That's a lot of guitars!

[raysachs]

I'm not a collector or someone who even enjoys having more than a couple of options available for any given day. For the way I'm wired, too many options leads me to spend too much time considering my options and too little time actually playing MUSIC. I don't presume that's true of anyone else - if you like having lots of guitars, go for it - but I know from experience it's true of me.

I have two acoustics (one rosewood, one mahogany) and one electric (strat guy for 45 years) that I play all the time and cover 95% of my wants/needsj. I also have a third acoustic and a second electric that play very specific roles and I'll keep them for a long long time, but they don't get played very much and I doubt they ever will. Either of those could go if necessary, but so far, not necessary, so they stay. For some people five is a lot of guitars, for others it's a drop in their much larger buckets. For me, it's right at this point in my life. When I was younger, I went about 30 years with one acoustic and one electric and never thought about wanting more. Now I basically have two acoustics and one electric in regular rotation, which isn't functionally very different than one of each, but I do have a couple of purpose specific backups that hang around and watch and listen for that rare moment when I summon them off the bench...

It's working for me...

-Ray

[Br1ck]

Obviously the most important number is going from none to one. I spent twenty years going from one plywood guitar to one pretty decent Martin M 36, and I played that for another twenty. Yes I built partscasters and basses, but I had one good acoustic after witch I could walk out of any guitar shop pang free.

Now I have my A list and a variety of cheaper instruments I call niche fillers. Parlor, 12 string, square neck reso, ultra cheapo department store arch top, the kind of stuff I could jettison with ease. My A list comes down to my Martin Custom D 35, my 65 Epiphone Texan, and a 70 Guild D 35. I rotate these three and have a Martin 00 15 Custom that gets now and then play.

I see no need for more, but must confess to a modest mandolin collection of four. The only upgrade that might be worth it, would be to sell out for one good vintage D 18 and one really good mandolin. I'm not a collector.

I've also changed my focus from buying to playing. Playing better is IT for me now.

[DBW]

I play and enjoy all of my guitars. I have 13 total- 6 acoustics and 7 electrics. I also have a resonator, a lap steel, a mandolin, and a violin that I don't include in the count. It's a journey and an experience.

[thefsb]

I have two electrics and two acoustics, one of each in standard tuning and the other in CG3 tuning.

Gear is great but it can be a distraction from music and playing.

[Rad]

I’ve never understood the collector mentality. Having said that my family thinks I’m a crazy guitar collector because I have 6 guitars…..

My 6 each fill a particular niche for me

2 solid bodies
Tele
Strat

2 hollow bodies
Thinline
Full hollowbody

2 acoustics
Dreadnought, Hog and Spruce
000, all Hog

[thefsb]

Originally Posted by Rad

I’ve never understood the collector mentality.

I believe I understand it but I don't want it for myself.

[fpuhan]

I have 36 guitars that I've acquired over some 55+ years of playing. Some I bought because I wanted the sound they promised. Some I bought just on looks or reputation alone. Still others I purchased thinking they would be "collector's items." Truth is, as my tastes (and playing ability) have changed, so have my requirements. Thus, some of these guitars get no playing time and I'm just put off by the dread of going through the selling process.

Personally, I believe everyone is a collector of some sort or other. Some people collect stamps, coins, guns, shoes, etc. My mother collected statuettes of hedgehogs! I collect refrigerator magnets. And guitars. As long as I'm not taking food out my family's mouths (I'm not), I'm not harming anyone. And guitars are lovely, working works of art.

[s2y]

I technically fall into the "collector" category at the moment due to work and kids.

Some guys have a lot of guitars. Some have a few.

I recently went to an event and the home owner had a LOT of extremely expensive guitars. He was very kind, gracious, and even let me try one to compare tone woods. On the flip side, I have been in bands with beginner gear and they were turds.

I have misc acoustics, electrics, and basses because I used to play in bands and liked to be able to do anything and everything. I hope to return to that when my kids are older.

[BluesKing777]

I have posted this before but here goes again! Incredible!


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9TXqKkcdqCw


BluesKing777.

[rstaight]

It's less expensive than motor vehicles.

[Methos1979]

I have two. I play them both. I can't stand owning things I don't use. I do like variety and will rotate them out from time to time when I get the inkling to try something new but I generally like to have 2-3 max. I need 2 gigging guitars, one to play, one as a backup just in case. Sometimes I'll have a nice higher-end wood guitar for at home playing but I almost always very quickly tire of not being able (or willing) to gig with it and sell it off.

[Sadie-f]

Presently 4, 2 acoustic (Ovation Legend and an OM-28) and 2 electric (a Fender and a Strat I built).

