision more than any other factor.
Almost said Martin until I heard the other progressions....the Taylor sounds more ambient...and balanced with a mid range balanced between high and low ends.....great job Taylor....lol I’ll keep my 110 ce
I still prefer GS Mini. I've had mines since it first came out. I prefer a bright tone due to the type of music I play. I love the sound you get for the orangewood specially for the price. Id prefer/recommend it for someone whos a beginner that's really loves playing. Great review.
I've just got to know your channel and I really liked this video in particular since I've got myself a GS Mini a couple of days ago. As a beginner, now I feel even better for choosing the Taylor it as my first quality acoustic guitar!
IMHO All three guitars sounds great and beautifully crafted. Seems to me all were built with specific tone in mind which for me the Orangewood was built with blues playing tone in mind, the Taylor sounds so elegant for a fingerstyle player picking each note with clear meaningful sound with a tale or a story to tell and the Martin had that serious punch for a bluegrass style player that can deliver such volume of tone with clarity to make such a noticeable presence on stage. All three are great sounding guitars of distinctive functions like tools to be used on every project you do but don't get me wrong the functioning of the tool depends solely on the handler or user how to diversify its usage of his/her utmost creativity and a passion to create and deliver great music that we we all have the pleasure of listening. Just rmy humble opinion.
Does anyone have any experience with the Oliver junior, specifically does it stay in tune between plays? I have a orangewood Dana and I need to tune it everyday
Hey Dave I'd like to thank you. Your the reason I know everything I know about Guitar. Your a true inspiration for all Thank you for being an awesome teacher and person.
I'm a Martin guy but on this demo I prefered the Taylor which sounds fuller to my ears. Martin is fine but a bit less clear. Orangewood well I'm not in that kind of guitar, I felt bored while I was listening to it.
I spent two years on this research before coming to the conclusion that nothing in that form factor can beat a Taylor GS mini, and thus children, I bought my first GS mini.
I love Taylor’s care with gig bags, and I do think the Martin sounds the best, but I would say for the price point if you’re looking for a cheaper option as a travel or just a guitar you won’t be worried about getting too beat up the orange wood is impressive.
Thank you for this shoot-out. Great overview of all three guitars. I don't play a lot of acoustic guitar, but I have been considering getting the Taylor GS Mini Mahogany, but while $499 isn't a lot, it has been the reason the guitar is still on my wish list. I agree with you that the Taylor did sound the best of the 3 overall, but the Orangewood did indeed hold up pretty well, against them and as you said the price does make it worth considering. Thanks again for the great review.
This is exactly how reviews should be done. So well done! Your opinion is really appreciated and your descriptions are excellent. The way you people compare on screen really comes across well. This is a first class review and the best guitar reviews I’ve ever seen on-line. I have the Taylor GS mini Koa E. The sound is really balanced and the Koa version is the best in the line up for sound and shimmer in my humble opinion. That said, I bought a GPC 11e. What I have discovered with my only two acoustic guitars here is I need the 1-3/4 inch nut width to be a better player. After playing the Martin Dreadnaught Jr again, the scale length, 24 instead of 23.5 inch scale on the Taylor, and solid wood sound that this thing produces is amazing and better balanced due to the classic Martin, slight base heavy sound. Martin wins for me but there is no doubt the Taylor GS Mini is and incredible instrument and flawlessly built by Taylor’s Plant South of the boarder. Mexican people build outstanding guitars for Taylor and Martin. So impressive. My wife is taking over the GS Mini and I’m heading towards a Martin Dreadnaught Jr.
The Taylor and the Martin both sounded better, but it might be fairer to compare the Orangewood Oliver with the Baby Taylor and Little Martin since it is smaller than either the GS Mini or the Martin Jr.
Martin for me. Probably because I’ve got a 000x1ae, and love it. I bought it 6 months ago as my first “good” guitar and haven’t put it down since. The orange wood sounds a bit tinny in comparison to me. Although, I think they’re a great company. I had to get my Martin set up, which made me really angry.
Yup it’s one of the downfalls for Martin’s. I love my DRJR but the saddle needed sanding and the truss rod needed adjusting. Btw, you can adjust the truss rod yourself, however you’ll need to purchase it separately. Easy $100 for a proper set up.
