Lots of guitars or not?

[Sg-ocaster]

I don't like the way it ages the way it feels, I don't like how it's not as durable as poly and sensitive to environment and temperature fluctuations because it breathes more than poly. If it cracked or checked I would have to get rid of it or have it refinished or it would drive me nuts.

I don't like how it can stick and melt to whatever it decides to do it to either. I don't like the premium it costs for no positive benefit IMHO (Sorry, I don't believe the better tone beliefs about it either). Poly is just better all the way around IMHO and I prefer it in every single way over nitro.

I can understand why some manufacturers still use it as to stick with tradition and people belive it won't be the same if they change it. I'm just glad there are great accurate alternatives to get the same kind of guitar with a finish I much more prefer and the traditionalist nitro lovers still have theirs as well. If Gibson made a nice line with poly finishes and charged much less because of it I would jump on an LP and an SG. Until then Epi is filling that void

I can understand the checking issue and see were you may not like that etc...
But I know poly does blunt down a guitars resonance atleast in some case. I had a partscaster I built years ago had a 74' USA neck on a MIJ body(poly finish).....it was so/so............I decided to heavy/relic it so I(got yelled at for it) hung the body from wire and baked it in the oven till the finish yellowed(was olympic white) then slowly and strategicly nicked and abused it.......as well as rub ashes and pot resin(yea I used too) into and onto it(looked awesome) anyways after I burned and abused the finish and exposed the wood it resonated way better.......one of the guitars I regret selling.
Not that poly is BAD my strat now is poly and I like it allot. Just nitro is thinner and lets the wood ring better.......and I like the feel of it better myself too.
My SG is nitro and I think it wood feel cheap in poly IMO.

 

[Sg-ocaster]

I seen half guitars mentioned.......yea I have one of those too....I didnt count that.......its 85% of a strat save for a neck,pickguard and pots. It resides under my bed apart and in ziplock bags. LOL

 

[Derek S]

I have 6 or 7 electrics, one bass and one classical...this seems to be my sweet spot. Not knocking guys with massive collections, hell, I think that's cool, I've just personally never had a need to own more guitars, amps and gear than even many famous/signed artists (although some dudes do own and collect 100's of them, like Vai, Bonamassa, Ted Nugent, Yngwie, Paul Gilbert, etc, etc)...but I'm merely a hack, so for me anyway, a small handful of guitars for some variety has always scratched my itch.

 

[Edgar Frog]

I can understand the checking issue and see were you may not like that etc...
But I know poly does blunt down a guitars resonance atleast in some case. I had a partscaster I built years ago had a 74' USA neck on a MIJ body(poly finish).....it was so/so............I decided to heavy/relic it so I(got yelled at for it) hung the body from wire and baked it in the oven till the finish yellowed(was olympic white) then slowly and strategicly nicked and abused it.......as well as rub ashes and pot resin(yea I used too) into and onto it(looked awesome) anyways after I burned and abused the finish and exposed the wood it resonated way better.......one of the guitars I regret selling.
Not that poly is BAD my strat now is poly and I like it allot. Just nitro is thinner and lets the wood ring better.......and I like the feel of it better myself too.
My SG is nitro and I think it wood feel cheap in poly IMO.

I think the dulling down of resonance some people here is more about how thick the finish is than the type of finish itself. Poly is one that some companies will pile on thick for some reason. The 1st thing I do with any guitar is test it unplugged. If it doesn't resonate and sound good then I pass it on. The finish at that point doesn't matter because it could just be a dull sounding piece of wood.

My GK Custom has a very thin poly and resonates like crazy and very acoustical for an FR and is fun to play unplugged. My Schecter DSFR is a heavy chunk of mahogany with a thicker poly finish and a cheap FR & pot metal trem block which kills a lot of it's resonance but yet it doesn't sound bad unplugged. It will still hold a note forever and whenever/if ever the cheap trem kicks the bucket (still like new after 12 years) I'm sure an OFR will breath a lot of life into it. It sounds and plays so good already I can't justify pulling the term when it functions flawlessly.

My IBG Epi LP Standard 60s I just bought I was going to return because SW messed it all up from a shitty pack job and it was completely unplayable and all scuffed and scratched up when I got it. After doing a full setup and getting it playable that thing resonates and sustains like crazy very loud and acoustic like unplugged. So I had to keep it instead of taking a risk on a replacement.

