I've been away from these forums for too long, and would like to first thank everyone's responses - i think i'm going to go for an xk-3. i played around with the nords enough to know that, while they are awesome, they don't quite meet my tastes. i imagine that c1 has a tone like the nords.

WDMcM, i appreciate the offer of your board, but right now i'm not in a position to offer the money to make it worth your time. i need something in payments, which i can't realistically expect you to be comfortable with; however, your advice was spot on.