Some times it is how you play (Page 1 of 2)

Class Guitar
yeah i`ve still got first guitar.
yes i do buy the best as i need all the help i can get.
also there`s something sexy about a nice looking quality guitar.

Yep. Still have my first guitar; a 1982 Epiphone PR650. All laminate. Until about  3 years ago I was still using it for my everyday guitar; along with the 82 Alvarez 12 string. When I started playing  again I was about a year into it and decided I wanted something with better tone. I picked up an Eastman fairly cheap. Played that for about a year and then stumbled into a mid-grade Martin. That's my main guitar now. But I would put my 35 year old, $350 Alvarez up against any $2000 guitar for tone quality. Sitka Spruce top. Mahogany B&S. It just sings.

So to answer your question, no. I don't need nor desire a very expensive guitar.

I don't have any expensive guitars, with my Cordoba being the highest priced at $1,000. Neither the price tag nor the brand name make a guitar necessarily "good", but rather the construction, the materials used, etc. I think it's important to learn about these things so an informed decision can be made. From there, the fit and sound make the difference. My ears tell me that an all-solid-wood acoustic sounds a lot better than ones made partially or completely of laminates. That usually increases the price, but to me it's worth it for the full sound and overtones.

I have to give a "shout out" to Epiphone. These guys make some seriously good electrics at affordable prices, and often with many of the components that Gibson uses. The finishing may be slightly less pristine, but that's just cosmetic. My first all solid-wood acoustic is my Norman, bought in 1973 ... still has a great voice, and nice wide neck (1.8") like my Cordoba.

I certainly agree with you about Cordoba guitars, CG. I had never really heard of them until I started looking for an all-wood acoustic with a wide neck. The combo of their Spanish heel construction, plus solid Indian Rosewood and Englemann Spruce top really make the 5th and 7th harmonic overtones ring out ... adds a nice "shimmer" is the only way I can describe it.

Here's a "university days" pic of me with an old Ibanez acoustic I had back then, a Jethro Tull poster behind me, and the Funster name on the lower bout of the guitar. I have no idea what I was screeching / singing at the time.

Putting an expensive guitar in my hands would be like (to quote an old cowboy movie) putting a thirty-dollar saddle on a ten-dollar horse.

I don't have my first guitar, in fact I don't have the first 10 or so I've owned.  Being on a tight budget, I usually sold the one I had to buy another one.  I learned to play when a co-worker gave me a guitar. (I gave it back when I bought my first one). so in later years when I had more money, aside from the $300-$500 guitars I was playing,  I would occasionally find a cheap used acoustic, re-work it, play it for a while and then give it away to someone that wanted to learn to play. I've also given three of my better guitars to my son and a couple to my oldest grandson. Right now I have 5 acoustics, a couple 000 size 12 frets, a 000 14 fret and a couple dread naughts for when I get together with my bluegrass picking buddies.  They range from $350 - $1700 (I bought the $1700 used for $1000). Unfortunately none of them have made me play better

DE

beamer that is a good way to move up. It was not my first classical guitar but one I had for 45 years and was still in great condition. I ended up giving it to my grandson when I started teaching him to play. He has one more year now in high school and he can play any piece I want him to play. He was a natural and worked hard. I knew for some reason I kept this one and am happy he likes so much. Even after keeping it 45 years it still has the original frets. I have never had to replace a single one yet.

Tenement Funster   I liked the happy look on your face while playing guitar in your early picture.

I'm sure I've posted this somewhere but have no idea where.

This is my first guitar; the one described above.  I bought it in 1982 for $160. That was an entire weeks take home pay for me at the time. I made a $40 down payment in April and then $40 a month. Brought it home in July. That white mark on the front is from the camera flash. It still looks almost as good as it did the day I brought it home; which is a miracle considering it went with me on the road when I was following The Dead up and down the East Coast for 7 years.

P1010647 by

That's a nice ol' Epiphone, UJB ...

I love seeing the wear marks on the fretboard from years of use. My Norman came with a case like that, but it eventually fell apart and had to be replaced. With all of the different shapes and sizes of guitars, there really isn't a "one size fits all" anymore.

I have given away a lot of my guitars, so I don't have my first one.  The one that I really started to "get it" on was a Yamaha classical I gave to my sister.  I play it sometimes when I visit her.  The other one, the first steel string acoustic I had - Ol' Reliable - I gave to my neighbor.  He plays it a lot and I get to hear it often, which is nice.  I also have his daughter a small size travel guitar I had laying around, so I get to hear that from time to time too. 

I am not a very good player.  It's all cowboy chords and picking patterns with me.  I need to learn to use partial chords in the CAGED style and also figure out more about playing melodies across chord shapes.  I think I'm going to need a teacher for those, but not sure I can take the expense right now with eight years of college payments starting right around the corner.

Nope. I was in Buffalo, Syracuse, Saratoga, Rochester and Utica for shows but never went into the big city.

Yeah. A lot of smoke.

You should pop into Amy's this weekend. We can play some Dead tunes together.

Sorry CG. We seem to be drifting off your topic here.

Russell_Harding I agree with you. With my normal 6 guitars that are the top of the line in Yamaha Classical I just received the Cordoba C10 and love the sound, not better than the Yamaha just different.. I also bought 6 Yamaha 40 to stock for new students as starter guitars.I always bought them at a great price and I charge my students what I paid. I fairly recently started using one of them and practice on it for several weeks. It is one of the cheapest and most mass produced Yamaha ever made. It  has low action and sounds good. It is a full size classical and all sides are laminated and when I play it, it still sounds good.

Just to mention it the Cordoba C10 and all Cordoba classical has truss rods and is the only classical I have played that has truss rods. I always felt and still do that if they are built properly truss rods are not needed. ( I know that steel string guitars need truss rods because of stings pressure.)

The one consideration (if I may) about truss rods in acoustic guitars, is the way wood constantly interacts with humidity. Where we live, we spend half of the year above 80% Relative Humidity, and the other half below 35%. Even with the dehumidifier running in the summer, and a humidifier running in the winter, trying to keep the music room room at that optimal 55% RH is challenging. The truss rod offers that extra bit of adjustment (if needed) to keep the playing action right.

Just my two-cents worth ...