What is you "beater" guitar?

[rokdog49]

I don’t own one in the true sense of the word.
If I found something really cool for peanuts, I might be tempted.
There is a Chinese-made solid wood Dreadnought I’ve had my eye on for $30.
It’s actually a pretty good guitar and it is in great condition. That’s literally the only reason I would buy it.
I’m 70 years old. I would take any of my guitars anywhere and play them.

[Primdmit]

Ibanez AE305NT. Good sounding for not all solid wood guitar and very easy to play. Has several dents and scratches thus i don’t care too much about the new ones.

[stormin1155]

I have two guitars that I would place in this category. I don't do many campfire sing-alongs, so these are the guitars that stay on stands... the ones I grab for and they do tend to get dinged up more.

The first one is my Martin OMCPA4. It's my most comfortable guitar to play and the one I usually reach for first when I'm practicing or just noodling, I don't baby it like I do my nicer guitars, and has become a bit of a bang-around guitar.

The second is my early '70s FG-160 Yamaha. If I were to go to a campfire sing-along, this would be the one I'd take. It's pretty beat up, and getting a few more dings or smores melted on it really wouldn't trouble me much at all. Tone is subjective, and every guitar has it's own sound and strengths, but this thing has a piano-like chime that none of my other guitars can match. It's really one of my best sounding guitars.

[Rudy4]

I have owned a few higher up the food chain guitars that I always felt were a bit of a pain because I was always aware that I didn't want to inflict damage to them. I've since come to my senses and have a much more practical outlook on instruments and what comprises real value to me.

I came to the realization that for me the real value came with comfort, sound, and a good dose of robustness thrown in.

I have multiple instruments to chose from, but my main player is an all hog 00 that I built that encompasses all of the features that I personally prefer. It hangs just inside the door leading to our small basement where I have a small area set up for looping and evening playing where it doesn't effect my wife's TV viewing.

As long as the weather is cooperative it's also easy to grab it and a cup of coffee and head to the screen porch for some outside playing. In non-Covid times it might go in the soft case and off to a jam, farmer's market, or occasional gig.

I don't worry about the possibility of a few dings or damage; I can always build a new one.

The important thing to me is to love what I'm playing and play what I love. How an instrument feels and the sound it gives me are primary reasons why I play and I personally wouldn't want to diminish that experience.

[Earl49]

Impressive activity - a thread started less than twelve hours ago late in the evening is now on its third page!

My beater is a Seagull S6 (actually an M6, mahogany precursor to the cherry S6) bought used from a college student about 25 years ago in Anchorage. He was raising funds to spend the summer in Europe, and I needed an extra guitar to begin exploring altered tunings. That Seagull has since made many an airline trip, ridden strapped across the back of my motorcycle all around Alaska and Idaho, was used at plenty of gigs where my Martin J-40 feared to tread, and played countless campfire jams. It could be replaced for a fairly small amount of money, but it is a nice guitar that I really like playing - and the only dreadnought left. It would be tragic if something ever happened to it.

I may have the all-time winner for a beater guitar story:
When attending Aloha Music Camp on Molokai years ago, at the first morning class a fellow Alaskan from Juneau brought out a Calton case from which he removed a rosewood/cedar Goodall (!!) and casually explained that was his "travel and campfire" guitar. Between that instrument and its case, his travel guitar represented more than the total worth of my entire collection at the time.

[Tony Burns]

My beater is a 1976 Dick Boak Brazilian rosewood Dread that
I bought at a Luthier convention back in 1984 - seriously !

[MakingMusic]

Mine is a Taylor GS Mini. Easy to carry around and sounds decent enough.

[6L6]

I own a pair of Martin '39 D-18A's w/VTS. Either would be my "beater" guitar.

[Shadowfox]

My Martin DX1.

[peanutavalon]

Alvarez MD60 EBG.

I play a lot of outdoor gigs in salt air, humidity, beach bars, cold weather etc. I picked this up for that reason. It's an all solid wood guitar built like a D18 For $699 brand new. It hangs with all my high end guitars no problem. It comes with a baggs pickup...plug and play. Great guitar. it could easily pass for a 2-3k guitar.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YnXBb-a5s1c&t=147s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3tY0HWjrZS0

[lossforgain]

My complete beater is the Recording King parlor that I bought for my son for less than $200. He plays it every day and brings it out to the fire pit when we're there.

My actual gigging "beater" is a Recording King RAJ-122. It's really only a beater in that it's the least expensive guitar I have, but I put a Baggs Anthem SL in it and it sounds better than a lot of guitars when plugged in. Plus it's comfortable to play and sounds good acoustically too. I sold a J-45 and kept this in its place, since they are very similar guitars.

https://youtu.be/PIf5Q4hSXTI

[TBman]

I have some less expensive guitars but I don't bring my stuff anywhere as I don't play with others. If I did though I would probably bring my Guild D-120C. It's all solid wood, but didn't cost all that much.

[Bogle]

Mine is a 1975 Mossman Tennessee Flat Top. It's definitely been played in!

[reeve21]

Mine was a 40 year old Ibanez Artwood dread with stable crack in the neck near the headstock. I paid around $250 for it when I got back into playing about 15 years ago.

It is now with a friend in Colorado where I fear the neck will self destruct this winter. Long story behind how he ended up with it, but it's all good.

So I guess I would take my Ibanez AC 240 these days. Pretty hard to hurt that one.

[Goat Mick]

I won't own a guitar that I wouldn't play a gig with. Most of the time I use my Martin 000-17 with a Baggs Anthem SL, but there are times that I play places that might be a little "sketchy". For those places I have a few other less valuable guitars that I take. My 000-17 isn't a really expensive guitar, but sometimes eyes light up at the Martin logo on the headstock. For those venues I'll take my Farida or Ibanez but yesterday I managed to snag a used Recording King Series 11 000 on eBay. I'm going to put a Baggs Anthem SL in it as well and tonally it should be in the same family as my Martin allowing me to keep the same guitar sound in a less expensive and less desirable guitar.