Nicest guitar that you recently played that wasn't yours.

[Alex6strings]

I can't believe I'm saying this about a fender acoustic but I have seen the light. I just found it very hard to put down a new little fender PM3 000NE. A fantastic little guitar. I can honestly say it was better than anything I've played in a while, including my guitars.

[Toby Walker]

Originally Posted by Captain Jim

There's a "small guitar shop in Spearfish, SD"??? We used to live there. I had to go to Rapid City to buy strings.

Yes there is! Praise Google and the GPS!

[min7b5]

My student just picked but a 1928 Martin 00-42 that is as light as a bag of chips and just bursting pregnant with great sound.

[73171]

Several years ago I played a James Goodall rosewood concert jumbo. I was stunned by the rich shimmering midrange and treble. I didn't know an acoustic guitar could sound like that.

[Silly Moustache]

Three incidents come to mind.

Many years ago - Chris Martin bought the Martin Roadshow to the UK.
We (Nanny Jane and I ) followed a tall hairy guy carrying an old case.

CFM was "greeting" and this tall guy said "got something to show you" he opened the case and I heard CFM say - "Oh, that's a pre 1934 dreadnought - D-2 I think - we didn't make many of them!"

Later I realised that it was my ultimate dream guitar.

1998 - Staying with friends in New Hampshire. still searching for a wider necked guitar. Stopped into the Music Emporium inn Lexington. Told 'em I was looking for a D18/28/35-S. The showed me a Collings DS-42. (oh the beauty was overwhelming. Expensive but just abut affordable - but BRW back and sides ....could I get it through Customs ? I hesitated and didn't get back.

2012. I had decided I needed an L-1 - y'know like Robert Johnson was photographed with. Local Gibson dealer refused to order one for me because (his words) "they are very variable and I haven't seen a good one yet".

Got a call from Michael Watts then working at Guitar Junction" in Worthing.
"Still looking for an L-1 ? "er, yes" - beter got over here quickly ....which I did.

There it was a '28-30 ish L-1 Nick Lucas deluxe. refinished, rebuilt - but .. like in Guy Clark's song - I put it on my lap and it played me. Mystical.

How much ? £6000.
We were in the process of buying a new house. I couldn't go that far at tat time.
Came home told Jane about it. "Buy it" she said.
I rang back the next day. "Gone 30 minutes after you left" said Michael.

Ouch.

[M Sarad]

Larry Pattis's short scale Michaud before he got it. Joel had it at SBAIC. Larry gave permission for me to play and evaluate it.

Sadly, it was dropped during shipping and destroyed on the way to his place.

[DaveKell]

Originally Posted by Toby Walker

Passing through Spearfish SD I happened on a tiny guitar shop, where I needed a dampit - 103 degrees and real dry! The owner of the store had a '47 J-45 hanging on the wall, begging to be played! My goodness, it sounded like a dream!

I can't imagine the thrill a music store person has when someone like you stops in.

Reminds me of many many years ago at a guitar store in Fort Worth, TX I stopped into for some strings. Only one other guy in there besides the attendant. A heavily bearded dude playing a Strat. I was blown away by what he was doing. I walked over for an up close listen. He nodded to me. When he finished a tune I asked if he taught guitar at this place. He half smiled and said "no" very quietly and went back to playing.

I walked up to the counter for my strings. The guy at the counter said "Billy sure can tear up a Strat, huh?" I said "who is he?". He said "you're kidding, right? Billy Gibbons. He stops in whenever he's in town visiting family". I nearly fainted. Come to think of it, he DID LOOK like Gibbons, but not seeing him on stage I didn't make the recognition. Plus he looked smaller than I would have guessed him to be. In a t shirt instead of sport coat and no sun glasses either.

I walked outside, my legs a bit wobbly, and saw a black custom Caddy there. I thought about waiting for an autograph but realized I'd now be tongue tied asking for it.

Now Toby on the other hand... I'd have no problem approaching. He's one of us!

[bizango1]

A D-18 Authentic 1937. Then I gave the owner some cash and took it home.

[blacknblues]

I went to visit The Music Emporium recently, a very gas-inducing store by the way, and played a 1946 Script Logo Gibson J45. It was out of this world.

[Humbuster]

Gibson ES335 originally owned by Duane Allman, later by Dickey Betts.

Now in the possession of a good friend.

Just holding it gave me chills.

[s2y]

I don't get out much and am no longer in a band. I don't think I have touched a guitar that's not mine for several years. I think I played some sort of Taylor BTO sinker GA with a cutaway and wasn't very impressed, but the action was high and the crowds didn't make it an ideal environment.

[frhdpicker]

Since you said "recently," I'll vote for the quilted Sapele McPherson I played in Martin Music in Memphis back in March. I had never played a McPherson before, and this one had a different enough clarity and responsiveness to make me think there really is something to the arguments for an offset soundhole and cantilevered fingerboard. And it was drop-dead gorgeous, too. But it would a close call, because I probably played $100,000 worth of guitars during that visit to their high-end room, including some Brazilian J45's and some wonderful Bourgeois models.

Before that, my 2017 favorite was a Schoenberg/ Sexauer 00 14-fret Soloist model that I played at the Music Emporium in January. Gorgeous Brazilian, amazing volume from a 00, and had the balance and clarity that Bruce is famous for. I don't trust my long-term memory enough to know how the McPherson and the Schoenberg would compare to each other, though.

Ray

[Brent Hahn]

When I was a teenager in the '60's, Ralph Sordyl's House of Music in Springfield, Illinois had a basement full of pre-war Martins. If only I had a Waybac Machine.

And once at Westwood Music in LA I got to look at Christopher Guest's Lloyd Loar mando. I inadvertently breathed too close to it, and the strings did a little shimmer. Does that count as playing it?

[rsmillbern]

I played an Oliver Klapproth Basic Cutaway that really caught my attention.
I don't usually gravitate to Maple guitars or finger-style guitars, but this one was special. I am almost afraid to go try to Doubleshoulder Fan fret :-).

[Jeff56]

Wild Bill whom we both know just bought a John Walker Brazilian dread. It was everything you would think and hope a brazilian guitar would be. It was so loud I could barely hear him singing and he was sitting right next to me.