My high-end guitars are 3D works of art I can hold and play and have around me and that sound magical to me, and that connect with my fingertips and up my fingers to my wrists to my arms to my shoulders to my chest, where it all connects with the sound coming in through my ears to pave that “longest 18 inch distance” between my head and my heart.
My holding and connecting with these guitars is part of it all, but performing (for me, the too-occasional open mic, lately) is a different experience. Many others collect other kinds of Art to have around as their human expression of beauty and purpose; for me, that’s guitars, whether a single-luthier in his shop (thanks David Eichelbaum!!!) or a hybrid (thanks Eric Schoenberg and TJ Thompson and the team at Martin) or the industrial wizards at a small factory (thanks Collings!) — at their best, these instruments awaken me to revere the sublime.
As so many have mentioned, performance is about a different thing than this love of Art; it’s really a *different* art. So picking the robust tool with the pickup and resistance to feedback that’s not a one-off (or nearly so).
The boutique/single-luthier instruments are a special kind of art. The Collings-like guitars are craftsmanship-industry. Just wow!
I had a handyman in my house yesterday, and moved the Schoenberg and a Collings UT2 Ukulele out to another room, and he was commenting about how he doesn’t know anything about guitars and what’s expensive or not. My comment was that “there’s really very little difference between them.” And really, if I were to perform a song for him, any decent Martin/Gibson/Taylor/Eastman/Recording King would present > 95% of the experience of him hearing me perform it with my Eichelbaum OM.
These amazing guitars are for *me*, not the audience.
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