Your guitar population - personal attachment, cool stuff, work stuff?

[uOpt]

I really, really, need to sell some of my guitars. It was bad enough all along but now that I play more bass things are out of control. I just can't make up my mind what to let go of.

Out of all your guitars, what percentage do you think fall into these categories?

• #1 This guitar is just cool, as in others will find it cool, too
• #2 Don't sell because there is a personal attachment, it's cool to me but probably not to others
• #3 Don't sell because I actually have a need for it, it covers some sounds I need for me actually playing the thing in a band instead of just posting about it on the Interwebz
• #4 It is vintage or collectible and I keep it as an investment
• #5 It isn't vintage or collectible but prices are temporarily low for this particular kind of guitar and I don't want to sell low
• #6 They fall into a specific category of items I collect for my own satisfaction, e.g. 1980s Charvels or MIJ Les Pauls or whatever

I wanted to post my answers but it's actually difficult to answer. I only have one investment grade guitar and the personal attachment ones are mostly cheap, so that is under control. I struggle with the others.

BTW, if you want Phat Staple black Burny LPC it might be the time.

 

[Wattage]

Re: Your guitar population - personal attachment, cool stuff, work stuff?

My primary investment quality guitar is in pieces so it isn't going anywhere any time soon even if I want to get rid of it, unless someone wants to buy a '62 LP/SG Custom and put it back together. I have some others that are in various states of disrepair as well but no where's near the value of that piece.

The rest of my guitars are players are for playing, if they're sitting for too long they usually get moved. Any guitars I had real sentimental feelings for are long gone and are apparently never coming back. Though I think my LP Special is floating around here and I would make a really good offer to get that back if he ever decides to sell it.

Right now I have one guitar for sale because it is redundant and I can't mod it to be what I am looking for. Nothing at all wrong with it other than it doesn't serve a purpose for me right now, it served me well and even got featured in artwork for my last CD. It owes me nothing and I am sure I won't regret letting it go. I do have a guitar I am on the fence about selling and it might be sentiment, I really love the guitar, I just have kind of moved on from that style guitar (getting old I guess?).

Oh I do buy them all because I think they are cool ;-)

 

[ExplorersRock]

Re: Your guitar population - personal attachment, cool stuff, work stuff?

• #1 This guitar is just cool, as in others will find it cool, too - 47%
• #2 Don't sell because there is a personal attachment, it's cool to me but probably not to others - 20%
• #3 Don't sell because I actually have a need for it, it covers some sounds I need for me actually playing the thing in a band instead of just posting about it on the Interwebz - 40%
• #4 It is vintage or collectible and I keep it as an investment - 0%
• #5 It isn't vintage or collectible but prices are temporarily low for this particular kind of guitar and I don't want to sell low - 0%
• #6 They fall into a specific category of items I collect for my own satisfaction, e.g. 1980s Charvels or MIJ Les Pauls or whatever - 13%

 

[Funkfingers]

Re: Your guitar population - personal attachment, cool stuff, work stuff?

If you wish to make the culling decision easier, imagine that you have just lost your job, you are cold and hungry and your immediate nuclear family is glaring at you in the expectation that you will continue to provide.

 

[blueman335]

Re: Your guitar population - personal attachment, cool stuff, work stuff?

I really, really, need to sell some of my guitars. It was bad enough all along but now that I play more bass things are out of control. I just can't make up my mind what to let go of.

Guidelines:
1) Keep what you play the most often.
2) Keep what you gig with, it generates revenue.
3) Sell what's the easiest to replace, in case you later decide you want one of those.
4) If it's an investment, is the price likely to increase, or has it maxed out for the foreseeable future?
5) Don't sell any for less than you think is a fair price, don't blow them out.
6) What would you miss, and what can you live without, without regrets?

 

[jon the art guy]

Re: Your guitar population - personal attachment, cool stuff, work stuff?

3 guitars, 2 basses for me. A single coiler, a humbucker and an acoustic. Basses would end up being my EB3 with the oddball tones and a P/J to cover the spread.

