Re: Can we talk about owning many guitars?
First, I know the definition of "many" will vary depending on each person's own perception. For the sake of this thread let's say more than 10 guitars is many.
I own a total of 11 stringed instruments. Nine electric guitars, one acoustic, and one bass. At one time I owned only two electrics (a primary and a back up) and it seemed unfathomable to me that I would ever have close to a dozen. I find at this point that my GAS has seriously curbed and when it does surface all I need to do is remind myself how many things I've already got. There's a few pieces I'd really like still but overall I've got all the bases pretty covered.
Now for those of you who own a LOT of guitars, I'm curious about a few things. This isn't a bash or dig on the subject, I'm genuinely asking out of a curiosity.
1. How do you keep track of what you have? I sometimes have trouble remembering if I've got 5 Telecasters or 6 on the wall. When you've got 30 guitars, how does it not become a blur? How do you manage your collection?
2. When you GAS for new stuff does the cheaper stuff still turn you on? Like if you've already got a $5000 Les Paul, does buying a new Indonesian Epi still turn your crank?
3. At what point do you become a collector moreso than a player? Let's be honest, we all could probably get by with one or two guitars if all we were interested in was playing. I'm guilty of it myself. I recently divested myself of some amps because it was getting silly.
4. Do you play them all? When you could play a different guitar every week and not touch the same guitar twice for 6 months or even a year, how do you keep them all fresh in your mind (or hands)?
5. Something I have found as my collection grew is that I don't feel nearly as intimately connected with all of them. Back when I played mostly the same guitar for years, that guitar was like a part of me. I knew it like the back of my hand. Nowadays I don't have that connection with most of my guitars simply because there's so many and I play a different one all the time. I'm curious how those who have even larger collections feel about this.
Discuss!
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1. I keep track in my head. It isn't that hard, because they all mean something to me in some way, and the collection was built gradually over a period of decades.
2. Cheaper stuff is less and less interesting to me as the years move on. I've been playing since 1988, and buying and selling instruments (mostly buying – not much selling, really) since about 1995. I didn't
really get into it until probably 2001 or 2002. Since then, and especially in the past five years or so, my collection has morphed into being primarily U.S.A. made stuff (not that this means
high end U.S.A. made stuff). And most of the import stuff that is there is far from being import stuff of the total crap variety.
The import stuff I still have is: 1) two Mexican Strats, neither of which are going anywhere. I am the original owner of both (bought one in 2005 and one in 2012), and have modded them to suit me over the years. 2) three Japanese Fenders (two Strats and a Tele), none of which are going anywhere either. I'm the original owner of one of them (bought in 2004), and my late father was the original owner of the other (bought in 1994). The other (the '85 MIJ I mentioned above) was my first guitar, aside from being excellent, so it's staying for good too. All are excellent guitars, as well as being very sentimental to me. 3) A Chinese made G&L Tribute Jerry Cantrell signature model. This is one of the best guitars I've ever played. It's not going anywhere. 4) Two Indonesian made guitars – a G&L Tribute Ascari GTS and a Dean ML 35th Anniversary). The Indonesian ones are the ones that are not set in stone in my collection. They are the worst quality, so they get played the least, pending mods. But they are also the lowest priority to mod, so they largely sit. If anything gets sold, it will be these two. I got the G&L because I generally liked the way it looked, I don't have any guitar like it (Les Paul-esque construction with Strat-esque form), it's a somewhat "historic" instrument, being G&L's first set neck, and thought it would make a decent modding platform. I got the Dean for looks, and it also happens to be a very good sounding guitar, bone stock. It just has the usual cheap-o import issues (bad fret work, bad nut, bad bridge, bad tuners, etc.).
The answer the question more directly, I don't really have much desire to get a cheap Squier, MIM Fender, or Epiphone and soup it up. Now I have a decent, steady job, so I can save up for a nicer guitar a lot quicker than I used to be able to, and I know how to make my own bodies and finish them at home. I'd usually rather buy a nice guitar outright, or take my time and design my own build from the ground up...or buy a lacquer finished guitar that is easy to strip and refin, and give it a refinish and maybe a few mods. I'm generally not into anything with a poly finish any more. I just don't like the plasticky look and they way they age less than gracefully. So, for the most part, I'm pretty done with most lower end guitars. (I still want to get one of those Yamaha Pacificas with the single P-Rails, though.)
3. I would consider myself a collector if I insisted on keeping everything in mint condition, cased up and untouched, and/or did weird crap like buying a new line of guitars in every available color, just to have them all. I consider myself a hobbyist, which is halfway between being a pure player and a pure collector.
4. I
can play them all, with no qualms. That is, nothing is there just to sit. It's either ready to be grabbed and played any time I want, or it's in some state of disrepair, waiting to be fixed so that it can be. Do I get to all of them equally all the time? No. That's largely because I don't play nearly as much as I'd like in general. Lots of work hours, and when I am off, I try to decompress. Logistically, living among other people, that can't be via music all the time. I play a few [unplugged] notes on bass every day, but getting to all the guitars is hard.
5. I have no problem "connecting" with any of my guitars, even if they've literally sat for years.
