One great guitar or two good ones?

[nobodeuno]

One great can satisfy like no other....two greats then you may have G.A.S.

[Zissou Intern]

I think "great" is not exactly tied to price. It's more about the entire package, (acoustic, ergonomic, and aesthetic). A few years ago I had three Collings (D1T, DS1A, and CJ35G). They didn't make me any happier or more inspired than my current 20 year-old D18GE or Burkett J45. At current market value, I'd have to trade both of my guitars for any one of the Collings, and yet I wouldn't trade one to one. (And that's not a comment on Collings. They are fantastic in every respect.)

We each need to find a great guitar... whatever that means to you. If I can afford to buy one boutique guitar or two "regular" guitars, I'd want one that makes me really happy and checks all the boxes. That may not be the expensive boutique instrument.

[tinnitus]

My acoustics cost $1200 or less (sometimes far less) because there are so many good ones to be found in that range - if you look. I'm very happy with my current 4, all with different primary purposes that I grab randomly, depending upon what I need them for:
- Eastman, all around workhorse (spruce top, super bright)
- Seagull, another workhorse (cedar top for darker tones)
- Silvertone, battle-scarred beater for parties, camping out and handing to folks I don't know well
- Fender, yet another workhorse always tuned to D G D G B D

All have great setups (with upgraded tuning machines/saddles/nuts/pickups) and play/sound good enough to gig with.

IMHO, one really nice/expensive guitar simply couldn't check all those boxes for me. And regardless of what I had in my hands at any given moment, I'd still be wishing I had the others.

[Blackmore Fan]

I have my Eastman E20D in my living room on a stand.  I can grab it and play it anytime I have a couple of minutes.

I have my Eastman AC320 in my bedroom, a foot and a half from my bed.  I've played it countless times when I've just woke up or when I was quite ready to retire.

There's something to be said about having more than one good guitar.

[sleigh]

In my limited experience, I've found that while a $500 guitar might be twice as good as a $250 guitar, as you continue to go up in price, the difference in quality (sound and build) keeps getting narrower. In other words, a $3,000 guitar isn't going to be twice as good as a $1,500 guitar -- in fact, it may only be incrementally better. For myself, the Eastmans are in the 'sweet spot' of value vs. expense. 

For that matter, on gigs I take along three guitars: one in standard tuning, one tuned down a whole step in D-standard for certain songs that are too high for my voice in the chord voicings I prefer, and another in DADGAD tuning. I can't afford to have three Collings and do the same thing, and re-tuning on the fly is a PITA... 

[nobodeuno]

I feel acoustic guitars have gotten so good that like Sleigh said differences have gotten slim tonewise.  Back in the day good choices were limited to just a few manufacturers. I remember buying my first D28 in 67 for $375 new with that blue case then in the early 70's I had a couple Ovations best pickups at the time, a Gibson J50 (was a dog) and two Guilds D40 and a D25 redm, a 60's Goya 12 string. Today we have so many choices that sound great for just a few hundred bucks more than that first D-28.  I feel that Eastman's offer such amazing value, tone, materials and craftsmanship...few can match them...maybe Yamaha, but even those have gotten really expensive when comparing apples to apples with Eastman. Eastman just offers so much of everything. I'm happy I found a good/great one.  Btw...good, great, really great, surreal great...it's all subjective...maybe