I'd probably sell my Godin and Hamer for an Epi/Gib Nighthawk or a Vox SCC55 and kill two birds with one stone. I also think the P/J bass could go; I'd figure out a way to make my EB3 work.

Investing in guitars always seemed antithetical to music to me. If you're going to invest, you should lock those guitars somewhere where you can't access them and they'll be hermetically safe.

 

[ItsaBass]

Re: Your guitar population - personal attachment, cool stuff, work stuff?

All I would really need to do pretty much any gig is either my Esquire or a Les Paul Junior, and an acoustic. The others I have just because I want them, or because of sentimental attachment. My '85 and '94 MIJ Strats both fall into the sentimental category.

I also have a few "vintage" ones that I would probably never get rid of. Those include my '27 Martin, and my trio of guitars from 1968: a Guild F50, a Gibson ES330, and an SG Standard. Two of them are too sentimental to sell (the Martin and the SG), and the other two are just too good to sell (the 330 and the Guild).

I keep a few guitars just because they are very cool, and also somewhat rare. These include both of my G&L Legacys, my Dean Z Professional, my Dean ML '77 reissue, and my Aerodyne Tele. Some day, I'll probably cave on the ML, and maybe the Aerodyne. I've owned both since they were new.

My Les Paul ('04) and my Explorer ('06) are mostly for looks. I don't even really love 2xHB guitars all that much. But my Paul is probably the coolest color ever, and they aren't that common. I am the first owner, so it is also a bit sentimental.

My '83 LP Custom I keep partly out of sentimentality. I've owned it for 11 or 12 years now, and at the time, I put so much effort into finding it and purchasing it for a good deal. I was in love with that guitar for many years, but I have fallen out of love now. I have basically decided to sell it, but have been too lazy to try and get top dollar for it, so it still sits. It's all original except for the pickguard/bracket, and one strip of binding on the head that has been replaced.

I'm basically down to stuff that I really don't ever want to sell. Yet my music room is still overflowing with ****, and I've been out of a real job since late August. Something's gotta give in this next year.

 

[PFDarkside]

Re: Your guitar population - personal attachment, cool stuff, work stuff?

I have a similar situation, I feel like I always am playing only a few guitars of mine for long periods of time. I'm seriously thinking about thinning out and buying up to:

-Strat
-Les Paul
-Acoustic
-"Sentimental" guitars (like my Epi LP, worth far more to me than anyone else )

Perhaps a second of each, like a maple and rosewood variation of the Strat, but basically a small stable of excellent guitars that I know inside and out. And attempting to enjoy the journey getting to that place.

 

[erksin]

Re: Your guitar population - personal attachment, cool stuff, work stuff?

I've proven to myself this this year that I have too many guitars (9 all together) - 3 haven't left their cases at all so far and it's almost December, 3 rotate in every so often for maybe a week and then they go back in the closet, 2 others split maybe 30% of my playtime, and 1 is played a good 70% of the time I pick up an instrument.

I have 5 that I simply cannot sell for a variety of reasons (heirlooms I plan on handing down to my son, guitars I've built myself, gifts from family), one I'd only sell if I had to, and 3 that are very nervous right now. lol

 

[MetalManiac]

Re: Your guitar population - personal attachment, cool stuff, work stuff?

i have 10 or 12 guitars. Most of them I put together meself.

My best guitar is a Gibson '85 Les paul DC with special frets cause I cannot stand the fretless wonders it came with. I also have a real Gibson V. Excellent,and takes all the guesswork out, cause the stock fretwork is perfect( thats the thing about Gibson some don't realize). Still, how I would live to have that V with 6000 Dunlop frets!

Then I put together a very nice 80's parts Strat, that doesn't play that perfect, but sounds the best of any of my Starts.

Then I put together my perfect modern player Strat, with exactly the specs for my ideal playing style. Its a modern sound, and it plays perfect.

Then I put together a few novelty guitars just for sh!ts and giggles.

I also put together some intermediate guitars that play very well, but have a novelty factor going on.

I also assembled some really excellent all Warmoth and Strat budget super modified parts guitars that and and play exceptional, and sound great ,but have more of a modern than vintage vibe.

