OK, I Give Up

[aK_bAsh7]

Originally Posted by rllink

Do you even know what you want, or are you just looking for "better"? Because you are never going to find the "better." You can't win that one. In your mind you will always wonder if there is something better. I've tried not to go there myself, I just try to make something work.

If it weren't for the neck/nut specs, I'd just go out and buy a Martin J40 but the current ones with 1 3/4 nut don't work for me and the previous neck shape
(low profile) doesn't either, despite the 1 11/16 nut. . . I've only payed one J40 but it had a combination of richness and articulation that I found very satisfying.

[aK_bAsh7]

Originally Posted by biotechmgr

Being content is a lovely state of mind.
Enjoy your playing.

I wouldn't say I'm content. At this point, I recognize the fact that I simply don't have the energy to keep searching and what's more, I'd rather spend my time playing. I enjoy playing much, much more than gear shopping.

[aK_bAsh7]

Originally Posted by Br1ck

I live 25 minutes from Gryphon. I have not tried a new guitar there in years. I do play everything of interest on the used wall, pre covid, that strikes my fancy. Plenty of boutique guitars end up there. What I've found is there are a lot of really fine guitars. But ever since I bought an M 36 25 years ago, nothing has been dramatically better than what I have. It now takes prime vintage to get my juices going, but I'm a sub $5k guy in a $10k world now. I've moved on to dreads. But I've played the likes of Authentics and such and found them too pretty sounding for me. Really good, but my thing leans toward 60s D 18s now.

More disconcerting is trying to find a $5k mandolin I'd like more than my home built that has opened up in the last two years. More maddening is I can afford one. So I've refocused on playing. An instrument will have to find me.

I envy you, living so close to Gryphon. In the greater Sacramento area, the largest concentration of used guitars is craigslist. I don't feel I have the expertise to spend 3 - 5K on a guitar on craigslist and be sure I'm not getting a guitar that has issues. I'd rather buy from a shop where there's more accountability and the shops around here have very few high-end used acoustics.

[aK_bAsh7]

Originally Posted by Mr. Jelly

Maybe you have the best guitar for you right now. I don't believe that there is a perfect guitar. There's better and worse but not perfect.

Something to look at is to listen to YouTube videos of the guitar you own. The sound you know intimately. It might help to get your head in the right place when looking at other guitar videos.

Yeah-- I think you're probably right-- I have the best guitar for me, right now.

As far as listening to videos of the guitar I have right now to use a sort of sonic benchmark, that's a brilliant idea but impractical in my case. My guitar was a one-off custom bought from a dealer. I doubt there's another like it.

[aK_bAsh7]

Originally Posted by guitar george

I think if you had 10 guitars, all the same brand and model, they would all sound somewhat different from each other - especially if some of them were used guitars. They would sound different because of the variations in materials used in construction, the setups, the different strings, the age of the strings, the age of the guitar, humidity, the slight modifications made by previous owners etc. No two guitars sound exactly the same.

Of course !

[Zissou Intern]

Like Charles Sawtelle said, "Guitars are like houses and cars; they'll find you if you let them."

[aK_bAsh7]

Originally Posted by Zissou Intern

Like Charles Sawtelle said, "Guitars are like houses and cars; they'll find you if you let them."

I've never had either a house or a car come looking for me. I had to car-shop recently for the first time in nearly 15 years and it required a huge amount of research to decide which maker/model I wanted and then more searching to find one locally, in the right color. I have no idea what Mr. Sawtelle meant.