To Purge, or not to Purge?

stickyfiddle

Do it. 

I've never seen the point in having tonnes of cheap guitars over 3 or really special ones. 

I currently have the smallest number of electrics I've had in years and its excellent. One more good-but-not-special one is on the way out and one holy-shit-this-is-awesome one is coming in. Happy days

earwighoney

Good thread to read.  I have to gain some motivation for an upcoming purge to sell several guitars, an amp and some pedals. 

The problem is I generally have difficulty parting with guitars unless there is something coming in...

JonHosker

Two arms and two electric guitars.....and yes a couple or three acoustics, but I am off the GAS guitar bandwagon for ever!!! It took a jump to get off that one.

Loving every sound from these two.  Posting to encourage the purge...for me 3 to 2 but with a good few traded to get to these two.  R8 and Reissue 61 - enjoy!!!

marantz1300

Purge
I have four I play,but only need one or two.
Two will have to go.

http://i262.photobucket.com/albums/ii98/marantz1300/Mobile%20Uploads/53927604-5925-4bfd-b14f-3048391b4c7b_zps6bla8qeo.jpg

professorben

I have a guitar, and I have a back up in case of string breaks, however that back up is tuned to drop D so it's kinda got its own job. My guitar heroes, Vai, Nuno, EVH, Kim Thyall, SRV all had a reputation for developing a relationship with one instrument, really getting to know that guitar, making it a part of their voice. Yeah sure they played other guitars but only as a back up or when they were trying to sound different as an effect for a particular song ( Hendrix and his gibsons for example) I'd either choose one you have or get a guitar that truly speaks to you, keep one as a back up and cull the rest.

Skipped

professorben said:

I have a guitar, and I have a back up in case of string breaks, however that back up is tuned to drop D so it's kinda got its own job. My guitar heroes, Vai, Nuno, EVH, Kim Thyall, SRV all had a reputation for developing a relationship with one instrument, really getting to know that guitar, making it a part of their voice. Yeah sure they played other guitars but only as a back up or when they were trying to sound different as an effect for a particular song ( Hendrix and his gibsons for example) I'd either choose one you have or get a guitar that truly speaks to you, keep one as a back up and cull the rest.

I like the themes developed in this post.

Here are a few more names. Guitarists who came to prominence playing one guitar, developed as players possibly by bonding with that guitar? And developed their careers playing that one guitar. Imagine a picture of each of these players. They are playing that guitar.

Justin Heyward
Bill Nelson
Alvin Lee
Snowy White
Rory Gallagher
Peter Green
Peter Frampton

(Does Rory fit here? My thinking is that I saw him six times and the Tele was for slide and back up)

DrJazzTap

I thought I'd necro bump this thread, as I've been strongly thinking about it myself. At the moment the lack of job has me looking at my expensive pieces of wood and thinking "hmm". I've already sold one guitar. I currently have five electrics and two acoustics. The intention is to get down to 4 electrics and one acoustic.
I have

• PRS DGT which can cover a lot tonally speaking
• SG standard, the guitar I've had since my teens
  
• Tokai ES130/120 (can't remember which model number), gift to myself for my 30th
• partsacaster strat
  
• Yamaha RGX121- a POS which is basically a guitar for me to learn how to do set ups on. I need to actually start having a go at that.
  

My head tells me that this is enough, once I've got to grips with the RGX, i'll either give it away or px it (it's only worth £20 or so)

The partsacaster is my strat guitar, everyone needs a 335 (imho) and the DGT is my posh guitar. I'm keeping the SG i guess because I paid for a refret two years ago and it's worth more to me than £500 or so.

dindude

I've recently purged and it does feel good, down to 3 electrics, and 1 and a half acoustics (ones travel size). Each one now gets more play time, more restrings and greater attention to it's set up.

ThePrettyDamned

Alnico said:

I did it in 2014.

