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  #16  
Old 01-19-2021, 04:23 PM
WiseAxe WiseAxe is offline
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Absolutely yes on the practice guitar. It's not only about the cost of a PRO refret, which can run $250 and up. Bear in mind a refret is more than simply r & r new fret wire. It really takes experience and attention to detail to not tear out little bits of the fretboard when pulling the frets. Then, there's the matter of returning the guitar to you with no fret buzz/dead spots and action that is a perfect fit for you. Also- a quality luthier usually has a serious workload- you could be without your guitar for weeks, if not longer. You can get a nice lightly used Eastman OM for four or five hundred dollars. Just bear in mind you'll have a decision to make when that one wears out, because there will be very little difference in the luthier bill if it's a inexpensive guitar or not.

Give your practice guitar the bulk of your woodshedding time, and you'll occasionally be pulling some good tone out of it. Then when you alternate with your nice guitar, you'll be in for a treat.
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  #17  
Old 01-19-2021, 05:23 PM
Keith G50 Keith G50 is offline
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Nope. Play you’re favorite guitar(s) all the time. That’s why you have them.
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  #18  
Old 01-19-2021, 05:31 PM
Graylocks Graylocks is offline
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i practice on the guitars i perform on. i do have a beater guitar that i use for teaching as that gets dinged around a bit.
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  #19  
Old 01-19-2021, 05:36 PM
Vonzipper Vonzipper is offline
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First post, but this hit home. About 5 years ago I wanted to learn to play guitar. An old coach of mine use to tell me practice doesn't make perfect - "perfect practice makes perfect." So...

I drove to Hill Country Guitars and bought a Collings! It's been my only guitar for 5 years. Still chasing perfection, I have a loooong way to go. But I'm chasing on a Collings!
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  #20  
Old 01-19-2021, 05:39 PM
Dru Edwards Dru Edwards is offline
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Play what you enjoy playing. No need to have a practice guitar just for the sake of practicing when you have a great guitar that you can practice on.
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  #21  
Old 01-19-2021, 05:54 PM
zmf zmf is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by WiseAxe View Post

Give your practice guitar the bulk of your woodshedding time, and you'll occasionally be pulling some good tone out of it. Then when you alternate with your nice guitar, you'll be in for a treat.
Can't agree with this because it assumes that all guitars are played the same to get the best out of them. Just speaking for my own very small herd, each requires a different touch. If I were to practice on one guitar, and only pick the "best" on special occasions, I'd have to readjust my input.

May as well practice making the "best" one sound it's best.
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  #22  
Old 01-19-2021, 05:56 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Vonzipper View Post
First post, but this hit home. About 5 years ago I wanted to learn to play guitar. An old coach of mine use to tell me practice doesn't make perfect - "perfect practice makes perfect." So...

I drove to Hill Country Guitars and bought a Collings! It's been my only guitar for 5 years. Still chasing perfection, I have a loooong way to go. But I'm chasing on a Collings!
Good for you! I thought I was lucky starting on a D-28 my wife bought me as a retirement gift. Didn’t get my first Collings until almost seven years later...
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  #23  
Old 01-19-2021, 06:23 PM
WiseAxe WiseAxe is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by zmf View Post
Can't agree with this because it assumes that all guitars are played the same to get the best out of them. Just speaking for my own very small herd, each requires a different touch. If I were to practice on one guitar, and only pick the "best" on special occasions, I'd have to readjust my input.

May as well practice making the "best" one sound it's best.
Thank you for making that point. Some guitars do indeed need to have some nice sounds coaxed out of them. Then, when you "alternate" with the nice guitar (yes, I used that word in my previous post, meaning also using the nice guitar for the same practice session) with the nice guitar, it will be a motivating shift of gears. Also- nowhere did I say only picking the best guitar for special occasions.

Some people practice difficult music, even short passages, for many iterations. When doing this, getting the muscle memory for the finger positions can cause accelerated wear on the frets. Then, if you have a fairly expensive guitar, you would definitely want it to go to a well-regarded luthier for a refret. That turnaround time is to be considered just as important.
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  #24  
Old 01-19-2021, 08:33 PM
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Originally Posted by TRose View Post
Having a second guitar that is a “more worry free” instrument certainly has its place
I agree with this. In my case it's not necessarily a "practice" guitar, but an inexpensive guitar that can be left out on a stand without worrying if it gets bumped by the dog or is subjected to humidity changes
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  #25  
Old 01-20-2021, 12:10 AM
MidfieldGeneral MidfieldGeneral is offline
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thanks for all the tips, I am currently toying with the idea of getting a yamaha LS16 ARE, not dissimilar to the Martin OM 28, so i can rotate them. Also they have a similar nut width
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  #26  
Old 01-20-2021, 01:13 AM
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I second the idea of having "worry free" guitar placed near the couch or chair.

For me it is not a dedicated practice guitar, it is more like guitar fast food. All my "nicer" guitars are stored in cases (the indoor humidity can oscillate a lot and i do not have a separate guitar room or man cave). So to play one I have to take the case, put it on flat surface (no one likes a case lid dings and dents), remove boveda bags from sound hole, remove guitar, .... And I am simply too lazy to do this if I am just walking around and wanna practice that new lick for three minutes.

So there are some guitars strategically placed in the wild of my living room. Which allows me to play anytime without that "you are now manipulating 6.000USD guitar they no longer produce so better be careful" feeling...

The one next to my couch is Yamaha LS16
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  #27  
Old 01-20-2021, 03:36 AM
RalphH RalphH is offline
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To me, the best practice guitar is the one that makes me want to practice and that's my nicest guitar.

It's on a stand in the living room. Crazy to keep a $5000 customshop Gibson on a stand in the living room when I have kids aged 4 & 8 running around? Maybe, but not as crazy as keeping it in its case and never playing with it. Maybe I'm weird, but if I have to get a guitar out to play it, I just won't - I'll reach for the one that I can just pick up. And to me a pristine guitar that's never played is worth less than a guitar with a ding (not that that's ever happened; my kids know that they're not to touch it). The room is humidity-controlled.

Would I take it camping? No, but that's what the GS mini is for. That hangs on the wall in my office so it's within easy reach when I want to learn something from the computer.
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  #28  
Old 01-20-2021, 09:50 AM
mawmow mawmow is offline
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While I attended private lessons some years ago, I came to keep two lower end guitars on stands to be easily picked up for a brief practice moment.

But, most of the time, I would pick any of my lower or mid-range guitar out of case as I will play at least for half an hour.
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  #29  
Old 01-20-2021, 11:12 AM
ericlosh ericlosh is offline
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i tend to play my dads yamaha LL45 and i consider anytime im playing as practicing. At least till one day i dont get better but thats unlikely.

Now my guitar is a bit cheaper so im willing to take it with me to the woods when i train for K9SAR and pluck a little while i wait around.

Its a guitar im far less concerned about damaging and its still fun to play so in that sense a practice guitar makes sense
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  #30  
Old 01-20-2021, 11:26 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by MidfieldGeneral View Post


I have sold most of the guitars I rarely use so I am left with my Martin Om28, my strat and an old Yamaha dreadnought which is more of a Jumbo size and I struggle to play because of its size.

I find I am playing my Martin all the time, even to practice. I am thinking about buying another OM / 000 size mid price guitar as my practice guitar.
What's wrong with the Martin?

I'm assuming you sold most of your guitars for a reason and now you are talking about buying another when you have a perfectly nice guitar to play. I think if I were you I would just enjoy the Martin and play it all the time.
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