What's your favorite guitar that you've ever owned and why?

[KenL]

My '81 Guild D-46. I stumbled across it in a guitar shop in 2000 while picking up some strings. Blown away at the first strum, and it still blows me away.

I am the second owner. Many guitars have come and gone, but not this one. Best $600 I ever spent.



PS- Scott, that is a terribly sad story. I can tell you are still heartbroken.

[Dlew919]

In general whichever one I’m playing. But I think it’s got to be my telecaster - Nashville deluxe with a strat pickup. Having said that my hellcat, my gretsch and my squier rank high. As does the new Ibanez nylon string as I get used to it.

[The Bard Rocks]

In school, we were all about favorites: favorite color, favorite car, best friend, favorite book.... But since then, it seems I rarely think in terms of favorites. Yes, I like some things more than others, natu9ally, but there always seem to be multiples of favorites.

As far as guitars go, there seems to be 2 kinds I have. Special purpose guitars (resonator, CF, 12 string...) which occupy a definite and stable place but would never be favorites. And then there are my general purpose guitars, the Goodall, the Hatcher and the Fay. The Fay gets played somewhat more as it's still feels new to me, the Goodall the least as it's oldest. They feel and sound different and each time I pick one up after a period of relative neglect, I think "Boy, this is a really great guitar!"

[Mr. Paul]

Goodall 000 bought new in 2006. It was the lone survivor of a retirement selloff and has since witnessed many come and go.

Articulate, rich, comfortable.

[Mr. Jelly]

My all-time favorite acoustic guitar is my Waterloo WL-S Deluxe. It has always satisfied me like no other. It's super responsive with mids to die for.

[tommieboy]

That would be my 1972 Guild F30 (mini-jumbo), which I no longer own. It was my go-to guitar for over three decades as it was the most comfortable guitar I owned then. It had a wonderful smell that still lingers in my memories. No doubt that is why I was drawn to and own a Froggy Bottom Model M. Essentially, my Froggy Bottom Model M is an ergonomically upgraded and refined Guild F30 (mini-jumbo).

As a side note, I could never pinpoint where Guild F30 (mini-jumbo) shape came from. A local luthier told me that he has no doubt that both of those guitars can track their DNA back to the Gibson CJ-165. I never knew that guitar existed.

Tommy

[jdinco]

Can't help but noticing a LOT of Guilds are being mentioned in this thread....interesting !

[cliff_the_stiff]

As others have said, it’s hard to define “favorites”
Here are mine:
I have two wonderful big guitars that couldn’t sound more different from the other- but still are the two regulars that nearly never get put away-
The Re-imagined Martin J40 - was re-re-imagined with a custom neck replacement giving me a 1 13/16 and 2 5/16 string spacing and a wonderful full neck and vintage style bridge/saddle. This gets most of my playing time.
The tonal polar opposite is my Collings CJ45T. I wanted a great J45 but I don’t like that narrower nut Gibson has- So I sought one of these Collings guitars out- and once I spent some time playing it, I knew that I was going to acquire it somehow- I ended up selling a phenomenal motorcycle to get it.
It’s fantastic for flat picking, strumming or thumpy fingerpicking.

[Br1ck]

Originally Posted by jdinaz

Can't help but noticing a LOT of Guilds are being mentioned in this thread....interesting !

I had to pick my Texan, but when I rotate, my 70 Guild D 35 averages a week longer in reality. It is just so balanced and the neck is comfortable. Guilds will generally be balanced as opposed to the Martin tone. I think a lot of folks settled for them, then could not bear to sell them. Still the best $1000 solution on the used market. That and the Martin 15 series.

The D 25, D 35, and D 40 Guilds are all good choices, but the eras are quite different. My 70 is much lighter that a 73 and newer. But all eras have their fans, and as always, YMMV. I had a mid 80s F 40 that was just brittle. Play the guitar. A d 55 is a real joy too.

[ssstewart]

favorite is a subjective euphemism. the one and only guitar that i will never ever sell and means the most to me is my 2020 Fender Telecaster that my son bought me for Christmas a couple years ago... he thought i needed a nice electric guitar ( im not big into them, love acoustics) but i will never part with it until im dirt then he can decide what he wishes to happen with it.

[H165]

Guild AE-176. Nearly everyone who heard it gave it high marks. Never heard a better guitar. We (people who heard and played it repeatedly while I owned it) still wonder if it is the best individual 12 string guitar ever built.

[jrb715]

My first Collings, an OM2 short scale with a German top has been my favorite since I picked it up in 2012. It felt like home the first time I played the guitar, and it has matured into a truly beautiful sounding guitar over the years. Its playability matches the sound: a perfect neck carve and short scale that make it seem to play itself. I have brought home a number of other guitars since the OM2, but it is the one over the years I've reached for first late at night, and reached for to accompany almost every performance I've played.

I will say it now has a companion favorite in a Huss & Dalton DS mahogany and Italian short scale. This also plays as if it were fit just for me, and its sound is enticing and keeps me playing each time much longer than I had anticipated.

[LFL Steve]

Originally Posted by ssstewart

favorite is a subjective euphemism. the one and only guitar that i will never ever sell and means the most to me is my 2020 Fender Telecaster that my son bought me for Christmas a couple years ago... he thought i needed a nice electric guitar ( im not big into them, love acoustics) but i will never part with it until im dirt then he can decide what he wishes to happen with it.

Best answer by far.

And I'd have to say my favorite is my solid body electric Brian May Red Special my family gave me in '08.

[fretfile100]

I’ll probably be thrown out of the fellowship of acoustics for saying this, but my favorite guitar is a 90’s Larrivee Ls00-09 . It is the neck profile that makes it so comfortable to play. My Goodalls can play rings around the Larrivee in terms of sound, but they don’t have the Larrivee neck. I have been through a lot of acoustic guitars with many different names but I always return to the Larrivee when I go to camp at Swannanoah.

[rllink]

Probably the classical guitar I bought in some little guitar shop I happened on doing temporary shore patrol duty in Mallorca, Spain in around 71. I have no idea what make or model it was. It might have been made right there in the shop. I have little real memory of it other than I took it out on the fantail of the ship and played it when we were at sea for about a year. I have a picture in my mind of the guitar and the sound and that image is the best guitar I've ever had. The truth my be something else. But I left it with a shipmate for safe keeping when I got a temporary transfer to Egypt and he got transferred while I was gone and took it with every intention of getting it back to me. I would just love to have that guitar back.