People who prioritised multiple versions of the same guitar model - any regrets?

Teflon

I had a conversation along similar lines with a guitar playing friend of mine recently. He said he has no qualms about buying multiple versions of the same item, whether it be a guitar, amp, or pedal. He pointed out that his wife will often pop out to the supermarket and come home laden with goods, then a week later she goes out and buys the same (or similar) stuff again.  His conclusion: If she can do it, so can we .  I must confess, I like his reasoning 

Musicman20

I have a large number of Musicman basses that are VERY similar, plus a few Musicman guitars.

I do not regret any of them, more so because they are more than double the price new now since covid! 

firepaulmusic

I've had a long love affair with Tom Anderson guitars. At one point I had 4. Cobra S, Cobra T, Classic T and Droptop S. The Classic T went to make room for a Nik Huber Krautster 2 which I didn't bond with. Lately I discovered that the PRS DGT is the guitar for me and now have bought 2 in short succession. Didn't mean to but I bought one from a forum member then another one came up that I couldn't not have. So I guess this thread totally applies to me! 
I have lately been thinking about selling a couple of TA's and just keeping one so I can experience a few more e.g. 335, Les Paul Jnr that type of thing...

HAL9000

I used to be (or at least thought I was) very much a Telecaster player. So I’ve owned any number of Teles (plus Tele-alikes). My regret is not that I owned multiple Teles, but that I didn’t really try much else. I’ve since played a good variety of popular models - Strats, LPs, SGs, 335s, PRS, etc - and found that actually I’m more at home with a Strat than I ever was with a Tele.

Keefy

5 of my 12 electric guitars are Teles (strictly, T-types). Even the 3 that are most similar (conventional Tele pickups) are quite different. I love and play them all.

I’m not sure I actively prioritised Teles, I just bought guitars that spoke to me. So no, no regrets.

LPManic

Every time I have multiple guitars or multiple of the same guitars, I end up playing my no.1 (a 2013 R8) 90% of the time anyhow. So I've just gotten rid of all of them over the past year and just play the R8. 

LionAquaLooper

I'm embarrassed to say I've got 6 budget strats and 3 budget teles (i.e not Fenders), all same config for most part. Different fretboards, slightly different stock pickups, humbuckers on some vs singles, slightly different necks. Why did I buy them? The pretty colours

Do I regret buying them? No. My strats might be a total of £1000 and I could've bought one US Fender but that's boring and I'd get sick of looking at  it! I'm just the type of person who prefers variety. But i did just buy a Jet Kotzen tele clone that's tempting me to sell all my other teles because it's perfect. 

Only issues I have are storing them, the hassle of eventually selling a lot vs just one when the time comes, setting up so many guitars is a pain in the backside, and restringing is expensive! 

strtdv

The main issue with lots of guitars is storing the cases, the guitars themselves are easy to store.

bobeffect

I own a couple of Strats, a Les Paul, a Jazzmaster and a Tele -  all medium to good quality. Despite this I nearly always choose to gig with my American Deluxe Strat because of the type of material we play as a band and because of its sheer versatility. It's also quite comfortable (for the more substantial man!) For me a Strat into a DRRI with some pedals covers so many different styles pretty well.

LionAquaLooper

strtdv said:

The main issue with lots of guitars is storing the cases, the guitars themselves are easy to store.

That's the beauty of budget guitars. They don't usually come with cases!

Plus the great thing about bolt on necks is they make storing guitars easier. I just take the neck off the ones I'm not currently using and they all fit inside a big Shurgard cardboard box. 

Paul_C

Jalapeno said:

Calling @Arrowhead

I do have others

But I have had a bit of fun collecting one or two Telecasters (22) but I could get rid of a LOT of them and only keep a few and still be happy.

GavRichList

I sort of understand the reasoning behind the question. I am predisposed to compulsive behaviour as I’m sure a lot of us are; if I decide I like a thing, I suddenly want ALL those things. I bought 3 late 80s rickenbackers in a short space of time because I fell for the first one so much. The thing is though, I too have the thing where I have to rationalise one of them as “the best”. Once I’ve reached that point, I can, and did, sell the others. Objectively I can tell you that all three were glorious, and the one that @punchesjudy had from me in particular is genuinely one of the great guitars of my life. Wonderful thing. But my black 360 won out as my Rickenbacker. Once that journey had been travelled, I’ve found myself at some kind of peace about those. 

Sadly however, I’ve not learned anything. I’m totally beside myself over my recent Firebird acquisition, and wouldn’t you know? - I’m lusting after about another 50. What a plum. 