A soloist is in production, waiting on me to source pickups and refine bee propolis varnish for its final gloss finish. I'm waiting on an SCGC OM that's being built.

When these come in / finish, the Fender and the Ovation will probably be moved along. (My daughter will have first call on the Ovation, for now she prefers the size and simplicity of her uke).

I have 3 more builds in mind for the future, there's a section of family sourced maple burl with my name on it destined to become another electric. I will build a bearclaw spruce > maple OM a few years out, before making that guitar, I'll build a cedar > oak to practice tuning tone woods.

Finishing these may occasion moving along the om-28 .. I don't have the collector gene, and I don't think I can keep more than 3 acoustics busy. Also an a&h mixer, tascam digital recorder, a couple of high quality condenser mics and an sm-57 workhorse dynamic mic, studio and reference headphones.

So perhaps I have a collector gene wrt electronics :-)

I've also got 5 pedals (3 overdrive, phaser and looper) these are all keepers, I'm thinking of adding a delay pedal as well. My amplifier collection presently numbers 6 if you include a general purpose 5 stage credit card sized op amp based thing I built a few years back. Two, maybe three of these need to find new homes. .

About care, the SCGC will spend her first couple of years, and all her winters cased. I love having my instruments visible, either hung on (interior) walls, or on stands, however this guitar will warrant extra care. In time, I'll probably build a humidity controlled wall or floor case to keep her more accessible.

[turtlejimmy]

Originally Posted by BluesKing777

I have posted this before but here goes again! Incredible!


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9TXqKkcdqCw


BluesKing777.

It's like a guitar motel. They check in but they don't check out.



Turtle

[KenL]

Three is the right number for me.

I have five.



**shrugs shoulders**

[Rudy4]

Originally Posted by Silly Moustache

mmm, I didn't understand this "vexation of spirit" thing so googled it - something biblical it seems - still don't get it.

I DO subscribe to the "collector gene" and believe that it is something to do with the way a (largely)male brain works.

I am convinced that we still have the brains of our hunter-gatherer forefathers.
We hunt, and we gather.
In order to hunt, and lacking great claws or jaws or great speed, we need to find tools/weapons if you will.
Originally, those "things" were sticks and stones, so we search for a stick. Then we find another stick, and maybe a really sharp stone - and so it goes.

If those sticks enables us to bring down a deer or a mammoth, then it is a "lucky stick" Maybe it takes on a "magic" or "spiritual" value.

For some people those lucky sticks are cars, or bikes, or golf clubs, or .... whatever.

For me it is a beautiful box with strings that make wonderful noises, that people like to hear me playing. That makes me feel good.

Some of my magic sticks are special in that I never take hunting (i.e., take them out to play), but that's alright because I can enjoy them in my cave - especially on cold rainy days.

I don't "need" them all, but my "collection" if you will have been carefully assembled since 1998, when I finally learnt what it is in shape, and sound and most importantly, in feel - so I focussed in on those qualities.

I have three dreads (I don't need tree dreads - two was adequate, but one came out of the blue when an acquaintance, visited me with it, and a deal needed doing.

I have two 12 strings, one an expensive Martin custom, and one a cheap Harmony. i take them both out to play

I have a 000 - which is possibly the finest player I own, but not far behind are the two small Eastmans tat came to me during the time of Covid. They give me much joy.

I have a Jumbo - a Roy Smeck type which has the power of the dreads but a shorter scale for when my fingers are too painful.

I have three archtops - which is ridiculous, because I've given up trying to learn American songbook or western swing stuff, but maybe ....... one day.

I used to play Dobro and mandolin and sometimes an electric bass, in bluegrass bands, but don't anymore. but I still have them .... just in case (or cases) - and my wife bought me the banjo.

I may also take my National or my Weissenborn to my club one day, who knows.

None of these led me into debt, were paid for from a joint account, or denied a child shoes.
Nothing was ever acquired instead of something more important, and no-one got hurt in my having them.

Can't have any more tough - house too small!

Hi Silly,

"Vexation" is being used here in the totally secular sense, "something that causes annoyance, frustration, or worry".

"Spirit" also in the secular realm, solely referring o my physiological condition and general feeling of well being.

The older I get the more I wish to pare down my accumulations to be more in line with a "Quality over quantity" philosophy. Having guitars that languish in a closet holds less appeal to me than it did in the past.

I'm also old enough that I've started thinking about the burden that I would leave behind for someone else to dispose of all my junk! Those with larger families might not consider that a source of "vexation", but it's a contributing factor for me.