In a warp sense of humour, it is actually the one you couldn't get. Agreed or you beg to differ? This statement was true for me a while ago until something… I will get to that soon.
During my teenage years, I used to visit "the music instruments store" in my community. It was located in a shopping mall called Plaza Singapura and it is still bears same name today… I think. This store didn't only sell guitars, there were other musical instruments as well. It was the only one-stop in the community then. Needless to say, the price tags were way out of reached to me. So I simply ogle at the beautiful guitars.
The thirst to try all of them was insatiable even I was fully aware of my limited abilities in playing the guitars. Gaining access to these guitars weren't easy because they were guarded by a shop manager. He could play pretty well as I have witnessed him in actions. So I spend most of the times in the shop watching this shop manager performs. Among these pricey guitars, I have set my eyes on one, the Guild F50R. Surely I wasn't aware it was a Guild F50R except being drawn by her beautiful tobacco burst top, the fingerboard inlays and her seductive large headstock design.
That must be the best guitar in the world I think. So the thirst remains… and time seems to have buried it.
Buried but not gone… years later I chanced upon a very familiar looking guitar on the internet. The thirst within me reminded me that this was the piece I have been yearning for since those days. I was almost compelled to click "buy now" immediately. I managed to hold back and took the time to go through all the sales details and they were all good. I clicked nevertheless.
The Guild F50R has finally arrived in my arms and it was such an amazing feeling to finally play it and own it. It was no too long after I went chasing for guitars of the same body shape as the Guild F50R. The buying spree spun out of control a bit… I ended owning 5 such guitars.
At a certain point, I figured that these amazing guitars are as good as my playing and I still couldn't play decently. In the end I sold them all away and retained a much modest one. Yes, the F50R wasn't spared even it was once the best guitar in the world as I had regarded it. So I realised the notion of "best guitar in the world" was never a place but an unending journey. With humour, I would tell my friends that the best guitar is the one you couldn't get.
Now that I have become a guitar maker, would that statement still bears the same meaning? I guess it wasn't about buying one that is difficult to reach but making one that is hard to make. In Singapore style; same same but different!
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