That guitar that changed your mind

[tubeamps]

Last summer I went looking for an OM with a cutaway and intended to buy a Huss & Dalton that was available at a local dealer.
Played the H & D and just didn't connect. Played some Collings, Taylor and other H & D models.

Couldn't find anything that said BUY ME, and finally the sales guy brings in a Boucher OM hybrid, cutaway. I wasn't familiar with Boucher but the guitar insisted on going home with me.

[ljguitar]

Originally Posted by Mr. Paul

Have you ever made up your mind to buy a particular guitar, gone into the shop with cash in hand, then walked out with a different guitar?

Hi Mr Paul

I've gone into a shop not intending to buy anything, and ended up at a luthier's shop with only one guitar in it (the builder was busy talking with a customer when I arrived). A friend took me…

I picked up the guitar at the end of the room, and began to play, and in less than 8 bars I thought "What is this thing? Wow this is amazing? I bet these cost a lot of money! I want one!"

The shop was in St Paul, Minnesota and the James Olson was the builder. Two years later I sold my 17 year D-28 Martin (still the best Martin I ever played) and commissioned my Olson Dreadnought - EIR/Cedar. A year later, it arrived.

It is now nearly 27 years old, and it changed my musical direction, my playing and my view of guitars and how good they can be.

[LeftyKev]

Originally Posted by foxo

I went in wanting a Martin D18 and came out with a Lowden F32. Was also cheaper second hand than the D18 after some haggling.

No regrets, it’s a superb guitar. I’ll be gigging with it for the first time tonight.

F32s are fabulous aren't they.

[foxo]

Originally Posted by LeftyKev

F32s are fabulous aren't they.

Aye, I love it, it’s bold and loud and you could say even a bit brash in a good way. I find it’s equally suited to strumming and fingerstyle which is what I was after. I need to get better at DADGAD because it sounds so great in that tuning.

[Rmz76]

I don't impulse buy. The last few purchases I've made have involved a courtship of sorts. I'll visit a music store, find one that really speaks to me. Put it down. Go back a few days latter and see if the mojo is still there. If after 3-4 trips it's still calling to me I'll find a way to buy it. If it sells before I come to that decision it just wasn't meant to be.

[mr. beaumont]

Definitely...it's an electric story, but it fits...

I started out at 13 on a cheap Strat copy, and as I got a little better, I realized the super skinny "wizard" like neck on it was not what I wanted in a guitar. I played a friend's 335-ish guitar for a while, but when I had finally saved up enough cash from my first job a few years later, I thought what I really wanted was a REAL Strat.

So I went to the local Guitar Center which had about 100 Strats on the wall...I must have played 10-15 of them and didn't like any of them. I was frustrated.

I turned to leave, and I nearly tripped over a guitar stand with a natural finished, shopworn Telecaster on it. I had always thought they were just "country guitars," so I never gave them the time of day, but this one looked cool to me, so I picked it up and plugged it in.

23 years later, it's still my favorite electric guitar ever, and the guitar I play/gig the most. I hope to have an acoustic experience that pans out the same way someday.

[Silly Moustache]

November 2016.
I went to see an ENT consultant. I could tell from his face that there was something seriously wrong with my throat.
Decided to go to a nearby guitar shop to buy the Gibson L-00 that I'd been thinking about for ages. They had three or four differnt ones for me to choose from.
As seems fairly common, none impressed.
Came home with a Waterloo.
Happy about that, but didn't get to play it much during the rest of 2017.

[LifesShort]

There is a fantastic luthier here in Georgia named Kent Everett who makes the most incredible guitars. As beautiful as they are, they sound even better. I knew I could never afford one of his instruments, but then I found out that he was producing a line of guitars in conjunction with a factory in Japan. These guitars were built to Kent's specifications and then sent to him shop. Kent voiced each guitar top himself. The Laurel series, as these were called, came in both an OM size and auditorium size. They listed for around $1800 when I bought mine 20 years ago. Unfortunately, he only made them for 3 years. I saved my pennies and went to pay Kent a visit.

I walked into his shop with every intention of buying an OM. Dreadnoughts just aren't comfortable to me. He only had one OM in stock and I loved it. Before he would let me buy it, he asked if I would play one other guitar he had. It, too, was a Laurel, but was an auditorium size. With one strum I was in love. This guitar was alive in my hands. It was the first guitar I ever played that vibrated against my body and in my arms, and it made the most wonderful sound I had I had ever heard. Needless to say, I walked out with that guitar. It is still the most wonderful sounding guitar I have ever heard.

