How many guitars do you really need?

[Rodney Gene]

Strings are d'addario 11 flats. I eventually stopped practising extensively on this guitar because I realise I didn't like how the neck and the flats would tire out my fretting hand. I now use it acoustically to try out ideas, that's it.

Brent, it's often the wound G on the Daddario Chromes set that seems to fatigue some 'new to flats' hands quickly as it is such a common denominator string. You can swap it out for a .019 plain and it's a different experience. Chromes are smooth and allow for whisper low action with an archtop if you can set it up properly, it's a real joy to play and you don't have to labor for the experience. You can reach a point where the 11 flats seem like the 'light strings'. Anything to keep you playing the archtop and developing a relationship with it. 11's are my light gauge. The Yamaha PACs are great guitars, I have had two of the Japanese versions - a friend of mine had some involvement in the Yamaha / Rupert Neve pickup process, so I checked them out - I couldn't get on with the guitars myself but Yamaha makes exceptional instruments, period.

[andrew]

When I was bored one day in high school I started thinking about how many different Gibson L-5s one could have:

Acoustics in sunburst, red, blonde

Thinline versions of same

Full depth versions with one humbucker

Thinline versions of same

Full depth with two humbuckers

Thinline versions of same

Florentine versions of all the above

We're up to 36 with no duplicates

When I was older I made a serious effort to acquire all of them!

Danny W.

Don’t forget about different pickups. One could have P90, Alnico 5 Staple, humbucker, and even Charlie Christian versions of the electric L5s. Not to mention all the different floating pickups.

And think about non cutaways.

And of course the 30s versions with X bracing.

And the 16” versions!

one could have 100 L5s and no two would be identical.

[darkwaters]

1 Acoustic
1 Nylon String
1 Electric
5 Backups

[Hep To The Jive]

• telecaster
• telecaster
• telecaster
• telecaster

Joking! Ok for reals now, I need archtop electric, archtop acoustic, flat top acoustic, classical nylon, Gypsy jazz acoustic, 2 solid bodies ( tele of course, main and backup), plectrum banjo.

I'm missing the Gypsy jazz and nylon string right now, so total I have 5 guitars +the banjo. All needed for work, otherwise I would just have teles and maybe electric archtop.

Since I put together my teles myself I don't even crave for another electric, I created the perfect guitar that I love playing, that serves me well in any situation, and that doesn't exist outside of maybe some rare Fender custom shop, but I didn't see it yet. The best thing is that I know now exactly what my sound is and how to build it myself.

[Greywolf]

need? One of each
Classical
Acoustic steel
Dobro
Electric solid single
Electric solid PAF
Electric Semi

My current collection is 39 electrics and a dozen acoustics , 2 5 string fiddles, and a mandolin

[gvurrdon]

All I need is one solid-bodied electric.
I have three (I ought to sell at least one) and one cheap archtop.

[acoustic_archtop]

Here's what I've settled on for the moment:

Permanent

• 1929 Gibson L5 (16" Maple, Parallel Bracing)
• 1933 Gibson L00 (14.75" Mahogany, X-Bracing)
• 1930 Gibson L4 Round Hole (16" Maple, Parallel Bracing)

Provisional

• 1937 Gibson L10
• 1948 Gibson Super 300
• 1952 Gibson L4C

[jim777]

I need all the guitars.
I think I have 17 but I'm not sure. I did just buy a 4 string bass because my 5 and 6 string basses were lonely.
All the guitars

[rpjazzguitar]

Two. One that lives in the practice room and goes on gigs and another as a backup which lives in a different room.

But, lately I've been trying to do voice and guitar -- and I'm thinking about getting another which will sound better for that.

[BFrench]

at 75 only 1 acoustic, possessed!

[Hyppolyte Bergamotte]

I have a guitar museum, but I had to stop, otherwise my wife wanted to divorce..
HB

[benhatchins]

3 only, but thinking to get one more. That’s always a fun question because there’s never one answer. Some people stick with one, others keep adding more over time. It can turn into a collection pretty quickly. Almost like browsing qvc qvc.pissedconsumer.com/review.html and finding something you didn’t plan on getting. How many do you have now? It’s hard to stop once you start. Good topic.

[Jim Soloway]

I currently have 3 guitars, all electric, with a fourth under construction. I only play one of them and the one under construction is essentially a replacement for that one.

I most definitely don't need an acoustic. I buy one every few years and always give up on it within a few weeks. I also don't need and archtop. I have owned many and they never last.

So my honest answer is 2. One to play everyday and another as a backup/substitute for that one.

[Aiq]

Fretless 12 string? I have a Squier fretless jazz bass I am enjoying but that is just manical.

[Mark M.]

As I prepare for retirement I have been collecting the right guitar(s) for everything I’m interested in playing. So far, that includes:

3 steel string acoustics

3 flamencos

1 classical

1 good Tele

2 laminate archtops (Es175 and ES 330)

2 solid body electrics set up for slide. One tuned to open E, one to open G

2 resonator guitars, one tuned to open D, one to open G

1 Fender Jazz bass

1 mandolin

…and an oud arriving later this week.

Between all of these and the piano, I think I should be pretty busy.

[Tim Clark]

Two. My 1966 ES125 thinline and my backup 2024 Guild T-50 Slim, which is basically a quite good copy of an ES125.

[fastdancin]

O, reason not the need: our basest beggars
Are in the poorest thing superfluous:
Allow not nature more than nature needs,
Man's life's as cheap as beast's. . . .

--King Lear, II.iv

50 within a fortnight oughta' do.

[Sleeko]

Holding at 5, down from 9. Plus one very fine Fender American Standard Bass. You?

[Sleeko]

The guy I bought my last guitar from has 169 guitars, almost all of them Strats.
What do you say to him?

I'd leave him alone lol.

[Cunamara]

Brutally honest? One.

I don't gig much any more and don't expect to take up an active schedule- the market for jazz is so small that the community doesn't need yet another guitarist of limited talent taking up room on stage. I might play a handful of gigs a year. If I was a brilliant musician playing multiple settings, that'd maybe be a different thing and multiple guitars would be useful. But I am not and having more or less guitars is not going to make a difference.

But I don't live by the courage of that conviction and I have nine. Too many, honestly. 90% of my playing time is on one very versatile guitar (a semihollow dual humbucker TSO). The archtops, the classicals, the other solidbodies mostly sit in their cases. I pull my flattop out every so often. Most of my guitars should move on to someone who would make more use of them.

[Jimmy Mack]

As I prepare for retirement I have been collecting the right guitar(s) for everything I’m interested in playing.

That for me includes:

Guitars for recording: jazz, folk, classical, blues

Guitars for gigs and backups: 2 335's, 1 Casino

1 semi-hollow body bass guitar

1 Strat

1 Electric 12 string

And a couple of sentimental pieces I adopted along the way

[Avery Roberts]

One.

[GuyBoden]

One.

Seventeen.

[WilliamScott]

One. While others remain within reach.

[Stringswinger]

I will update my earlier post in this thread:

I need 2

I have 18

At one point, I had 23, so I am making "progress ".