Consolidating guitars

NelsonP

I currently have 6 electrics:
Shiflett tele
Ibanez rg750 
Hagstrom Viking 
Gibson Les Paul DC Jr 2019
Squier J Mascis Jazzmaster 
Epiphone Gary Clark Casino

I play rock. Foo Fighters, ACDC, Biffy Clyro, QOTSA, Pearl Jam, Wolfmother, Nothing But Thieves, RATM, Green Day, Red Hot Chilli Peppers.

Would I be better off selling them off and trading them for a decent Les Paul and a Strat?

UnclePsychosis

Dunno, would you?

Personally speaking I'd rather have 2 great guitars than 6 "ok" ones...but I also don't always practice what I preach! 

Handsome_Chris

@NelsonP , I believe that you've got a great selection of guitars/tools there. Do you doubt the gear that you've got?

skullfunkerry

Do you play all the guitars that you currently have? If so, would you be able to get everything you need from just two? As @Handsome_Chris has said, you've kind of got all the bases covered with that selection; are you feeling like you've got too many guitars, or need the money, or just fancying a change? I think personally I'd hold on to them, unless there's something that you really feel is missing at the moment. You can always change your mind later and proceed with selling/replacing, but if you sell them all, get yourself a Les Paul & a Strat and then realise that you miss the others, it will be a long and expensive road back to where you started.

grungebob

Ask yourself why  you honestly bought each one, do you still play each regularly and then you should be able to answer your own question?

I’m down to 3 electrics and I could probably drop it down to just the one (HS set up and very versatile). 

ICBM

NelsonP said:

I currently have 6 electrics:
Shiflett tele
Ibanez rg750 
Hagstrom Viking 
Gibson Les Paul DC Jr 2019
Squier J Mascis Jazzmaster 
Epiphone Gary Clark Casino

I play rock. Foo Fighters, ACDC, Biffy Clyro, QOTSA, Pearl Jam, Wolfmother, Nothing But Thieves, RATM, Green Day, Red Hot Chilli Peppers.

Would I be better off selling them off and trading them for a decent Les Paul and a Strat?

Probably, but I’d maybe get an SG or some sort of 335 not a Les Paul - assuming you get on with the shape/balance of them. Personally I wouldn’t associate a Les Paul with those sorts of sounds as much as something with a bit more of a woody/hollow tone and dynamics.

UnclePsychosis said:

Personally speaking I'd rather have 2 great guitars than 6 "ok" ones...but I also don't always practice what I preach! 

This . I’ve been trying to consolidate down to just a couple as well, but it gets complicated...

p90fool

I'd keep the LP DC Jr and sell the rest for a used Custom Shop early 60s Strat. 

One pretty sounding guitar and one absolute animal, sorted. 

LPManic

p90fool said:

I'd keep the LP DC Jr and sell the rest for a used Custom Shop early 60s Strat. 

One pretty sounding guitar and one absolute animal, sorted. 

Which is which? 

TINMAN82

I’ve run the gamut too. Tend to focus on the specific role and niche each fills rather than focus on an optimum number, which to me seems more sensible. 

paganskins

NelsonP said:

I play rock. Foo Fighters, ACDC, Biffy Clyro, QOTSA, Pearl Jam, Wolfmother, Nothing But Thieves, RATM, Green Day, Red Hot Chilli Peppers.

With that repertoire there's an argument for having multiple guitars for multiple tunings.

Creed_Clicks

You could go down to just an SG. Get a Duesenberg Les Trem which is easy on, easy off, if you want to do some trem stuff, which the Jazzmaster would offer. Or just the SG and Jazzmaster, and put different pickups in the JM.

Eski

Do you play for fun (i.e. just at home) or do you gig.  If you play at home then having a bunch of guitars doesn’t feel like a problem to me (as long as you still like them all).  If you’re gigging then it would be well worth thinking about consolidating to a couple that can give you a decent approximation of the sounds you want.

Just my opinion but, in my experience, taking anything more than two guitars to a gig is unnecessary and fairly impractical.

BlueStrat

One or two excellent guitars beats six mediocre ones and would cost the same or less overall and be less clutter in the house

DrJazzTap

I have this argument every once in a  while. I then clean and restring the guitar and suddenly I've changed my mind about selling it. 

My thoughts are dont lust after a les paul standard. I would go for a jap tokai secondhand for half the price. Or a 90s les paul studio.
To me the oddball in your collection is the ibanez, what about part exchanging that for a fender player series strat? 
But the ibanez might be sentimental to you. 

Strangefan

The main thing to consider at the mo is..... Its really not a good time to sell, covid and Xmas etc has had a huge impact on sales I think 

stonevibe

I'd suggest you just play them and stop worrying about it

BlueStrat

If you crave a LP type, Coda have FGN les Paul’s on adeal at the moment, fgn build quality is excellent and coda service great

AlbertC

As ever, it's a tussle of need v desire.
I'd always go for quality over quantity but that's because for my needs, I could easily get by with one electric (although I have two)

thegummy

Tim Pierce said that with a good Strat and a good Les Paul, you can do 90% of everything needed from a guitar.

Given that he's one of the world's top session guys and gets called on to do all kinds of weird and wonderful stuff so I'd say for the normal player, those two can cover everything you'd need to do.

That's if you're, like me, a bit of an all round player doing different styles now and then. For people who are specifically in to particular genres like country or metal, they might want a Tele or 7 string death star.

Having said all that - there are people who want the tools to be able to play anything they want to and there are people who just enjoy collecting guitars - it goes without saying that the latter would have no interest in sticking to 2 guitars.

I'd guess that asking the question in the first place puts you in the former category. So I'd say that going down to a good Strat-like and a good Les Paul-like guitar is a great move and one that I've done myself.

thegummy

Also - a PRS SE is so much better than any sub-2k Gibson that it's almost funny.

TTBZ

UnclePsychosis said:

Dunno, would you?

Personally speaking I'd rather have 2 great guitars than 6 "ok" ones...but I also don't always practice what I preach! 

This is my mentality with guitars - I don't really play a variety of stuff that needs specific guitars (ie strat/tele clean tones) so I'd rather just have 1 or 2 really good guitars which sound and feel different enough to have a bit of variety if I want it. 1 dual humbucker and 1 dual P90 guitar (or maybe P90 neck/HB bridge) will do that job for me

Unfortunately I consolidated down to the wrong guitar and kept the Gibson SG (for the name) when I really should have kept the MIJ Les Paul.