Every been tempted to just settle for one high-end guitar?

Re: Every been tempted to just settle for one high-end guitar?

Securb said:
Going back to the OP the guy has 6 midrange guitars and is not extremely happy with any of them. ... I would think it makes more sense to have one nice guitar than 6 guitars you are not thrilled about playing collecting dust. ... Does it make sense to get rid of 6 guitars you don't like for one you love? Without a doubt.
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100%
 
Re: Every been tempted to just settle for one high-end guitar?

Securb said:
Going back to the OP the guy has 6 midrange guitars and is not extremely happy with any of them. This is not a person walking into a music store for the first time with a desire to learn the instrument. I would guess if someone has been playing long enough to amass this collection they would have the knowledge to tell the difference between a mid range guitar and a high end axe. When a guitarist has a nice guitar they tend to play it more, they enjoy the sound and the feel. I would think it makes more sense to have one nice guitar than 6 guitars you are not thrilled about playing collecting dust. The OP also never said he was financially removed from buying a quality guitar. Some people have seemed to have projected their own financial situations on the situation. Does it make sense to get rid of 6 guitars you don't like for one you love? Without a doubt.
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Stop stop stop, the thread title is "Every been tempted to just settle for one high-end guitar?" the op is asking other forum members what they would do, not what OP himself should do.
 
Re: Every been tempted to just settle for one high-end guitar?

Dr. Vegetable said:
Actually not silly at all. Comparing the extremes is one of the best ways to test the limits of any hypothesis.

The point being that I have a $300 guitar that is 90% as good as a $3,000 guitar. Is it worth $2,700 to get that last 10% improvement? I believe that is precisely the question posed to this venerable forum in the original post.
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Remember that I'm talking about acoustics where you quoted me, and there are more plainly obvious differences / benefits between $250 acoustics and $2500 models, such as less volume projection, cheaper laminate tops, big clunky tuners, little or no binding, dot versus figured inlays, overall weight, among other things. Some of that is true between similarly priced electrics, but for whatever reason, they can make a cheap electric more closely resemble an expensive one. Maybe due to the lack of extensive wood work involved.
 
Re: Every been tempted to just settle for one high-end guitar?

Yea, come on everybody. It's not like this thread hasn't straw man'd all over the place already. So far this has been the most useful and completely non-argumentative for the sake of it thread ever.

It's even better since this thread was linked to the Facebook page a week ago, so a bunch of random strangers from the webs have been watching all this useful thread and all it's not-at-all argumentative nature.
 
Re: Every been tempted to just settle for one high-end guitar?

Scott_F said:
I firmly believe better gear makes you want to play more. And the more you play, the better you get. So great gear can really motivate. Maybe oddly need to justify ownership a bit? I dunno. But I've got several "keepers" that are high end and won't ever be sold willingly. Might have to sell one to support my family one day but I pray that never happens.
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Was the MIM Strat high end in your mind or no? I know some MIM Strats have problems, but some leave nothing to be desired, and I think if you start out with a hard tailed Squier strat with it's less substantial body and bottom of the line tuners, then a MIM Strat might be perceived as the sort of bump up in quality that would make you respect your instrument enough to want to play it more. Like I said earlier in the thread, if you never knew MIA Strats existed, you might never perceive that some MIM guitars weren't premium.

But in regards to MIM, it's worth noting that the jump is like $400 to $1000 for a comparable MIA. I haven't priced them lately. The MIJs go for something like $600 (I've bought mostly Aerodynes and FSR, so I haven't shopped standards) and I would say MIJ is somewhere between MIM and MIA, so to go from MIM to MIA is to leap over a lot of solid mid range guitars.
 
Re: Every been tempted to just settle for one high-end guitar?

:chairfall
 
Re: Every been tempted to just settle for one high-end guitar?

you've rebutted everything on this thread using aggressive language that begs response. A handful of very old regs have washed their hands of the thread and have, out of character, responded to you aggressively in kind.

No, you don't see it.
 
Re: Every been tempted to just settle for one high-end guitar?

None of that matters to me. Make a statement I disagree with, I comment. It's that simple. None of this is below me. Any history you might have had prior to this thread certainly is not evident and has done nothing to improve the discourse.

When you or anyone says "LOL just trollin'", or anything to that effect, I take that to mean you're admitting defeat, because true or false, you're trying to bail out. And you certainly seemed to be you usual selves earlier in the thread, before you started "trollin'".
 
