Settling for 9/10 guitars or chasing down those elusive 10/10s? What do you lean towards doing?

Tenebrous

This is something I've been thinking about a lot lately, especially when I reach over to pick up a guitar from the rack. I've 6 in total, 2 of which (AO50's Tele & PRS SE SS) I'd consider nothing short of a perfect 10/10 to me. The neck profiles, the super lightweight, the tone? I'd not change a thing about either of them.

Then there's the other guitars I've picked up over the years - the ones that have survived cullings up until this point because they're really bloody good, but there's just little things about them I can't love. As an example, the Charvel I have, the neck profile is just ever so slightly too small, & the stylings of Ibanez guitars just do it for me much more. But that's it, it's still a brilliant guitar, & every time I pick it up I enjoy playing it because it plays incredibly well & sounds fantastic. But it's not perfect...

I'm sure many of you here have found yourself mulling over this over the years, so I'm wondering what you tend to do? Do you aim to surround yourself with nothing other than personal perfection, or do you settle for slight shortcomings in otherwise brilliant instruments even if they're not something that can be easily addressed (like changing pickups to fix a tonal quality you don't like)?

jasonbone75

I know that my ideal guitar does not exist in production so I have settled on what is as close as possible. The only route would be a few attempts at having a custom build and iterating or building myself neither of which I have enough motivation to get done.

Pete.R

Since I've learned about the 'MiJ' guitars I have changed my collection towards them.

Even sold my Gibson and Fender guitars to get more of them.

For me they are the best 'bang for the buck/pound/euro' ratio

Quality over Quantity is the direction I'll go.

Still have some 'cheapos' but 11 out of 18 are made by FujiGen

For me those 11 are 10/10

I don't care much for the overpriced and mass-produced guitars from the big named companies 

who mostly live from their past success - and not from the current guitars they are able to produce.

But that's just me, I can live with people thinking different.

Sporky

I go for 7/7s. Lower expectations, completely met. 

Philly_Q

I'm not sure there are any 10/10s.  And they seem to change personality from day to day anyway.  One day a guitar feels and sounds great - 8/10, say - and the next day the same guitar sounds all pingy and plinky - 6/10 at best.  Obviously it's me, not the guitar, but perfection's impossible.

Grampa

After trying a multitude of manufacturers and styles....PRS SE 8/10, McRosie 9/10, ME1 10/10. Not played anything else that even comes close to my idea of guitar Heaven.

Yorkie

I am imperfect and so are my guitars. 

willo

Great topic.

Overall I'd say I'm happy making compromises on things that are fairly inconsequential, and accepting that I'm wired to always think the grass is greener - so I'm best off enjoying what I have and putting my energy towards playing rather than shopping!

munckee

I’m so fickle I’d sell an 11/10 chasing a pipe dream.  

swiller

Perfectionist and tone/feel all the way. I would sacrifice a chunkier/thinner neck if the tone was right. Same with fit and finish and condition. 
 I think setup is lots of the diff between and 9 and a 10/10. But im lucky my local guy is a complete old wizard and enthusiast.
I think you have to ask yourself, what are my guitars really stopping me doing.

In pic the LPC is a loaner, and that does have the special feel and sound, like driving a 6 cylinder petrol porsche, kind of irresistible. Keeping it is an option, but i wont. 
Rest are my keepers and no need for any substitutes and pretty cheap guitars. Just late 80s USA stds, 2 squiers (bass and black strat from 1989)  and a 2021 sb59 for humbucking duties. Resale value, collectively about same as the LPC.





 

bertie

depends on budget  -  < $500  6/10 £500 < £1k  Im happy with 8/10 ,  <£2k 9/10 

Basher

I'm fairly happy with a 5/10 and I don't have a guitar that I wouldn't, ideally, change something on.

I definitely prefer certain specs (medium-chunky neck profile, medium jumbo frets, light weight etc.) I don't have a single guitar that ticks all the boxes.

Thing is, I'm not much of a player and I feel it would be wrong to get too attached to precise  specifications when the best "modification" I could make would be to my playing ability. In the meantime, I just try to enjoy them all: fat, thin, light, heavy and so on. 

NelsonP

Some of my guitars go up to 11. It's one more than ten, you see.

grungebob

You need to separate the ideas of aspirational and inspirational when choosing 

Supportact

I'm happy as long as they've still got 6/6 strings. I will not settle for anything less. Except on bass. 

Musical_Mystery_Tour

Guitars don't have to always meet some high score from me, for me to still like them. If they re interesting in some way or other, they can find a place in my collection. I might not consider them good enough to play gig with, but since I have many which are up to that task, the ones which are lesser in that regard can stay too.

A good example of that is my extremely cheap Epiphone Les Paul SL, which Epiphone subsequently renamed the Les Paul Melody Maker E1. I have some Gibson Melody Makers and Les Pauls, which are obviously way better, but it didn't stop me from buying one of those SLs because I thought it looked quite striking in black and white and interesting in its construction, particularly the way the neck is fitted. It's undeniably a cheap guitar, being that it cost me 100 quid new and even today they are still only 120 quid, and it still feels like a cheap guitar even after having been set up properly and tweaked, but it plays quite well and has a charm of its own with quite a unique sound.

CHRISB50

I'm not really sure that extra 1/10 is worth chasing down. For me personally. 

I think I'd rather play the guitar, and enjoy it. Than worrying about what was missing.

imalrightjack

munckee said:

I’m so fickle I’d sell an 11/10 chasing a pipe dream.  

That’s me. I’ve four ‘keepers’ that do all I need but have still accumulated I think six more since vowing it was over. 

@Grampa You sound like honeymoon phase me!

HAL9000

My experience is that things - and not just guitars - that are too perfect often lack something in the personality or ‘mojo’ departments. It’s the little quirks and idiosyncrasies that give things their characters and make them interesting. So, for myself, I’d prefer a little character to having a 10/10 instrument.

Winny_Pooh

I'm unsure a 10/10 guitar exists. 9/10 sure

timmypix

There's also something to be said for taking a 9./10 guitar and treating tinkering as a learning process to see if it can be 10/10. It might be the right weight, have the right neck shape for your hands, be comfortable to play, sound fantastic unplugged but the pickups aren't quite there, or you prefer different hardware, something like that.