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.
You have been operating under an inaccurate assessment of how this thread has been going. We have been watching you paint yourself into a corner for several pages, and now you have dug a hole there by being rude and disrespectful to people who have been trying to have a simple discussion about guitars.
So I got a little snarky.
Why do you need a $500 guitar? Why isn't a $200 model good enough?
Referring back to the original quote which you've quickly forgotten, I'd never offer advice that "everyone should 'save up for that one high-end guitar", because "should" implies a "need", and if you "need" a guitar, I'd tell you they can be had for as cheaply as $200, and how much you "want" to spend beyond that is a matter of preference.
Why do you "want" to spend the money on a $500 guitar, then, when there are guitars available for much less?
You never answered this question. You never justified spending two and a half times what is necessary to buy a new, properly working guitar. Let’s say the most affordable guitar in the store is $200. That’s a waste of $300 per guitar. Let’s say someone buys five such guitars. $1,500 wasted. Is it okay to waste that kind of money as long as you spread it out over several instruments?
I asked you to explain your preference for a $500 guitar over a less expensive model, and this was your response:
We were talking about recommending what guitar someone "should" get, it's completely different than the original which you are attempting to relate this back to. My preferences have nothing to do with what I'd recommend for someone in "need" of a guitar. Just because I might want a better than average guitar doesn't mean I would state that everyone "should" get better than average guitars. I'll humor you for as long as you want to keep this up.
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.
So which is it? It’s okay for you to have a preference and to spend your money accordingly, but if someone else wants to spend more than that, they are foolishly wasting the extra money on something of no substantive value? Your affinity for a good $500 guitar is just a simple, harmless preference that doesn’t need to be justified to anyone, while another player’s appreciation of a much more expensive model is something sinister and suspect, something to be audited and scrutinized. Not only that, you seem to be extrapolating some kind of claim on their part that only the more expensive guitar is an acceptable musical instrument for someone to play. Then you question their motivations and insult them – not because they’re putting down you or your guitars, but because you don’t approve of their purchase and insist on trying to make them look foolish because of it.
Nobody ever said $500 and $2000 guitars were identical. Straw man assertion.
Maybe not, but somebody implied that the $2,000 doesn’t offer anything of substance over the $500 guitar.
I bet if you asked a lot of those big name performers why opt for the MIA Fender over the MIM, or the Gibson over the Epiphone, they would probably give the same vague, avoidant answers we see here, along the lines of "it's just better", but the truth is that on stage a giutar is also a fashion accessory, and having a high priced instrument is much the same as a businessman driving a luxury car to meetings, it projects an image of success. I saw a country performer on TV using an Epi LP, and I have to admit, a part of me wondered if he was cutting costs, but then there are players like Vampire Weekend who play Epis and obviously can afford anything they might want.
I think it's a "that grass is greener" effect for most others, though. If the pros use MIA, then I'll never be "like a pro" with my MIM or MIJ.
It's a lot like budgeting a vacation, you can either visit somewhere for one day and sleep at a five star hotel, or you can stay a whole week if you stay at a Best Western. If you like travelling, it's hard to imagine you'd shorten your stay just for a nice hotel, and if you like your guitar, it's hard to imagine you'd limit your collection just for one guitar that happens to have a more appealing grain and a nitro finish.
What bothers me is that those who do opt to pay the extra $1500 are so vague about what they get for that extra expense. It makes a particular open chord more resonant or something, the fret work might or might not be better, it's prettier in some respect, non specific mention about quality. You sound like youre justifying spending money on palm readings or something else whose benefits are somewhere between vague and non existent.
I'll tell you this, a big part of the cost is that is made in America, and that considered by itself is a stupid thing to pay for. Thank god that's not the one and only difference.
So here we have buyers of more expensive guitars being vain, shallow, and stupid. And you complain about how badly those premium guitar owners treat you because you prefer to buy something else. My heart really aches. You know, I might talk about what I like better about one guitar over another, but I’m not going use it as a reason to insult the character of the person who plays that other guitar. If that’s what you think we’re doing here, then I question how much
you’ve been reading, and I question what kind of longevity you will have here on the forum, and what kind of contribution you will make.
