Guitar buying: Diversification vs Brand Loyalty

[troystory92]

Hey guys,

After being in this forum for awhile, and seeing sigs with what guitars people own, I was curious about what drives your guitar buying thought process.


For me, I want as many different guitars as I can. Mainly, I want a Taylor, a Martin, a Gibson, and a Guild. I've played all of these brands in stores but want to own a 6 string acoustic from all of them. I believe they are the biggest names in acoustic guitars and think they all became that for a reason. Hopefully, in the end, I would decide which was best for me and perhaps sell the others. Ya know what they say, variety is the spice of life!


On the other hand, I've noticed that some people LOVE one company and end up buying 5 or so of their guitars. This can go for any company that you love. Who needs different necks and nut widths and other variables? Not them! I can appreciate these people for knowing what they like and what they want.

Which one are you and why?

[geoawelch]

I want guitars that sounds good to me, that are preferably within budget, and that are comfortable to play. I stated out being more brand-specific, but find this matters little to me now.

[1Charlie]

I became bonded to Guild in 1975 when I bought my first good guitar, a D-35. I still own it.

About 5 years ago, having raised my kids and finally having some discretionary income, I bough a bunch more guilds, owning perhaps 15 at one point.

This was before I discovered the small shop luthiers from my hometown (Huss & Dalton in Staunton, VA) and from my home for the last 40 years (Rockbridge in Charlottesville).

A lot of the Guild's are gone now, not because they were bad instruments, and not truly inferior, but because of Guild's standard nut width across the vast majority of their models (1 11/16"). As I age, that is just too narrow for me.

[RP]

I own five guitars, all of which are Taylor Grand Auditorium models so I clearly fall into the second category. After way too much buying and selling over the past ten years, I found that the Grand Auditorium models had the right combination of playability and tone. Despite being all of the same brand and size, the differences of wood, cosmetics, and tone are more than adequate to provide my spice of life. As an aside, I've found that once I zeroed in on Taylor GAs my GAS has subsided considerably....

[Athens]

At one point I was up to about 16-18 guitars, a mix of Guild, Taylor, Goodall, Parker and a few others. Admittedly I was horse trading with an eye on buying up to a great guitar.

I'm down to two great ones now, but it's always been about the tone and playability. The name on the headstock is the last thing I consider.

[rokdog49]

I've owned Taylor, Martin, Larrivee, Eastwood, Alvarez and Pono.
I don't care at all what's on the headstock. How does it play and sound?

[la palma C]

For me the biggest factors in choosing a guitar are tone, aesthetics, and playability/ergonomics. When it comes to tone and aesthetics I like more of a vintage flavor so I tend to gravitate to brands who offer that style of instrument.

[Swamp Yankee]

with the exception of my Taylor 412ce 12 fret, and my Wechter, each of my guitars were purchased because I loved the way they played and sounded when I tried them out. I am Taylor heavy now but I'm not locked into buying them exclusively.

[HHP]

I own others, but my inclination is weighted towards Martin for guitars and Flatiron for mandolins.

[troystory92]

Please don't get too hung up on brand names. I'm more about play ability and for me, nothing feels like a Taylor, and all Taylors feel like that.

tI could be you own multiple brands but they are all dread noughts. Or on the other hand, you have a dread, a double OO, a mini, a 12 string jumbo, a GA, a nylon. All same brand or not, that's some serious diversification.

I like what I like and don't care much about diversity or variety, at least not just for the sake of diversity or variety. I also like traditional sound and feel, which eliminates a lot of guitars for me. Does not detract from those guitar as instruments, but it does affect my decisions.

Most of my old instruments are Martins. Most of my modern "factory" guitars are Martins. Even in that subset variety does not interest me much. I can play a different D-18 every day of the week, plus a few more days.

At that moment I don't own anything that I would call "small shop" guitars. My other acoustic guitars, and a couple of mandolins, are all "luthier-built" instruments, built all or mostly by one person. That includes Howard Klepper, Mario Proulx, and Terry Whipple.

[AndrewG]

Over the past 50 years or so I have owned everything from no-name cheapies to expensive custom builds, with lots of examples from the usual mass-producers (Martin, Taylor, Gibson, Fender) in between, but Yamaha suit me the best. The 'high end' ($5000+) Japanese models ('L' 36,56,86), are as good as anything produced anywhere, by anyone. I would happily put the LL86 Custom ($10,000+), up against any other guitar.

[rmyAddison]

I've loved Martins since the 60's. With over 200 models on average (varies by year) there is no problem getting all the variety I need, and the rock solid resale market, as I've moved upstream through the models, is not to be discounted.

Lots of great builders, I've owned Taylor, Bourgeois and Collings over the years, but the last 10 years and into retirement my Martins are all I need, they make me smile every day.............

As always, to each their own, why even bother about what a stranger prefers, waste of time IMO, make music !~!~!

[Wayben]

I like variety, in size, shape, number of strings, types of woods, and manufacturers. I currently have about a dozen and like it that way. Each one has it's own sound and feel, and works best in different situations. For me variety definitely is the spice of life.

[Shades of Blue]

Part of the guitar playing experience for me is the emotional aspect. If I don't have an emotional draw to a brand, then I don't really have much desire to buy a guitar from an unknown brand.

I prefer to stick to Martin and Taylor. My father in law had a D-28 Shenandoah that shaped what I want to hear from acoustic guitars. He died several years ago and Martin guitars just has a special place in my heart. Problem for me is that I discovered Taylor years ago and am drawn to their look and feel. So for me, I go back and forth and having one of each is nice.

Not saying I wouldn't try a Collings or Santa Cruz, but I have no emotional draw.