How many guitars can you handle??

[Mandobart]

I have four, maybe 5 guitars. My Eastman archtop is my favorite, main player. Probably my old Ovation 12 string comes next. I like my Altamira sel-mac copy a lot but honestly don't play it much. My cheapo Davison guitjo (the "maybe" guitar) was a gift. I set it up and adjusted it to play and sound decent and I enjoy picking it now and then. My ancient Applause 6 string is the first guitar I bought for myself. Its now tuned in 5ths F-C-G-D-A-E. I almost never play it.

I play mandolin a lot more and have two great cusom mandos that get a lot of play. Also have a custom 10 string mandola, custom 10 string mandocello that is my favorite instrument of all, a Michael Kelly octave mando I never play, a custom octave mando I play a lot, an electric solidbody 8 string mandolin I never play, a 1930's Regal resonator mandolin, a 1930's Stahl banjolin and 5 fiddles: my grandpa's violin from the 1880's which has a very sweet, mellow tone; my Roth student violin with octave strings (cello range); a 1930's German viola modified to a 5 stringer, a 5 string octave viola and a 10 string Hardanger viola. Too many stringed instruments, to be sure. I have the space in my climate-controlled music room but I don't really have the time to play them all.

[BrunoBlack]

Originally Posted by brencat

I just got done telling the forum back in December that my ideal limit was 4. Bought another recently and having a REALLY hard time deciding what to sell. I can't do it right now as all are stellar.

So I guess my new limit is 5...

Yes, that is a problem. When you have really great instruments it’s extremely difficult to cut any of them loose. Especially when they are different and you like them.

[justonwo]

I've probably exceeded my limit, to be honest. The problem is that I love everything I own.

[raysachs]

I have four guitars, one acoustic and three electrics. I'd be fine with a second acoustic, if I'd play it. But when I most recently had a second, I always reached for the same one, so I sold the other one. Sometime in the next year or so, after our daughter gets established in her medical practice in Oregon, we'll visit and I'll probably buy a cheap acoustic out there and leave it with them for when we visit. So, technically, I'll have two then, but I'll really still just have one at any given time and place. One nice one and one that I won't worry should something happen to it.

Electrics, I'm good with 2 or 3. Gotta have a strat and gotta have something fatter/bigger sounding than a strat, which is now in the form of an Epiphone ES339 with P90s - P90s are my drug of choice for that role, humbuckers don't get played when there are P90s nearby. And I have an awesome roadworn tele that I don't have any real need for but I completely love and don't have any need to get rid of, so I'm keeping it. It gets played - that's kind of the bottom line. Anything more would start to get confusing and I'd want to be rid of something. So, gotta have two, happy to have three, don't want more than that...

-Ray

[Pitar]

One steel string and one classical. I play the latter most but I have to admit a nylon string classical won't complement everything I play. One needs twang now and then.

[jpricewood]

One of every size and basic wood combo. Having more than you can handle isn’t a bad thing.

[BT55]

If you are male you should have as many guitars as your wife has shoes.

[TBman]

Right now I have 3 guitars on stands (all solid) in our computer/music room and 3 more in the family room (1 solid, 2 solid/lam). I still have another all solid sleeping in its case, but it may stay there a while (Martin D-16GT) as 3 of our grandsons are staying with us for a while.

I took the J-45 out of its case for the first time since the winter months and I'm itching to play it, but I have so many great things to learn in alternate tunings that I put it off for tonight.

We just got ourselves a neat little outdoor table and chairs (no arms) for our deck so I may be having a beer and playing some blues outside sometime on a weekend soon. I haven't played in standard tuning for a few months,

As a practical matter it seems that 2 guitars is a decent number, 3 pushes the limit and 4 is kind of silly, but doable. So I'm sitting here with the following

Music room:
1. Avalon L2-320c (CGDGAD)
2. Guild D-120ce (CGDGCD)
3. J-45 (Standard)

Family room:
4. Larrivee OM-05 (DADGAD)
5. Alvarez 00 (Standard)
6. Seagull folk (DADGAD)

Spare bedroom:
Washburn D-10S (Standard)
Lucero LC-100 (cheapo classical)

Cased:
Martin D-16GT (Standard)
Guild D-55 (Standard)

On any one night if I play more than 2 it is rare.

But of course I want one more (A Furch G23 cedar/walnut (maybe hog)). It's not a matter of getting to play them all, but which one sounds great for which song being practiced for a recording. My whole routine is set up to practice songs until the point they are good enough (or close) to record and then see if I can get a decent job of it. Then I get to play with the DAW and eq'ing it which is part 2 of this hobby for me. Sometimes I'll record something and post it and it really isn't representative of my best playing, but I post it up anyway to "complete" it.

