How many guitars do you own?

[Boogie Bill]

Re: How many guitars do you own?

I feel much better now, at 44, I no longer think I have a real problem. I guess I can seek therapy if I get to 68.
Do you have a variety or do you lean towards a specific type, mfgr etc?


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I was very fortunate in my career to have found some incredible deals on great guitars (and amps). Went through some rough times but came out of it mostly intact. I found a lovely woman who has been marvelously supportive of my career, enabling even.

I tend to buy specific items that I like, so at 67 guitars, I have a lot of duplicates. By the time I was 28 (circa 1978) I had pretty much defined the features I liked in my guitars. Joining a band in 1993 further changed and solidified that list.

I have always loved Fender guitars and have owned a Leo Fender-designed guitar my entire playing life. I love Strats, and now play G&L Legacys, Comanches, S-500 and Legacy Specials. A bunch of them; all set up to play and feel exactly the same.

And since 1973, I've owned Gibsons. I have 11 Les Pauls (too many!), but lately I've enjoyed using my 335s with my band.

I've also amassed a collection of Martin dreadnoughts. Better inventory than Guitar Center. Truth.

And there are some others from Ibanez, Taylor, Takamine acoustic 12-strings, vintage Music Man Sabres, DanElectro 12-strings...even a lone Fender Precision Lyte bass...and a BANJO! And I love them all. I have a bond with all my guitars. And yes, storage is an issue, even in a house.

Because I KNOW what I like, I've resisted getting a baritone, 7- or 8-string, Jazz Box, Gretsch, Ric, small bodied acoustics, etc. I just wouldn't use them enough to justify the cost.

And I have bought with an eye towards investment, finding some great deals that will hopefully grow in value as the years go by.

One last thing. This is really my only vice. No hot car, no golf, skiing, fishing, hunting, art, wine, gambling, smoking, exotic vacations, or children going without shoes. No real retirement fund either, sad to say. Guitars are what I love.

They ARE my therapy.

Bill

[FuseG4]

Re: How many guitars do you own?

I got a strat, a tele, jazzmaster, and pj bass.
I've owned 5 guitars at once a few times but I always feel guilty about it cuz I play at the intermediate hobbyist level and...
Since I went down to 3 guitars I feel more of that bond with each one where I go "I know how to get X sound from this" pretty quick.
In fact I've only played my tele for maybe 3 months now an I like it more than ever

[BeKindRewind]

Re: How many guitars do you own?

So as I mentioned before I have 13 guitars . I want to bring it down to 1... Maybe 2 or 3 but it's really hard. Anyone have any advice for "letting go"? I have 2 Stratocasters and an SG I pretty much never play but they're super gorgeous and awesome guitars. Also got a handful of Jacksons I never play, but they're rare and I don't want to lose them. I think my main trouble is I don't want to sell them cause they're somewhat rare and hard to replace if I ever wanted them back.

One of the Stratocasters is one I bought brand new in 2007. It got stolen in 2009. Thought it was gone forever, till (2016 or 2017, can't remember.) when a friend of mine finally found it in a pawn shop, I showed the police the receipt , and got it back. Somehow, it is still in very nearly mint condition. So... It has some sentimental value but I NEVER play it. It needs to go but I can't.

I live in a small apartment and I have a kid now and there's just absolutely no space for all of these axes. Our entire closet is full of guitars. My Ibanez is my best playing one and since it's HSH it can kinda get every tone I need. It's the one I play all day every day but yet I still can't find a way to let go of my other 12.

Anyone else go through this kinda traumatic realization that they need to get rid of a bunch and have this mental block that makes it impossible ? How did you move past it ?

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[NegativeEase]

Re: How many guitars do you own?

Sounds like you are underestimating the variety of guitars. And consider if you are working, you often need two; one as a backup.

