Guitar Monogamy

Joe Bfstplk said:
40+ years on, I still regret the decision to get the Elite Strat instead of the lawsuit Ibanez Explorer. Was mostly a one or two guitar guy from then until I finally got a decent-paying job. Kinda went nuts the past 5 years or so....
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Yeah, I know my desk is a mess....
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What desk!?! 😂
 
cje said:
I am holding all my guitars (4 electrics, 2 acoustics) but I really only play one of each (OK maybe 2 electrics)… I keep the rest for sentimental reasons. I can’t remember the last time I played my first guitar (Strat) or my Les Paul or Takamine acoustic.
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I’ve had a G series Takemine for 20years cutaway that I play once a year. Then a 2008 esp/ltd F-250 with mods that I adore and has sentimental attachment
 
Absolutely not 1 guitar. I won't play a gig without a backup guitar. The argument could be made to have much less than I do, but the rationale racks up quickly:
  • My main guitar is a Floyd Rose guitar. I need a backup for it, so that gets to 2.
  • Need a different tuning? That at least adds another to the mix.
  • Want guitars that DON'T have a Floyd Rose, add those in.
  • LP vs Strat style guitars a different. You don't NEED both, but I think it's understandable to want both styles.
  • You need some with different types of pickups, right?
  • Red guitars sound different from blue guitars, so you need both, right?
  • Oh hey, you join another band that plays in another different tuning. Add 2 more guitars
  • You play enough shows with a guitar and it gets thrown across the stage a time or two, so you should probably get another one that's just like it (or similar) just in case that one eventually gives up the ghost
  • Oh, I found this one at a really good price!
  • Couldn't sell my Axe FX 2, but I could get 2 strats for it. Add 2.
  • Wait. Where do I store all these guitars? And the cases!
  • I guess I won't be moving any time soon...
In all seriousness, the guitars I don't play that often typically have sentimental value and also would get me very little money for them since they were my first, cheap guitars. That, or they're decent guitars I just don't play often but would rather keep them as art and available as a backup or another tuning option instead of dealing with selling them for a huge loss compared to what I paid for them.

There are a handful of guitars that I cycle through in my regular playing. I guess I'm polyamorous when it comes to guitars.

EDIT: I wasn't even thinking of acoustic guitars or basses when I wrote this hahahaha
 
I go back an forth multiple times a day between "cool collection I have" to "sell it all and keep one guitar and the FM3". Totally mental for me. The weight of material possessions blah blah. Currently working on selling off about 50 pieces of my collection but the market is slow, very slow.
 
Joe Bfstplk said:
40+ years on, I still regret the decision to get the Elite Strat instead of the lawsuit Ibanez Explorer. Was mostly a one or two guitar guy from then until I finally got a decent-paying job. Kinda went nuts the past 5 years or so....
1000012286.jpg


Yeah, I know my desk is a mess....
Click to expand...
I also regret selling the '74 SG with the large 2 stamped on the back of the headstock by the factory....
 
Joe Bfstplk said:
40+ years on, I still regret the decision to get the Elite Strat instead of the lawsuit Ibanez Explorer. Was mostly a one or two guitar guy from then until I finally got a decent-paying job. Kinda went nuts the past 5 years or so....
1000012286.jpg


Yeah, I know my desk is a mess....
Click to expand...
Love the Speed Racer you just need Super Chicken on the wall. 🤣
I think about a couple of guitars I’ve sold but I only really would like to have one of them back.
Love my Elite Strat & my lawsuit Custom Ibanez …. Nice Jam Room!
 
Freds55 said:
Love the Speed Racer you just need Super Chicken on the wall. 🤣
I think about a couple of guitars I’ve sold but I only really would like to have one of them back.
Love my Elite Strat & my lawsuit Custom Ibanez …. Nice Jam Room!
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Thanks! Is your Elite Strat the early-ish '80s one or the recent one that revived the name 'Elite'? Mine was the '80s one, and a real boat anchor....
 