So that's my "excuse" for having more guitars that I "need."
If I get in the mood to re-learn some Neil Young and do some finger style arrangements of his stuff, the Martin will be out.

[Bridgepin]

I have 14 currently and yes not all of them get played as much as others do but to me that's ok.

I have 5 that I play all the time, but sometimes I will grab one of the others.

I don't feel guilty either, I have worked hard and intend to enjoy the fruits of my labor.

[Jaden]

Originally Posted by TBman

Right now I have 3 guitars on stands (all solid) in our computer/music room and 3 more in the family room (1 solid, 2 solid/lam). I still have another all solid sleeping in its case, but it may stay there a while (Martin D-16GT) as 3 of our grandsons are staying with us for a while.

I took the J-45 out of its case for the first time since the winter months and I'm itching to play it, but I have so many great things to learn in alternate tunings that I put it off for tonight.

We just got ourselves a neat little outdoor table and chairs (no arms) for our deck so I may be having a beer and playing some blues outside sometime on a weekend soon. I haven't played in standard tuning for a few months,

As a practical matter it seems that 2 guitars is a decent number, 3 pushes the limit and 4 is kind of silly, but doable. So I'm sitting here with the following

Music room:
1. Avalon L2-320c (CGDGAD)
2. Guild D-120ce (CGDGCD)
3. J-45 (Standard)

Family room:
4. Larrivee OM-05 (DADGAD)
5. Alvarez 00 (Standard)
6. Seagull folk (DADGAD)

Spare bedroom:
Washburn D-10S (Standard)
Lucero LC-100 (cheapo classical)

Cased:
Martin D-16GT (Standard)
Guild D-55 (Standard)

On any one night if I play more than 2 it is rare.

Keeping in mind your musical abilities, I take heart in this, your discussion, which amply displays the triumph of music over gear, in which you are blessed in each.

[drive-south]

I currently own 35 instruments with most being guitars. The mix is 50/50 electrics and acoustics. This is after downsizing from nearly 100. It takes a lot of space and realistically I need a lot more time to play and maintain them, but I have no plans to downsize any further. When I downsized I kept the cream of the crop and I'm very much attached to them all.

Hopefully I'll have more time to enjoy them after I retire. That's a couple years off yet.

Guitars I play the most:

Gibson AJ
Gibson ES175
Fender Strats

[TBman]

Originally Posted by Jaden

Keeping in mind your musical abilities, I take heart in this, your discussion, which amply displays the triumph of music over gear, in which you are blessed in each.

Thanks Jaden,

[bluetweed]

4 for me, 2 great Tele's, one has a P90 in the neck with a hot bridge making it my Gibson type, the other everything a Tele should be. For acoustics a Custom
CEO-7 which is one of Martins best. I am still looking for the 4th which will probably be another Martin that is different from my CEO-7. Problem with the Martins the MLO neck,while it feels ok down at the nut gets too skinny for me as you move up the neck. This is making my Martin search much harder.
Woops, I forgot I also have a cheap P bass knockoff which I changed the electronics and pickup and now sounds and plays like a good Fender.
So i guess my final # will be 5. I know my guitars well which lets me play them at their max capability. More than 2 acoustics and 2 electrics would not be good for me.

[jazzguy]

Originally Posted by fazool

For me the magic number is four.

I don't know why, but it's always four.

I've cycled through 20-30 guitars in the past 5-10 years and every time I have 3 I feel a need for something that's missing. But as soon as I get 5 I feel like I have too many and I shed one. Happened every time to me.

I recognized this and accepted that four is my number.

I can relate. I have done the exact same thing, though I have 3 acoustics now, I could see 1 more in my future. I have a total of 4 including the Strat. I know it's kind of silly, but its almost an emotional thing. I feel each guitar deserves to be played and I don't want to leave one out. Plus I only have so much room.

[raysachs]

Originally Posted by Bridgepin

I have 14 currently and yes not all of them get played as much as others do but to me that's ok.

I have 5 that I play all the time, but sometimes I will grab one of the others.

I don't feel guilty either, I have worked hard and intend to enjoy the fruits of my labor.

I don’t think it’s a question of feeling guilty or not - nothing to feel guilty about with guitars one way or the other. Just a matter of at what point does the gear start to feel less like a pleasure and more like a burden, and we each obviously have different bottom lines in that question. For me, up to 2-3 electrics and 1-2 acoustics seems to be the limit - more than that I’d start feeling obligated to play some of them rather than just picking them up organically. And I’d dislike keeping track of the maintenance needs of each. I’ve been through the same thing with bicycles and cameras and other things too, BTW.

If you can enjoy all of your guitars without feeling burdened by them, doesn’t matter whether you have 14 or 140, more power to you. We each seem to have different thresholds, but I don’t think anyone is implying anyone should feel guilt over how many guitars they own.

-Ray