Why having lots of guitars is a bad idea

Logie

For a home player/ occasional gigger I find two to be plenty. You've got a backup if you do go out and practise/ gig and you're not spending time wondering which one you should play today or feel guilty because that £2000 guitar has been sat in it's case for 6 months. Plus for me, I think the more time you spend with one guitar, the more comfortable you get with it and the more likely you'll play better. Obviously, if you play acoustic that's three

kentuckyklira

My Hughes & Kettner Coreblade amp solves this problem for me.

prowla

ICBM said:

prowla said:

Just to be clear, 10 guitars is not "a lot of" guitars.

I think almost anyone who isn’t a member of a guitar forum would disagree with that .

For most people it goes -

A guitar
Two guitars
A lot of guitars
Why do you need so many guitars?

Ten guitars is like the biblical ‘forty’ - an arbitrary large number somewhere between more than you can count on both hands and infinity...

Yeah, but they just don't understand!

andy_k

re:- the amp, I have a Katana set up with 4 channels, and I play all my guitars through the same pre-sets, it is useful to see what the pros and cons of each guitar are.
Live, I use 2 gutars, one is a backup in case I break a string, and I try and use 2 that are similar in tone, my live rig is a Code 50 and a Katana, so I have 3 tones set for that.
If i was picking up anything, and plugging it into anything, I would find the tone I wanted, or rather some way of having at least 2 switchable, if this was for a recording session, I would obviously tweak to suit. If this was for a live set, I wouldn't be bothered by switching sounds per guitar-just seems like too much work, and if I had to do that-I would be using some form of programmable thing per song to make this work.
re :- the guitars, I am familiar with 3 types really, stats, teles and Les Pauls, I build a lot of my own in an attempt to get one that will cross these breeds, so it isn't hard to get one guitar that will cover all 3 types. That would make for a versatile live instrument.
Also, no 2 of the same type are remotely similar, each piece of wood is different, so it really is a question of trial and error to find the one that works for you, so by necessity you end up having / trying a lot.
Obviously this leads to a lot of mixing and matching parts if you know what can improve the one you own, if you just own one.
But wheres the fun in just owning one?, and I have yet to hear a Les Paul sound anything like a strat, so thats the perfect excuse to have at least one of each.
Re :- storage, you just have to make room.

Cranky

For electrics I think it makes sense to have a variety, there's different scales and pickups and body and neck shapes to choose from.  Each of my guitars suits a sound, purpose and mood.  (Some of them I've acquired for sentimental reasons.)  My strategy is to buy mid-level ones, preferably nothing that retailed over $1000 new (whatever that is in "quids"), like the best possible version of a Mexican or Indonesian build, and buy used rather than new.  And then spend some quality time with just one or two for a good period, get to know them and how they interact with the amp and pedals.

So I have 5 electrics, 5 acoustics (one for sale and only two of which are nice solid wood builds), and cheap bass for theory stuff and eventually recording I hope.  For me, the variety is helping me build confidence in both  playing and maintaining different types of guitars to the point where I'm actually starting to feel like I could play in a band or try recording something.  I've learned that I don't like humbuckers.  I've learned how to adjust action and intonation and how to sand down a saddle.  I've learned that I only really like dreadnought acoustics.  I've learned what kind of neck I prefer for different styles and attacks.  I've even learned how to sniff out a deal and make a little money on some guitars that I got to play for a spell. 

Currently I have and plan to keep:

Fender Strat SSS
Epiphone Casino "John Lennon" Gibson p90s
Fender Tele Deluxe Fralin p90s
Vintage Reissue Tele SS
Fender Jaguar
Guild D40 spruce-mohagany
D'Angelico Excel Bowery, cutaway spruce-rosewood
Two old 197Os FG Yamahas, great for open tuning but good old guitars to have laying around anyway

All rather different and they're all helping me.

LastMantra

Electric guitars all sound the same.

stonevibe

If I only had 10 guitars it would be great, but my addiction means it is more like bloody 50!

darthed1981

Guitarists: "I must justify this purchase, it will get me closer to this tone I'm after, and I'll sell X and Y to part fund it, and I can justify having four guitars, but not five....."

Everyone else:  "There's a thing, nice thing, have money or credit card with available credit, buy thing, release endorphins, shove thing in loft. life goes on..."

Somehow, I think (ecological ravages of consumerism aside) everyone else at least has an easier time!

Personally "as many as the wife lets me get away with" is the number of guitars I will always own.

stickyfiddle

ICBM said:

prowla said:

Just to be clear, 10 guitars is not "a lot of" guitars.

