Guitar aspirations...have they changed for you?

[davidd]

This is a question that I have often wondered about over the years.

When I was a young player back in the late 1960's all I wanted was a Les Paul and a Martin D28. Those seemed to me the Mount Everest for guitars at the time. Almost an impossible achievement given my meager resources.

Fast forward 50+ years and I am fortunate enough to be in a financial position in life to be able to own whatever itch I feel the need to scratch. What has changed is I no longer feel the itch and no longer place a value on the name on the headstock, or the car I drive, or the fancy restaurant or the Four Seasons etc.

I'm as happy playing a Squier as a Fender or Gibson, a Yamaha as much or more than a Martin. In fact most of my more expensive stuff just goes unplayed because they just don't play, feel or sound as good as some of my modestly priced gear.

Where this takes me is the question as to how much your aspirations have driven your purchases? Does the guitar that is a stretch financially mean more to you than something within reach? Do these aspirations cloud your judgement as to the real worth of a guitar and whether you want it?

It seems that people value something far more that is difficult to obtain which then clouds our ability to judge objectively. It has to be a Martin, or a Gibson, or a Unicorn. It can't be brand X because brand XYZ is the standard we have come to desire.

Maybe I'm just a grumpy old man and have lost the thrill of aspirations...

[RoscoeGumar]

Originally Posted by davidd

This is a question that I have often wondered about over the years.

When I was a young player back in the late 1960's all I wanted was a Les Paul and a Martin D28. Those seemed to me the Mount Everest for guitars at the time. Almost an impossible achievement given my meager resources.

Fast forward 50+ years and I am fortunate enough to be in a financial position in life to be able to own whatever itch I feel the need to scratch. What has changed is I no longer feel the itch and no longer place a value on the name on the headstock, or the car I drive, or the fancy restaurant or the Four Seasons etc.

I'm as happy playing a Squier as a Fender or Gibson, a Yamaha as much or more than a Martin. In fact most of my more expensive stuff just goes unplayed because they just don't play, feel or sound as good as some of my modestly priced gear.

Where this takes me is the question as to how much your aspirations have driven your purchases? Does the guitar that is a stretch financially mean more to you than something within reach? Do these aspirations cloud your judgement as to the real worth of a guitar and whether you want it?

It seems that people value something far more that is difficult to obtain which then clouds our ability to judge objectively. It has to be a Martin, or a Gibson, or a Unicorn. It can't be brand X because brand XYZ is the standard we have come to desire.

Maybe I'm just a grumpy old man and have lost the thrill of aspirations...

Interesting question. I do think many “halo” products lose their allure once you can afford them. Not too long ago I bought, what for me, was a “halo” car of sorts. It turns out that it is so fast that I don’t really have fun driving it because, if I push the car at all, I’m going too fast for public roads. Different situation I know. With my guitars, of which I have a couple of nice ones, sometimes I feel like I haven’t earned them since I’m just learning to play and I’m sure a good guitarist would sound 10x better with a guitar that costs 1/10 the amount. I’d rather have a 400 dollar guitar and time to play it than a 4,000 dollar guitar with limited playing time because I’m working all the time.

[Mark Stone]

Good post davidd - I spent decades searching for the perfect Gibson, and really was quite happy with some of my guitars - but now that I’m turning 71, it seems that instead of having a trophy guitar I have a “best friend”. It’s a relatively inexpensive MiM Taylor 110e. On the couch, in the studio and on stage, it’s my go to and am happier than snot.

[Bluenose]

Martin was always my dream and now I own two and they are both great guitars but now the onus is on me to actuall make them sound as good as they can potentially sound and I'm still working on that. AFAIC I've reached the pinnacle of lutherie but then there's always boutique and vintage which even though I feel financially comfortable, I'm not rich by any standard so I'll just let them be.

PS if in a year or two and I'm on here bragging up my vintage Gibson or my new PWGC feel free to show me this post and expose me for the hypocrite that I am.

[Gryf]

My "want" aspirations have changed drastically. I'm 61, retired, and am a play-at-home player. I have two "nice" acoustics and a few lesser ones, and I have two electrics that I'm quite happy with. There's really nothing on my purchase radar anymore. Not saying there won't be at some point, but for now, I'm quite content with what I have.

[CharlieBman]

Definitely a Martin snob here. I know there are other great guitars, but Martin has always done it for me, so for the most part, I don't really aspire to look elsewhere. Hold up 2 identically built guitars...and I'll buy the one with the Martin logo on it. Funny, but now that I'm old and won't be around much longer...the Martin brand feels even MORE aspirational.

[b1j]

After nearly 40 years with just one acoustic, I went by name when I brought home the J-45, HD-28, and D-18. I figured, how could I go wrong? Each of them has challenged me to try to make them sound as they were created to sound. This approach has been just right for me.

[Gordon Currie]

Originally Posted by davidd

When I was a young player back in the late 1960's all I wanted was a Les Paul and a Martin D28. Those seemed to me the Mount Everest for guitars at the time.

My timeline is similar, I started playing in 1966.

I grew up somewhat poor and name brands were out of reach.
Instead of a Les Paul/Strat I had a Japanese Aria strat copy for many years.

I didn't buy name brand until 1977. I didn't get my first new guitar until 1981.

