Major GAS problem.....

I have a Seagull, sounds great, I keep comparing it with others in shops (few and far between - I'm left handed) and realised many times over the last couple of years that there is nothing around at a sensible price (say under £1000) which compares.

As a result, I have spent a bit here and there to keep the GAS at bay - fancy G7 capos, pickups and other toys. I usually borrow an Ashdown Acoustic Radiator for gigs and nearly bought one for under £200 a while back, now I see the prices are back up to nearer £400.

I decided on a travel guitar and eventually found a Baby Taylor lefty which I added to the arsenal (which, by the way, also includes a Wheatstone concertina, Fylde mandolin and a couple of battered accordions).

What problem? I desperately want a high-end guitar, hand made because that's the only way to go if you're left handed.

I have found and tried Taylors and I'm afraid although they do exactly what it says on the tin, I've found the tone anodyne and characterless at prices of £1300 and over. High-end Martin's I've tried don't really suit my fingerstyle stuff.

I'd love a Brook. I can possibly afford the £800 Bovey travel guitar, which is vastly better than any normal travel instrument but still not something you could use in general gigging or in sessions due to volume and small-body tone considerations. Brook make wonderful small instruments - parlour guitars and 00's, all for about £1600 and while they'd be ideal for solo gigs or with guitar/whistle, guitar/mandolin and guitar/guitar duos, all of which I play in, they are not quite what I want for sessions or American old-time with a fiddle as I play occasionally. A good Martin would do for that, though.

Fylde make some lovely mid-size guitars which are designed for fingerstyle and would do everything I want, but again I can't really try any of these before I place an order....

Alan Marshall of Northworthy makes great instruments and I said to him when he first started out that one day I'd buy one, but they are even more money...

What really bothers me is this: I don't make money from music - probably cover expenses and that's it. I like it that way (not having to worry about all the gear with the Paddy's day drunks etc.). My good lady even goes the guilt trip when I buy the small stuff, strings and things, but it's my main hobby - golf, for example, is outrageously expensive, I'm glad I never wanted to play! I DO make money from the day job. It's a good wage, although the hours I spend on it mean that very soon £40k a year turns into about £6 an hour! Much of my spare time and all holiday time is spent looking after my kids and my widowed brother's brood. My good lady is currently unemployed through no fault of her own, but is determined to wait for a job in the right field rather than seek general employment.

That's the background, and I don't hold any of that against anyone. I'd just like to be able to buy a really good guitar without feeling guilty that I'm depriving my family of some benefit or other, or "wasting" my hard-earned on luxuries. I used the old "it followed me home - can I keep it?" for the baby taylor, but the next guitar will be a real life purchase I suppose I can't really justify.

In that position, it's galling to read some of the gear lists you guys have and I do wonder how you manage to support that.

My two penn'orth,   jonm