There is a problem with this test. When you are playing the Orange wood, your hand is more to the left (audience perspective) of the sound hole. That is one reason why is sounds considerably thiner than the Tylor which for some reason you tended to play nearly at the center of the sound hole. For the orangewood, you can actually see the difference when you were strumming the orangewood, at the beginning (7:39) vs (8:01)vs more towards the end.
The orangewood looks and sounds amazing for the price that it is. Certainly would pick this any day over other options at that price point if I had to. But, if I'm going to spend the money on a mini acoustic I'm certainly going to spend a little bit more and go with the Taylor. It sounded the best to me, and I prefer the look of it's shape over the martin
I don't think it is a fair comparison unless they all had a mahogany or sapele top. The Martin Dred Jr. really can't be compared because of the size & scale length. To me, the Dred Jr sapele top is the best choice in the price range... but I would rather see it compared to the Guild M-120 as they are more equal in price, etc ...
I never considered myself to be some audiophile expert but I definitely thought the gs mini was distinguishibly the best one, with the Martin just behind. I thought the Martin actually did the high notes best, but that the gs seemed like it had fuller sound. I was happy you agreed with the gs mini, gave my ears some validation lol
It’s great to sometimes just listen to comparisons like this to really actively focus on what sounds actually differ since they’re all playing the same note! It’s good for the ear! Good summary!
well that doesn't really make much sense cause the Martins highs were clearly more muted and washed compared to the Taylor. but eh, we all have different ears so maybe thats whats it is.
Oliver and GS Mini sound about the same finger-style, flat-picking, especially in the second clip the GS Mini outshines it... But there's a huge price difference here... The Martin Dread Jr wins hands down as I would expect. It's the only all-solid wood guitar of the three.
I came here to get a sense if the Oliver Jr. Live was worth it at the holiday sale price of $236 (reg. $295). It clearly is and also would be a great beginner guitar for a younger person. The comparison with the other guitars was interesting but wasn't as useful since the Oliver Jr.'s mahogany top is so different to the other's spruce tops. Thanks for posting this however - it gave me a great sense of what I might expect.
After watching your video I decided to buy another Orangewood guitar. I bought the guitar for two reasons. 1) I’m getting tired of my family stealing my acoustic guitars. 2) my niece wanted to learn how to play. I previously purchased the Mahogany El Rey and wasn’t all that thrilled with it and gave it away. But this one, Oliver Jr. , is amazing and the tone is great. For $166 this an amazing guitar and I’m actually thinking of keeping it instead of giving it to my niece. Thanks for the great review.
I just ordered a Djr acoustic electric cherry saplele lastnight , I have a Taylor 214, I wanted a Martin for the collection. I think its a tie between the mini and the Djr, the Taylor is definitely louder, but damn that Martin sounds so warm. The orange wood sounded like a $199 guitar when compared to the other 2. Great review, played the same songs on all three, thats how to do a comparison! Great playing! Thanks!
The mid range of GS mini is unbelievably good. I’m a fingerpicking player and GS mini wins hands down. If someone prefers the dreadnought sound then Martin will be the choice.
Martin and Taylor are obviously the better two. Between them I prefer the Taylor for the playability. Its low string action is most important factor for me
I'm sold on the Orangewood for 205.00 all day vs the Taylor now selling for over 600.00 to mess around on and get my granddaughter started on guitar. She may get this one and I'll buy another.
I had a koa GS mini and struggled to play it. The strings were just too close together. And I'm a 5'5" 130 lb. woman. I sold it and got the Martin 000jr Shawn Mendes guitar. It's almost the same size as the Martin Dreadnought Jr. And I can play it so much easier! I can tell where my fingers need to go on the Martin. That 1.75 nut for me made all the difference. And I can play up the neck easier. Not as crowded. The koa sound was nice but for me it came down to, can I play it? Also, the Taylor ES-B electronics were absolute crap. Not very loud at all, and shorted out so much I had to replace the preamp and the jack. The Martin has Fishman electronics that work really well. The Martin is solid wood with exceptional sustain. I vote for Martin.
i agree the gs mini sounded the best, price point though of the orangewood which i believe you can get with electronics for only 300 vs 800 for a gs mini electric... no brainer imo
Would love to see a comparison of how a more similarly priced Orangewood compares to the sorcery packed Martin and Taylor guitars. This Taylor def made my ears happy! Just more my taste.
