Necessity or Desire: Is your best guitar holding you back?

[TBman]

When I was planning my last purchase, I wanted to test the waters of higher end guitars. Initially I had planned to spend $10,000, but certain objections were raised by you know who and I had to agree. What would 10k get me that 6k wouldn't? I didn't have an answer. I looked at the fit and finish as best I could online and listened and watched many, many videos and sound clips. I chose Pellerin.

I found that once I played the Pellerin, that my Furch was pretty close in tone to it. Both are cedar over rosewood and have that "modern" tone. There is a depth to the Pellerin's tone though that the Furch doesn't have. Also, the playability of the Pellerin - neck profile and setup, is a bit more to my liking. The Pellerin feels as though it was made specifically for me.

When I go to choose a guitar to play, 90% of the time it is the Pellerin. I think my Pellerin would be a good argument for owning only one guitar.

[Bluenose]

Originally Posted by cliff_the_stiff

in most cases it is desire. Tone hunting.
Once I found that I really sound better on a guitar with a 1 13/16 nut I have sought those guitars out. I’ve settled for 1 3/4 nut widths for superb guitars.

Yes tone hunting is what makes me search out and ultimately buy guitars. I know what I like but it seems that I always come up a bit short from the tone I want to achieve.

A poorly setup guitar will definitely hold you back but in most cases IMO, it's the player not the guitar that's lacking.

[RoyBoy]

As I moved up from playing mid-grade Taylors for 20 years, I told myself the same rationalizations- I don't play enough, or I don't play well enough to justify the expense. After buying a D18, I found that better guitars respond better and produce nuances of tone absent in lesser guitars. This leads you to playing things (and enjoy it more) that the lesser guitar inspired you to.

Since acquiring a Bourgeois D Vintage, I've stopped looking at other guitars. With an adi topped custom shop D18 and the rosewood Bourgeois my playing is not going to be limited by my instruments, ever.

With the Bourgeois, I have learned that those upper-tier instruments do possess more nuance and have more power and volume on tap. These guitars respond well to a lighter touch and learning to master them does require a bit more finesse (in my experience).

[CopyCat]

I enjoy these thoughtful GAS discussions and the OP’s journey to two guitars.

I’ve played for 50+ years. What has fueled GAS in the last 20 or so is the rise of these wonderful online forums devoted to guitars that have normalized the idea of a guitar collection, coupled with greater spending power as a working stiff.

It’s also on the forums that I’m exposed to new items like the Collings T series or the Martin Custom Authentic that suit me to a T. (I now have both.)

I struggle with the GAS side effects of the online discussion. My work is stressful and I enjoy my time reading about guitars. Still trying to figure out how to do that without catching the bug for something new.

I’m very happy with what I have and my gear does not hold me back.

[raysachs]

I've had exactly ONE guitar in my life that I could credibly say held me back. My first ever guitar, a $60 pawnshop special (acoustic) without any sort of brand name on it, with mile high action, barbed wire for strings (and FRETS!!), a twisted neck that couldn't be decently tuned, let alone intonated - it was a truly dreadful instrument. It was also my only guitar for a year and I learned to do quite a bit on it. After a year, I was working, had some $$ in my pocket, and knew I was gonna stick with this guitar thing, and went and bought myself a good guitar, a well used but wonderful D-28 that I paid $400 for back in late 1978 or early 79. I was instantly a better player, because when I played a chord properly, it sounded gorgeous, wonderful, glorious, rather than strangled and out of tune. Every guitar I've owned since - good ones, OK ones, great ones, has forced me to try to play up to it's level, or even a fraction of it's level. Some sounded better than others, some made me want to play more than others, but not a single one of them held me back.

-Ray

[Silly Moustache]

Here's my story :

I started playing (with) guitar sometime in the mid/late '60s.
I slowly worked up, making every mistake in the book, until in 1975, I bought a two year old Martin D35. Despite is poor vintage - it was, (and still is) a special one - the tone is to die for!

In 1996 I sold it to a friend (who still plays it) to fund a Martin J40 (which when I got it really restricted my playing probably due to the very shallow neck combined with the same narrow fretboard width (1 & 11/16").

A famous guitarist (Isaac Guillory) lent me his D35-S which completely changed my direction as it showed me what a wider fretboard would do for me and my playing style.
This is that very guitar :

I searched for three years to find something similar.
In 1999, the first two (new) Collings guitars, were shipped into the UK.

