General Music Chat

I don't know, I think collecting a bunch of guitars is silly. You really only need a couple of electrics (for me a Strat and a Les Paul), a good six string acoustic and maybe a 12-string. I know guys that buy older guitars as investments or whatever, but to me they're like hammers, how many do you need?

I tend to agree Jimmy... and I have too many guitars. Two of them are pretty old and a part of my musical history so they are keepers even though no longer active live players. My gig guitars are a Tele, Strat, 335 and I use them in that order. I also have two acoustics, one gets played/gigged regularly and the other is 40 yrs old and my daughter plays it now. The odd man out seems to be my Gibson Les Paul Studio Sunburst. It looks great, plays well, has great pickups but just never really feels like home. Time to move it.

The other side of the argument is long term value. In tough economic times, one of the few collectables that continues to increase in value is american made guitars built prior to 1970. With the dollar being rapidly turned into "monopoly money", holding a classic american guitar is probably better than holding gold.

Some people are very sentimental and they treasure the instruments for more than their practical value. Other people are not sentimental, so to them it doesn't make any sense to hold on to anything...

I am reminded of that song; 'While my guitar gently weeps'

but to me they're like hammers, how many do you need?

I Have about 8 hammers too...3 claw hammers, several ball peen in different sizes, a sledge or two and a rubber hammer.

I think I already explained mostly why I use more than a couple of guitars. I can't stand being out of tune, and it takes a lot less time to swap guitars than retune one. (under 10 seconds) Put me under an AC vent and tuning goes to hell in a handbasket. I've seen nights I have to switch after every other song, just to stay in tune, then stop and retune something in mid set. And I hate that...

I also want the sound of a specific guitar for certain songs, and I use drop D, open G and open D tunings, and sometimes one tuned a full step low. I actually need a couple more, I've sold 2 the past couple of years just to survive. Sure miss them...but when I need open tuning for slide, I'm not about to retune onstage. So I make sure I have one ready. Depending on the location of AC vents, it might or might not still be in tune, so sometimes I have to move my guitar rack in the middle of a gig. It holds 7. I usually fill it.

I don't care much abo9ut collecting, I get them to use. But I do have a couple of vintage ones, a Harmony made in 1966 and a Kingston I just got recently that needs a bit of work, probably also mid 60's but it doesn't have a date stamp inside anywhere. Need to look up the pots I guess. The lap steel is an Electromuse made around 1945-47 or so. All are played, not hung on a wall...

Some people are very sentimental and they treasure the instruments for more than their practical value. Other people are not sentimental, so to them it doesn't make any sense to hold on to anything...

I am reminded of that song; 'While my guitar gently weeps'

Exactly. I have several "collectors items". I am not a collector so I drilled holes in them, change stuff around quite a bit, and made them suitable for me. I am the one they have to please if they want to live here.

If an instrument cost $50 or $5,000 it is still only as good as it sounds or plays to me. Things like tuning heads hit the trash almost as soon as I get a guitar that won't stay in tune. Pickups usually don't last long either. So my collectors items wouldn't be suitable for collectors... but they're damned good guitars and I love every one.

Different sound is the real reason to have multiple guitars.

My 72 Tele has a good tonal variety, but sometimes, a little different sound is needed. Bought it new in 72!
Epiphone Dot Studio - semi-hollow body, perfect for those old Beatles tunes.
ESP LTD50 - nice LP-style, humbucker sound without being too over-the-top-distorted. Cost me under $40 after reselling some of the accessories that I got with it!
Epi LP Junior - more distortion form the single humbucker, slightly higher action perfect for slide work. Cost me $40, all i had to do was reset the neck after the last guy dropped it and stripped a bolthole!
Chinese Strat-clone. Never had a guitar with a whammy bar before, serves its purpose. Will probably throw some Grover tuners in at some point, but the overall sound is fine from the HSS pickups. Got it for $24.50 - new!

Acoustic:
My 73 Epiphone dreadnought is still my studio acoustic of choice.
New Fender CD140SCE acoustic electric dreadnought - the ease of plugging in for live work, and a decent sound (solid top better than similarly-priced laminated tops), and a nice thin neck for easy playing.
Ibanez 12 string acoustic-electric

Every guitar has it's purpose!

I, too, am not buying any more guitars (at this point!), getting some things to aid with live playing, mostly minor stuff, but needed - an amp stand, just got a padded gig bag for my keyboard, the 4 input resistnace mixer mentioned elsewhere, more good cables.
Other instruments:
Washburn Mandolin
Antique banjolin
Squire J-bass
Casio WK500 keyboard
Yamaha recorder (the flute kind, not a recorder!
Tambourine, moraccas, other noise makers