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Nope...

I bought 2 guitars since these were taken and then have several other guitars and basses still in cases.

My 19 year old son also has 5 guitars of his own :)

Edit:

3 of the guitars on the short hanger belong to my bandmate

Edit 2:

Forgot these:


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When I see someone with a single good quality guitar and tube amp sitting in their living room, I am impressed by the simplicity - but it does not work for me as I really enjoy having specialty guitars + Axfx for varied specific sounds. I tried getting everything out of one but it just ended up blah. With 8 of varied quality, but all tweaked to be enjoyable to play, I am now at my limit of maintenance capability and have pretty much every tone I want.
 
wesleyamltd said:
Have you ever felt like selling all but one of your guitars?

To what extent, did you hope to get rid of the mental space owning several guitars takes up?
Maybe you wanted to sell all the middle of the road guitars for a really choice one.
Perhaps you just wanted to become so well connected with a particular guitar as though is was a part of you.

I’ve thought about this from time to time, less strings, less maintenance and more space.

But, I will talk myself out of it with rational thinking and sentimentality.

Minimalism can be romantic and idealistic, but it’s not seemingly practical for the modern guitarist.

And so I toil some more….
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I often had this feeling in the past when I had a mix of expensive vintage/signature guitars and some cheap asian guitars I mostly played. After some pimp up, the cheap ones were just as good if not mostly better. I never wanted to pimp up the expensive ones a lot because of a possible sale. Today all the expensive ones are gone and I have much more cheap but really great 100-500$ (partly used) guitars with some pickup, tuner and extra pimp up and now I'm happier and don't want to sell them anymore, at most I want to give them away for free to a music school when I'm gone. The money was never the reason, but it's hard to have dead capital just hanging on the wall for years. I made photos for desktop wallpaper usage, that's enough. Refer to my rig in signature.
 
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I'm not a pro player. No gigging. I have 6-7 guitars but have many times gone back n forth with the minimalist desert island guitar approach vs a number of mid tier players with 1 or 2 hotties. Currently my mind set is less is more. Mainly for the reason of maintenance. I also tend to grab /favor the same one or two guitars 97% of the time anyhow so by the time I reach for one of the others they need a string change. I recently acquired a Govan USA Charvel that is extremely versatile. Theoretically I could manage with just that but I'd still want 2 or 3 of my others for what they do: PRS 594 DC, never sell my EBMM axis and my strat for those true single coil sounds and of course my Taylor acoustic. That would be my absolute minimum. Do i need more? probs not. will i ever change things up ? get another guitar? likely. Be honest with yourself hahah. A gear whore at heart.
 
Joe Bfstplk said:
Thanks! Is your Elite Strat the early-ish '80s one or the recent one that revived the name 'Elite'? Mine was the '80s one, and a real boat anchor....
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Hi Joe the Elite is one of the newer ones the wife gave it to me for Christmas, I want to say about eight years ago it has the noiseless 4 pickup’s and has a really smooth sound it’s not as bright as my mm Strat which I play a lot it has a brighter sound.
The Elite is not very heavy at all I like that a lot unlike my Custom Ibanez /boat anchor I have been playing since it was new and is showing a bit of wear on the neck and fret wire.
 
Before I started gigging, I had an Ibanez RG340 and a Fender MIM Players Strat. These were "enough" for me. Since I started gigging over 20 years ago, I have accumulated a stable of 10 electrics, one acoustic and one bass. None of the electrics are exact duplicates, each one covers a tonal space or genre.

During the past 20 odd years, there have been several 'favorite' guitars among the ones I own. Having a few guitars to choose from has also helped keep the creativity alive, playing a different guitar when one becomes 'boring'. Having the Axe III and FM3 would likely keep me from 'thinning the herd' when the gigging stops. Having access to all of the amps providing the ability to cover any style of music means keeping most, if not all, of them.
 
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