If you've found a great guitar, should you continue to search greater?

[xaxinojo]

We must beware of falling into the fatally common error of supposing that what we see is all there is to see.
-Charles Webster Leadbeater

[$ongWriter]

The current D-18 is a very good guitar...for years it was a horrible wooden box....however....I used to own a great D-18....now I own an amazing vintage one....that being said....my Collings Guitars are perfect....and there are a few for way under $6000...I'd give one of those a try....

[Pickcity]

There was a time when I had one main guitar, and a couple others for back ups when playing live. I still looked around and had small fits of GAS but I was fairly content. I do envy those who have only one instrument and they are content, but that’s not me…I have owned a lot of guitars through the years and I’m always searching for others.

At this time I have ended up with at least one of every size I could ever need. I have a couple of parlor sizes, 00 size, OM, auditorium, dreads, and a jumbo. I also have a resonator and a classical. All of them are good to great guitars. I should be content, yet I’m still looking.

Different guitars do different things. That’s why I prefer to own a modest assortment of different sizes and styles of guitars. Same thing several here have already stated.

I can’t imagine ever parting with my J200, but if something came along that made more sense for me, and it compelled me to part with the Gibson to own it, I would do it. I learned long ago to never say “never”.

The grass isn’t always greener. That’s the main thing. I like the D18, and the 18 series in general. They are my favorite Martins. There are lots of outstanding guitars out there. Some you may find you like better. Will they be worth double the value of the D18? That will be something you have to decide.

[fazool]

Look up the Paradox of Choice

[lowrider]

Originally Posted by JackC1

2 questions here:

1.

I'm very happy with my D-18 and have either already sold off all my other acoustics just because I don't play them anymore (I always reach for the D-18).

I'm wondering, if I should make some effort to explore some of the brands that I'm reading about here like Collings and Santa Cruz (and others).

If somebody likes the D-18 for everything it is; which guitar (say under $6k) would you recommend looking into?

What if the price can be moved to $8k (my absolute limit for a guitar that I can't imagine moving beyond... but I also can't believe that I'm now thinking about my D-18 replacement... oh, if we all can know the future)... I'm afraid to ask, but if price moved to $10k?

I'm curious to see if there is a guitar that I'll like more.

2.

I found my D-18 by accident; but, once found, I knew this was the guitar for me for life. Being on AGF as much as I am, no surprise that I'm thinking about something else.

How did you find your great guitar?
If you were happy and totally satisfied with a previoud guitar, what caused you to look?

I think this shows just how great the D-18 is. You're going to have to spend a lot more money to get a significantly better guitar!

[Br1ck]

Living near Gryphon like I do, I have played hundreds of fine guitars. I used to go in and play everything on their used wall, which over a twenty year period will have you playing a huge variety, from Olsen to Kopp, every imaginable Martin, many Taylors and Gibson, old and new, and many boutique brands like Bourgeois, Pre War, and SCGC.

A handful stood out. one or two mid sixties D 18s, a few 40s J 45s, a 1929 00 from SCGC, etc. It was a true education. I can't in forty years remember going guitar shopping, particularly after buying my M36. I support Gryphon by buying strings there. Once or twice a year I like to visit Sylvan in Santa Cruz. My 65 Texan found me there. Like people have said, guitars will find you. The planets align and everything works out. Price enters into the picture. Last year I bought my Santa Cruz on a string buying visit. Several years ago, my Weber Yellowstone was on consignment. I'd been looking for a fern for three years. It was there when I had ten minutes to spare, so I played it a minute and took it home. Three years of checking every mandolin in the shop, I'd come to realize I was two thousand dollars under reality. Then, there it was.

To the OP, I'd say, don't shop, but play a guitar now and then in an open minded way. Once when kinda sorta looking for a D 18, a Custom D 35 found me. I kinda sorta am looking for a guitar I can play when I get old. I'm just 73 now, so I may have seven more years of working body parts. But the radar is working and I'm in no hurry.

The special feeling is rare. My Texan caused two hours to go by in what seemed like 15 minutes. My Santa Cruz was coming home in five. You just never know. I like 50% of what I decide to pick up. I love one in a hundred. Buy the one you love.

