Not Worthy...

williamtk2018 , I'm very much a fan of Eastman guitars, and I'll tell you that I don't care if you're a rank beginner or an expert, getting a guitar that sings to you will be the best purchase you ever make. So don't worry about not 'feeling worthy.' Grab it and enjoy it!

And if, as @tbeltrans suggests, you find it's not a guitar to your taste, I doubt you'll have much trouble selling it. Heck, I might look into it myself. 

I own 11 guitars. 6 have electronics built in, 5 do not. I just bought an iRig Acoustic Stage Microphone so I can play the 5 without electronics at the Open Mic. So, I now have 11 different guitars I can take on Monday night. I have brought 7 different ones so far... 😲🙄🤔😁

I have more guitars than an individual of my skill level "should" have. But, according to whom? 🤔
At least I play them all... 😁

Enjoy, enjoy, enjoy! Life is too short...

I'm with @sleigh, on this one.  If a guitar rocks your world and you can afford it, then grab it!  Any guitar that's going to make you wanna play more is the guitar you should have, worthy has nothing to do with it.

The only guitar you shouldn't have is the one you don't wanna play. 

When you consider those instruments made by a luthier or very small shop, consider the wage per hour that these people need to make a living and keep their equipment running. Just as the rest of us need to make a certain amount to make a living, so do they. I never gave this much thought until my younger brother tried to make a living building fine classical guitars after apprenticing for a substantial period of time and spending several years continuing to build and learn before putting his instruments out for sale. He said that at the prices he could get for his guitars, by the time one was finished, he might make $4 or $5 an hour for his work.

I talked to a master plumber recently who told me pretty much what he makes and how much formal training and on the job apprenticeship he had to go through as well as experience on the job to reach that level. The total was more than 5 years and his pay was nearly what I made as a full time engineer. He had to put in a year more than I needed of education to qualify for my job. A guy building guitars, unless s/he has a very recognizable name and desirable product with a long waiting list, won't make anywhere near that despite having to put in similar amounts of time and effort to truly learn his or her craft.

With all that said, we each expect to be paid a decent wage for whatever work it is that we do.

Of course, there is also a cultural bias against the guitar as being the "instrument for the masses". A violin of similar quality and provenance as a fine handmade guitar will usually cost many times what the guitar will cost. The advantage to guitar players is that we can outright purchase a world class handmade instrument, where such violins are often sponsored to a player with a proven track record as a world class performer. Whether we guitar players choose to do that or not, we have that choice due to the relative affordability.

Even the carbon fiber versions of violins and such cost far more than decent quality carbon fiber guitars. Again, this works in our favor as players.

With regard to mass produced factory guitars, the cost per hour is amortized across lots of guitars being produced in a given day, week, or month. I suppose if we cut out all the middle people and buy factory direct, then there could be an argument that these could be priced much lower. Whether or not they would be priced lower is a different story, but the numbers should support doing so. With all the middle people involved, the problem is that each needs to take their cut and make a living. To me, factory direct might be a better option, though we would have to go to the factory or know somebody who has the model(s) and brand(s) we are interested in to try before we buy, since there wouldn't be any local guitar shops anymore since they are a part of the middle people chain.

Tony

TonyKgull,

Agreed. I look for deals too. It is up to the seller to make sure that whatever deals s/he is offering, are not done so at the expensive running the business. The seller wants to maximize profit and the buyer wants to minimize cost.

Tony

ladyssolo, I disagree. If you love it that much, and want to play it that much, and feel that you can play it for the rest of your life then you are definitely worthy of it.