Do I need them to be more resonant and sustain longer? no not at all. Would a different finish make them better at it? That's debatable/questionable. A new FR on the Schecter would have a much larger impact IMHO. Will they get better with age? Most certainly (they already are), poly doesn't change that. I say screw it all though and just play what you like and love.

 

[ampeq]

I don’t see the point, I want one good guitar for each sound or type of music I want to play. I have 4 but I’m hoping to drop to 3 when my new guitar comes. I have my LP, my new custom and a Strat for single coil stuff. The new guitar is like my custom but with P90’s, that should replace my Strat. I also have a cheaper ESP E2 in case I need to take it somewhere I’m not sure of. The only thing a cheaper guitar does for me is keep me from playing a guitar I love. If it does not play as good or sound as good, why the hell am I passing over my beloved custom guitar I paid a fortune for to play it? Dou! I never could understand how people could buy 5 cheap guitars rather than one good one. Oh well, as long as it makes them happy.

 

[Ken Ops]

Got a Strat, a LP, a shredder, an acoustic and a bass.

Don’t think I’ll ever need another.

 

[Filipe Soares]

Digitech The Drop... That´s the name my guitar collection Killer. I use to have similar guitars in different tunings now my mind is like everything with .009-.46 tuned in standard E and that´s the way to go. in the next months I´ll downsize a lot, but I´ll play a lot with all guitars to know better what´s staying and what will go.

 

[AlvisX]

Well, I have lots , so t's way too late to think about it .Hell ,you dedicate 44 years to it ....on a nuts n bolts level ,that's just the way it goes. Sh*t piles up ....like animal rescue

 

[Deftone]

I have about 15. One Taylor acoustic and I rarely touch it. Three Gibson Les Pauls, two SG's, one flying V, one ES-135, two Charvels, one Jackson King V, one Ibanez S series, an HS Floyd tele, a cheapo hollow body, travel guitar....

Some are expensive, some aren't. I play them all, constantly. I love the variety. My wife has watched me buy and sell and I always make $ or at least break even so she fully supports this activity.

 

[ido1957]

I have 3 Strats and an LPC. Pending sale on my 84 Kramer which I never play. LPC may go the same way at some point but undecided at the moment. Not a collector and 5 guitars were bought over 40 years.

 

[GregM]

I have a lp style semi hollow, my 335 knock off, my ibanez art 100, and my MIC double jet.
Loving the least is the art 100, I used to love it, but since going semi hollowed and chambered I have a hard time wanting to play it, my Gretsch still gets the most play time, love that thing to death, high gain, clean, neck, bridge, so different in all its forms
I'd love a tele just to see what all the fuss is about, maybe a lipstick Dan electro, a p90 sg and a chambered lp oh and a virage , but I think that's about it, would never sell any of them, they wouldn't be worth selling

 

[KelvinS1965]

I have to admit that I've got a bit silly with buying things because of a bout of GAS, but I realised during this weird year that I don't really need so many different guitars. Truth is that some aren't that different and it was only when I took the time to do some really honest side by side comparisons and even some recordings that I realised I had some guitars that cover the same ground.

I've come up with a list of guitars to sell after the current lockdown, but even so reading some of the posts on here, I'm still a bit guilty of a form of guitar glutiny.

I've got it down to the following, partly based on sentimentalism, but I've tried to find differences in terms of sound, feel (neck profiles, radius, fret sizes, etc):

1982 JV Squier Strat (Bareknuckle Appache PUPs and EC mid boost), 17th birthday present.
1995 Epiphone Les Paul (Bareknuckle Mule PUPs, almost every part replaced due to wear and tear).30th birthday present.
2011 Gibson Les Paul 60s Tribute Gold Top P90s, secondhand 50th birthday present.
2018 Gibson SG slim taper neck, 61T/R humbuckers.
2019(ish) Esquire partscaster, very fat neck, to be converted to Telecaster spec (to sell another Tele that is otherwise too similar apart from a slimmer neck).
2020 Fender Player Jaguar, short scale neck, converted to SS configuration as an alternative Strat back up.

That means selling a Telecaster, a Gretsch (I love the looks, but can't bond with it) and a Les Paul Junior (lovely fat neck, but essentialy sounds the same as my 2011 Gold Top on the bridge pickup).

Even so I've bought a spare neck for my 1982 Strat as the frets are wearing again after a refret 4-5 year ago. This may evolve into a second Strat, but more to preserve the 1982 one.