Blueingreen

I have a tendency to go through phases where I prefer one type of guitar, and when I do I tend to buy a second,  similar (but not identica) one. I justify this as wanting backup, or so I can have them in different two different locations, or that the second slightly different specced version will be "better".  I don't think this is very rational behaviour, but at least I don't have 5 almost identical Teles or Les Pauls or whatever.  And my irrational gear acquisition pretty much only applies to guitars, not amps or pedals.  So I console myself that I'm being a bit daft but I'm not the worst.

willo

Ah, so much to think about. Thanks everyone. Glad to see its sparked some real discussion.

So - I want to streamline and simplify, that's a part of this. The attraction of only needing one type of case; of most of the parts being interchangeable; of having fewer guitars; of having everything work nicely with my Helix presets like @bloodandtears .

Each of my guitars right now is different, like @Yorkie , and a big part of that was not just about getting different pickups but also bridges and construction methods as @stickyfiddle mentioned.

But as I go through it more, this SG definitely stands out and I'm also confident, in the music that I make, that having a tone that is 'mine' is not just good but preferable, and totally works fine in live / cover contexts as @octatonic mentioned.

I also like having limitations - I find creativity happens more easily when there are fewer choices to make.

Would I go for a single dream guitar like @Wazmeister mentions? Well the most glorious guitar is that Murphy Labs Pelham Blue SG with the vibrola. But honestly, too much money for me. Amazing guitar though. Maybe I'll just buy a picture.

Finally, on the 'pro diversity' argument, I do love having different guitars and showing them to my kids. I love bringing them into our guitar world and they like to learn about the different types of guitars and circuits and colours. I don't think they'd be so enthused by just a series of SGs...I'm not even kidding about this last point, as left-field as it is

SquireJapan

I have a lot of RG shaped guitars. 

I really like that shape, and favour the square heeled, maple neck ones. 

No regrets at all, I think they’re nice and like playing them. 

I still have my eye out for more, for no good reason. 

With all the above though, I’m putting time in doing some actual study on the guitar, and find my tele (Feline put 6000 stainless on it) is king. No silly Floyd Rose or locking nut. Massive neck …

TTBZ

I think when you've got used to a guitar that's as unique as the SG it's hard to go back, I'm certainly finding that's the case. Even though they're not my favourite guitars to look at, I love how they feel and play. I prefer the look and sometimes sound of other guitars, most of them don't feel great to me - either too bulky/square edged, heavy, hang weird on a strap or scale length and neck don't feel right. As such I think the next guitar I get will probably just be a P90 SG for some tonal variety!

The only thing that's come close to the SG comfort is a Strandberg, I'm still considering a Boden Essential at some point and putting P90s in my SG  

JD50

I have a thing for Fender shortscales
X1 Jag 
X2 Mustangs
X2 Duo Sonics
X2 Musicmasters

I do have a LP special, love them P90s but always drawn back to the shortscales.

Despite the same  scale length and all being B width there is quite a difference between the necks , the 70s necks are a bit thicker than the 60's

I string them with Gauge 10 unless flatwounds then 11's

StuartMac290

It depends on your needs, really. When I began touring at a young age (a looooong time ago ) I was blessed to have an absolutely brilliant tech on the road with me, from whom I learned a huge amount. He was a strong advocate for having three of the same guitar as your main guitar for any tour lasting at least a few weeks, as close to identical as possible. Everything should have at least a spare if it's on tour with you.

I just bought what I think is probably the best guitar I've ever played, let alone owned (an M.B. Guitars 62S strat) and if I was still touring I'd almost certainly be looking to pick up a couple more. As it is, I'm seriously eying up another, even though 95% of what it will be used for is studio work. Despite never having been a strat guy it's somehow become my number 1 guitar almost immediately, and the thought of it not being available to me for a session for whatever reason at any point gives me the jitters.

Horses for courses, really. Pete Townshend has around 25 identical Clapton Strats on tour with him. I played for many years with an artist who had Robbie Macintosh as the guitarist on his first album. He turned up for the sessions with a huge amount of guitars, including "at least" six teles, all with traditional pickup layout.

Nowadays I have around 25 guitars, but they all get used, and they all do at least a slightly different job, other than I now have two strats that are pretty similar in function and sound. If I'm not touring I don't really like having lots of guitars that double up on each other, but if SGs are your thing (and I'd point out they make tremendous guitars for slide too) then screw it, why not? Buy stuff that you enjoy and makes you happy.

Offset

All my guitars are different in some way as I like to have all bases covered.  I did have two US Strats but sold one as it was getting zero play time compared to the other.  So currently:

• US Standard Tele
• Parker Southern Nitefly (Tele-ish)
• US Strat Plus
• Charvel USA Select San DImas Style 2 (Tele-shaped)
• Hamer Eclipse
• Hohner/Stauffer Black Prince (HSS Tele + trem)
• ACG Reiver (P90s)
• Steinberger Synapse Transcale
• Gibson Firebird

I currently have a mindset which doesn't want to duplicate anything, but who knows... :-)