1 single mid-high level guitar or a little collection?

[Sadie-f]

Originally Posted by Rudy4

Analogy is our friend.

"Love the one you're with", to quote Stephen Stills. It took me twice to find the right wife, one of my friends is on #4 and still looking.

I tend to have a very monogamous personality, and once I find the right (partner) guitar I tend to stay with them.

Nice analogy :-) I'm decidedly polyamorous / non monogamous in relationships; long term partner, as many GF's as I happen to have along the way (which is usually <1 because time, energy, work).

In guitars I'd be happy enough with one electric, one acoustic, however I've got the space for 2@, so that seems to be my magic number.

[jaymarsch]

I have spent most of my life owning one guitar that cost me whatever I could most afford at the time. It was only later in my guitar playing life that I ended up with several. My 18 year old custom Wingert is the guitar that I play the most along with my custom Kramer Prairie Grass. One rosewood and one mahogany and they pretty much give me everything I could want for what I play.
My other two guitars, a 00 that I bought used 19 years ago and an Alvarez parlor cost much less than my two customs.
I also think that for me, experiencing a number of different guitars allowed me to really hone in on what I wanted in terms of tone and playability so it might also depend on where you are in your musical journey on whether one or several might most suit you.
I should say that I am not a gigging musician so I don’t have professional reasons to consider.
Best,
Jayne

[Benjo]

I'd go with owning the best possible guitar I can afford so that's one for me

[jaymarsch]

A quick aside -
I just realized that I posted twice in this thread. Once this morning and once a month ago. This proves to me once again that I should not post before coffee.
Now, back to our regularly scheduled programming. :-)
Best,
Jayne

[tsmith28]

I have struggled with this dilemma myself and have bounced back and forth between a single guitar and up to 5 at a time. I am beginning to realize that my ideal number is 2-3, with one "nice" guitar (currently my Martin Special 16 Style Rosewood dreadnought) that I mostly keep in its case when not in use and at least one "beater" guitar (currently my Eastman E1D) that I leave out and not lose sleep over. I would never only have one because sometimes a friend comes over to jam with me and I like to be able to have a spare guitar on hand to offer.

[Br1ck]

There should be a way to see how many posts you have to one thread.

I'll give at least my second opinion.

Everyone needs to play enough guitars to form a base line of what they can be happy with over the long term, then work to meet that line. For me, I could take $2000 and shop the used market. Some will have a $5000 base line. In the last month I could have bought a practically new D 18, any number of older Guild D 40s, Taylors, Larrivees, one Martin D 16 adi top, Breedloves, etc. A guitar like this should allow you to play almost anything, think nice guitar, and walk of a store out pang free.

Then build a savings fund and don't worry about it. Go buy strings every so often at your local store, play guitars and remember, you can walk out pang free. Cruise your local Craigslist for fun if you want. Sooner or later you will find something that really stands out above the fifty guitars you've played. Pay attention to this. And note the longer you've been not shopping, the more you've saved. You see a D 18GE on Craigslist , or a consignment instrument. That happened to me last year with a mandolin, a Weber Yellowstone Deluxe with a fern inlay. I didn't need a mandolin. I had three. I didn't have a fancy one, and wanted one. Consigned at under the market, I snapped it up. I was making a hit and run string purchase with no time to spare. It had been in the back of my mind for three years! It wasn't a burning desire, just a maybe someday thing.

Do this over decades and you end up with a few nice instruments that meet your unique needs. Sure you can trade up if you want, but good decisions are made under no pressure, not buy having money burning a hole in your pocket.

And by the way, there will always be another guitar come along and it's ok to walk away, and a guitar you buy as a deal that you think is good not great is no deal at all.

[L20A]

Once I could afford more than one guitar, I started my collection.
It grew to about 8 guitars but I thinn3d the heard about a year ago and now live happily with 5.

Each one is unique and has it's own purpose.

I would never go back to just one guitar.

[PassingThru]

I'm with the OP. For many years, all I had was a single Martin D-28. Expanded a bit but it did not increase my playing time or ability. Will probably be cutting down to one guitar again soon. Keeping it simple will be a good move for me.

[Seattlesurfer]

Just did that and no regrets - my new 00-18 arrived Tuesday.

[ATTACH]79382

[donlyn]

Originally Posted by Br1ck

There should be a way to see how many posts you have to one thread.

Brick,

There is. From the Discussion screen, click on the number of replies in the 'replies' column. In what appears to be posting order, it will give a breakdown of posters and number of posts.

Exempla gratia, this is my second post to this thread. (I like many guitars of different wood construction as long as they're Jumboes or Jumbo variants, no matter the size.)

Don,

[ghostnote]

I, too, am someone who could own a very nice guitar if I sold all the others I have. But I got them all for different reasons and now I like them a lot after all this time. And they are decent guitars too. I think there’s always a “what if” guitar out there for everyone.

[min7b5]

I've been really happy with just one guitar for many years - okay technically I have three of the exact same make and model, but I only really play one, and for many years I literally only had the one for practice, recording, air travel/touring... I always felt like it serves my ADD-ish tendencies well, leaving me more focused on actually making music. I have noticed, especially in the last decade (maybe it's the web), that I have so many students that seemingly want to talk about gear so much more now days.. Probably good to break that spell/time suck.. but that's another rant

[Mandobart]

I've also posted before early on near the beginning of this thread. I'll add my personal experience having gone both ways on this subject.

For over 30 years I was happy with my Roth student violin, my old Applause 6 string, my almost as old Ovation 12 string and an Ibanez Musician electric that I nearly never played. I'd go to music stores to buy strings and picks and always try out new guitars. Never tempted to bring anything new home.

About 15 years ago I started mandolin, started attending a weekly jam and had something of a musical reawakening. I started devoting a lot more time, energy (and money) to playing and learning more. I branched out to more genres, styles and instruments. I was enjoying playing more than ever, and I became a better player than ever before. I started trying and buying new (and gently used new to me) instruments.

I'm still in that "new" phase. I avoid the starter, beginner, student low budget instruments. I've found that multiple $200 instruments do not give the equivalent satisfaction of a single $2000 instrument. But, there are some outliers that get air time here. My Eastman E2OM-CD is a good example. $500 (over $600 new now), I enjoy playing it as much as I enjoy my $1850 (over $3000 new now) Martin HD-28.

Does this change my original answer? Not really. I still say you're better off buying the single best instrument you can afford within your budget vs several "lesser" instruments that equal the same total expense. But reserve the option to enjoy something less expensive that moves you.

[tbeltrans]

As several have already said, it really depends on the individual player. For me, this is what I have learned...

I only end up frustrated when I flip around across multiple musical styles. I never get deep into any and just end up scratching the surface of each at best.

When I pick one musical style and go deep into it, I find that I stay motivated to play. I enjoy the learning process more than the performing aspect.

Also, I have found that one really, really good guitar for the style of music that I have picked to dig deep into is well worth the money because that guitar is capable of giving back all that I put into it.

So that is my personal take on it and it bears no reflection on what others choose to do.

Tony

[TBman]

It depends on what you buy.

My Pellerin is the mid-range expensive type and my Furch was about $2,200. The Pellerin was more than 2x the cost of the Furch, but the tonal differences are not on the same scale as the cost. The tonal differences may increase as the Pellerin gets older and fully realizes that it is a guitar (They are both cedar/rosewood).

Both guitars have a fit and finish that is over the moon btw.

I also have an Avalon and a McIlroy and I'd rather have these two, rather than one more expensive guitar as they have different tonewoods and offer a good variety.