Don't Purchase OR Sell For 1 Year

[ctvolfan]

I didn't take offense to the OP's post. I understand what he is saying. But of course there are many variables to this as people buy and sell for many different reasons.

I had never purchased and acoustic guitar with my money until 2005 when I was about 39 years old. The ones I had before that were given to me. It was an impulse buy in 2005. I had a GC credit card. My wife was at a clothing store near the GC and I went and looked at guitars. I found a Taylor 214(before they were layered back and sides) for about $900. I really liked and I asked my wife if I could buy it on the card. Yes, I asked my wife permission! She said yes and it went home with me. I played the heck out of it for ten years. Was interested in others but not really looking to buy another one.

I got laid off in 2014. Had a severance package so I bought another Taylor 320. I had decided that I was a Taylor guy and loved the Taylor sound. I never did really bond with the all hog sound so I sold it in 2016. Then in 2017 my sister came into a large sum of money. She wanted to buy me something so I said you can buy me a guitar. She bought me a beautiful Taylor 714ce WSB. I had it until I decided it just wasn't what I wanted and sold it last year. I also bought the 224ce-K DLX (up for sale on the forum as of last night) at about the same time I got the 714ce. I wanted one of those newfangled Taylor Grand Pacifics with the money I got from the sale of the 214. It was a 317e and after getting it I realized I didn't like it so I sold it. At this point I had lost about $1700 in my transactions from when I first bought the 714ce to selling the 317e.

But at about the same time I got that 317e, I bought a cheap laminate back and sides Yamaha FG800 used off of CL for $150. I found that I was loving that big boomy dread sound. I really like that cheap ol' FG800. So I took the money from the sale of the 317e and bought a used Yamaha FGX5 dread. I had always said I was not a Martin fan but I feel that my taste is changing and I think this Yammy sounds like a D-18 for a lot less.

So in a nutshell, I had the one and only one 214 for ten years and then since 2014 I have bought 6 guitars and have sold 3 and have one for sale now. I plan on buying a Yamaha LL16D ARE with the cash from the 224ce-K. The 224 is a great and beautiful guitar but I have found that my taste has changed and now I am digging the big dread sound and the Taylors just seem thin to me now. I am also realizing that I don't have to spend a ton on a good guitar or have the prettiest one. I am after the sound and playabilty first and foremost. So see, there are many variables to buying and selling guitars. I am an average player. But all I want is a guitar that sounds pleasing to my ears. I hope to cool it once I get the LL16. I will then have one nice mahogany and one nice rosewood guitar to go along with my old sepele 214 and cheap FG800. I will eventually get a Taylor GS Mini Koa. I just want one. I really want to get to the point to where I can just settle on these for a long time and be happy with what I have. But I know, famous last words!

P.S. I partially blame this forum for my affliction of GAS. I have learned a lot on here. I have probably learned too much for my own good. It is such a fun hobby isn't it? It is a lot more than just playing the thing.

[Silly Moustache]

Hi ManyMartinMan, I am someone with a fairly long list of various guitars. You are a pro, and I am "a weekend warrior"

To you your guitars have been chosen, assuredly with skill, care and precision, as "tools" to equip you for your job.

I can be extremely creative in finding reasons for that next guitar. For me, they are objects of desire, and some do things that others don't.
Do I "need" three archtops and two 12 strings ? No, of course not. Do I enjoy owning them and playing them .... Yup. And with the best cash savings interest rate of about 1.4% per annum, they are probably better investments than cash.

So, I'm not arguing with you at all, it's just that we happen to own the same musical instruments for slightly different reasons.

Edit: an afterthought - if it wasn't for the amateur guitar aficionados, then Gibson and Martin and all the boutique luthiers would be far smaller businesses -if indeed they had survived, so we are, effectively employing people.

[Rosewood99]

Originally Posted by Matt G

On the other hand, some people enjoy buying and selling guitars as much as they enjoy playing them. If guitars represent a hobby for someone, there's no moral superiority to any method of exploring that hobby.

For me, I enjoy playing more than buying /selling, so that's what I do. I don't expect others to enjoy life the same way I do.

Amen to that. Why does it have to be an either or? I enjoy both.

[raysachs]

Over the past 25-30 years or so, I've had three primary hobbies. First bicycling, second photography, third and currently playing guitar. Both photography and guitars are holdovers from my youth, but after very long layoffs at both. I wasn't quite starting from scratch, but in a sense I was pretty close.

And all three of these activities involve a lot of DOING of the activity, but all three are also pretty gear intensive. Not in the sense that you need a lot of bicycles or a lot of cameras or a lot of guitars, but each activity requires interacting with a piece of gear anytime you're involved in it.

And in each case, the activity itself and the gear involved in the activity almost became two connected and complimentary, but also distinct interests. I like gear. I like figuring out what works for me, what's best for different facets of the activity as my skill level increases and diversifies. With cameras I evolved from a landscape and abstract photographer into a pretty good street photographer, which requires both different skills and is facilitated by different gear. With cycling, I started with a road bike and a mountain bike but at various points also owned (and used intensively) cyclocross and touring and fixed gear and work bikes.