6-string HH gibson maple top type
6-string HH gibson solid type
6-string SSS Strat type
6-string SS Tele type
6-String P-90 type
6-String Filtertron type
6-String HH semi hollow
6-String P-90 semi hollow
6-string single PU punk/rocker type
6-string HSH Floyd shredder
12-string solid
12-string semi hollow
6-string electric sitar
6-string acoustic classical
6-string acoustic steel dread
6-string acoustic steel jumbo
12-string acoustic dread or jumbo

I’m up to 17 uniquely different guitars that sound different. Then there’s different pickups and wiring of the same guitar. Different necks, bodies, woods. If you work for 40 years, playing everything from metal to country to classical to pop, you will eventually use or have a need for all of these types.

Some people might have a collecting problem. Others just have been at it a while and acquired stuff along the way. Sure, at some point one can thin the herd. But I’ve been burned enough where I sold something off then needed it 2 months later when I got a call. If I thin the herd, I’ll have to start saying no more and more to music opportunities, and I just don’t want to do that yet.

That's a nice varied list -similar to my approach -my approach for so many guitars was for recording versatility less than live applications.

I think for live, GuitarStv's comments make a ton of sense and I agree ... but for a recording studio -man it's really hard not to have the best possible varied options of hammers.

[beaubrummels]

Re: How many guitars do you own?

Sure, I can buy the argument that a guitar is a tool. Let's say it's a hammer. Now, you might need different hammers . . . maybe a framing hammer, a dead blow hammer, a sledgehammer, a ball-peen hammer. Cool. But it gets weird is when people have like 50 - 60 hammers in their tool bag. There's a framing hammer with a red grip, and a framing hammer with a black grip, and a framing hammer with a yellow grip. But they're all ****ing framing hammers. Or a ball peen hammer that weighs 12 oz and a ball peen hammer that weighs 13 oz and a ball peen hammer that weighs 14 oz. But they're all ****ing ball peen hammers. At some point you've got to face the fact that you've got a hammer buying problem. (And likely the world's heaviest tool bag.) It just seems kinda wasteful and unnecessary.

Keep a couple good hammers that you really like, and get rid of the rest. That 13 oz ball peen hammer is going to be able to handle any task the 14 oz one will.

:P

Sounds like you are underestimating the variety of guitars. And consider if you are working, you often need two; one as a backup.

6-string HH gibson maple top type
6-string HH gibson solid type
6-string SSS Strat type
6-string SS Tele type
6-String P-90 type
6-String Filtertron type
6-String HH semi hollow
6-String P-90 semi hollow
6-string single PU punk/rocker type
6-string HSH Floyd shredder
12-string solid
12-string semi hollow
6-string electric sitar
6-string acoustic classical
6-string acoustic steel dread
6-string acoustic steel jumbo
12-string acoustic dread or jumbo

I’m up to 17 uniquely different guitars that sound different. Then there’s different pickups and wiring of the same guitar. Different necks, bodies, woods. If you work for 40 years, playing everything from metal to country to classical to pop, you will eventually use or have a need for all of these types.

Some people might have a collecting problem. Others just have been at it a while and acquired stuff along the way. Sure, at some point one can thin the herd. But I’ve been burned enough where I sold something off then needed it 2 months later when I got a call. If I thin the herd, I’ll have to start saying no more and more to music opportunities, and I just don’t want to do that yet.

[GuitarStv]

Re: How many guitars do you own?

Bonding with a guitar is not a requirement. But a skilled/experienced musician can find sufficient bond with an instrument to record or perform within very short order anyway.

I guess I'm an unskilled/unexperienced musician though. It can take me years until I'm comfortable writing on a different guitar. I use my Epiphone Dot, or my Charvel strat for everything I do . . . and can hear exactly how something I'm writing will sound when played through the guitar before I even pick it up. I know exactly what settings to use to get different sounds. I know where on the fretboard the guitar seems to sing best. I know exactly how to contort my hand to reach the highest frets, and what limitations that will put on my playing. I know how the volume and tone will react with every pedal I own.

Sure, you can pick up any guitar and play it. But a guitar that you have a bond with is like an old friend. You understand each other, and have learned to work together in a way that random guitar 6999934 from the pile just can't replicate.

