Different guitars for different styles of playing / music

[Humbucker]

A question I often ponder when it's time to tell my wife another 'toy' is forthcoming via the big brown truck. Fortunately, she has several options to complain about as my hobbies are expensive (ham radio is the closest competitor) and I hardly ever come up with a good excuse.

You look at a guitar and sometimes it just calls your name. When I walk into a music store sometimes the voices are absolutely overwhelming. I have to buy one just to get some peace and quiet.

[rc3797]

I used to think of it as “different colors on a palette”, much like how I still think about the different pedals on my electric board. Numerous stages of buying, getting burnt out, purging, etc. helped me realize that I personally didn’t *need* a ton of guitars to do what I do, and the GAS was distracting me from improving as a player with the tools that I already have. I’ve now got a couple instruments that get played regularly, and that have stories attached to them that make them lifetime keepers.
BUT it’s a hobby! Different strokes and all. If having a whole quiver of instruments is your thing, then by all means, go for it!

[J Patrick]

.....until I was 44 years old I never owned more than one acoustic guitar.and one electric...even though I play lots of styles both finger style and flatpicked...I played in lots of bands duos and trios through my twenties...and I have always done solo gigs...but after I turned thirty i stopped gigging and raised a family....it wasn’t that I wouldn’t have liked more instruments...there was just no need for them....and the money I worked hard for belonged to my wife and kids first...

...as it is for most of us life moves on and things change...kids grow up...priorities change....around Y2K I started playing out again....I met lots of new players in a new town and formed a variety of musical collaborations...at the same time the internet blossomed and the condition known as GAS was fueled....additionally there was an explosion of new guitar and amp builders creating incredible stuff....instead of just any good Dreadnought I became interested in all kinds of guitars and now had the means and time to indulge myself...so I did...big time...

....I started acquiring different styles of guitars to use in specific situations...I discovered the appeal of vintage instruments....I started building guitars...

.....I now own a sizable collection of gear....and I have retired...but I moved to a new town six years ago and although I play regularly I am no longer gigging and my musical collaborations have all but dried up completely...so do I need all this stuff now??....no I don’t need it but still I continue to buy instruments....I bought a high end guitar and a high end banjo last year...and I regularly mod my electric guitars and sample pedals....

....at this point I could easily get rid of almost my entire collection...just keep a few guitars and an amp...maybe a few pedals... and I would have everything I need....and I could play all the styles I like to play just fine....in fact I’d like to do that....maybe I will...

[mr. beaumont]

Not at all.

I play light classical and bossa novas on my nylon string. I have an acoustic archtop set up for swing rhythm. My SelMac style plays the Django gigs, my Heritage 575 plays the straight ahead gigs, and my tele covers everything else.

They're tools. You can pound a nail in with a wrench, but a hammer does a better job.

[JGinNJ]

Do you have just one pair of shoes?

Guitars have evolved specifically to work better for different kinds of music and playing styles.

[ChuckS]

Originally Posted by Lakewood_Lad

This is just an excuse for buying more guitars, right?

I don't think excuses are necessary to justify how a person fulfills their hobby. But as a suggestion, you may not want to start recording your guitar(s), or you may end up with your guitar hobby, and a hobby of a hobby.

[ljguitar]

Originally Posted by Lakewood_Lad

This is just an excuse for buying more guitars, right?

Hi L_L

Kind of, yes. I can play any style music I want to on any of my guitars in a way that it's pleasing to others.

Doesn't mean I don't enjoy owning multiple guitars.