If you are interested, here's the full story on the fantastic guitars: http://www.everettguitars.com/laurel.html

[M Sarad]

In 1999, I went to Steve Swan’s Shop with a guitar to trade in so I could get an OM. I had him blindfold me and I played six OMs.

I went home with the cheapest one, Mahogany and Adirondack. I think it was $3200 minus the trade in.

[Mbroady]

In 2008 I was hell bent on getting a Martin D-28
After sampling a few nice specimens the sales rep handed me a Furch Dread. It walked out the door with me. Been a fan ever since.

With that said, I have come full circle. I Still am a furch fan but I have a Custom Martin D-35 on order for July.

[JTFoote]

I went into Dream Guitars in 2009 to buy a Collings dread I had seen and heard online. And I did buy it, because it was what I came for, and I felt committed to follow through with the sale, but played a few other guitars first that were presented to me by Paul Heumiller. One of them was an older J.W. Gallagher dread.

Despite the fact that I had the beautiful Collings, the sound of that Gallagher kept nagging at me. I would dream about it, and wake up thinking about it.

Finally, I told my wife, I had to have it - she kindly agreed, and I went back and bought it, two weeks later.

I kept the Collings for several years, but finally sold it, because I just wasn't playing it.

The Gallagher remains, and still is my very favorite guitar.

... JT

[B. Adams]

A few years ago I'd decided I needed a new guitar and found a cool shop with a bunch of nice stuff. I spent hours there playing almost everything on the wall but nothing was really doing it for me. I avoided their Taylor 614 because of my previous experience with maple guitars. I'd totally written it off because I "knew" I hated maple. Eventually I was persuaded to try it, discovered that it's amazing, and that's how I bought my first 614.

[warfrat73]

In 1999, when I was looking to buy my first good guitar I was living in Maine, and there were really not many shops in the state... Buckdancer's Choice was carrying Santa Cruz, and they had a Vintage Artist that I just loved, but was about 50% more than my budget, which was fairly tight at the time.

I drove about 3 hours each way down to New Hampshire to a shop in Stratham. Played a bunch of stuff, nearly convinced myself to buy a Breedlove, but decided to hold off. About a week later I called them up to see if they still had that Breedlove, and drove down with the intention of buying it.

In the interim they had gotten in a Bourgeois DR-A. I took the Bourgeois, the Breedlove "S-Series" something or other, and a Taylor Dan Crary model into a private room and played them for a while, and Bourgeois just outclassed the other guitars by a mile, and I took it home.

Still have it, and I seriously doubt that if I had bought the Breedlove i could say the same. I do sometimes wish it had a beefier neck, though:

[whvick]

35 years ago I had my classical, but when we moved to Kentucky everyone said the only guitar to have was a Martin D-28. But we had a big family and that was just not in the budget, however I kept it in my mind in case there was a windfall.
15 years later my wife and kids came to me with money they had saved up and told me to get that guitar. I shopped for 6 months but as nice as the Martins were I kept playing the Taylor auditoriums as they were better for finger picking. I finally bought a 414. This year my wife bought me a used Martin D-15 and it sounds great, but even after a good set up, I enjoy playing the Taylor neck better.
So I am in the mood to trade the D-15 for a Taylor 327 if I ever get to try one out, but I may trade it to a local luthier for him to build ma a hog slope shoulder.
I guess my mind changes too easy.

[Slothead56]

In 1978, right out of college, I had $600 and a dream of buying my first Martin. I kept going back to the small shop in King of Prussia, PA to play the same D-28 over and over again. (For an unemployed 21 year old I needed to be sure.)
On what would be my last time there, the owner handed me this great big Jumbo rosewood guitar. Booming basses and sweet highs, set up just perfect with the slightest fret buzz...as I like it. Lovely woods and simple in adornment.

Bought that Gurian JR that day and it was my only guitar for 14 years when I had to sell it to cover my divorce costs.

And, as some of you may know, 25 years after selling it, I bought it back a couple years ago thanks to this forum. It sits among other guitars now-all Martins-but it does get played, just this afternoon in fact. So glad I bought it twice!