Re: Every been tempted to just settle for one high-end guitar?

Silver said:
For example, Slash has his Les Paul, Gilmour has his strat, Angus has his SG, Vai and Satriani have been playing roughly the same Ibanez' for years. And so on. I got to thinking that if Gilmour or Satriani can cover the whole of their music catalogues with just one kind of guitar, then why can't I?
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This is my philosophy. I own two guitars because I can only play one at a time, and have a spare in case I break a string and don't have time to change it.

I do believe that if you get it right in terms of your #1, there is no justifiable need for you to own a bunch of guitars.
 
Re: Every been tempted to just settle for one high-end guitar?

Since the venerable long timers are descending into personal attacks and armchair psychology, and are, more importantly, off topic, I'm declaring victory.
 
Re: Every been tempted to just settle for one high-end guitar?

Scott_F said:
I might have posted this last year when this thread started.... Oh wait, it just feels like alast year, but oh well. Back a long long time ago I was working with a guy and we were driving down to some chemical plants in West Va. He was telling me about all his guitars. Well, this was during my down period where I simply stopped playing for a couple of years after my dad died (something that reminded me too much of him). I asked my friend, why would you need more than one guitar. Mind you, I'd been playing since 1970. Mostly acoustic for years and I had a really nice Ovation. He started to gush for hours on the intricacies and nuances of his collection. I thought him mad. But not too long after that, that conversation led me to get back into playing and shortly thereafter bought an electric. Can't even remember what it was now. MIM strat I think (which I sold to Larry eventually). $350 at the time. I never knew the path would lead me here.

So, don't make any assumptions for the future based on what you think is today's reality. Had we not switched forum soft wares a couple of times, you could have pulled up many of my "budget steal" threads I came up with along the way. 15+ years ago.

I firmly believe better gear makes you want to play more. And the more you play, the better you get. So great gear can really motivate. Maybe oddly need to justify ownership a bit? I dunno. But I've got several "keepers" that are high end and won't ever be sold willingly. Might have to sell one to support my family one day but I pray that never happens.
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I had a similar experience, Scott. For years, I had one guitar, a nice strat (still have it). Anyway, my wife wanted to learn the acoustic, so she got one and I had an old Yamaha. I was teaching her, and got back into playing more than I had in years (although mainly just chords so we could play songs together).

Anyway, I got to know a really good bluegrass player through work. He taught me a few acoustic tricks, and I was back into playing again. Then my wife, bless her, got me a Martin D16 for Christmas. I had never had a nice acoustic before, and needless to say it was several steps above what I had been playing. I started playing it all the time (you really notice the difference, I find, between a good playing acoustic and a modest one.)

Anyway, that led to my renewed interest in the electric. I decided I wanted something with humbuckers, and I bought a very nice PRS SE singlecut on sale cheap. Put some SD pickups in it, and loved playing it.

However, as much as I liked it, it never felt as good as my good strat. Again, let me say, it was a terrific guitar for the money I had in it. But it just didn't feel as nice as the strat, it wasn't as resonant, all the components didn't feel as solid. I found I wanted to "move up" to a humbucker guitar that was more in line with the strat. I got a great deal on a used Gibson 339, and then a year later got another great deal on a used les paul. I sold the SE to a pal of mine. I am too old to be particularly brand-conscious, and next to nobody I know gives a crap about guitars, so there are no bragging rights involved. I just happen to find that my Gibsons are better instruments than the SE. I could write a laundry list of all the things about them that are better than the SE, but I think 1) most people on this thread know what they will be and 2) I don't want in any way to slag the SE as a guitar. It is a great instrument, and wonderful value for the money. To complain that it's frets aren't as good or that the wood and workmanship aren't as good is completely unfair: It was $450 new. How do I complain about that?

I do know, however, that in the 4 years since I got back into the guitar and got my Martin and my new (upper range? mid range?) Gibsons, I have progressed farther than I have in a long time. And a lot of that I attribute to being inspired by my new guitars. But the SE certainly had a place in that progress, and I would still recommend one to anyone who wanted a guitar in that price range. I know not everyone has $1500 at the ready for a guitar, and I never criticize anyone else's gear. But I would also never look anyone in the eye and tell them the SE is as good a guitar as my 339.

Diminishing returns aside, if someone asked me point blank if the 339 is $1100 better than the PRS SE, I would have to honestly answer "yes". But maybe more importantly, if someone asked me if they were both great guitars, I would answer "yes" as well.
 
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