Guitar shopping is like book and wine shopping

[Pitar]

Originally Posted by fazool

A couple recent interesting conversations were posted :

How Do You Purchase? Eyes or Ears?

Guitars are like Ice Cream

These collided with a thought I've always held and formed a new shopping thought:

We are a family of "readers". We go tot the library and the bookstore frequently.

Every time I am there I always wonder "how do people pick a book?"

Think about that: how do you go into a book store and pick a book you want to pay for and spend dozens of hours reading. How do you find one you will like. Is it highly randomized and just luck?

The cover art seems to have a big influence on whether I'll pull a book off the shelf and consider it. That seems completely "wonrg" because the cover art is no indication of the content (you know the old adage? Well it's quite literal).

So, what I do is stick to a genre I prefer, then find authors I like. Sometimes I read reviews of them or hear of them from word-of-mouth. If I like an author I stick with them. I'm a "brand" loyalist. But I do so because it narrows down my selection process.

The same thing happens with wine shopping. There are simply too many to choose from and the labels don't really help. So I pick a type of wine I like and usually know of a few vintners I look for.

Of course, I love branching out and crossing into new book genres or new types of wine. But without some "guardrails" it would be totally trial-and-error.

This seems to apply, to some extent, to guitar shopping - at least for me.

Books, wine and guitar correlation I'm having trouble fathoming.

The guitar doesn't suggest it complement tonight's fowl or bovine meal. The guitar doesn't spirit me to broaden my literacy. Wine doesn't flirt itself as a Maple or a Rosewood complement. Books don't prompt aural sensory intrigue via Adirondack vs Western Red Cedar.


The guitar bids me to challenge myself to produce music from its depth of possibilities, and find contentment in that accomplishment. Wine...I don't drink wine. Books I read but on technical topics related to advances in aviation technologies. You won't find me reading novels. Reality is far more interesting. But, I suppose one could say that a good wine or novel can be the bane of a failed musician.

[00-28]

Originally Posted by Pitar

But, I suppose one could say that a good wine or novel can be the bane of a failed musician.

So, when are you going to start reading and drinking wine?

........Mike

[drive-south]

My wife doesn't mind when I go wine shopping.

[Proclaimer888]

I can think of nothing better then to be in a book store, reading with a glass of Chardonnay, while a Pierre Bensusan CD is being played. Thats my kind of shopping. 4 AM

[Long Jon]

Originally Posted by zabdart

I'm not a "shopper" in the way most women are. When I go shopping for an item, whether it's a guitar, a book, a CD or a bottle of wine, I usually have a pretty good idea of what I want. Then it's just a matter of finding it at the best price. I used to frustrate any number of girlfriends that way: "Come on. Get on with it!"

I used to frustrate girlfriends in another way , but I kept practising until I improved a little ...

Books (and bottles of wine for that matter), are different from guitars in that they have an "end" to their usefulness.

I could go to the bookshop every day for a couple of hours and read a book in there free, 'til I had finished it.

The wine, drink it , it's done.

I could go to the guitar store everyday and play their finest guitar and never be done with it, never arrive at the "end".

I expect the store owner would decide when "The End" was for me PDQ !

[Gasworker]

I do what 10's of thousands of others do. I go to the New York Times Best Seller list and do a little research. I then order it online from Kindle. The only bookstores left around here are giant mega stores with $7 coffee. Gone are the mom and pops except the occassional used book money laundering outfits.
Paper books are going the wat of the dodo i hope guitars have a brigter future for a longer time.

[mickthemiller]

I'm done with all shopping for a while. Spent most of the day curtain/drapes shopping.