As my finances improved, I actually rejected the Martin/Gibson path in favor of Larrivee (at the time a tiny Canadian shop).
Risky move, but paid off in every way.

That decision set the tone for the next 4 decades.
It instilled a sense of confidence that my own taste/preferences were more important than brand names.
That certainly helped when I did my first 'custom' guitar in 2020.

[TBman]

Originally Posted by davidd

In fact most of my more expensive stuff just goes unplayed because they just don't play, feel or sound as good as some of my modestly priced gear.

David, I think you have to unload some of the "expensive stuff" and get some good sounding expensive stuff.

[Jim Owen]

When I was a wee lad, a local guitar shop had a 68 Les Paul Custom and a Goldtop. I most certainly could not afford either, but I sure caught the allure. Later, I bought a used Custom but it didn’t suit me very well.

But the 72 Goldtop I bought used in 76 is still with me after a lot of gigs in bar bands. I have the back trouble to prove it.

So, yes. Aspirations influenced me, for sure.

[JackC1]

I guess one of the good things about starting this hobby later in life is that I've not gotten into the situation where I can't afford a guitar that I wanted. But, I'd rather not being able to buy a guitar than not being able to play one well. So, I envy those who started early in life.

[Glennwillow]

Guitar aspirations...have they changed for you?

My guitar aspirations were only slightly about material acquisitions. I did want a Martin 6-string and a Guild 12-string, and I did manage those two things. But mostly, I wanted to be able to make music. And I've been able to do that since I was 16 years old.

I'm even a little better at it now 60 years later and now I have some wonderful recording and video equipment to allow me to do things I never could have imagined before. And to top it all off, I'm retired now, so I have time to make more music than ever.

So, I'm pretty happy. If I could only shave about 20-30 years off my biological clock so I wouldn't hurt in so many places!

- Glenn

[RP]

Originally Posted by Glennwillow

[B]...If I could only shave about 20-30 years off my biological clock so I wouldn't hurt in so many places!

- Glenn

Let me know when you've got that figured out, Glenn....

[Steve DeRosa]

When I was a kid, my first guitar aspiration was a double-cut Gretsch White Falcon like the one pictured inside the back cover of the '63 catalog, followed shortly thereafter by a candy-apple red, transition-logo hardtail Strat...

Entering my college years I wanted a D-45 after seeing CSNY live, and a sunburst Gibson B45-12 after an ex-GF turned me on to Gordon Lightfoot...

The '70s were arguably the last hurrah for potential collectors, when Big Band-era non-cut archtops could be had for prices far below their intrinsic value, and I developed a serious hankering for an 18-incher after playing a number of New York-built Epiphone Emperors, a Super 400 or three, and a Stromberg Master 300 that was selling for $900 in '77 (just bought the D-45 a couple months before and I was about to start grad school, so I didn't have the liquid funds)...

Scored a B45-12 right out of college, the Martin about a year and a half thereafter - Gibson went in a trade for one of the first late-CBS '52 Tele reissues (the very first one Sam Ash got in stock), sold the D-45 in the early-2K's for all the wrong reasons (don't ask )...

Couldn't locate a Brooklyn original double-cut Falcon I could afford, did the next best thing and bought a NOS Professional Series MIJ version in 2018 - just as well, since IME the QC and playability of the recent Japanese and Korean offerings far exceeds their vintage counterparts...

Gotten back into big-body electrics, my 3-PU Gretsch 5622 cats'-eye serves 90+% of my needs, and I have a Yamaha SSC-500 and MIJ Fender/Squier Strat, so I'm not so hot on the hardtail CAR Strat any more...

The D-45 was sweet, but I've really gotten into hog-top guitars over the last 20 years - and a D-15S and J12-15 (along with a bearclaw-top CEO-5) scratch my Martin itch quite nicely...

Got the 12-string thing covered with a Rainsong JM3000 jumbo - when I can pry it out of my wife's hands...

Still looking for that 18" non-cut comp box, though - and as I find the narrower/slimmer '60s necks I've always preferred have become a necessity in my later years, it looks like I'll need to have one custom-built to order...

Now about the amps...

[Br1ck]

Two different ventures. First is acquisition. This was a convoluted path, but took be from medium to smaller guitars to a u turn to dreads coinciding with moving from fingerpicking to flat picking. I now have four main guitars, a 70 Guild D 35, a 65 Epiphone Texan, an 07 D 35 Custom and a SCGC D P/W mahogany, the peak of my acoustic purchase ability.

The second path is in what I want to accomplish. This has accelerated in the ten years since I retired. I've seen far too many folks my age just accept their abilities, which though I don't understand, if they are happy, I'm happy. But I'm so much more engaged since I decided to try to learn to play instead of learn and repeat songs. I sing and am at the point of inserting solo breaks on the fly as my vocabulary increases. I'm learning inversions and how to connect the dots. The more I know, the more I want to know more. Thirst for knowledge at whatever level keeps you brain working, which is a very good thing. You do need to have a tolerance for sucking as part of the process.

I've read enough about what makes folks age well, and I can't think of anything better to remain engaged than music. I try to have two hours of brain stimulation a day, and the hand exercise can't be beat. And doing something after working on it for months is IMHO far better than buying guitars, but I realize I've already done that part. But time to do it is really the key, and the end game for me is not having one, but just getting farther down the road. There is no end.