Thanks for your reply! Unfortunately I already decided to go with the J-185 style body with a Martin 25.4 long scale. I mostly made my decision based on aesthetics, as to me the J-185 shape is one of the most beautiful guitar shapes out there. Maybe in the future I could go with a deep body OM? It is a close second in terms of looks.jread wrote:I am a bit late but I like this thread and am going to add a few thoughts on the OP's question when starting out. What size? I don't want to be TLDR but so my short opinion like others above is that if we are focusing Martin body types, then it seems to me that the OM or 000 is what fits your original profile. Just scour youtube and reverb and you will get a feel for the one that suits you and drives you to build it. And around these parts, the experts are adding a little depth to OM's. That sounds interesting! I just completed an all mahogany 0 body size with scalloped braces and boy howdy is it loud and rings like a bell. It is much different than my 12-fret mahog dred kit which was my 1st. Totally different but I don't think volume is what I would say is it. Rounder, less snappy bass tones filling the room from the dred but not louder.
Here's something you may realize as a noob as I didn't. Youtube video demos are actually quite good to demonstrating the tonal qualities of things like this. So may comparison videos showing mahog vs. rosewood or body sizes, torrefied vs new. Here's the thing, I didn't realize how much MY guitars would sound like theirs. I am thrilled and driven to build more because my 12 fret dred sounds just like I wanted it to after listening to Norman Blake for hours while building it. Same with my 0-15 copy. Darn if it doesn't sound just like an 0-15. lol. why am i surprised? Idk, but I'm happy with them. So find the type of guitar that calls to you. If you build it, it has a good chance of finding a similar sound or at least I got 2 for 2 lucky so far.
I have been listening to a lot of youtube videos because I didn't have much of a grasp of acoustic guitar types and shapes, so I wanted to know how the different guitars sounded. It is interesting that you can get similar to the sounds in the videos! Of course, the specs on my guitar are quite different from the normal J-185, so I don't really have a reference point, outside of maybe the J-200 jr and maybe boutique guitars like the Huss & Dalton MJ and John Walker Ruby.
I'm not really under any illusion that I will get something sounding anything as good as those boutique guitars. I just hope that the guitar doesn't end up as expensive firewood!