I have many tools in my tool bags out in storage. I don’t romanticize or bond with all of them, but I definitely needed them for a job and it would be too expensive to buy them again next time I have a similar job. Many of the guitars are the same way. The few I’ve “bonded with” or that I find myself using most frequently stay nearby in the house. A number of guitars have rotated in and out of that “frequently used” slot over the years, depending on the era and style of music I find myself playing and getting opportunities to play. Because they have all enjoyed the #1 spot at some point, they stay in the stable.

Sure, I can buy the argument that a guitar is a tool. Let's say it's a hammer. Now, you might need different hammers . . . maybe a framing hammer, a dead blow hammer, a sledgehammer, a ball-peen hammer. Cool. But it gets weird is when people have like 50 - 60 hammers in their tool bag. There's a framing hammer with a red grip, and a framing hammer with a black grip, and a framing hammer with a yellow grip. But they're all ****ing framing hammers. Or a ball peen hammer that weighs 12 oz and a ball peen hammer that weighs 13 oz and a ball peen hammer that weighs 14 oz. But they're all ****ing ball peen hammers. At some point you've got to face the fact that you've got a hammer buying problem. (And likely the world's heaviest tool bag.) It just seems kinda wasteful and unnecessary.

Keep a couple good hammers that you really like, and get rid of the rest. That 13 oz ball peen hammer is going to be able to handle any task the 14 oz one will.

:P

[NegativeEase]

Re: How many guitars do you own?

As mentioned on this forum and thread before, I have over 30,... but most are very specific things for studio sounds -it's not like I own more than one or two of any type of guitar . (this is my mental defense for a habit that has clearly gone to hoarder stage) . Anyways I'm going to be living in an RV and traveling ONLY (no more house or hotels, own studio or rehearsal or storage space) after the next 5 years and plan to get down to 4-5 or so guitars total.

-but I went to sell 2 of them this week and just couldn't bear to hand it over to someone I didn't know..... It was agonizing...... So instead.....I gave 2 guitars away this week (A Gretsch Hollowbody and a Tele style hot rod) this week to friends where I knew I could buy them back one day or at least locate them to make sure they are ok and doing fine (the guitars that is) My only condition to giving them was that if they ever decide to sell it, I get first opportunity to purchase back.

So now the plan is to give away my guitars to close friends instead of sell -so I guess my brother's getting like 5 and my nephews 2 or 3, Bandmates a few and a few studio people who would use them instead of Reverbing them in agony.

[TrutheYashikawa]

Re: How many guitars do you own?

Ok so I just sold my 1991 EVH Ernie Ball musicman, great guitar, but I prefer my new custom shop Jackson KV2F as I play metal

I have an incredible cheap little fender strat £1100 truly awesome tones.

I am selling my 3rd guitar a Ibanez S520, lovely guitar but I have the KV2F for metal so I just don't need it.

I probably won't buy another guitar ever again! Only tweeking of pedals and use of my Line 6 Pod HD Pro X and my Fender ProSonic

[BriGuy1968]

Re: How many guitars do you own?

No worries. I will buy just one more.

Famous last words…


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[Lovegun]

Re: How many guitars do you own?

Yeah I totally messed that up and couldn't edit it after the fact.

No worries. I will buy just one more.

[vinnie1971]

Re: How many guitars do you own?

I sold, traded or gave the ones I don’t bond with.
So I’m only left with guitars I love and play Which I think number 10 guitars, 2 acoustics, a flamenco guitar, a square neck dobro, 2 lap steels and a bass.

I’d say 8 doesn’t sound enough !


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[SAguitar]

Re: How many guitars do you own?

I have about 20+ guitars, including 3 basses and one acoustic. About 8-10 of the electrics get the majority of playing time. I should sell some, but somehow I never get around to it.

[NegativeEase]

Re: How many guitars do you own?

Phew.

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Gotta be frugal throwing out the "M" word....

[Demanic]

Re: How many guitars do you own?

Phew.

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[NegativeEase]

Re: How many guitars do you own?

Jeebus,...
Are you saying that I might actually be a musician?!

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Take it easy Demanic, let's not get carried away

We are all dudes picking on guitars and maybe guitarists...