Your optimum number of guitars

[iim7V7IM7]

I suppose I should differentiate between the "number" that I have and "optimal".

In order to get to "optimal" it implies both number and type/features of individual instruments. It is the later that is the difficult part to truly determine without playing a bunch of guitars. I have found this aspect of "optimal" to be inherently empirical. You simply have to live with an instrument to understand that. I currently have more guitars than is likely "optimal" but I get the benefit of playing and comparing some wonderful guitars over a long period of time. Let's just talk steel string flat top guitars and not other types given the nature of this forum.

1 - 0 size 12 fret
2 - 00 size 12 fret
1 - L00 size 13 fret
2 - 000 size 12 fret
3 - 000 size 14 fret
2 - OM size 14 fret
1 - SJ size 14 fret
1 - 0000 size 14 fret
1 - J-185 size 14 fret

Is this optimal? Absolutely not. 14 flat tops is honestly too many guitars for me to play regularly, store, maintain, insure etc..

That said, I am fortunate to have the opportunity to play and compare these guitars over a long period of time to really know them to decide which among them are truly my favorites. This is a luxury and the best way that I know of to reliably know which individual instruments are the ones to keep and which ones to move on to new owners.

While I have not made any decisions regarding the number, I likely suspect somewhere between ~1/4 to 1/2 of what I have of the guitars that best suit me. I think having a number of instruments that you both bond with and provide some different sound attributes is a good thing. For me, this will relate to different builders, sizes and materials. I also always need one instrument that is environmentally bulletproof.

[Twin Six]

Originally Posted by Rev Roy

When I first started playing I only had one guitar. Then the bridge cracked and it ended up in the shop for three weeks. I was suddenly guitarless! Never again. I bought a second guitar and have considered two guitars to be my optimal number ever since...

Had I not recently acquired a second guitar, I'd find myself in the same position. My 12-string went into the shop yesterday for a lifting bridge. Thanks to the geographic proximity of my local shop, it's going to a tech at Bourgeois, which may be as close as I ever come to owning one.

[raysachs]

My optimum is two, one electric and one acoustic. Then I don't get caught up in A-B comparisons or thinking about which guitar to play. I just decide to play electric or acoustic and that's what I play. Allows me to focus on what I'm playing on the guitar rather than what guitar I'm playing. I've spent most of my adult life - I'm 61 - with a strat and a Martin, although the Martin has changed a couple times over the years. I have a second electric at the moment, but it's a very very distant #2 - I play the strat 90-95% of the time. It's kind of nice to have as an occasional change of pace and perspective check, but it doesn't compete with the strat.

-Ray

[Watt]

Originally Posted by raysachs

My optimum is two, one electric and one acoustic. Then I don't get caught up in A-B comparisons or thinking about which guitar to play. I just decide to play electric or acoustic and that's what I play. Allows me to focus on what I'm playing on the guitar rather than what guitar I'm playing. I've spent most of my adult life - I'm 61 - with a strat and a Martin, although the Martin has changed a couple times over the years. I have a second electric at the moment, but it's a very very distant #2 - I play the strat 90-95% of the time. It's kind of nice to have as an occasional change of pace and perspective check, but it doesn't compete with the strat.

-Ray

I suppose that, for some people, having multiple guitars can lead to the behavior you are describing, the A/B comparisons and the like. And it might be particularly true for those who are always in the hunt for another. Maybe.

I probably have too many guitars. I expect to give one or two to each of my daughters in the coming years. But having them doesn't take away from my focus on playing, at all. It's actually an advantage because, wherever I go in my house, there is usually a guitar nearby. Sometimes the piece I am playing will dictate a particular guitar. For example, if I am playing a set of jazz standards I prefer to play one of the arch tops. But, more often than not, I just grab the nearest guitar and play.

Hope that makes sense.

[Taylor Ham]

Originally Posted by raysachs

My optimum is two, one electric and one acoustic. Then I don't get caught up in A-B comparisons or thinking about which guitar to play. I just decide to play electric or acoustic and that's what I play. Allows me to focus on what I'm playing on the guitar rather than what guitar I'm playing. I've spent most of my adult life - I'm 61 - with a strat and a Martin, although the Martin has changed a couple times over the years. I have a second electric at the moment, but it's a very very distant #2 - I play the strat 90-95% of the time. It's kind of nice to have as an occasional change of pace and perspective check, but it doesn't compete with the strat.



-Ray

Agreed. I can't really justify buying more than 1 really great acoustic, so I buy once cry once, and maintain for a long time. I wish I could try them all though!

[gfspencer]

3 to 5 would be the perfect number. I need to get rid of some.

[NotveryGood]

I used to think I couldn't have too many. Then lack of space after a house move cut it down to six. I recently had a urge (seemingly from nowhere) to cut it to three and found it so liberating that I am now thinking that two would be just right.
Perhaps its an age thing ,I feel the need generally to have less "stuff" .Im finding I appreciate the guitars I have all the more, now my attention is less divided.
( I'm also enjoying buying fewer strings and restringing less often . Now that must be age!)

[EverettWilliams]

I suppose I could get by with one or two, but that would feel so limiting.

I like that different guitars demand different things of me as a player and flexing my muscles a bit to pull great tone out of a bunch of different guitars makes me better at it in general. If you're constantly encountering the same resistance, you only learn to address that resistance. I think I'm a much better musician as a result of diverse experience.

Further, it's great to have a bunch of different voices for recording. If you record three tracks with the same guitar and same microphone, frequencies start stacking up, but doing it with complementary guitars gives you something entirely different and better. This is also true with electrics and amps.

But it's also just really rewarding to me to have a big collection. Yes, it's fun to explore the comparative nuance of strings, woods, builders, and body shapes, but it's even better to be able to pick up the right guitar for each song or pick what you're going to play based on your mood. It's also really nice to be able to share with other people particularly people who want to learn about the differences in guitars. To be able to contextualize instruments and share examples of their development is a wonderful thing. So, it's a little bit absurd to have as many instruments as I have, but I never look around and think "I've got too many," I look around and think "woah, fifteen year old me would think I'm awesome!"

I surely don't need as many instruments as I have, but I find it really rewarding and inspiring.

[BillyMays]

Where is the option for "Yes"?

[RP]

I'd have to say N-1....

[Wolfram]

There's always at least one thing you dislike about a guitar, and you can always reduce your stable by at least one guitar...

...that must mean that the optimum number is one guitar that you don't like.

Though in actual fact, I am aiming for three (00, OM and MD) ... and missing ... quite considerably!

Cheers,
David