One great guitar or two good ones?

[kruto]

Funds are unfortunately limited and an opportunity to buy a Collings 0002H at a good price has occurred, but that would mean sacrificing my much adored E 20 OO and then some. Seems once i’ve gotten a whiff of that alluring ambrosia its hard to settle.

So… better to keep two very good guitars or go all in on one stellar one? What do the more experienced players and shoppers think?

[AlanSam]

Personally I would want to experience - and for more than half an hour or so - as many good guitars as I could. Go for the Collings, and if after 6 months or so you want to move it on you can do so. just my view. I own guitars I can't see myself moving on, such as my Larrivee dread and Martin 000-28 - but I know my attitude could change if the right guitar came along. It's not so much experience per se, more personal aspiration.

[Meathead]

Interesting question.  I'd answer it this way:  I'd rather have multiple Eastman's versus one Collings or McPherson, etc (both of which are killer builders, of course!)

[Sacdubro]

I'm in the process of reducing inventory myself.  So, my vote is to get the one special guitar that motivates you to play.  Your finances and or priorities may change down the road and then you can consider a N+1.

[RomanS]

Depends on your playing situation...

Do you focus on a single musical style? Then get the best model of guitar you can afford for that style - like, if you're only doing bluegrass flatpicking, get a great dreadnaught; if you only do fingerpicking, get the best smaller body/wide neck guitar you can afford; if you play 1930s swing, get the best acoustic archtop you can afford; etc.
But if you play different styles of music - get a good guitar for every style you want to play (yes, some types of guitar - like OMs - are pretty versatile, but a specialised model is always going to beat the generalist...)

Also: Do you just play at home and/or in recording studios? Then getting a great sounding expensive guitar might make more sense than when you also play gigs in rowdy honky tonk bars, or with a loud rock band - where you'd be better served with a less expensive, sturdy guitar, with a good pickup system - but one that might not be so great as a purely acoustic instrument in a quiet setting. In that case, get a good stage guitar and a good home/studio guitar....

[DukeS]

A Collings guitar will motivate you in very good way, you might lose sleep, but I encourage you to get the Collings.
I think Tom might add a comment I know he got a high end Walker guitar in the last couple months.
Duke

[Pura Vida]

I enjoy the variety of sounds from my different guitars, so I'd rather have two good guitars with different tonewoods or body sizes.

[nostatic]

To quote my attorney ex-wife, "it depends..."

Why do you play guitar? For fun? For gigs? Do you like collecting or playing? No right/wrong answers and they aren't mutually exclusive. I can only give my personal calculus on this. I gig as a bass player but have a day job. I absolutely need two different basses to cover very different gigs. One is a fretted four, the other a fretless with piezo and tape wounds. I've shed most of my other instruments as my main basses are special. I don't have any duplicates or the "P and a J" thing.

For guitar I gig less but am studying more. On gigs I've migrated to dobro and a guitar, lately the guitar being an archtop as I'm woodshedding jazz guitar. I only have one acoustic as I don't need variation there - if I want an acoustic sound/feel, one example is enough for me. In the past that wasn't the case. For archtop I'm in the experimental mode so I have four of them trying to sort out what works best, will drop down to three - or maybe not. With jazz box arch tops, I find having one with flats and one with rounds is enough of a difference to keep both. Then need something with two pickups and vibrato for louder stuff. I'd love to get down to one though.

If a Collings is your holy grail, hard to pass that up. I can say I've had a lot of holy grail instruments over the years that eventually left the house, replaced by a new grail

[kruto]

Great input, all valid points. I think I will make the drive and find out if it sings to me. Hard to do in an hour tough! Part of me wishes it had not showed up at that almost attainable price - it has given me sleepless nights!

[Charlieb]

I don't leave the house to play except to go outside and play and I have no one to play with and not looking for anyone. I don't think anyone around me exist that has my mixed genre old time taste. I only have my E10 OM and E10 P but dang I can't put my E10 P down, mostly finger style playing, a pick occasionally, anything from folk to moderate tempo bluegrass to blues to some jazz standards on my P. It's just more powerful and has a tone I can't leave alone. My OM is bound to be P'O'd at me.

The P has got me to thinking just how the 00 would play and tonal comparisons in the 2 but I've seen none available and do not want a Slope Sholder or Rosewood back so I reckon an E10 00 or I'll just keep playing the P.