I'm way down the list compared to some, but I still sometimes wonder if I'd just stuck to a single guitar for longer (the Strat was my only guitar from age 17 to 30) that I'd be a better player...

 

[Sg-ocaster]

[QUOTE="AlvisX, post: 2095088, member: 24928" Sh*t piles up ....like animal rescue[/QUOTE]
Are we gonna see you on a Guitar Humane Society commercial??
While a women in a soft voice says....................." Each year thousands of Epiphone guitars are left to die in dirty basements dissasembled with no amplifiers to be plugged into" "For just .44 cents a day you can provide hope to a helpless staving Epiphone or Teisco providing it with a shiney polish and a warm gig bag to sleep in" "please if you care dont let another Epiphone fall victem to guitar neglect " "call now an you'll receive a picture of the guitars you have rescued" " HAVE CREDIT CARD READY"
God I either watch to much late night TV or have an over active imagination.

 

[AlvisX]

 

[axe4me]

At one time, I wanted to have every Fender Stratocaster color.

I had close to 20 Strats.

I sold most of them along with those Fernandez custom color Strats.

Too many guitars.

At one time, I had over 140 guitars.

I'm down to 106...........I recently added 2 to the stash

Well, somehow, I do use them all.

I think I go beyond the Strat/LP thing and play a Knaggs Severn Tier 2; Teye LaPirata; McInturff Empress; Pawar Turn Of The Century.

I'm not stuck in the standards.

Ampeg AMG 100; Kramer Steve Ripley?

Danelectro baritone anyone?

 

[uselessoldman]

2 Gibbo LPs (one is Slash signature) also a Epiphone Slash cos girlfriend bought it as a present (she likes Slash she is female they all do), a couple Ibanez RG570s one standard tuning one dropped and a Ibanez SR305 Bass I bought myself for xmas. I also have a Gibbo V my parents bought me for my 18 birthday present that is my pride and joy, cos it cost a fortune and isn't your 18th supposed to be a bit special? Mine certainly was. My guitar rack takes 7, I currently have 6 in it, room for one more cos the V stays in its case. Acoustic, maybe but that would only prove I can't play too well and they dont really make a lot of noise so whats the point?

 

[MemphisMarshallMan]

I no longer collect guitars. I have too many, courtesy of time spent working at a music store.
I play three of them. One on stage plus backup, and one in my music room.

 

[StratoMarshall]

I have an American Professional Strat, a Les Paul Special, an Epi Les Paul Junior, an Ibanez Bass, and an Ibanez Acoustic.
Pretty much all I need except maybe a Tele and a nicer acoustic and maybe a LP with P90's!

 

[neil99]

I’ve got 12 and 4 basses, way too many for me, I’m a tele guy, I could be perfectly happy with my nocaster but I’ve been on disability, not working and a law suit settlement, not a ton.but significant, been on an old Kramer kick lately, and I like variety, so
Tele
Strat
Prs hbii
Explorer
Home brew tele
Old charvel model 4
New charvel promod SoCal
3 Kramer imperial
Kramer deluxe
Kramer sambora

 

[Kevin Alspaugh]

I know most guys like to have lots of guitars and thats cool.......very cool in certain collections.
But I know for me Ive never been able to afford to have allot of higher end guitars around. And for me I just have no interest in having a bunch of "affordable" instruments kicking around. Ive had a few nice axes Ive had to sell and regret and a couple I regret selling to fund other guitars that turned out to be a mistake also.
But generally Ive allways stuck to having 2 or 3 electrics I really bond with and an acoustic. Ones that have the sex appeal that makes me want to pick them up and the tone. If I have one I dont LOVE it usually gets the chopping block sooner or later. Right now I have 6 my SG, my Strat, a Takamine Jumbo acoustic(currently under decision to chop)an Epi Junior(prolly cut loose eventually) and 2 sentimental guitars(a partscaster and acoustic) I cant sell...even though I dont play them much. Hell I just sold my old MIJ strat after debating a pickup change.
Back when I had 12 guitars kicking around it was like I had 2 I played everyday and 10 I had to keep cleaning dust off of.
If/when I can afford more good guitars I'd prolly add a Les Paul an Explorer and a Nice Tele to the stash as well as a Taylor Acoustic. But for me I dont really have a lust to own 100 guitars. I dont dream on vintage 50s/60s guitars anymore. So I think an ideal end all collection for me would be An SG, a Stratocaster ,LP , Explorer(cause Allen Collins had one), a Tele and a Taylor.
Anyone else a minimalist?