And with each activity, I got to a point of really basically KNOWING what worked best for me and my gear fascination took a serious trip to the back burner and I just focussed on the activity itself. I feel like I'm basically there with both my electric and acoustic playing at this point. I'd be fine with one acoustic, but I like having two, one full scale wood guitar and one short scale carbon fiber. I'd be OK with just the wood guitar but I got into carbon fiber for entirely practical reasons and they're still relevant so I'm really happy to have both. And I don't have any real interest in anything else at this point - nothing beyond mild curiosity. And I've pared back my electric guitars from a high of four to currently owning one strat. I may at some point have two strats, just to have a backup, but I've realized I really don't need or want any sounds from an electric guitar that I can't get from a strat. And I know my guitar incredibly well, I know what I like and where to find it with that interface and those pickups. Oh, and on my simple amplifier and modest pedal-board.

For 25 years, I had a strat and a D-28 and that was all. And now, after a period of experimentation and re-education, I have a strat and an 000-15SM and an Emerald X7. So pretty close to where I was except with a smaller acoustic than a dread and a carbon fiber for any conditions. But it's a small enough amount of gear that I don't really think much about the instruments any more - I know them well and I just play them. I don't play them well and I may never, but I love every minute of it. And I enjoyed the gear part too until I'd had my fill and knew what I liked...

-Ray

[RP]

Originally Posted by M19

Steve Howe too.

Let's not forget Billy Gibbons (ZZ Top), Rick Neilson (Cheap Trick), David Gilmore (Pink Floyd) and Randy Bachman although Bachman recently donated his collection...

Canadian rocker Randy Bachman has donated his guitar collection to the National Music Centre in Calgary.

Bachman, a Winnipeg-born, award-winning musician and beloved broadcaster, is best known as the lead guitarist and a founding member of The Guess Who and Bachman-Turner Overdrive.

He revealed the donation of his guitar collection in a tweet this week.

"In addition to the original American Woman guitar, a wing will be dedicated to these for all music lovers to see," Bachman said on Twitter.

The centre confirms the donation — hundreds of guitars — but says it's still in the early stages of reviewing the items and it will take months to prepare the collection.

"What I can say is that we are thrilled by the opportunity of acquiring hundreds of guitars from one of Canada's best known musicians and rock 'n' roll legends," NMC senior publicist Julijana Capone said in a statement issued Thursday.

[Rev Roy]

Originally Posted by RP

Let's not forget Billy Gibbons (ZZ Top), Rick Neilson (Cheap Trick), David Gilmore (Pink Floyd) and Randy Bachman...

And Vince Gill...

[SuperB23]

I've tried this once or twice and I can usually only last about a month or two at best!

[Deliberate1]

Don't Purchase OR Sell For 1 Year

Abstinence for a year might make some people kind of grouchy.

David

[RP]

Originally Posted by Deliberate1

Abstinence for a year might make some people kind of grouchy.

David

Or even thinking about it....

[rstaight]

The past year has been odd for me. I bought 2 guitars and a mandolin in a 5 month span. Plus a guitar for a Christmas gift. The last stringed instrument before was a guitar in 2007.

I still have my guitars I had in school in the late 60's early 70's. So I guess I get to know them front to back.

But I still enjoy looking at guitars.

[Goodallboy]

I've only had one acoustic guitar for a few years now.

I'll never buy another.

I met the challenge a while back and couldn't be happier.

[ManyMartinMan]

Originally Posted by russchapman

I see you reference your career multiple times. Respectfully: Who are you? ..

Your typical session/touring/gigging guitarist.

[flaggerphil]

I'll just stick with the way that makes me happy.

[ridethewind]

Like Raysachs, guitar is a hobby for me coming from my childhood, abandoned for a number of years and resurfacing as a real joy now that I’m older.

I had one guitar, a Gibson LG1 that was a gift, from 1958 until 2009. Then I went into a guitar shop and played a Martin 000-15M and traded the old Gibson for it. I’d always loved a 12-string sound and bought an inexpensive one to try out, I loved the sound but the guitar itself was too large and the neck too hefty for me so I sold it to a friend and bought the one I have now. That was in 2014.

My one downfall was playing a Cole Clark at a guitar shop here in Brisbane in 2016. I’d travelled here for vacation for 3 months (before we move back here), and was guitar-starved. I bought it.

I’ve tried to decide between my two 6-strings and just can’t do it. I love them both for different reasons. I can’t imagine getting another instrument as the ones I have are just fine and my real desire with my guitars is to play them. I can see the point of people who love the craftsmanship and beauty of the instruments as an art form in itself. Different strokes.

Thanks for starting this thread, MMM.

[ALBD]

Originally Posted by J Patrick

...I could not care less about someone else’s internet view of my guitar purchasing and selling habits....it is often suggested that players who cycle through a lot of instruments are in search of something...a holy grail or some such single guitar that will finally end their search for tonal bliss...and that they are doing so at the expense of their playing....nah!...many of us are just trying to enjoy as many different guitars as we can before we can no longer play them....

....so do not presume to know what others are looking for with their purchasing patterns...especially when you don’t know them or have any idea of their playing habits...

Bingo here