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

p90fool

There are certain practical features I want from a gigging guitar like fret height and pot tapers, but I think we get too bogged down in details when messing about with guitars at home alone. 

When I'm playing with singers and other musicians I tend to forget about guitar-specific choices and the creation of music takes over. 

timmypix

p90fool said:

There are certain practical features I want from a gigging guitar like fret height and pot tapers, but I think we get too bogged down in details when messing about with guitars at home alone. 

When I'm playing with singers and other musicians I tend to forget about guitar-specific choices and the creation of music takes over. 

Can't wis this enough - I've got much more into nerdy details and tweaking since I stopped gigging. I really need to get back on it, I think it would be much healthier and more enjoyable!

Keefy

It has never occurred to me to score a guitar out of 10. These days the main criterion is: Does this instrument make me want to keep on playing it?

OilCityPickups

p90fool said:

There are certain practical features I want from a gigging guitar like fret height and pot tapers, but I think we get too bogged down in details when messing about with guitars at home alone. 

When I'm playing with singers and other musicians I tend to forget about guitar-specific choices and the creation of music takes over. 

This a million percent. Providing I feel reasonably comfortable on a guitar, in a band situation the guitar simply becomes the tool. The most important thing for me is the action, pretty much everything else can be EQ'd the way I want it. 
I think every audition for a new band I've ever done I've done on a Telecaster, simply because they are pretty much bullet proof, unbreakable and always sound the same. I don't have to think about using one, I think about the music. Having said that, when I had my music shop I used to regularly 'try' second hand stock guitars out at gigs ... everything from a Gibson Marauder to an early Japanese ESP, by way of a couple of SGs and a Manson ... and I don't think any of them gave me trouble ... once set up and with the right string gauge for me ... they were all just guitars at the end of the day. 
 PS I'm Neanderthal enough that I never use tone controls live, and would be happy with an on/off switch rather than a volume control.  

NCo

I don't need things to be perfect to enjoy them, and I don't think perfection is something I'm chasing with gear. No, my standards aren't very high, and I usually buy inexpensive guitars second hand (LP Studio, Mexican Stratocaster).

The  most expensive guitar I bought was a 2nd hand AVRI II Fiesta red which I can't stop looking at. Many people seem to hate this line due to various QC and vintage correctness issues , but I guess I'm either blind or not fussed enough, and I pulled the trigger.

fretmeister

I’m unconvinced there is such a thing as a 10\10 guitar.
I adore my strat. It’s the best strat I’ve ever played irrespective of vintage or value.

But it sucks for metal. I’d only give it a 5/10 for that.

noisepolluter

I think for me the focus has changed to getting all the guitars (and amps etc) I’ve finally settled on to their best possible condition/setup.
It can still be a bit like painting the Forth Bridge though, as there will always be something that’s in need of a bit of a fettle/fix etc. I’m working on allowing myself to live with imperfections.

ElectricXII

For me, life is too short to be chasing guitar perfection which probably doesn't exist.

I've got four electrics, a Tele, an LP Special with P90s, an ES-335 and a Fender Electric XII which all do different things and all get gigged. I've got one acoustic, a Gibson J-35 which I gig when needed, but not often.

Each guitar could possibly be better in some way or another, but frankly I'd rather be playing them than obsessing over minor details like pickups, neck carve, finish, etc. Tools for the job, every single one.

octatonic

I had to buy a hell of a lot guitars to wind up playing the guitar I bought in 1993 the most (I was 21 at the time).
It is a Kinman Blueprint Telecaster with Harmonic Designs pickups.
I've put so many hours into that guitar, I basically learned how to play on it.

I bought it from a guitar shop in Newtown, Sydney. 
The owner showed it to me, he probably just wanted to sell a guitar so he had no idea that he was selling an instrument that would stay in my possession for more than half of my life.

I've gigged it, toured it, taught with it and used it on almost every session I've done.
You couldn't give me enough money to part with it.

I've had loads of different pickups, Kinman single coils, EMG's, Duncan Hot Rails, Lollar Specials, Bardens and a few others.
I put the Harmonic Designs in about 5 years ago and they suit the guitar well.

But the main thing is the neck- I just have so much muscle memory around how to play it.
Yes, it is a little chunky but the frets are great, medium jumbo, with a Macassar ebony fingerboard and probably a pine body. 
It isn't even a colour I like and it has a boomer unapproved 6 saddle bridge.
The only other mods I've done are new wiring and Callaham heavy knurled dome knobs.

I joined a new band recently and I tried everything I have, Andersons, Suhrs, PRS, Fenders. The thing that works best is the guitar that I play best, my old Tele.

