In 20 years of owning/buying/selling/trying good guitars this is what I've learned

[Adamski]

I have owned 3 guitars made by Tom Sands, 3 guitars made by Stefan Sobell, 3 Avalon Guitars, 5 Martin guitars and have played multiple guitars each by Jason Kostal, Kevin Ryan, Taran Guitars, Ralph Bown, Nigel Forster, Yamaha, Nick Benjamin, Ted Astrand, Froggy Bottom, Dana Bourgeois, Michael Greenfield, Taylor…and many more.

What I have concluded from my travels is this:

1. There are good/average/poor guitars from every builder/company and what you are buying with a higher price/quality builder is that the “average” of their performance is better than the average from a lower skilled builder. This doesn’t mean that every Ryan guitar is better than every Martin guitar but what it does mean is that the “average” Ryan will be better than the “average” Martin. The best Ryan will be better than the best Martin and the worst Ryan will be better than the worst Martin.
   
2. Guitars from the same builder tend to sound similar. I owned a Tom Sands OMc in wenge, an MMD in quilted sapele, and a 00 in Koa. All amazing instruments. I had my favourite and least favourite but they were (not surprisingly) very similar in sound, personality and feel. The same with the Martins, the Avalons, the Sobells… of course there are differences between models/woods and even between identical instruments…but generally they are similar. There is a “Sobell sound,” a “Taylor sound,” a “Somogyi sound,” etc… You may own two very different sounding guitars from the same maker but they will not be as different as guitars from totally different makers.
   
3. The best (sounding) wood to make a guitar with is Brazilian rosewood. If it wasn’t for Cites, every top flight guitar would be made with this wood. The best guitar in the world (whether you deem that to be a Somogyi, a Traugott, a vintage Martin or a Hauser) is made with Brazilian rosewood…and the worst guitar isn’t.
   
4. Generally speaking, you get what you pay for. The reason a guitar is more expensive is because it can command a higher price. If it wasn’t better it simply wouldn’t sell. I know that you love your 1973 Martin 000-15 but it isn’t as good as a Circa OM, no matter how much you try to convince yourself that it’s the exception to this law...it isn't!
   
5. The best guitar I have ever played is…my guitar. That’s what everyone seems to say. We all need to keep an open mind. You might love your guitar, you might “prefer” your guitar to more expensive instruments (which is fine because, as Jules from Pulp Fiction said “personality counts for a lot”) but it doesn’t make the instrument better. I have owned some instruments with fundamental floors...but have loved them nonetheless because they did some special things too.
   
6. Having too much duplication means that I personally swap instruments for the sake of swapping or always pick-up the same one. "Too many" guitars also means that the time overhead of changing strings means there's not enough opportunity to actually "play" as I change strings every 2-3 weeks (possibly more in the hot weather). So managing the number of instruments I have is important.

I haven’t played instruments from every top flight guitar builder but I have played many and I have been constantly searching for not only great instruments but a great mix of instruments which has led me to where I am.

I have a great pallette of sounds and feels hanging on the wall. Of course I still “need” a decent 12 string (probably a Martin D12-20) and I still need a parlour/small instrument, I still need a carbon fibre guitar and I still need a really top-flight luthier-made traditional Martin style OM/000 style instrument (perhaps a Circa, a PreWar, a Bagnasco & Casati or similar - which will probably replace my Martin OM28 Authentic), a harp guitar and I still need to explore some more electrics (principally a good Les Paul and a Strat).

Other than that…I’m sorted!

So what have you learned on your travels?

[buddyhu]

Interesting enough.

Gotta make some popcorn…

[rmp]

what have I learned? it's the "price ceiling" moves all too easily.

I used to think I could never spend $4k ~ or there abouts, on a guitar.

That is, until I wound up with two of them in the stable.

(Gibson SJ200 Standard / Taylor 814ce V Class Deluxe)

[RodB]

Very interesting post, from someone that has played quite a few more nice guitars than me. Nothing contentious there from my point of view and with much less experience of what is available I would come up with similar points, especially the characteristic sound of the builder showing through wood differences and the variance from any one maker.

Having 3 guitars that get used because I enjoy their specific qualities has taught me to be content with what I have, even knowing that I could potentially find better.

BTW I could do you a job lot on a Les Paul, Strat and D12-20 that don’t get played.

[brancher]

Interesting statements here. I've been playing and trading good, bad, and ugly guitars for about 30 yrs, and see some truths here (and not)! It'll be interesting to watch and listen to the noise on this one.

[Adamski]

Originally Posted by rmp

what have I learned? it's the "price ceiling" moves all to easily.