Had about 6 guitars, some good, some not so.

sold them all and put everything into my Telecaster at Feline Guitars.

I got back the best guitar i've ever owned and never looked back.

The biggest revelation was dropping the notion that i needed to 'Cover Bases' and stop caring what the Tele sounded like to the audience. It sounds like me, i don't care if it should be humbuckers, it's me and my Tele playing a song. Like it or don't, not bothering me anymore.

My Best mate has lent me an Epiphone Les Paul to use when i occasionally feel like i absolutely have to use one but it's Very rare i pick it up and normally it's just for the odd one song or two. Even then, switching to a different weight and feel just feels wrong and that familiarity with my one good guitar has been the best part about it.

I love Strat's because they're Strat's but i don't think i would ever own another one unless money really improves.

I'm lucky to have what i've got and that enforced spending boycott has also helped me to appreciate that fact.

Purging feels great if it's what you want to do but when i did want a collection, that felt good too.

I think it's a personal feelings thing.

Yup, thus. I have a few excellent guitars but really... I'm a strat man. 

Nothing makes me happier than my strat. 

fandango

marantz1300 said:

Purge
I have four I play,but only need one or two.
Two will have to go.

http://i262.photobucket.com/albums/ii98/marantz1300/Mobile%20Uploads/53927604-5925-4bfd-b14f-3048391b4c7b_zps6bla8qeo.jpg

Which two do you keep, and which two have to go?

Strangefan

One electric one acoustic and one bass is all I need these days, especially as I play bass live now, I couldnt imagine having more these days,  it would just be waste.   bass and production has really over taken the lure of the guitar, .. Which after 20 years of being obsessed with em is quite liberating. 

TTBZ

Purge for sure I never had a massive collection anyway but I'm down to just my SG and it's great. I actually think more about playing now. Though I've gone through a bit of a pedal phase recently haha 

Fretwired

I been through the odd purge and I must admit I regretted it. I've come to the conclusion I'm a magpie. There are quite a few guitars I regretted selling and one I actually managed to buy back (how sad is that). I have too many guitars but I play quite a few - I doubt I could go down to two or three. Maybe five or six.

My new plan is to put things I'm not sure about in a cupboard or corner of a room with a sticker with a date on and if I haven't touched them in six months I sell them. So far it has worked. I've sold a few bits on here and some guitars elsewhere. I am de-cluttering.

musicman100

Babyfrank said:

I have a modest collection of mainly mid to low value guitars.  I used to play pretty regularly in a covers band, but we're not particularly active these days, with only 2 or 3 gigs a year, which typically come from people approaching us, rather than us hustling for them.  

Lately have the urge to purge... I have a few guitars that I definitely want to keep; My Aria semi that is effectively my engagement ring, my Fender Tele & Strat (both Mexican but good guitars that I've grown to love and do the job well), my cheap-as-chips Chinese JA90 knock-off Thinline Tele with a bigsby, and my Faith Venus acoustic.  Between the 5 of them, they can do everything I need for the band or solo.  

I'm tempted to just get rid of the rest that are rarely played, not necessarily to then buy yet another guitar (which is what I'd normally do) , but just to declutter my guitar life, if that makes sense.... I guess I'm just over the GAS/Arms Race thing.

So... I'm almost ready to hit the FS forum/Gumtree/Facebook with my other guitars but wanted to ask;  Has anyone been through the same?  Did you go through with it? Did you regret it, or not?

Keen to hear what other folks experiences are.

Cheers

Keith

Why don't you sell the cheap stuff n buy a really nice guitar

jeztone2

The biggest revelation was dropping the notion that i needed to 'Cover Bases' and stop caring what the Tele sounded like to the audience. It sounds like me, i don't care if it should be humbuckers, it's me and my Tele playing a song. Like it or don't, not bothering me anymore.

This.

Voxman

I asked RockCat (he's in my Avatar) and he says yes, puurrr-ge!