Poll: What guitar AGF members aspired to when taking up guitar
 

OK, you've taken up playing the guitar and stuck with it long enough to learn a little playing, know you're going to stick with it, and have learned a little about acoustic guitars.

This is the demographic I'm addressing, both folks currently at that point, but also long time players looking back to THAT POINT.

At a certain point we know/knew enough to intelligently consider what guitar we'd really like to have.

For me, early on it was the Martin D-28... Everything else was just a place holder until I got the D-28. Of course, when I was at THAT POINT there was the Big Three - Martin, Gibson & Guild & then other stuff. Now there are many more choices.

I'm curious as to others. On the far end of this spectrum, for example, I'm pretty sure that no one reaches THAT POINT in the first paragraph and aspires to an Esteban.

What was your aspiration at THAT POINT in your life?

If there were the option of more than one choice, I would have gone with Gibson and Martin, but since there wasn't, I chose Martin.

My Dad brought home a Gibson, but his buddy was a Martin guy, I think he played a D28, and he was the guy that taught me and inspired me, he played in Gigs before he got married,

H

I had to answer 'other' for 'The Electric Guitar'
because when I started (at 10) I wanted to play sabbath, zeppelin, stones, beatles, etc...
I never even thought about 'box' guitars till much later. :)

None. Dreamed of being a R&R star w/ no thoughts on what brand of guitar to play.

brands mean nothing to me
 

This. I aspire to a certain skill level. What I end up playing if I ever get there is of no consequence to me, never was. Therefore, I chose "other".

I can relate to that.

My first guitar had zero input from me... It was a Sears (Danelectro) $69.95, amp-in-case electric from my parents when I was 12 and had been pestering them for several years to play guitar - any guitar!

It was 1963 and an era of Brit import rock, Motown and California Surf music, all electric stuff. And that was what I immediately started playing and singing.

But, by the time I got to THAT POINT a few years later, relative to acoustic guitar (while still playing electric) I'd learned enough to have a particular direction...

While I appreciate the sentiment, I suspect (and could be wrong) that you are in a minority.

:)

The first guitar that got me wood (pun intended) was George's Country Gentleman when I saw The Beatles on Ed Sullivan when I was about 2 and a half. I started asking for "one of them" right then and there LOL That lasted until I saw a Gibson L5 in an early 60's catalog my friend's older brother had. The acoustic Gibson L5 might still be the most perfect guitar I have ever seen. Every one of the 100's of guitars I've owned and 1000's I've played since (and I've never owned a Gretsch of any kind or an L5) was because of the lust those 2 guitars started in me.

I wanted a Strat or a Telecaster, so I went with other.

maybe, maybe not
 

I suspect you're right as well, but the polling is in its early stages - we will eventually see, i reckon. ;)

Me too...Specifically a Keith Richards style Telecaster.

Yep. There's stuff I want to learn. Most are within my skill set, some will take longer because there are speed issues that are cropping up due to age. Music is the focus, the guitars used are just a reflection of spending ability.

I've been playing long enough that I should have decided by now what I want but I haven't.

A couple of years after I started to play I made a decision that I would spend my music money on putting together a good sound system and maybe by the time I have one that I'm pleased with I'll have developed my style and know better what I want from a guitar. My style of play has pretty much exposed itself and I have a good sound system but I'm still learning about how to make it sound right to my taste. I just started experimenting with duel pickup systems, soldering, modifying pedals, there's much more to learn. I am getting closer to knowing what I want from the play-ability of a guitar, not so much the brand. I will probably end up with a small luthier build.

I wanted a Guild in the worst way, but my wallet wanted this. I bought this one around 1977 and it now lives at my son's house.

http://i.imgur.com/w0sqdhj.jpg?1

LOL! I get it, but you're missing the point.

At THAT TIME in your life when you wanted an acoustic and were developed enough as a player and someone who knew something about acoustic guitars, I'm guessing you had a moment of wanting a particular direction of acoustic guitar, even if it was not what you actually bought for your first one.

For instance, I started on a cheap electric, then got a good electric, played a lot of borrowed acoustics at open mic/coffee houses and eventually bought a Gibson small body 12 string acoustic that I could afford, then a USA Epiphone 6 string acoustic... But by this point in life I'd been playing 6 to 8 years and KNEW that what I really wanted was a D-28, which took another year or so.

I don't know... maybe I'm totally wrong and most people don't have that point in their journey in guitar playing.

I grew up in an acoustic guitar rich area with a LOT of great acoustic guitar players and music in general coming out and through the area (Louisville Kentucky in the '50s/60s/70s).

:)

When I first started playing, I wanted a Martin dreadnought, but wasn't familiar enough with their product line to pin it down to a specific model. Then I had the chance to play a 1939 Martin 000-28, and that was that: to my ear that was by far and away the best acoustic guitar sound available.

It still is, really. It took me more than ten years after my first Triple O encounter to get one of my own, but I finally did.


whm