. . . beholder?
I've been a Gibson Acoustic player for decades, starting with a B-25 in about 1971, a J-50, an SJ-200 and finally a Hummingbird Pro. I gave the Hummingbird Pro (which was the best Gibson of the lot) away last Summer, because I'm getting ready to retire from the Church band I participate in. My main guitar for the last 6 months or so has been a solidly built Epiphone EJ-200 (an Indonesian Samick), which is really quite good.
So about a month ago, my friend at church, a Taylor player, was eyeballing my Epi and came up with the idea of trading his Taylor 110e for my EJ-200. I wasn't too sure I wanted to do that, but we agreed to trade for a week and then if either one of us wanted to back out, no harm done. To make a long story short, that humble 110e stole my heart and we agreed to the permanent trade. I like my Taylor even more than any of the Gibsons I had previously owned. It's hard to quantify, just the balance of fit, sound, playability, quality of build, etc. just works for me, even more than any of my expensive high-zoot Gibbies.
But I felt bad. For one thing, the Taylor is a bit more expensive than the Epi, and I thought that eventually my friend would regret the trade and would think I had taken advantage of him. But today, we spoke and he stated that he likes the Epiphone much more than the 110e and is surprised I like the Taylor so much! I thought he got the short end of the trade, but he thinks I got the short end.
So . . . . Beauty is in the eye of the beholder?
