That Moment When You Found “The One”

[Silly Moustache]

1975. A friend showed me his 1975 Martin D35.

I recognised it immediately. It had been owned by the fiddler in a band that I'd played mandolin and Dobro for a short time. I remember knowing that whilst it was "just another Martin" there was something special about it - it had a tone way superior to any other Martin dread that I'd encountered.

I'd often asked the fiddle player to sell it to me but he declined.

And yet, now my frind owned it!
And I had just bought a new D28.

I phoned the Fiddle player and asked if he had sold/traded it or had it stolen etc. He had traded it in for a D45. Ah.

I went back to my friend the following week and offered him my new unregistered Martin D28.

I kept that D35 from 1975 until, about 1996/7 when I sold it to a friend who has not treated it well but (prior to the great plague) used to gig almost every night.
The tone, even in his hands always brought tears to me eyes.

1999 - A Collings DS2h (the 2nd in the UK)

I'd been searching for three years for a Martin 12 fret dread - D35-S or similar.
I visited every guitar dealer in London to no avail.
A dedicated sales guy n one shop took a careful note of what I was looking for. some weeks later he called me -was I still looking? Oh yeah. "then come up this Saturday, as early as possible, and bring everything you could bear to trade!
He had set up a room with a Martin, a Bourgeois, a Santa Cruz and this new brand - "Collings" a 12 fret dread in sitka/EIR - 1 & 13/16" nut 2 & 3/8" string spacing. Perfection. I traded.

I kept that guitar from 1999 until July 2019. (I now have a 2007 version - and a coulpe of mahogs).

What with the March to August lockdown and this second one - I'm not really playing my dreads at all so mostly playing my Collings 0002h and Waterloo.

[TacomaDR20]

Went to Martin Music in Memphis last January, with intentions of playing a 322 and 324 and just see what I thought. Also wanted to play the Larrivee Tommy Emanuel model they had (which was also a really fine guitar). Not really looking to buy just window shopping.

After a couple of hours in the acoustic room, I left with a 327e Grand Pacific. Even my non-musical wife said "you need to buy that guitar....."

[varmonter]

"The one" is a myth perpetrated
By guitar manufacturers to get you
To buy more guitars. It only exists
In ones mind and is fleeting at best.
Like "my guitar only louder"
My current "the one" is a 2012
Taylor custom shop dred. Adi over madi.
But stick around it'll change.

[hairpuller]

Can't say as I've had "the one" but have had a lot of really great guitars. There's probably only one that I regret ever selling, and that would be my 000-18 GE. That was a special guitar.

Maybe I don't ever really want to find "the one" as I just enjoy the hunt, the catch, and then the sell too much!

I currently am having a lot of fun with my Waterloo, my Guild F30 is great to have in alternate tunings, and my incoming Yamaha FS5 has me dreaming at night. Too fun!

scott

[zmf]

The "One"? It's whichever one I feel like playing after a cup of coffee.

I suppose I could get more guitars, but the answer would still be the same.

[1Charlie]

I didn't realize that I already owned "the one" (a 1949 Gibson J-50) until about two years after I bought it.

It never played well. A combination of high action, low saddle, not enough distance from soundboard to strings, and poor break angle resulted in an under-performing guitar. I came close to selling it several times.

Instead, I invested in a neck reset (its first!) and the difference in the way it plays and sounds is night and day. Gone are several outstanding slope-shouldered dreads that could no longer compete.

[wisedennis]

“The one” of this month:

[Mostsmarterest]

Currently mine is an Eastman E15SS.

Little 00 plays like an electric and has great tone to my ears.

[guitargabor]

Maybe this topic should be worded as: your current best "one"?

I made my discovery after I owned the guitar for a couple of months.It came from the Martin factory with a very unusual nut.There was no real nut slot on the low E and the A string slot was very shallow.

Initially I did not bond with the guitar due to the nut issues.Once that was corrected I realized how great sounding a guitar it is.

It made me realize how our emotions can sway our interpretation of many aspects in life...

This 2015 Martin 00-18 custom is the best guitar I have played -both from a comfort perspective and sound wise.

[J Patrick]

Originally Posted by varmonter

"The one" is a myth perpetrated
By guitar manufacturers to get you
To buy more guitars.

...more like a myth perpetrated by guitar nerds that are trying desperately to convince themselves that they have found the guitar that they were searching for their whole life so they can promise their wives they’re not going to buy any more of them....which almost always ends up making them liars...

...said the guitar nerd who will always search for but never find “the one”...

[zombywoof]

I am pretty fickle when it comes to my "favorite" guitar. But the one guitar I will never be saying adieu to is my 1942 Gibson J50. I acquired this one many years ago. We had heard rumors that a Banner Gibson was living in a closet somewhere locally but it was always a friend of a friend who had seen it and nobody could supply us with a name. Then one day out of the blue it showed up at a friend's music shop. He bought it and was on the phone with me immediately. From the first strum I had never heard a Gibson with as thunderous a low end as this one had. To make a long story short it quickly became mine. As the guitar needed quite a bit of work I dropped it off with my repair guy who was a second generation luthier having learned the trade from his father. After a full year it was ready to come home. When he handed the guitar back to me he did so with the words "never let it out of your hands." He said his father used to call guitars which sounded like mine "once in a blue moon Gibsons."

[Guitarplayer_PR]

No guitar will ever be THE one for me

There's always one guitar that will do something better than others, but never everything better.

[EZYPIKINS]

One of my band members and I went to winter NAMM. Can't remember the year. Being from central CA. We didn't get to the LA area much. Found West LA Music in Santa Monica. Wandering around I found my way back to the acoustic room. Picked up a Gibson J-185, and couldn't put it down. Two hours later I walked out of the store. Crying to myself 'cause I didn't have enough cash to buy it. I don't like to buy guitars on credit. When I got the scratch. I ordered one. Was disappointed it wasn't as playable as the one in SOCAL. I knew it could be. Got the tools from STU MAC After doing some practice on cheaper guitars. I got the guts to tear into it. Today I play it every day. Tone and playability are second to none.

[Pickcity]

Originally Posted by jaymarsch

My "the one" is actually two. My 16 year old Wingert E 12 fret and my 1 1/2 year old Kramer 14 fret. I loved the moment when I realized that there wasn't going to be "the one" and I actually liked the variety.

Best,
Jayne

Right on. While I find it completely possible, and understandable to bond with and play one guitar exclusively, I find it more possible and more understandable to have at least a couple of them to give me variety. It can also be inspiring to pick around on something different here and there. Just my take.

The key is to enjoy playing no matter what...I have a $50 Yamaha guitar I bought at an antique store a couple years back. I played it for 2 hours at a campfire the other night and enjoyed every minute of it. It may not be the "one" for most occasions, but it was the one that night. I would not have enjoyed the evening any more than I did, no matter what I was playing.

[NotveryGood]

I've come to realise that for me "the one" cant exist. I used to attribute this restlessness to a series of guitars that didn't "fit" , (an unsatisfactory buying and selling period before I realised that I preferred a wider nut and smaller body), but even after I addressed this, the thrill of a nice instrument would fade after a few months. This of course led to letting instruments go only to be replaced with ones I liked less! I used to try to cure this by building up a collection of guitars but in this last year or so this seemed like too just much "stuff" and have thinned out and settled relatively happily for just three. But at times I wonder if it ought to be a different three! Its the chase that excites I think. No matter how wonderful the guitar I might have acquired, part of myself after awhile always starts to read reviews and get that familiar feeling that something even better is waiting out there. I'm not as bad as I was, but it lingers within me still. The spoilt child at Christmas who never grew up.