I kept it for 20 years, foolishly selling it whilst in a blue funk, but I have my later model.

Here are both in 2018 :

Over these years, I have finally figured out what serves me best in a guitar. It isn't the tonewoods nor even the shape, but the neck profile, fretboard proportions, and string spacing.

I'd recommend that all learn this and also the ideal action and relief for your hands.

see :

[FrankHudson]

Originally Posted by Zissou Intern

After reading a couple recent threads, I am wondering what drives your GAS and subsequent purchasing of new guitars. Was it merely desire for something different or better, or was your guitar holding you back? Could you not make the music you heard in your head, so you just had to have a better guitar?

Yes and no.

I'm fairly comfortable with the idea of a variety of "good enough" guitars. I like making different sounds, and the composer in me likes to call for different sounds. I "need" a nylon string, a 12-string, something that can get sitar sounds, a u-bass, small and larger body 6 strings, a resonator, round and flatwound strung, and fretless basses, and so on. I enjoy the different experiences that different guitars can bring to me, but that's more a "want" thing. So, rather than the models of "always searching for 'the one" or "I need to upgrade to a better instrument so that playing can be validly experienced" I have instead accumulated over decades as fairly large number of guitars that most common posters here would consider inexpensive and/or entry level. All that sits between "want" and "need" in various places on a continuum.

I think that maps, and doesn't map, to the GAS theories above.

The one "need" thing that does drive purchases for me, and changes which guitars that I own that I play is personal playability. I need a bit of nut width on acoustic. I strongly disklike small, low frets.

[jpd]

[QUOTE=Zissou Intern;7008719] I am wondering what drives your GAS and subsequent purchasing of new guitars. Was it merely desire for something different or better


Yes. I am still infected with GAS...but it is not the same variant that I had 20-30 years ago

[zmf]

Originally Posted by Silly Moustache

It isn't the tonewoods nor even the shape, but the neck profile, fretboard proportions, and string spacing.

I'd recommend that all learn this and also the ideal action and relief for your hands.

+1 here. SM is right again.

Back when I was getting back into guitar and finally buying some good ones, my first two had to go, for different reasons. They frustrated me as much as holding me back.

To name names, the first was a Taylor 514ce. A pleasure to play, though the shallow neck profile made thumb wraps a bit painful -- my thumb joint would sometimes pop -- a case where neck profile wasn't for me. Plus the guitar was brighter than I liked, and it developed unwanted off-harmonics that were annoying. I tried everything -- strings, saddle material, taking the guitar apart and putting it back together -- finally sold it before I broke it against a wall in frustration.

The second was a shop custom D-18 that was essentially a D-18V with red spruce top. Beautiful tone. But the nut was 1 11/16 and tight, and the neck profile was an aggressive mod V. I play with bare fingers, and I became convinced this was a flatpicker's guitar. Fretting was fine below the 5th fret, but barring higher up was chore. Again -- neck profile and string spacing. Plus when I lowered the action, volume decreased considerably. It had to go.

So yeah -- these guitars were frustrating me as much as holding me back -- for my style of playing.

And there was probably some GAS mixed in.

[Jim Owen]

I’m not sure that any guitar I’ve ever owned has held me back. What has held me back is systemic lack of focus. A guitar won’t cure that.

But having a few nice guitars helps. If practicing on one starts to unravel, I pick up another. I’m old enough to know that buying another won’t get me practicing any more in the long run.

[Kyle215]

I just like to try stuff, lol. No real science or deep justification to it.

I did sell one guitar early on because I thought the 1 11/16 nut was holding me back, but it turns out it was my form and posture that was the problem. I now play 1 11/16 with no problems… I actually slightly prefer it because I have shortish fingers and it’s easier to reach the low stings cleanly.

[J Patrick]

…I like shiny new things…

[RP]

Originally Posted by NotveryGood

The nagging feeling that the one you have just seen/read about might just be better than the one you already have

I agree. I don't believe I've ever owned a guitar that held me back...

[Dru Edwards]

Desire. I enjoy looking for that next guitar, including the reading of reviews/specs, a day trip, and trying them out.

[Gchord]

Yup, pure irrational desire. Guitars are beautiful objects that make beautiful sounds. My wife loves having lots of them around and I am happy to oblige.