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For the first ten years of playing, I only owned one guitar. Which meant that if that guitar needed work, I did that work (or paid to have someone do it) or else I wouldn't be able to play.
The luxury of multiple guitars did not enter my life until the late 90s, but it also introduced a problem. I would typically play my "best" guitar until the frets were worn down or something broke, then I would move on to another guitar.
The problem is that now I had guitar(s) in my possession that weren't 100%. There might be a scratchy pot or electrical problem. A neck screw may have stripped out and it lost tuning stability. Maybe the whammy bar worked itself loose. Or even just a broken string. Most of the time I had just played it so much that the frets were worn down, buzzing and not sounding good. Rather than spend for a level or refret, it was easier to just move to the next. At one point, my collection didn't have any playable guitars, so I bought a cheap Chinese superstrat to keep me playing.
Because I'm sentimental, I wouldn't sell these guitars so I ended up with a stable of "junk" guitars. Buying most of my guitars used from ebay didn't help because they all came into my possession in various states of repair. This problem was made worse by a busy work schedule and free time being used to play instead of repair guitars.
Over the past few years, I've gained better control of my guitar collection. This started by selling off a few guitars that I was not "in love" with, and buying some new retail guitars. But also learning how to level and crown frets let me get a worn guitar back in service.
I'm looking at my small collection and for the first time, I have a set of guitars that I can grab any of them and make music. This past week was devoted to fixing them up. If I had paid a tech for this work, it would probably be up around 1K-1.5K. There is still one guitar that I'd like to do a full crown/level to get a little better action, but not sure if worth it.
I am amazed when I see people with huge collections. How do you maintain them? Are they all 100% playable (with great fretwork, no scratchy pots, no stability issues), or are most of them just eye candy in various states of repair?
The luxury of multiple guitars did not enter my life until the late 90s, but it also introduced a problem. I would typically play my "best" guitar until the frets were worn down or something broke, then I would move on to another guitar.
The problem is that now I had guitar(s) in my possession that weren't 100%. There might be a scratchy pot or electrical problem. A neck screw may have stripped out and it lost tuning stability. Maybe the whammy bar worked itself loose. Or even just a broken string. Most of the time I had just played it so much that the frets were worn down, buzzing and not sounding good. Rather than spend for a level or refret, it was easier to just move to the next. At one point, my collection didn't have any playable guitars, so I bought a cheap Chinese superstrat to keep me playing.
Because I'm sentimental, I wouldn't sell these guitars so I ended up with a stable of "junk" guitars. Buying most of my guitars used from ebay didn't help because they all came into my possession in various states of repair. This problem was made worse by a busy work schedule and free time being used to play instead of repair guitars.
Over the past few years, I've gained better control of my guitar collection. This started by selling off a few guitars that I was not "in love" with, and buying some new retail guitars. But also learning how to level and crown frets let me get a worn guitar back in service.
I'm looking at my small collection and for the first time, I have a set of guitars that I can grab any of them and make music. This past week was devoted to fixing them up. If I had paid a tech for this work, it would probably be up around 1K-1.5K. There is still one guitar that I'd like to do a full crown/level to get a little better action, but not sure if worth it.
I am amazed when I see people with huge collections. How do you maintain them? Are they all 100% playable (with great fretwork, no scratchy pots, no stability issues), or are most of them just eye candy in various states of repair?
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