Just realised, I don't actually really like most of my bl00dy guitars..

AK99

Been through about most of them tonight (9 at last count). The only ones I actually like the sound of (as opposed to the look, or the idea, of or the fact that they are supposed to be good guitars) are the two most expensive ones I ever bought - an AVRI 52 Tele, bought s/h a few years ago and the 93 US Strat plus I've owned since new. 

I currently have  2 MIJ doublecut MIJ Tokais (one with aftermarket hum bucker sized P90s), an Eggle Berlin Pro and a Tanglewood Berlin copy, all with cracker looking quilt tops - a nice '90s MIJ LoveRock with a couple of Seymour Duncan pickups fitted, a mint Fernandes Ravelle Sustainer, and an 80s Aria ZZ Explorer - all of which look great (to me), and are nice things to own, but which I hardly use because I can never get them to sound like I think they should. All bought used, online or locally (in Ireland here), and to be fair, I didn't pay over the odds for any of the last named ones, bought as they were interesting and wouldnt lose much come resell time.

Plugged in the Tele tonight (I have a Mustang 4 modelling Amp) and got lost enjoying the thing for a couple of hours. Doesnt matter which of the Amp presets I use - clean to filthy dirty - it's just a lovely thing to play. That and the same with the Strat, it makes me smile. None of the others do.

Wondering if its finally time to wise up and start flogging the excess, or do I hang on, in the hope that my tastes change and I don't end up with a horrendous case of sellers remorse ?

Bit of a first world problem I know, especially in these crappy times, but any advice or steer from those who've been there already, would be much appreciated.

Funkfingers

Try ‘em all through different amplification. Decide which ones sound best through, say, a stack or a valve combo.

HAL9000

This is me. I own five electrics and play two of them (coincidentally a Tele and a Strat). I bought the others because, well, they seemed like a good idea at the time. Now they just annoy me by taking up space and making me a couple of grand poorer. Yes, I do realise that this is a guitar forum and we’re all supposed to have bedrooms that look like guitar shops. However, I get the most enjoyment from just a simple single-channel amp and a decent Tele or Strat. Anything else is excess.

Cirrus

I approach it from a songwriting/ production point of view - so my guitars are tools to be used when I want a particular sound, or even just as an alternative when doubling something. Then sometimes, those tools cross over into something more - something inspirational, or spiritual, or creative, whatever you want to call it, and they take you places you didn't set out to get to.

If a guitar isn't taking me to that second place, and is only ever just a tool, that's fine frankly. As long as it's helping the process more than it's hindering! And you never know when it might have its day...

The only time I've sold a guitar is when I needed the money to get something else I was excited about, or it didn't do a particular job as well as something else I had.

LastMantra

Sometimes I'm glad I'm scum and can't afford lots of gear. 

AK99

LastMantra said:

Sometimes I'm cool, and don't need lots of gear I cant use.. 

That's ok too

LastMantra

  

AK99

LastMantra said:

Sometimes I'm glad I'm cool as fk and don't need a truckload of gear to make me sound great..

Sorry in case that first one came across wrong..LM..

LastMantra

Haha I wish it were true! Thanks though, made me smile 

p90fool

Looking at that list I'd guess you've just leaned towards a preference for single coils over humbuckers rather than any particular guitars. 

richardhomer

p90fool said:

Looking at that list I'd guess you've just leaned towards a preference for single coils over humbuckers rather than any particular guitars. 

Yep - sounds like at heart you’re a Fender player.

I’d get rid of everything you’re not getting on with and then - if you decide you need one - research humbucking guitars thoroughly. You might find a 335 (or variant), a PRS or a ‘Super Strat’ (Anderson, Suhr, etc with bridge humbucker) suits you better than your current options.

samzadgan

I’ve gone through the same thing and sold all but 3 guitars...each guitar is tuned different and for a different purpose...and all three play and sound amazing through my amps and pedals. I don’t even have gas to buy another guitar.

its great to have lots if guitars, it is fun, i just got to a point where i just didnt like some many sitting around not being played

Sassafras

It seems some people buy with their eyes not their ears.
That and the fact humbuckers are shite.

ICBM

Sell them. Guitarists seem to be very prone to the idea that they ‘need’ a lot of different sounds, and I’m occasionally afflicted by it too... the truth is that I also only really like two of the four electric guitars I have now (and those are very similar in some ways). It’s hard to get rid of the others because they look nice, and I keep thinking I might need them one day, but I probably won’t.

TTBZ

I have 2 guitars and neither of them would be my first choice, just seem to have ended up with them through a series of poor selling decisions  when shops are open properly again I plan to go and play a shit load of guitars to figure out what I really want and probably sell what I have to just buy one nice guitar. Most people don't really need the variety that forums would have you believe.

meltedbuzzbox

+1 for selling.
Its very cathartic and once they're gone you generally don't miss them.

If you are recording and need different sounds you can use eq, effects, different pickups and the tone control. You don't need an arsenal of 6 stringers

Richardrichard

Get rid. Referencing my recent thread, I sold 8 out of 10 of my guitars, some of which I had owned since new for ~25 years. The remaining two I had only owned one for a matter of weeks, and the other is basically worthless.

I have no regrets, I've picked up a couple of other things since and have guilt-free cash to buy more if I fancy something. Plus with no particular attachment to any of them I could trade them in a heartbeat for something else. Hanging on to stuff you don't actually like, as I was doing, for nonsensical reasons doesn't make much sense. 

skullfunkerry

When I was gigging my main guitars were an LTD EC1000 and a Jackson Custom Shop Kelly. I added a Modern Player Tele to the gang, and after I moved and left the band that was the one I had out on a stand while the other two lived in their cases.

After going through some life changes I ended up living in a flat on my own: I spent an afternoon with all three guitars and my amp, and the only one that had that "lose yourself and keep playing" thing was the Tele, so I sold the others.

I've gone through a bit of a flurry of buying & selling since then, but I've never regretted selling the LTD or the Kelly. If your stuff isn't making you smile move it on and if you don't need the money, put it aside somewhere and when the time is right you'll find another guitar or amp that grabs you like your Tele and your Strat do.

In the meantime, having only a couple of guitars is very refreshing - I've gone down to two from four, and it feels like the exact opposite of "all the gear, no idea"

ICBM

meltedbuzzbox said:

If you are recording and need different sounds you can use eq, effects, different pickups and the tone control. You don't need an arsenal of 6 stringers

I’ve said this before many times, but the biggest guitar-related mistake I ever made was to not trade all my guitars for the best one I’ve ever played when I had the opportunity, because I thought I needed ‘versatility’. It’s true that one guitar was very expensive - although much less in real terms then than it’s worth now - but I still miss it. I borrowed it to use it on a recording along with all the others, and it’s the only one that I can easily recognise from the sound now.

Of course, then I would have needed another cheap one to use for pub gigs where you don’t really want to take a 50s Les Paul Custom, so it starts again...

BlueStrat

+1 to move them on and either find something that you’ll get some enjoyment from, or put the money to one side till you do in a reserved guitar account, or put it towards two weeks in the sun when times are better?

TheBigDipper

Dear OP. Whatever you do, make sure it's an outcome you approve of rather than something you think other people would approve of.

• If you don't like it and it's taking up space, or maybe just sitting there preying on your mind and draining you of emotional energy, then sell it.
• If you do like it when you play it (even if that's only once a year) and you can afford to keep it, then keep it.
• If you'd like the cash that's tied up in owning that guitar and there's something else you want right now, then sell it.
• If you think there might be something else out there but you don't know what it is yet, then keep it until you know you need to sell it - after all, you might change your mind between now and then. 

Good luck! :-)