I just joined this forum and came across this thread, so this is my first post! I'm an average player at best, and I consider myself primarily an amateur songwriter. I'm in my early 60s now, and I bought more (and better) guitars than I needed back when I was young, single, and free of financial responsibilities. I took a 20-year-plus hiatus from my musical hobby when I got married, helped raise my wife's two sons, went to grad school, switched careers, and helped my wife run her life-coaching side business. She retired when the pandemic hit, the boys are grown up and married, and I'm comfortable in my career, so I decided to dust off my old guitars and keyboards and get back into music.
As for how many guitars I need:Well, I have a 1996 Made-in-Mexico Fender Stratocaster, to which I added a Roland GK-2A pickup and bought a Roland VG-8 guitar processor in 1997. I recently replaced the latter with a Roland GP-10. It does an incredible job of modeling pretty much any kind of electric guitar and amp imaginable, and an okay job of modeling steel- and nylon-string acoustics. Since I write in a variety of styles, I need a variety of guitar sounds. If I were forced to choose one guitar to keep, it would be the Strat and the GP-10.
If whatever cruel person forced me to choose only one guitar showed mercy and allowed me a second guitar, it would be a six-string acoustic. I have two of those, the first being a 1996 Martin HJ-28, which I bought because I loved the sound of Amy Ray's (Indigo Girls) J-40. The HJ-28 was the less-expensive version, with herringbone rather than abalone inlay, but it gave me the sound I wanted. It's a beautiful guitar, and it was a substantial upgrade from my 1978 entry-level Yamaha dreadnaught (which was an upgrade from my first guitar, a 3/4-size Sears Silvertone).
At some point, I decided I also wanted a smaller guitar meant more for finger style than for heavy strumming. I read a review of the 2000 Taylor 714ce, which has rosewood back and sides and a cedar top. I usually found Taylors too lacking in low end for my tastes, but the reviewer said this model was quite balanced. My local music store had one, and I loved it, and I bought it. This probably is my favorite guitar, and it's the one I'd keep if I had to choose between it and the Martin. Fortunately, I don't have to choose.
Moving from "need" into "nice to have" territory is a nylon-string. I have a 1976 Giannini AWNM2I that I bought for $60 when I was 17 because my best friend was a classical-guitar snob who told me I needed a classical in addition to the Silvertone he'd sold me a couple years before. I don't play classical music, but friends who do say that it sounds surprisingly good for a cheap laminate guitar, and I enjoy playing it for Latin or Willie Nelson vibes.
Last is a 12-string. I've long been a Gordon Lightfoot fan, so I bought a cheap Fender F-330-12 on clearance at a music store in 1983. The action is high, and I suppose I could have it lowered, but it does the job when I need that jangly rhythm sound.
Moving on to guitars I don't need: When I was 19, a friend and I decided we were going to be the next Lennon and McCartney. He told me, "Your classical guitar won't cut it. You need an electric." With $240 in my pocket, we went to a local pawn shop. I wanted a Stratocaster, but they were all $300. There was a Gibson, though, for $220. I didn't find out until years later what it was: a 1971 SG Deluxe. It has the LP pick guard rather than the usual batwing. It was never popular, so it was made for only two years, during a period when Gibson had quality-control problems. It's a beautiful guitar, but it was never worth very much -- until now, when it's worth about 10 times what I paid for it because it's rare and in great condition. I have a similarly unloved-at-the-time Gibson EB-4L bass guitar that's worth almost as much because it's rare. I'm planning to sell those two, buy a mid-range crossover nylon-string and a mid-range 12-string, and pocket the leftover cash.
So I guess, for me, four guitars are enough: one electric, one six-string acoustic (although I'm keeping two), one nylon-string, and one 12-string acoustic.
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