$2000 vs $4000 used

[Tony Burns]

I say keep looking , spend alot of time looking and playing , and hold your wallet tight
no reason to spend alot to get a great guitar . Spending the bucks wont make you a better player.
I always get a kick out of people who don't play very well and have an exspensive guitar.
Ive seen some top end guitars go for around a grand to 2 grand used !


.

[Moldstar]

I just bought a guitar that was 4k new, but much less used, and I think that is my top end. It is super nice and pretty, but sonically it's no better than my HD28 or D-18. I think ~1.8k to 2.8k is an excellent sweet spot for fabulous instruments, used, I would find it hard to justify going any higher. I have played a lot of small builder instruments in the shops, and to my ears they just don't give me much/any more value than my 3600 new Martin. At least, I can't hear or see it. Maybe I haven't played the right ones.

[Pickcity]

Originally Posted by upsidedown

$4000 is the new $2000. I'm not even trying to be funny.

And you are not wrong.

[Pickcity]

Originally Posted by Tony Burns

I say keep looking , spend alot of time looking and playing , and hold your wallet tight
no reason to spend alot to get a great guitar . Spending the bucks wont make you a better player.
I always get a kick out of people who don't play very well and have an exspensive guitar.
Ive seen some top end guitars go for around a grand to 2 grand used !


.

On the flip side of the coin, I will advise folks to get the best guitar they can afford, no matter their skill level. Reason being it will inspire them to pick it up more often. That’s how it was for me, anyway. These days it is different. I spent the entire morning playing a vintage Yamaha that I paid $70 for a few years back. It’s a really good guitar… Still, I am always inspired to play a super nice instrument.

[Br1ck]

You need go no further than $3000 used to get a very nice guitar, very nice indeed. Until a year ago I had paid more than that for my 65 Epi Texan, but it was a very rare four hours flew by in a blink of the eye, and I've learned not to ignore that rare feeling. 25 years ago I bought a 70 Guild D 35 for $250 in unplayable condition. It sat in my closet for another 15 years when I decided it was time. Spent $1100 on it. Over the next ten years I grew more and more enamored. Guitar's worth is about $1400 today. Bought my 07 D 35 Custom for $2200. What a Martin classic dread sound. A bit drier than classic actually but a ton of guitar for the money.

Then I picked up the Santa Cruz and itplayed better than anything else in the shop. 2011 D P/W in very good condition, it was instant. Somehow more resonant than a mahogany guitar should be, but clear at the same time. Blew the budget and forgot I was looking for a D 18GE. It was not a hard decision to spend $5k with considerable pain trading a Martin 00 15 twelve fret, a teens Gibson A 1 mandolin, and my Silverangel mandolin and considerable cash.

I have played 10 or 15 Santa Cruz guitars that didn't give me this feeling. My view is don't just decide you want this kind of guitar, but be ready should it happen. I'm blessed to get to play guitars whenever I walk into a guitar shop, which is infrequent these days. Sure I'd like to play that old D 21 at Gryphon, but I wouldn't. It breaks my don't play what you can't or wouldn't buy rule. The Cruz broke the rule, but I was tingling when I saw it, and was halfway with instrument trade value.

So what did I get for the money? The perfect neck for me. A wonderfully balanced otherworldly tone, a guitar so well crafted I didn't notice the neck binding for days, a lovely herringbone/black binding not often seen on a mahogany guitar, and the SCGC logo in pearl on the headstock, my favorite logo of all time. And the extreme bear claw I've come to love is icing on the cake.

This guitar might or might not work for you. But to circle back, my 70 Guild D 35 is every bit as engaging, but it took a good six months to play anything but the Santa Cruz. I was playing the Guild for two hours this morning and thinking what a fine guitar, certainly better than dollars and cents would indicate.

For thirty or thirty five years I'd never found the guitar worth all the extra money, until I did. No regrets at all. Ten minutes and I bought it. Are there many guitars that would do this? Perhaps, but I don't generally play vintage or $10,000 new guitars. I don't play new guitars at all, unless I see an inception or something for educational reasons, or when the Authentics came out, or a Custom Deluxe. But I'm in a very good headspace right now and would be foolish to jeopardize it.