I'm fully aware, but don't really understand, those that really just enjoy buying and selling guitars. The means to do so is something I've never had, but my nature is to keep things. The joy of buying isn't something I'm looking for. Yes when I do I'm just as dopamine riddled as anyone. Everyone finds their own balance according to means and their nature.

[tinnitus]

I'm usually pretty thrilled (for a while) with any new toy I acquire and don't immediately start looking for something else. A bad habit I have, though, is to keep shopping for the same thing to see if I could've found a better deal.

[TheGITM]

I'm never looking for 'better' or 'greater'. I just look for what intrigues me.

For the last several years that has been Alvarez-Yairi guitars.

[rounder]

I have an HD-28 and D-18 that I really like. I had no desire for another guitar, but our local music store in Bel Air just got in a 1947 D-28 that it is selling on consignment. I went to the store today to see it, and actually got to play it. The guitar was restored by CF Martin and looked/played great. Still, $20,000 for a beautiful old D-28 was a lot of money. But, even if I could trade my guitars even up, I would keep what I have. I think the guitars I already have are also beautiful and sound great.

https://www.shopmusicland.com/shop/c...-x80183242.htm

[Glennwillow]

If you go searching for a better guitar, you will probably find one. However, the cost will be substantial because you will likely go through purchasing some expensive guitars to finally find it.

Or, you could be happy with what you have and simply concentrate on becoming a better player.

I could have been happy with my 1967 Martin D-35 and I still love it. But I did buy some other guitars, more expensive ones, and they are a little better in some ways.

However, none of these other guitars made me a better player. I'm not sorry that I invested in some other guitars, because I had the funds for it and my wife encouraged it. But it wasn't necessary.

- Glenn

[kizz]

Out of pure curiosity yes. Does it make me a better player or musician, no, but guitars are fascinating individual species and regardless of price, I am driven by the moments when I find an old/new guitar that has something to tell me...

[CharlieBman]

Can't say I search for "greater", but I do enjoy different. I love guitars. Each one is an individual with it's own feel and palette of sounds to be appreciated and be inspired by. Some I play more than others...but all get played regularly.

[SalFromChatham]

Once I find a good guitar, I stop looking and hold it, and that’s the end of the story. Why keep looking?

I never succumb to curiosity…


(Looks around sky for lightning).

[PapaLobo]

Even though I've found a few "holy grails" and added them to my collection , I still look daily

[Zissou Intern]

Originally Posted by Br1ck

... A handful stood out. one or two mid sixties D 18s, a few 40s J 45s, a 1929 00 from SCGC, etc. It was a true education. I can't in forty years remember going guitar shopping, particularly after buying my M36. I support Gryphon by buying strings there. Once or twice a year I like to visit Sylvan in Santa Cruz. My 65 Texan found me there. Like people have said, guitars will find you. The planets align and everything works out. Price enters into the picture. Last year I bought my Santa Cruz on a string buying visit. Several years ago, my Weber Yellowstone was on consignment. I'd been looking for a fern for three years. It was there when I had ten minutes to spare, so I played it a minute and took it home. Three years of checking every mandolin in the shop, I'd come to realize I was two thousand dollars under reality. Then, there it was.

To the OP, I'd say, don't shop, but play a guitar now and then in an open minded way. Once when kinda sorta looking for a D 18, a Custom D 35 found me. I kinda sorta am looking for a guitar I can play when I get old. I'm just 73 now, so I may have seven more years of working body parts. But the radar is working and I'm in no hurry...

If you are bequeathed or gifted a guitar, it found you. If your friend contacts you out of the blue and asks you to buy her J45, it found you. If you're sitting in an outdoor cafe and notice a 30's L-00 hanging in a pawn shop window across the street, it found you. If you are walking through the neighborhood and spot a Guild headstock sticking out of a garbage can, it found you. If the music store owner calls you and says, "Bruh, we just got the OM you've been looking for. Get in here before someone else buys it," it found you. If you are playing guitars in a guitar shop, and buy one, it did not find you. You found it.