How much did you know about acoustic guitars when you joined this forum?

[Ray175]

Before fiding this forum I had tremendous difficulty tying off the plain ends my steel strings around those little pins on the bridge, and also slotting the ball at the other end of the string through the tuner. The forum pointed me to an app that does this for me now......
Seriously, I'd been playing for 40+ years before finding the forum and I learn something new regularly

[Silurian]

I knew a lot less but had more money.

"A little learning is a dangerous thing."

Alexander Pope.

[Cecil6243]

Originally Posted by Brucebubs

I used to wind the entire string on the tuner post until the AGF showed me 387 different stringing methods with 98 different winders.

[KenL]

Originally Posted by Brucebubs

I used to wind the entire string on the tuner post until the AGF showed me 387 different stringing methods with 98 different winders.

BB King did that with Lucille. The part about winding the entire string.

[Cecil6243]

Before I came here I new nothing about how humidity effects acoustic guitars, humidifiers, guitar tuners that didn't seem available 3 decades ago, all kinds of high tech devices etc.

[catndahats]

Just an FYI:
I learned that no one on this site will try to talk you out of buying another new guitar.

[Tannin]

Originally Posted by catndahats

Just an FYI:
I learned that no one on this site will try to talk you out of buying another new guitar.

Oh but they will. They'll say "Don't buy that Gibson, get a Taylor." and No, no! You'd be far better off with a Yamaha." And so on.

[Nymuso]

I saw a lot of information posted the old Usenet groups before this and similar forums existed. However, I’d been playing for decades of before the rise of the internet and my source of information had been print media. I pretty much knew all I needed to know for my purposes pre-internet.

What I do glean from this and other forums is information on new technologies as they emerge. Saves a lot of trips to the music store.

[rokdog49]

I knew relatively little about acoustic guitars, mostly general knowledge.
The forum has been highly educational in that I was able to tap in on the vast amount of knowledge and experience in the membership. That also was an incentive for me to do my own research.

[Dru Edwards]

I knew nothing about the intricacies of acoustic guitars when I joined but I knew a lot about electric guitars and amps, including soldering in pickups, pedals, signal chains, gigging, etc. Acoustic may not be a different instrument (although it really is) but it's different in the application, the feel, and the subtleties.

I joined the AGF just after I bought my first all solid wood acoustic and I learned so much here. That coupled with playing as many acoustics as I can get my hands on and additional reading/research has expanded my understanding. And my understanding is that what works for me, and what I hear, may not work for others, or be what they hear.

[Goodallboy]

I enjoy the forum but I’ve learned far more by playing hundreds of guitars in travels across the country, than by any other method.

In any forum there are things you’re told that just aren’t what you’re experiencing in real life so you have to weed out that element. Other times you gain insight to issues that you’re dealing with and you’re further along in the journey.

A lot depends on what stage you’re at, at moment of exposure.

[JustEd]

I knew the difference between a classical nylon Spanish guitar and a steel string guitar. That's why I'm here.

[TJN]

I've owned one acoustic guitar or another since turning 10 years old back in the late 1960's after begging my parents to buy me one. I've also bought and played an electric here and there over the years. Took lessons for about a year after getting that first guitar, and wish I still remembered more of the music theory that I was taught. Like most others, the amount of time I spent playing varied depending on other demands in life. I spent about $400 on a Seagull guitar back in the late 1990's during a time when I was back to playing again. Until that time, I don't think I ever spent more than $100 on any guitar. For the most part my playing stopped when I went back to college while still working in 2007. I picked up the guitar again in late 2016 but wanted to learn more about the instrument. That's how I came upon the AGF, as I was thinking of purchasing a more expensive guitar. Since then, I've picked up a great deal of info from this forum on the care and feeding of my guitars.

[Earl49]

I already knew a fair bit from years of interest and experience upon landing here. My first acoustic guitar was a 1968 Sears Silvertone, a Christmas present (still have it). After graduating college in the early 80’s I now had some disposable income and needed a hobby, so got into acoustic guitar big time. As a long-time reader of magazines - Frets back in the day, and Acoustic Guitar starting with issue #2, much information was absorbed. I also devoured and often re-read The Guitar Handbook by Ralph Denyer, an encyclopedia of all things guitar. Over the years having visited countless music stores during business travel and now cycling through a few purchases, I gradually honed my needs.

Then came weeklong guitar camps in Alaska and Hawaii and other places, where I got to learn from well-known pro’s and play with many campers. By then I was gigging at coffeehouses and festivals in Alaska. I’m still big on the camp experience but won’t fly to get there any more.

I actually got started with UTGF in 2013, since Taylor had become my brand preference. Then while laid up after foot surgery and unable to do much else, I stumbled onto AGF while surfing the interwebs in 2014. I have learned plenty here too, and have met some wonderful new friends - many in person. I mostly enjoy the dialogue and sharing my “life experience” acquainted along the way. AGF has been expensive - I had never heard about Emerald carbon fiber guitars, and now we have six of them. We’ll see how it goes from here.

[Bikewer]

I joined in 2011, about 10 years ago. But I started playing in the mid-70s, and had a pretty extensive knowledge of guitars, their history, and everything associated. I subscribed to Guitar Player for about 10 years and read every issue cover-to-cover.