[Mandobart]

It's natural to "want" things. I've been very blessed that I've never lacked the things I truly need in life.

This ended up being pretty long as I desribed what led me to each purchase. With musical instruments it's always been a slow process that doesn't start with a specific make/model; more of wanting a certain sound or style.

I was 13 and wanted to play the songs I liked by Neil Young, Bob Dylan, John Prine, etc. There was one store in my town that sold acoustic guitars. They had a 6 string Applause for $80. I bought it, learned to play, still have it.

I was 18, stationed in Orlando. Saw an Ovation 12 string at a pawn shop for $200. I thought it would be fun to play 12 string. It was. It still is. I still have it.

I didn't want or buy another acoustic instrument until 2008. I accidentally started playing mandolin. I really got the bug. Within 6 years I had bought 6 more mandolin family instruments, because I wanted a mandola, octave mandolin and mandocello and I met a couple of great one-man shop luthiers.

Anyway, getting back to guitars. I started attending a weekly mostly bluegrass acoustic jams in 2008 and started going to bluegrass festivals in 2012. I decided I wanted a real bluegrass guitar around 2018. I played a whole bunch of dreads by a whole bunch of builders and decided I liked the spruce and rosewood combo the best. I ended up buying a 2017 HD-28 in 2020.

Meanwhile I also started getting into gypsy jazz and attending a gypsy jazz festival every year. I thought I'd like a dedicated gypsy jazz Sel-Mac style of guitar, so I visited with Michael Horowitz in Seattle and tried a bunch of guitars he generously let me play. I ordered an Altamira M20D grand bouche. This sounds different from anything else I've had.

Got me thinking I'd like an archtop too for jazz and swing. I tried a few and then decided to convert my Eastman MDC805 mandocello to a 6 string guitar just by swapping the nut and bridge. Works very well as an archtop guitar.

The mandolin collection includes several western red cedar topped instruments, which got me thinking I'd like a cedar topped steel string guitar. I ended up buying a used Eastman E2OM-CD because it was available, at a great price and is highly recommended by fellow AGF members.

The next guitar was also mandolin-inspired. A friend gave me a 1930's Regal wood bodied spider bridge resonator mandolin. I had to do some work to make It playable (trim the plate and spider to move the bridge for proper intonation, replace the broken tailpiece, replace tuning machines). It sounded so good I wanted to get a similar type guitar. After looking around and not finding anything I ordered a Gold Tone Paul Beard Master Tone round neck resonator.

Finally my latest, possibly last guitar came as a result of trying all mahogany models. After the usual research and test driving I decided on a used 2022 Martin 000-15SM.

There's nothing else currently on my "want" list. I keep test driving anything that catches my eye or ear.