It will never be worth a whole lot, despite Chris only making 50 or so.
I found another one on a used guitar site back in 2006 and bought it sight unseen.
It is a nice guitar but it isn't as good as my original one- probably because of me- I am just more used to the guitar I've been playing for 30 years.

So 10/10 guitars, I don't really know if that exists.
I've tried to find better guitars and I only ever found different guitars.
This is the one I keep coming back to.
I know, barring some catastrophe like theft or destruction, that I'll be playing this guitar until I cannot play anymore.

Paul_C

fretmeister said:

I’m unconvinced there is such a thing as a 10\10 guitar.
I adore my strat. It’s the best strat I’ve ever played irrespective of vintage or value.

But it sucks for metal. I’d only give it a 5/10 for that.

Is that the one you bought for your daughter ?

ALR

I've got four electrics and to be honest I don't think I'd put any of them over 6/10. They've got their good points and bad points but I still play them. Life's too short to be spending good time and money chasing down the right neck profile or ideal radius. I just play my guitars and I'm happy doing it!

carlos

I've got 4 guitars and that's 3 guitars too many. Can only get them to 8/10 or 9/10. The 10/10's depend on the player.

Mike58

I am lefty so have a far narrower choice but I enjoy getting a nice example of a guitar and doing whatever it needs to optimise it to my taste. This means adjusting action, relief , fret ends, intonation and nut to get it to be the best it can, once it plays the best it can unplugged ( acoustically)  I move on to pickup heights , pot tapers cap value etc and again get it just right for me.
Once that’s done it’s usually way better ( or optimal) than when I got it and these little changes transform a 6/10 to an 8 or 9/10 guitar.
The 10/10 is a bit of a Unicorn but starts and ends for me with acoustic resonance…. Some guitars just ring like a bell, without that core ability you won’t really get close to 10/10.
I also am a fan of Fender Japan both old and new builds , they are noticeably well put together and a great starting point towards Unicorn status .

Roundwound

Have definitely decided to keep a smaller number of guitars I feel are all really excellent and potential lifers.

8-9/10 (hugely subjective) is probably good enough to fall into the excellent category. Sure, if I came across an example of the same guitar type that was clearly “better”, I might upgrade and move the older one on. That’s happened many times but I now have a core group of 5 guitars that has emerged from the learning/ flipping process that’s now very difficult to upgrade.

If the difference between 9 & 10/10 is the colour or something aesthetic, it may be best ignored. If it’s a modifiable part like frets or pickups, it can be changed. If I genuinely prefer the neck profile on another guitar though, that’s a trickier prospect and long run I’d probably upgrade.

robgilmo

Perfection? naa, I like mongrels best, perfection for me is that tatty old guitar with the worn frets and scratchy pots, the one with the bassball bat neck that weighs as much as an empty skip , plugged into the dirty old cheap amp with one channel broken and the other ready to let the smoke out, I dont do perfection nore can I afford it even if I wanted to chase it.

Lewy

As my playing has changed, so has what I want from a guitar. Taking good solid construction as a given, it now just boils down to five things - big frets, flat radius, low action, pickups I like the sound of and a trem that stays in tune. So whilst I require 5/5, I'm still pretty easy to please. 

It hasn't always been thus - I used to think that the minutiae of the instrument brought a lot more to the party and that may well have been the case for what I wanted then and I totally get it being the case for others, just not for me these days. 

motorhead

As a 1 or 2 / 10 player, I feel like a pretender with anything beyond an Aria.

Besides, for a guitar, a few of those tenths will be in the personal preference space.

Chimpankie

munckee said:

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

I pretty much did this, sold my favourite guitar to fund a custom build. I miss that guitar like crazy. 

I even emailed the buyer 6 months later on eBay on the off chance he wanted to move it on, he replied to say it wasn’t likely but if he ever did I’d have first shout  

fretmeister

Paul_C said:

fretmeister said:

I’m unconvinced there is such a thing as a 10\10 guitar.
I adore my strat. It’s the best strat I’ve ever played irrespective of vintage or value.

But it sucks for metal. I’d only give it a 5/10 for that.

Is that the one you bought for your daughter ?

She is content with the agreement we have reached!

I am less content! 

SPECTRUM001

Great question.

I have been chasing my 10/10 guitar(s) for a while. To an extent I think it is a utopian waste of time, as I am not skilled enough to get the best out of them. But I know what I want in tone, specification and finish - so fair enough I guess.

I do actually think I achieved it with a fairly cheap Mustang that has been extensively modified. For me it is pretty much perfect. But for someone else it may be awful.

Thereby - 10/10 simply doesn’t exist.