Can't spend my money

[Birdo]

Just spent a few hours in a local shop and just came away frustrated. I play a big baby and in my head I fancied a change . So I took it along with me , to play along side it's soon to be replacement. I tried everything under a £800 , which is my top budget. The thing is every time time I preferred my big baby. I m not sure why . I wondering if it's just familiarity .

[Pheof]

You may need to examine more expensive models. Pick out some $2K, $3K and $4K guitars and see what you think then.

[ljguitar]

Originally Posted by Birdo

Just spent a few hours in a local shop and just came away frustrated. I play a big baby and in my head I fancied a change . So I took it along with me , to play along side it's soon to be replacement. I tried everything under a £800 , which is my top budget. The thing is every time time I preferred my big baby. I m not sure why . I wondering if it's just familiarity .

Hi Birdo...

I once spent between 5 & 6 years deciding on a next guitar. I had criteria it must meet, and none did among the hundreds of guitars I played.

But I decided I'd not settle short for anything less than what I expected.

Glad I passed on a lot of great guitars to find a spectacular one. And in the process (5 to 6 years is quite a while) I kept stashing bucks into my guitar fund, and my budget expanded more than triple.

[Br1ck]

Keep the piggy bank full, add to it when you can, and when you have another 400, go back. Repeat as necessary until something blows your socks off.

[amyFB]

What are you hoping to find in a replacement?

It might help to narrow your focus when searching for models to try out.

Maybe you just have a case of GAS from spending too much time reading the NGD posts here at the forum!

good luck!
amyFB

[saxonblue]

I think you need more than 1 trip & some more stores to look at. Be patient, the big baby's still doing it's job while you're looking to upgrade.

800 quid's about AU$1400 so in my view that gives you access to some very good options. It'll find you one day.

[Kip Carter]

This is a process and during that process we do evolve our criteria and it becomes more precise. Often times there will be the one that blows our criteria right out of the water because it exceeds every measure.

One trip is a step on your journey. Take every advantage to play different instruments, don't be reluctant to try the same model but different guitars. At times the diversity of a particular model will be quite broad.

Keep trying and comparing; while you do keep adding to the kitty; this will broaden your choices and test subjects. Relax and enjoy the best of the breed in your hands that YOU OWN right now and when "the one" grabs you it will be obvious.

[Birdo]

Maybe it's a sign to keep adding to the fund. There was a Martin 28 that was amazing but three times the budget. I just thought that with a budget twice that of the Taylor I would find something that would put it in the shade.

[billgennaro]

Originally Posted by Birdo

Just spent a few hours in a local shop and just came away frustrated. I play a big baby and in my head I fancied a change . So I took it along with me , to play along side it's soon to be replacement. I tried everything under a £800 , which is my top budget. The thing is every time time I preferred my big baby. I m not sure why . I wondering if it's just familiarity .

Consider yourself lucky. For years I bought or traded for a new guitar every 3-6 months nearly every time I went to the store. I would typically trade the guitar that I had purchased just a few months earlier. Financially speaking, it was very foolish (although it was a great education guitar-wise). I probably went through a dozen like that. So that's how I learned. Between your approach and mine, I think you win hands down.

[Brucebubs]

Your Taylor big baby is a Sapele/Sitka dreadnought.
Maybe look for guitars with completely different specifications? Different tonewoods like Rosewood, Maple and Mahogany. Different body size like a jumbo.

[Earwitness]

Hey--this is good news! You have a guitar you like a lot. They don't just fall out of the sky like that, no matter what your budget.

I have been sitting on some money dedicated to buying a nice guitar for almost a year now, and believe me, I am very infected with the syndrome. I keep hauling the guitar I already love to meet the contenders, and so far, my money is still in the bank! (As always, though, one is haunting me right now.)

Another thing I did was to record my guitar and put a clip on my computer desktop. Every time I'm blown away by a sound clip--which seems about always, these days--I play a recording of what I've got, and I go back into satisfaction mode.

Like others said, keep the fund going until you are amazed.

[Earwitness]

In fact, here's a repeated conversation at my house:

"Honey, look at this guitar (or listen to this)--isn't that beautiful!"

"Yes, that's really pretty...what is it?"

"It's a _______. He's one of the very elite luthiers; look at that woodwork, isn't it fantastic? That wood is _____; I got to play it, etc..."

"So, just buy it, you've got the money, just buy it."

Me, thinking hard, maybe I should just buy it--why not! But then,

"Well, I really love the guitars I have."

"Why do you keep looking then?"

and repeat....