Agonizing over a purchase

Being an adult can be hard, but it does lead to deliberate decisions. Not necessarily good decisions, but they will be deliberate damn it!

I work for a pretty cool company. They decided in January that we were going to shut down over the 4th of July holiday, and whilst plenty of my peers were peeved that they were being forced to take some of their precious PTO time over the holiday, I celebrated it.

C’mon fam, a week off, where about 60% of the employees are on holiday so you don’t return to a shitpile of bombs in your inbox? What’s not to love.

Monday, I did some work (because I am sick) but I treated myself by heading to the local Guitar Center to browse. Ostensibly, my eye caught a “second” of a Fender Telecaster Special Edition:

Not your father’s Tele

Basically, it is a flat neck profile, carved figured maple body, with a set neck. This was (is?) Fender’s answer to the ubiquitous Gibson Les Paul.

Anyhow, I found one that had a couple of tiny nicks, and it would save me $150. But I wanted to get my hands on one to see if it felt good to play.

So, I know that there are plenty of Fenders on display at Guitar Center, so off I went. Alas, they had plenty of Stratocasters and Telecasters, but alas, no “Special Editions” were hanging.

Bummer.

Not wanting to waste a trip to the toy store, I browsed around, before entering the “Acoustic” room¹. I browsed around, but my eyes fell upon a Martin 000CJR-10E hanging on the wall.

This is one of their “StreetMaster editions, that is somewhat “relic’d” in its finish², it is constructed of solid woods (Sapele for the front, back and sides) and it being part of their Junior “collection” it is a short scale (24”) with an Auditorium body (that is what the 000 means in its model number.

20 frets, a small cutout for access to the higher frets, it felt super comfortable to play.

The price was $749 with a gig bag, and that seemed to be in the ballpark for a Mexican made Martin.

I tuned it up (it was WAY out of tune) and strummed, picked, and noodled for about a half hour.

I almost pulled the trigger right there and then, but I wanted to do a little more research. And everything I read was aces. It is a solid performer with quality craftsmanship, and the reviews were overwhelmingly positive.

Today, I will grab my mad-money stash and return to GC to pluck that bad boy off the shelf.

Doesn’t that look sick?

I think this will be my couch noodling guitar.

1. This is a temperature and humidity-controlled environment, where their expensive wood hangs

2. That means it looks played in and “worn”

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