The Tanglewoods
and Takamines look nice, the Taylors look like heaven.

Unfortunately, those that look nice don't always sound nice or play worth a
damn (witness any recent Gibson or Martin, IMO.) You might try looking up a
used Guild. Not overly pricey, maybe not ever top of the class, but they record
very well. Quite underrated in my estimation.
(BTW, I've never heard a Takamine in my studio that I thought sounded great, &
quite a few of the lesser Taylors have turned out to sound very good into
microphones.)

Scott Fraser