Justifying multiple guitars

NelsonP

I have a few guitars now and excuses for the lot of 'em:

Ibanez RG - the guitar from my youth, only guitar with a locking trem
Shiflett tele - I'm a big foo's fan and this guitar gets me that sound
Gibson tribute dc junior - single p90, stripped down, no BS rock guitar. My only American made guitar.
Epi Casino - fully hollow, 2 x p90s. More bluesy.
Squier J Mascis - single coils, trem, lovely neck.
Hagstrom viking - semi, gold top, humbuckers

How do you 'justify' yours?

Nikc

Strat 
Tele
Les Paul 

That'll be it

tony99

I can see a very slight flaw here, as in more than one case, you're just describing them rather than justifying them

but all power to ya, you don't have to justify anything to me, and I'm sure they're all fab guitars

Universal8

Why do you need to justify them ?

fastonebaz

Charvel with Floyd rose for screaming dive bombs
Gibson sg hard tail main guitar
Charvel hard tail back up guitar
Epi les Paul 1st guitar
Ibanez ep9 acoustic guitar

Functional tools mainly.

Lestratcaster

Strat (Squier Affinity one) - My first ever guitar and one I'll never sell (have also had it modded/upgraded). Main teaching guitar.

Telecaster - only single coil bridge guitar I have due to sticking a humbucker in the above Strat (purely to play old Green Day songs)

Epiphone Les Paul - used for standard tuning/drop d rock numbers for lessons.

Gibson Les Paul Studio - main drop tuned band guitar in drop c

Gibson Les Paul Junior (The Billie Joe Armstrong sig) - cos I'm a Green Day fan if you hadn't guessed by now.

Takamine EG321c - acoustic main teaching guitar

Tanglewood acoustic - first ever acoustic I got. Won't ever sell. Keep as spare or to use in alternate tunings.

TTony

Never, never, never attempt to "justify" them.

Do you "justify" the number of t-shirts you have?  

Once you start to try to find justifications, you're just establishing the basis of the argument that you'd have to have with anyone who thinks you have too many.


"Why have you got so many guitars?"

Acceptable answers are
- why not
- because I do
- because I can
- etc

Strangefan

Who are you justifying them to exactly? If it's the wife fair enough, but if its yourself...  buy what you want, you should only feel ashamed  if you're buying guitars and not progressing your playing. 

fretmeister

I don’t. It’s my money. I’ll spend how I see fit. 

Funkfingers

NelsonP said:

How do you 'justify' yours?

I do not. I can not. 

Ascribing specific duties to individual instruments closes off undiscovered possibilities. I would like to think that each instrument has capabilities that I have yet to exploit. 

Epsilon

I regularly play hugely varying styles with multiple different tunings. If it was just a case of moving between standard and drop D I'd probably make do, but I have a hollowbody archtop that spends its life in EBD#F#BF# and another in open C. I don't particularly want to be moving that guitar between such drastically different tunings all the time.

That said, I could probably stand to lose a few, however there are a number of them that have so much sentimental value that I couldn't bring myself to part with them. 

pintspiller

Gordon-Smith Gypsy 2 - main guitar
Gibson SG - backup guitar
Squier VM Jazz Bass - main bass
Bitsa P Bass - backup bass

TTony

pintspiller said:

Gordon-Smith Gypsy 2 - main guitar
Gibson SG - backup guitar
Squier VM Jazz Bass - main bass
Bitsa P Bass - backup bass

Yeah - but what about the rest??

NelsonP

tony99 said:

I can see a very slight flaw here, as in more than one case, you're just describing them rather than justifying them

Ha ha. Yes, that's got some truth in it.

I have to justify them to Mrs P,  because the i want to, I can etc arguments don't wash.

Musicwolf

Guitars are like Chinchillas.  You should never keep one on its own, they get stressed.  You must have, at an absolute minimum, a pair and they are happiest in large groups.

NelsonP

Musicwolf said:

Guitars are like Chinchillas.  You should never keep one on its own, they get stressed.  You must have, at an absolute minimum, a pair and they are happiest in large groups.

This is a winning argument. Why didn't I think of that? 

tony99

Musicwolf said:

Guitars are like Chinchillas.  You should never keep one on its own, they get stressed.  You must have, at an absolute minimum, a pair and they are happiest in large groups.

although when you need to trim down and beat the GAS, you should probably convince yourself they're more like siamese fighting fish

finest1

if you are a collector, admit you are one. i felt guilty for years, until i realised and admitted i was a collector and a bargain hunter. as long as the bills are paid and i don't put myself, family and home in jeopardy im fine! 

Bellycaster

Liking the characteristics of certain Electric Guitars and then buying them for that reason.



I have 2 Guitars with Locking Trems, bought for that very reason. One is HH (Wolfgang), one is HSS(Ruokangas Strat With Split Option), I have to have a Strat as you cannot get that signature Quack sound from Positions 2 and 4 from any other Guitar.

I have 2 Teles, but only need 1, both Am Std, but one is a Limited Edition in a Colour I just "had to have". They sound slightly different due to one being Ash and the other Alder. They have different model pick ups from each other.

I have an S.G and a L.P because I love the Classic Rock sound you get from them. There's a certain character to the tone of these guitars that other HH Guitars I've heard don't have. Also love the Jazzy Neck Pick Up tones from the L.P.

I try to never get two guitars in the same or similar colour.

I'm quite Gassy for a Jazzmaster at the moment. I dig how the trem works and I've loved some of the Surfy stuff I've heard on some Youtube channels. The sound has a bit more bite and more body than a Strat.

guitars4you

Wife's left me - No one to answer to now - No need to justify anything anymore

Universal8

NelsonP said:

tony99 said:

I can see a very slight flaw here, as in more than one case, you're just describing them rather than justifying them

Ha ha. Yes, that's got some truth in it.

I have to justify them to Mrs P,  because the i want to, I can etc arguments don't wash.

Does she have to justify her purchases to you ?