How many Americans will NEVER have so much money for a guitar? Is the concept of poverty familiar to you? Why do you all have billionairs and homeless in one continent? It's not fair! How can you compare such guitars? It's cruel.
the martin sounds slightly better than the other 2. idk about several hundred dollars better, though.... my guitar teacher has been playing over 30 years, and his absolute favorite guitar he's ever owned is the Seagull S6 mahogany, which he got some years ago for today's equivalent of about $375 on sale. he's even played brands like Froggy Bottom and Cole Clark, and he absolutely believes that after about $1500 there's no discernible sound difference among guitars. he laughed like crazy at the idea of someone paying $13,000 for a Froggy Bottom guitar. i absolutely love Seagull acoustic guitars more than any other guitar i've ever heard.
I closed my eyes and imagined I was listening to an album, let's from a Top-40-type artist: to my ears, the Orangewood sounded a little bit cheap, where some of the bass notes were tubby, muffled, and lacked sustain, and some of the treble notes were muffled and lacked sustain. The Talor I felt was not well balanced, being very clear on the bass and low-mid, but the treble felt choked, resulting in it feeling too bass-heavy; for example, on the fingerpicking sections, I was mostly hearing the bass note drone. Not good. The Martin was well-balanced, articulate, and seemed to have very good dynamic respone: when you dug into the b & e strings while fingerpicking, they jumped out front in presence and volume, as they should. A little disappointing honestly, as I am generally not a fan of dreadnoughts and much prefer more aggresively-waisted guitars like auditoriums and jumbos, so I mostly came here for confirmation that the GS Mini will be a good fit, but hey man, the sound quality is there with the Junior Dread, so I gotta strongly consider it now. Typically I just find dreads too boomy, but it seems the smaller body may not share that issue. Still gonna check out the GS Mini mahogany, seems like it's got a nicer balance than the spruce model, but this has put the Martin Junior Dread on my radar in a major way. Thanks!
I’ve had my hands on dozens of high end acoustics in my 20 yrs of guitar playing so I’ll make it simple. GS mini if you can afford it. Orangewood to hold you over while you save. Martin if you didn’t know the GS mini existed or you just eat rocks.
In India I can get 4 Orangewood at the price of other guitars separately. Do I love the sound of Martin *yes *taylor *no *, & will I buy martin with 4x the price *no *
I'm not a fan of Taylor. I never have been. It's not bad but way too expensive for a laminate guitar. So, it has to be the Martin. I will say the other is very good for the price.
Excellent comparison, I´ve watched some of your comparison and they are great, I would like you test a 12 fret guitar like the Alvarez ap66shb vs some travel guitars to see the sound differences.
i have the Martin, the action at the 12th fret is just over 5mm high! its unplayable. I need to take it back to store, do you think that is a completely new guitar. My Luther said it would be a complete neck reset to fix it through him at a cost of nearly 900 bucks!
Was very good review I agree with everything you said and I happen to own a mahogany mini GS Martin Dreadnought Junior jumbo Junior I've been studying Orangewood Oliver Jr for weeks now and I'm going to buy one to add to my small guitar collection which are the only guitars I owned by the way like you I'm a small guitar nut but yes now that I'm teaching in my retirement from touring and playing music I needed an inexpensive guitar line to recommend to my students and I believe Orangewood is it I would love to talk to these people but you cannot they only communicate by email again great review keep up the good work I want to see more from one small guitar nut to another thanks
I have an Oliver and I do not like the sound very much. It sounds dead all the time to me. If you don't put the brighter strings on it is not worth picking up at all. The Martin I love because of the buttery rich and more mature sound. I however absolutely love the Taylor Mini the most. It is brighter in tone without grating on you, the balance is sweet all around and if I could afford one I'd get it over anything else out there. It's just so crisp and plesant no matter how you play it or what you are playing. Just my opinion.
Hands down the Taylor. Me gunna get one. The orange sounds like a orange peel next to the others. Don’t like it.Also, I would end up selling the Orange 4 months down the road,so why not save a little more and convince your wife it’s the last one.
I believe some of the sound differences are due to top wood differences. That is the way mahogany sounds. I my opinion put a spruce top on Orangewood and you would hear very similar tones. Just me. Thanks for the vid.
I have both the Martin and GS Mini, also an Orangewood parlor. The Orangewood is a very well built guitar for the price. In this video the GS Mini wins for me. Same at home. Each to their own likes. All three are great.
The Oliver jr sounds ok until you hear the other 2 Taylor has a great punch and character to it and the Martin sounds full with nothing over-pronounced