I think almost anyone who isn’t a member of a guitar forum would disagree with that .

For most people it goes -

A guitar
Two guitars
A lot of guitars
Why do you need so many guitars?

Ten guitars is like the biblical ‘forty’ - an arbitrary large number somewhere between more than you can count on both hands and infinity...

Completely this, said as someone with 6 electrics, 1 acoustic, 1 bass and a different bass on the way who spends much of his procrastination time looking at potential future guitar purchases. 

roberty

Whitecat said:

The biggest problem I have with lots of guitars is the volume and expense of setup work in either time or money. A guitar that gets ignored for a long time might need a lot of work to be made playable again if there’s been a few changes of season in the interim. But other than that, the variety is cool.

Yeah this, guitars = maintenance (and strings)

I struggle to switch between guitars anyway. I'm used to my Les Paul at the moment so when I play my 335 I'm always going to fret 7 instead of 5 because the neck join is further up. Different string spacing messes with my right hand too

HarrySeven

Errr....I'd best say nowt.  

Jalapeno

"Why having lots of guitars is a bad idea"

Sassafras

I can understand having loads of acoustics cos there's not much you can do to alter their sound whereas electrics can be made to sound like each other with a bit of amp or pedals jiggery-pokery.

Hattigol

Sassafras said:

I can understand having loads of acoustics cos there's not much you can do to alter their sound whereas electrics can be made to sound like each other with a bit of amp or pedals jiggery-pokery.

Am I the only one who finds acoustics soooooo boring?

Oh here's some acoustics, let's look.....20 identical natural ones, oooooh look,  sunburst, another 15 identical natural ones. Visually, they're just so dull, they occupy a tiny proportion of my GAS time.

Each to their own though.

chrisj1602

I like to have at least two electrics, one with humbuckers, one with single coils. If I had to have just one, I’d get a Telecaster.

Sassafras

Hattigol said:

Sassafras said:

I can understand having loads of acoustics cos there's not much you can do to alter their sound whereas electrics can be made to sound like each other with a bit of amp or pedals jiggery-pokery.

Am I the only one who finds acoustics soooooo boring?

Oh here's some acoustics, let's look.....20 identical natural ones, oooooh1 sunburst, another 15 identical natural ones. Visually, they're just so dull, they occupy a tiny proportion of my GAS time.

Each to their own though.

Who cares what they look like?
I listen with my ears, not my eyes.

roberty

Sassafras said:

Hattigol said:

Sassafras said:

I can understand having loads of acoustics cos there's not much you can do to alter their sound whereas electrics can be made to sound like each other with a bit of amp or pedals jiggery-pokery.

Am I the only one who finds acoustics soooooo boring?

Oh here's some acoustics, let's look.....20 identical natural ones, oooooh1 sunburst, another 15 identical natural ones. Visually, they're just so dull, they occupy a tiny proportion of my GAS time.

Each to their own though.

Who cares what they look like?
I listen with my ears, not my eyes.

I only ever really notice what my guitars look like when someone else is playing them

Hattigol

Sassafras said:

Hattigol said:

Sassafras said:

I can understand having loads of acoustics cos there's not much you can do to alter their sound whereas electrics can be made to sound like each other with a bit of amp or pedals jiggery-pokery.

Am I the only one who finds acoustics soooooo boring?

Oh here's some acoustics, let's look.....20 identical natural ones, oooooh1 sunburst, another 15 identical natural ones. Visually, they're just so dull, they occupy a tiny proportion of my GAS time.

Each to their own though.

Who cares what they look like?
I listen with my ears, not my eyes.

I care what they look like. I want a guitar that looks cool. Wtf's the point of playing one otherwise?

DrBob

Hattigol said:

Sassafras said:

I can understand having loads of acoustics cos there's not much you can do to alter their sound whereas electrics can be made to sound like each other with a bit of amp or pedals jiggery-pokery.

Am I the only one who finds acoustics soooooo boring?

Oh here's some acoustics, let's look.....20 identical natural ones, oooooh look,  sunburst, another 15 identical natural ones. Visually, they're just so dull, they occupy a tiny proportion of my GAS time.

Each to their own though.

Nope, completely with you

stickyfiddle

Cheap acoustics are boring because they all sound quite similar. Once you get above the 800-ish mark and get towards the really good stuff the differences between different body styles and wood become much more apparent and you end up wanting several. 

I have just one (rosewood dread) at the moment, but would very happily have something big and maple (J200, Dove), and something smaller and mahogany-flavoured.