My first really good guitar was a Martin 00-28-G classic. After damn near getting it destroyed by airport baggage handlers (despite a hardshell case built like a bank vault), nearly having it fallen on at a party, and narrowly avoiding having some lush spill his beer through the sound hole, I got myself an inexpensive guitar to use at parties and such, or when I was traveling (unless I was going to do a concert, and then I insisted on taking it on board with me—most of the time they let me, if I was adamant enough). I practiced on the Martin classic at home and used it when performing. Other than that, I used the one that would be fairly easy and inexpensive to replace. It sounded good enough for most parties and songfests, and I didn't have to worry about it.

I've since been using pretty up-scale Spanish-made classics. But I keep a pretty good "student model" classic for knocking around with. It looks like my concert guitar, and it sounds good enough so that most people can't tell the difference.

Insurance.

Don Firth