Yeah, so true.

[Adamski]

Originally Posted by brancher

Wow, lots of blanket statements here. It'll be interesting to watch and listen to the noise on this one.

I aim to please.

(not blanket statements but universal truths!)

[Adamski]

Originally Posted by RodB

Very interesting post, from someone that has played quite a few more nice guitars than me. Nothing contentious there from my point of view and with much less experience of what is available I would come up with similar points, especially the characteristic sound of the builder showing through wood differences and the variance from any one maker.

Having 3 guitars that get used because I enjoy their specific qualities has taught me to be content with what I have, even knowing that I could potentially find better.

BTW I could do you a job lot on a Les Paul, Strat and D12-20 that don’t get played.

The Les Paul, I want a '57, not sure about the Strat yet. I would be interested in the Martin (PM me) but it can't be for a couple of months seeing as I've only just bought a resonator and I have another instrument incoming next week!

[bobster7]

Excellent post, I’m sure someone, somewhere at some point in time will be offended as it’s quite fashionable to feign offense these days but much of your post is common sense. The only contentious point maybe the notion of Brazilian being tonally the best. I like some old growth mahogany myself over any rosewood but I’d have to sell all my guitars to obtain something in that realm.

[jmagill]

Originally Posted by Adamski

I have owned 3 guitars made by Tom Sands, 3 guitars made by Stefan Sobell, 3 Avalon Guitars, 5 Martin guitars and have played multiple guitars each by Jason Kostal, Kevin Ryan, Taran Guitars, Ralph Bown, Nigel Forster, Yamaha, Nick Benjamin, Ted Astrand, Froggy Bottom, Dana Bourgeois, Michael Greenfield, Taylor…and many more.

What I have concluded from my travels is this:

[LIST=1][*]There are good/average/poor guitars from every builder/company and what you are buying with a higher price/quality builder is that the “average” of their performance is better than the average from a lower skilled builder. This doesn’t mean that every Ryan guitar is better than every Martin guitar but what it does mean is that the “average” Ryan will be better than the “average” Martin. The best Ryan will be better than the best Martin and the worst Ryan will be better than the worst Martin.
[*]Guitars from the same builder tend to sound similar. I owned a Tom Sands OMc in wenge, an MMD in quilted sapele, and a 00 in Koa. All amazing instruments. I had my favourite and least favourite but they were (not surprisingly) very similar in sound, personality and feel. The same with the Martins, the Avalons, the Sobells… of course there are differences between models/woods and even between identical instruments…but generally they are similar. There is a “Sobell sound,” a “Taylor sound,” a “Somogyi sound,” etc… You may own two very different sounding guitars from the same maker but they will not be as different as guitars from totally different makers.

I said something similar in this post from 2008 titled 'Tonewood Heresy', that all of a builder's guitars will have a signature voice, no matter what woods are used, or, put another way, the wood choices are not as important as the builder. That post generated five pages of, shall we say, 'spirited' discussion.

Your other observations are equally provocative... I can faintly hear the sound of furious typing as those with differing firm convictions rush to add their opposing opinions to the fray.

Buckle up...

[Adamski]

Originally Posted by jmagill

I can faintly hear the sound of furious typing as those with differing firm convictions rush to add their opposing opinions to the fray.

Buckle up...

Can't wait!

[Adamski]

Originally Posted by bobster7

The only contentious point maybe the notion of Brazilian being tonally the best. I like some old growth mahogany myself over any rosewood...

Thanks Bob...you're wrong! ;-)

[Jim Owen]

I’ve learned to buy a guitar I like and be happy with it. I like 000 18s and J 50s. I’ve played better guitars. But I sound like me when I’m playing mine.

[Murphy Slaw]

Originally Posted by jmagill

Your other observations are equally provocative... I can faintly hear the sound of furious typing as those with differing firm convictions rush to add their opposing opinions to the fray.

Buckle up...

I was thinking opinionated.

And we all know what those are like.

[The Bard Rocks]

Well, I've learned a few things from you.
1) You have disposable income.
2) You're not married. (Or, if you are, you have a heck of a partner.)
3) You really, really like guitars.

Seriously, I am well behind you in this search and hope I never catch up - but have little to complain about in your statements. My own ears are not sensitive enough to have made some of these statements myself. The one I'd take issue first about is the one about Brazilian, only I haven't played enough BR guitars to argue intelligently. (I have other reasons to not own a BR instrument, reasons that have nothing to do with sound.) It seems to me that this is more your tonal preference and that someone else may have quite a different preference, one neither better nor worse than yours.