[raysachs]

I had an 000-28 EC that I liked a lot - they usually seem to sell for $2500-$3000 used. But then I played a 000-28 CAA and it sounded so incredible that I found a used one for more in the $4500-$5000 range and bought it. They're about $7000 new now. To me it was worth it. I can't justify it based on my playing at all - I'm pretty basic player, but a great sounding guitar is a great sounding guitar even if you're just playing cowboy chords and doing basic stuff on it. I own three different acoustics and that's my nicest by far (although my other two are no slouches). If I had to justify it, I couldn't, but I don't regret it in the least. I'll likely have that guitar for as long as I'm able to play and I enjoy it every time I pick it up. I'm not a better player for having bought it, but I know I have a guitar that I sound as good on as I can sound. If I couldn't have afforded it, I simply wouldn't have bought it, but I was able to without any major sacrifices, and I'm glad I was able to. I'm very fortunate to own it.

I'm quite sure I'll never buy anything more expensive...

-Ray

[Mbroady]

My favorite guitar is in the lower price category, used
OP. I'm curious as to what 4 grand (used) guitars you are considering and what are you playing now?
Which one is favorite

[DCCougar]

Originally Posted by Tycobb73

I have a few acoustics in the $2000 range but thinking of selling some that I like, but don't love, to move into the $4000 used price range.

I guess my Guilds are in the $2,000 range. I have no intention of selling any of them. Ever.

[Gryf]

Guitars at all price points can sound "good." Does a $4000 Martin, Santa Cruz, Lowden, (insert brand of choice here) sound better than an entry level acoustic? Almost certainly, the answer will be yes. But will a $6000 or even an $8000 guitar sound better than it's $4000 counterpart? Maybe yes, maybe no. Maybe yes to me, but no to you. At some point, it's impossible to determine "better" in terms of a guitars tone. A guitar can definitely speak to you in terms of feel, appearance, and workmanship. It can definitely grab your attention with it's tone, volume, etc.. and make you think "this is THE one!" If that happens, and it's in your price range, then buy it!

But get 100 players in a room playing 50 different expensive, high quality, handmade guitars by highly regarded luthiers, and I'd bet big money (if I were a betting man) that there would be many, many different answers as to which one is the "best sounding." Best to me likely won't be best to everybody.

[Regalord]

2K-4k used should be the difference between a solid workhorse and an exceptional instrument.

I jammed last night with my friend. He had a 000-18 standard and I was playing my Waterloo wl-s deluxe. There is nothing wrong with the 000-18! But the Waterloo just looks, feels and sounds in another league in my opinion. Thats been my experience with most Collings, Bourgeois, Santa Cruz and Martin Authentics vs the Martin or Gibson standard series.

Especially if you are game for mahogany b&s vs rosewood you can find an exceptional guitar for 4k used. Before you buy, figure out your preferences in terms of scale length, back and sides etc.

[abn556]

I have done this on electrics. I went from Gibson USA Les Pauls to Custom Shop Reissue Les Pauls and SGs and it was well worth the double the price that I paid at the time. The reissues are more than double the cost now.

I also recently moved a Eastman E10SS and got a Custom Shop Gibson J-45 in its place that was 250% more than a new E10SS. Was it worth it? Yes it was.

[RoyBoy]

For me, yes. My Bourgeois D Vintage just brings more to the table. Volume, headroom, and sensitivity. I think a lot has to do with the player and how they approach the instrument. Do you notice nuance and subtlety when it's present? If not, then stick with the $2k guitar.

[Tycobb73]

Originally Posted by Mbroady

My favorite guitar is in the lower price category, used
OP. I'm curious as to what 4 grand (used) guitars you are considering and what are you playing now?
Which one is favorite

See post 18. I like most. I don't really have a favorite guitar. I'm the type that I can play a guitar and love it. I'll come back an hour later and hate it. I wish I was a 1 guitar guy but I'm not.

[TBman]

I don't know about used, but I had bought a new guitar for around $2,000 and then about a year later I bought a similar guitar, but it cost almost $6,000. There was definitely a difference and the $2,000 guitar was sold. No contest.