[cpabolting]

Originally Posted by WGTroutman

I need a new guitar. Steel string, will be played in a bluegrass setting as well as a contemporary christian setting, and be used for solo fingerstyle pieces.

If my cap is $2,000, what is my best choice?

what about $5,000?

What about $10,000


I am looking for opinions. be as subjective as you want. include all brands: martin, taylor, lowden, olson, schenk, anything that you can think of.

I think you have very different answers depending on what you are spending. You also have a very complicating situation with bluegrass and fingerstyle. For 2k, you are pretty much in one guitar and so I think you get a Martin D-28, D-35 or HD-28 or HD-35. For 5k, I think you get the same as 2k, plus a nice 3k used handbuilt guitar from the AGF classified suited for fingerstyle. When you get to the 10k range, that becomes a little tough. Because you are almost in an Olson, which I obviously think is an amazing guitar but not a bluegrass guitar. I think at 10k you think about stretching it a bit and try and get a nice Martin dread D-28/35, hd-28/35 and get a used Olson. You are pretty much set for life.