How Many Guitars Do You Have?

[rbdeli]

As a trumpet player, I've had a couple of horns at one time in the past, not counting my flugelhorn, which I sold like an idiot when I was in college.

Guitar players seem to need 5 or 6 instruments, minimum.
Even high school kids these days are playing 3 or 4 different guitars.

What is it with you guys that you need so many axes?

[BigDaddyLoveHandles]

Less than 2 ... like 1?

It's crazy how many guitars some people have. Having different types of guitars is one thing, but having a dozen Esquires is another

Are far as different types, I can understand why someone might have:

- a classical guitar (nylon string acoustic)
- a flattop guitar (steel string acoustic)
- a single coil solid body (say a Tele or Strat)
- a humbucker solid body (LP or SG)
- a semihollow (ES-335)
- a full-sized archtop
- a bass

Then you might want a 12-string, one with a Bigsby, one set up for slide... You can see how it adds up, and I'm imagining someone who isn't a collector!

[derek]

Unlike woodwind or brass instruments, there is a really wide range of tones and applications with guitars. As BDLH points out, just the types of guitars cover a ton of sonic ground. If you have a high quality clarinet, say Buffet Crampon, you are good to go. You might get a baritone also, but otherwise not as much variety. Of course, woodwind guys get twitchy about reeds.

I have a couple of guitars set up for jazz with flat wound strings, and a couple set up for rock/pop/blues. I used to have a dedicated guitar for playing slide in open tunings.

Even within jazz guitars, there are semihollows and hollows that sound pretty different to me. Within hollows, you have those made of laminated acoustic plates, those that are made from solid, hand carved woods, and some that are a combination. The uninitiated may not hear the sound differences of those, but most of us readily could.

Can you do it all with one? Probably. The early guys certainly did. But what the heck fun would that be?

[BigDaddyLoveHandles]

I had a jazz instructor who was a sax player. Saxes all look the same to me: he could have had a closet full of tenors and I wouldn't haven't counted that as "1", but I remember he did have:

- a soprano sax
- an alto sax
- a tenor sax
- a baritone sax (and saxes ain't cheap!)

- a clarinet (the standard size, whatever that is)
- a bass clarinet

- a flute (C?)
- an alto flute

He played in a house band and did session work, so it's not surprising he had all these.

[amusiathread]

Only one guitar? That's crazy.

Especially if you're a gigging musician, a back-up is a damn good idea. I have only 2 guitars right now, I'd say that's fairly minimal compared to some other players on this forum. I do have a 12-fret parlor guitar in mind for my next purchase though.

[abracadabra]

well guitar is also probably the most popular instrument for people to pick up (I have no proof of this, it just seems like it).

It fits almost every style of music and so there are a lot of different types.

When you add electricity and amplifiers and pedals then you end up with so many options to choose from that nobody ever settles for anything and spends their lives endlessly searching for that perfect instrument and tone. (Some people are more susceptible to this than others. )

http://www.jcfonline.com/forums/showthread.php?t=103046

[theo]

Organized my guitar room - JCF Online

Now that´s just wrong. but there is not a single guitar in that room i´d like to play.

[BigDaddyLoveHandles]

Hilarious! Maybe he's in a tribute hair band!

[Squint]

Abra... you really are hoarding, aren't you? MAN!!!! LOL!!
I've always thought you should have a backup for every guitar you play live. But when you're mainly in the studio like I am, you can cut it down to a minimum. But even being a low end beginning collector, I find that 16 guitars is barely enough. And then I see Abracadabra's collection and I feel much better. At least I can show his pics to the wife to prove that it could get even more crowded if she complains too much! LOL!!

[abracadabra]

whoa whoa whoa

that's not my collection, it's just someone on the jcf forums. I've only got about five guitars, which are all quite sensible.

However, you should check out some of the guys on strat-talk if you need more evidence to convince the wife.

[Squint]

Oh! Whew! THought we were gonna have to have an intervention or something!

[lpdeluxe]

I have a Gibson ES-335, which is my main electric. When I want to use a Bigsby vibrato, there's my SG, so equipped.

If I'm gigging on Dobro, I take along my '84 D60 in G tuning, or my '30s Model 19 Regal, in D, depending on the kind of material.

Bass? Then I pull out my fretless Precision, my '51 reissue, or my '57, depending, as usual, on the musical content.

That's about it. I don't play acoustic flat tops any more, but I have a couple of them, acquired over 39 years, and I gave up on pedal steel, so that's gone; then there's the Samick jazzbo that's about to get donated to a fund raiser.

I play harmonica, too, and you need at least 8 in different keys.

It all adds up.

I played in the local state U production of Big River, and got stares every evening as I climbed the stairs to the orchestra pit with my harmonica case, with the score inside. The girl sitting next to me had clarinet, bass clarinet, and soprano sax; over by the drums were the flugelhorn/trumpet player and the trombone/French horn player. The entire horn section doubled parts and humped their cases and scores and stands up the steps every night. Ironic, isn't it?

