Should it stay or should it go??
 

I'm at a crossroads here and I need the advice of my fellow AGF members on what I should do! Every since I got my GS Taylor, I don't like playing my dreads anymore. Unless i'm at a gig or church, I sit down to play. I never paid any attention to the dread size and comfort level before because it was what I played all the time and I didn't realize what a smaller waist guitar would do for you. So here is my dilemma! I've got two dreads and the 95 810 was my first really good guitar and is very sentimental to me. My '02 W10ce is a fantastic guitar both playing wise and looks wise. I've upgraded it with Gotoh tuners and it's one of 26 made that year and was custom ordered with a 3-piece back and abalone rosette and binding. I'd like to try and trade it for a GA sized guitar, but I'd be giving up a pretty rare guitar in the process. What would you do? I'd like pros and cons opinions please! I'm really torn here on what I should do!

You only have 4 guitars. What's the problem? :)

I don't need two dreads, but it's sorta special!

How long has it been since you stopped playing the other guitars? I usually wait a while just to make sure I’m not whipsawing from one idea to the next. I give it several months or even a year. If the old guitar still doesn’t move me, it goes. Just be cautious because you may come back to the old sound at some point.

Sell the guitars you don't use and get something new and special w/ the money :)

I don't let sentimentality get in the way of good playing, comfortable guitars but not everyone is like me. That's just my opinion.

I am sentimental and have parted with several instruments (or lost to theft or natural disaster) that I later missed and regretted.

They weren't always the best instruments, but I guess I have been known to emotionally bond with inanimate objects.

Then again, I've traded, sold and lost more instruments than I can possibly remember...scores of them. And I only miss about a half dozen of them.

I'm too sentimental about guitars, but I've found that when it's time to move one on for someone else to play, it's not that difficult to do. Maybe you just haven't reach that point yet? But it sounds like you're getting there.

I'm quite happy to let sentimentality guide my credit card - bit only with guitars, not frippery like food or bills!


you need to work out how many differnt guitars will perform every aspect of guitar playing that you might "EVER" encounter.

You sholdn't really be playing the dreads sitting but yuo do need one (and a spare) for performing. (I have four).

Smaller guitars , well they vary in size and sound so you probably need three or four.

You may need a 12 string or two plus, of course a resonator and an archtop.

So, be sensible with your purchases and sales - don't rush into anything but keep all aspects covered.

Yours, (The Guitar Marketing Board) Bwahahahahaha!

Sell your 810 and get a Gibson Jumbo. I think I remember reading that you loved the Jumbo.

Nobody needs that many Taylors (JK!!!)

Thats a tough question. I am in the same boat. I have a vintage J45 that I am loath to part with, but I just never play it. I have others that I can play out with, and when I'm at home I sit down to play. Sitting with the J45 is just uncomfortable. So it really needs to go, but........

Just wait. If I'm still in the questioning stage, I'm not really ready to change guitars. I've a great guitar I didn't really play for almost a year. But it's a great guitar, and one day I picked it up again and was thrilled both by how terrific it sounded and by the fact that I didn't give up on it. I now play it just about every day.

I change guitars when they no longer satisfy me, when, as has happened, I find a similar guitar that simply sounds better to me and works better for what and how I play.

I used to have a mid-60s burst J-45. It was the best acoustic instrument I ever held.

I'd be more than happy to be caretaker, guardian, steward and player of yours should you ever decide it needs to see more action! Heck, I wouldn't even charge you for the service...

Before you make any moves, try this.
Take a month and purposefully play a different guitar every day, rotate them. Re-aquainting yourself with your dreads may give you better perspective on their worth to you. Small guitars are great, but sometimes, if they are your total focus, you can forget what the dreads can do that is unique to their larger size.

If after a month the dreads have little appeal, decide which one (or maybe both) should go.

I have read all to many times, AGF members allude to a guitar they once had but sold and now regret doing so. Don' t be one of those folks.

I have done this myself. When I think about selling one guitar it is usually because I have not played it for a while. New strings... Naw, this one stays.

Great advice here from Paddy1951. My dread is no longer my go-to guitar, but whenever I play it, even if it's only once every few weeks, I realize that it provides a musical depth that the other guitars just don't have. This is especially true when I jam with other guitarists. I tend to be a rhythm guitarist, and the dread projects a beat on the bass end that even my 000 can't.

It's hard to boom-chuck without the boom.