I own four guitars. I've owned many guitars, but five is the most I have owned at one point in time. Maybe I should buy one so I can take part in the poll.
Jeebus,...
Are you saying that I might actually be a musician?!
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Phew.
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Yeah I totally messed that up and couldn't edit it after the fact.
No worries. I will buy just one more.
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 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.
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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.
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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How much space does it take to house all that?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 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