Then I also have some budget guitars for a platform to experiment that also play very very well compared to most guitars, becasue I learned how t set them up and do leveling and stuff..

Many of my parts guitars are bolt on necks, and built around certain pickups.

Stay tuned , I am going to elaborate on this. Great post, and right up my Baliwick.

 

[scottish]

Re: Your guitar population - personal attachment, cool stuff, work stuff?

I have 2 guitars i own because i play them. I have 8 guitars i own because for some reason or another i love them.

 

[Kac]

Re: Your guitar population - personal attachment, cool stuff, work stuff?

Had some personal attachment to one guitar, but I shipped it out a few days ago, so my collection is now all about functionality and what's fun to play at the time. No attachment, if I feel the need to sell the guitar I'm getting on Friday then I'll let it go on Saturday.


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[scottish]

Re: Your guitar population - personal attachment, cool stuff, work stuff?

btw...you feel the need to sell because you think you are just wasting money by having them or you actually want to raise some cash? Because if you can afford them then keep them.

 

[jon the art guy]

Re: Your guitar population - personal attachment, cool stuff, work stuff?

I think I get where he's coming from if it isn't a financial problem. Same reason why I want to sell my Hamer I'm stalled out on slapping together. "Why is this here if I'm not making use of it? FIND A HOME FOR IT"

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[Andrew Lamprecht]

Re: Your guitar population - personal attachment, cool stuff, work stuff?

I have one guitar.

 

[TheLivingDead]

Re: Your guitar population - personal attachment, cool stuff, work stuff?

• #1 This guitar is just cool, as in others will find it cool, too - 21%
• #2 Don't sell because there is a personal attachment, it's cool to me but probably not to others - 79%
• #3 Don't sell because I actually have a need for it, it covers some sounds I need for me actually playing the thing in a band instead of just posting about it on the Interwebz - 0%
• #4 It is vintage or collectible and I keep it as an investment - 0%
• #5 It isn't vintage or collectible but prices are temporarily low for this particular kind of guitar and I don't want to sell low - 0%
• #6 They fall into a specific category of items I collect for my own satisfaction, e.g. 1980s Charvels or MIJ Les Pauls or whatever - 0%

 

[uOpt]

Re: Your guitar population - personal attachment, cool stuff, work stuff?

btw...you feel the need to sell because you think you are just wasting money by having them or you actually want to raise some cash? Because if you can afford them then keep them.

There's also the space issue. Limited hobby room, shared with datacenter.

 

[Diminished Triad]

Re: Your guitar population - personal attachment, cool stuff, work stuff?

There's also the space issue. Limited hobby room, shared with datacenter.

What "might" you sell soon? That might help!

 

[Boogie Bill]

Re: Your guitar population - personal attachment, cool stuff, work stuff?

I'm going through a bit of agony right now, trying to decide what to do with my oldest guitar. It is a 1975 Martin D-28 that I bought new 38 years ago. It has seen nearly all the major events of my life...an outlet for frustration...a comforting companion...a money maker...a tool, and a work of art. It is scarred and worn...mojo in spades. The finish is cracked and yellowed with time. It smells faintly of sweet spruce and stale cigarettes, having seen the inside of every dive bar I performed in for thirty years. The headstock broke off when I dropped it during the 2000 Seattle earthquake, and it has a new neck. While it has a tremendously sweet and mellow tone, yet it has a very soft voice. It's not the bluegrass cannon you expect a Martin to be.

I have other, "better" guitars...louder, prettier guitars. Yet, I can't let this old war horse go; it just doesn't seem right. So it doesn't get played much anymore, and it is a shame. An old friend, a brother, a lover...simply slipping away. When I hold it, I am always transported back in time.

I can let go of the guitar, but I am finding it very difficult to let go of the memories. So I think I'll hang on to it a little while longer; give it a few more strums, find a few more love songs to write.

It has been a long and satisfying love affair...why should I end it when there is more love to be made.

Bill

 

[uOpt]

Re: Your guitar population - personal attachment, cool stuff, work stuff?

What "might" you sell soon? That might help!

Black Burny Phat Staple LPC, my Greco EG-1000C and the black Hamer Sunburst need thinking over. They are case queens here.