Hey, Tom. Man, it's hard for me to recommend ONE guitar...I got two new ones this week, and that brings my total to over 330 stringed instruments.
The one that came in today is a beautiful Cognac finished Godin 5th Avenue Kingpin. It's a 40's looking non-cutaway archtop with a mounted P-90 pick-up. Voicing is modern and it sounds and looks great
I'm having a double-neck made in Spain with nylon string and steel string necks. The steel string neck has a hybred humbucker and piezo set-up.
Godins are made in Canada. This one (my 4th Godin)came from George Kaye and was a little under $800.00 with a really unusual case.
Thing is, I'd be really hard-pressed to choose just one. Depends on what you're going to do with it.
One of my favorites from just a few months ago is a Parker acoustic. It is a hybred, with a piezo and a magnetic system, a blend control and two separate outs...one for the acoustic side and one for the electric.
I'm waiting on an Ibanez Montage...another hybred with added on-board effects. It's in the $600.00-700.00 range (depending on finish).I play outside on patios a lot and use "beaters"...some of which are pretty nice.
Thing is, we could talk more about an appropriate instrument if I had an idea about what you wanted to play, whether you were going to use it on a bandstand, miked or electric.
I suspect that you would be interested in jazz and big band, and the Godin is excellent (acoustic only version is $519.00).
Godin also makes a bunch of other lines...an excellent quality Seagull line, which is value priced and very good as a first instrument. It's the one I buy new players.
George Kaye is a Godin dealer and has all the other less expensive lines from that manufacturer. I'd give him a call. Or, email me with your number and I'll give you a buzz....LOVE to talk guitars!I've got instruments from $100 to $200,000.00, and couldn't part with a single one!
Be well,
Russ
[This message has been edited by captain Russ (edited 03-04-2009).]