[BigDaddyLoveHandles]

I played in the local state U production of Big River, and got stares every evening as I climbed the stairs to the orchestra pit with my harmonica case, with the score inside.

There's always the bandolier

[randyc]

BDLH's initial response probably seems silly to many people but it is really about the minimum for those who play the broad spectrum of music that's required of an entertainer who performs locally.

Fortunately these things are inexpensive compared to quality horns or <shudder> quality double basses, cellos and violins. Now we're talking REAL money !

I'd add to BDLH's minimum list a solid-body guitar, set up and tuned for bottleneck (the SG is perfect for this) and a Dobro/National-style resonator guitar. I think with these two additions, any style of American music can be covered well.

[lpdeluxe]

There's always the bandolier

Sorry, no place for the score.

[BigDaddyLoveHandles]

Sorry, no place for the score.

Just a minute, I'll find the back shot

[Senior]

I have 1 Sax and 1 clarinet. 1 Guild archtop acoustic, 1 Ibanez hollowbody electric and I am looking for just the right classical guitar.

[musicjohnny]

I have three guitars.

My first ever, Jay Turser Strat.
A hand me down from my brother, an Epi Les Paul
and my first hollowbody the Ibanez Artcore AF 105 =)

[bluemood]

I'm down to three guitars at the moment and don't feel like I need any more ...A Hofner Very Thin Classic ( Germany)my Jazz guitar,Parker PM20PRO jack of all trades and my 1997 Jimi Hendrix Voodoo Strat Kinman woodstock plus pickups pretty much covers all I need for the moment ...If I had to pick one it would be the Parker for versatility the Hofner for tone and the Strat for all out fun.

[bkdavidson]

I'd have to go more or less with BDLH's initial response. Just having one guitar wouldn't work at all, because no matter what you'd at least need an electric and an acoustic. I was kind of a hoarder for a while, and was up to 13 or so guitars. Then I realized just how little I needed some of them and how much I needed food, clothing, and shelter. Right now I have a PRS for my solidbody, a Gibson for my semi-hollow, and an Ibanez I found in the trash at my apt. building for my backup. I also have a Takamine acoustic/electric, a Yamaha nylon-string with a pickup (and internal mic!), and an Alvarez hollowbody for traditional jazz. I also have an Ibanez BTB bass. I also have the coolest brother-in-law ever, who lets me use his Les Paul Studio anytime I want.

Depending on whether you're a jazz or classical player, trumpet players can fall into the same thing. A jazzer might just have a trumpet and a flugelhorn, but classical players often need a regular Bb horn, a flugelhorn, and a C,Eb/D, and piccolo trumpet. I've known some that have all those, and a cornet. If you play both, most players I've known will have a classical trumpet and a jazz trumpet. So you see, we're all destined to need a bunch of instruments and be totally screwed financially!

[lpdeluxe]

I'm a victim of my own versatility. Sometimes I think, had I concentrated on, say, reggae bass, life would be so much simpler!

The instruments exist because the music I play demands it -- to ask me to own one guitar is to insist that I not play everything I am capable of. This is distinct from the acquisitive instinct, which in fact I consciously fight against. If an instrument doesn't get used (and the two exceptions to this are my two flat top guitars, which represent my first and my only custom-made items) it goes out the door, into a happier home where it will be allowed to express what's inside it.

[Archie]

My problem is, I love guitars, and there are just so many nice ones out there. I have a Gretsch 6120 that sounds perfect for fingerpicking Chet Atkins tunes; A Larrivee flat top acoustic that I probably play about 80% of the time; a Strat that I pull out when I want to do my Hank Marvin imitation; a Baby Taylor for when I have to go on a plane (the rest of the time it stays in open D or open G tuning); a Lado bass that I only use nowadays for recording backing tracks, but 20 years ago was my main gigging instrument. I also have a Yamaha AE620 and a 1959 Gretsch Clipper that I plan to sell to make room for an ES335. I've never had a 335, although I've loved the sound that some of may favorite players get out of them since I was in high school.

[abracadabra]

and an Ibanez I found in the trash at my apt. building

are you serious? what kind of Ibanez?

Since we're all listing our axes here are mine:

Ibanez AF105
MIM Strat
Vester Concert Series II (bet you don't have one of these)
Takamine Classical
small travel classical guitar
a really old and decrepit Yamaha beginners' acoustic

and I'm hoping to get another MIM strat soon which I will heavily modify.

That's not too many guitars. I play them, well the first four, almost every day.

[whippersnapper]

Perhaps a hobby player. It simply wouldn't be possible to make living as a musician with just an archtop!

In all fairness though I could easily get by with just a Tele

[jeffstocksmusic]

One amp and one guitar. I don't do the G.A.S. thing. Nothing good comes of it.