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I have 5 guitars, 3 Ukes, a banjo, and a bass - plus 3 amps, an analog multi-effects unit, and a microphone and stand. I plan to keep them all for as long as I can (i.e., for the foreseeable future).
But what if I had to downsize to just an absolute bare minimum? I figure I'd keep the following:
Eastman AR403ce (Electric Archtop Hollowbody)
Gibson Parlor Rosewood Modern 2019 (Flattop Cutaway Acoustic Electric)
Blackbird Farallon (Acoustic Tenor Uke)
Godin MultiUke (Electric Tenor Uke)
Henriksen Bud 6 (but maybe I'd get a Raezer’s Edge One-6 ER to beef it up when necessary)
Beyer M69 Dynamic Cardioid Mic and mic stand with gooseneck extension
I mean, I'll be 72 by the end of the year and just thinking ...Last edited by Tom Karol; 08-25-2020 at 05:16 PM.
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08-25-2020 02:37 PM
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Well i wish you many more years of good health . I did downsize to a taylor 810,guild starfire v (5) and a telecaster and my 79 mesa
Originally Posted by Tom Karol
Sent from my SM-T510 using Tapatalk
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I have already downsized.
At one point I had 22 guitars and 8 amps.
I am down to 16 guitars and 6 amps.
I am making progress.
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Tom, I'm two years ahead of you, so your question is not of academic interest only. Moreover, the root of my left thumb is arthritic and I don't know how much longer I can play or tinker. I have four archtops, two thin-bodies, three flattops, four solid-bodies, two basses, a banjo, a guitar lute plus umpteen micro amps, pretending all are needed for testing and demoing the cabs I make. That folly can't go on forever, whereafter the essentials I'd keep are:
- Epi Emperor Regent -99 for sentimental reasons - my first archtop after a 25-year hiatus of virtually no playing, still a great guitar;
- Gibson ES-175 1959 VOS - short-scale playability, fat neck and tone, thunk, tone;
- One amp - could be a DV Mark Micro 50 or BAM200 unless something even better crops up;
- A TOOB 12J or 10S, plus a Metro 6.5BG
- Finally, the Martin GPCPA4 for the old age home, in hopes that my son would come and play it for me when I no longer can
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I often feel like I have to downsize, because I live in a small house and my basement music area is dry and unheated in the winter, damp in the summer (though I use a dehumidifier now). So my "nice" guitars have to get stashed upstairs in the winter.
I like having a cheap acoustic and a solid-body for situations where I don't want to worry about damage, so really I need both.
That's the practical side, the other part of it is mental- too much gear is a distraction from the demands of jazz guitar. For example, I like flat-top acoustics (I have 3!), but they're not well-suited to jazz. When I pick one up, I tend to play different kinds of music, it requires a different touch, etc.
If I had to, I could get by with my D'Angelico Excel for a "beater", and Martin CF-1 archtop, and Roland JC-55 and MiniCube.
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OK, you've convinced me - I'll keep the Godin Montreal Premiere, too! Originally Posted by Lobomov
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When we left for Mexico I was down to one guitar, one head, one cab and one pedal. When we left Mexico I was up to three guitars, still one pedal, and no amps. Two of the guitars are now in storage and right now 100% of my playing time goes to my little Emerald X7 unplugged. It's actually pretty satisfying.
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I could get down to one guitar and one amp: my Matt Cushman carved 17 inch archtop and my tweed Deluxe 5E3 clone. And a reverb pedal.
If we're going to say "bare minimum" then let's be serious about that. We only need one guitar and one amp, and if we are not gigging we don't even really need the amp. For some of us there would be some severe compromises in that choice.
But I would like at least two guitars.
One would be the Cushman and the other one would be my partscaster. Those and the amp would cover everything I would need to do.
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A Tele Partscaster and a Quilter Aviator amp for the absolute minimum! They've already paid for themselves.
Next would be my Gibson ES- 339 over my ES-335 Historic 1958 even though I like the 335 better! I could get way more money for the 335 LOL!
Elferink Tonemaster archtop, I probably would never sell that or my Martin OM 21Special but then it brings me back to all ny guitars again!
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I could get by with just my '83 Epiphone Emperor F and Fender Tonemaster Deluxe Reverb if I had to.
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! guitar and one amp. Now that is the hardest question to answer. My 37 D'a and AI clarus R2. I would need the Dearmond 11OO that is not on the guitar yet. My second choice would be the Hollenbeck because it will never be worth much to the family and I could play it with no worries.
I cannot believe I answered the question and now I am having serious misgivings about what I just said.
In the end when we go to the Lord...............................it all makes no difference, He probably has little concern about it and guitars probably will seem like nothings........
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I only keep equipment that I use. If not, it's gone!
That leaves me with 10 guitars, a bass, a charrango, a mandolin, and two sazs. All my guitars are different and do different things well.
I was gigging steadily until Covid. Nothing since February.
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At 65, this has occurred to me as well. It would be a PITA for my family to have to dispose of my guitars which are an MIM FSR Tele and Strat, a Kirn Tele, a 339, a 74 175 and a Sadowsky J Hall.
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If forced to have just one amp, one guitar, and one pedal it would be the Fender Black Guard/Warmoth roasted maple stainless steel fretted boatneck tele, 1959 Bassman relic combo amp, and a reverb pedal, I would love the space I would gain in my practice room/teaching studio, and have a lot less guitar maintenance and restringing costs.
I have and use 10 guitars now, not one of them is just rotting in its case, but I like the dream of just one guitar for everything. Minimalism would take away a ton of visual clutter if I could find a way to remain true to it.
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If I had to, I'd ditch my Citation and Super 400 and just get by with keeping the Roger Borys.
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I can do almost everything I do with the following:
Comins GCS-1
DV Mark Little Jazz with canvas shopping bag
Boss ME 80 FX board
2 cables
extension cord with multiple outlets
music stand with light
plexiglass to hold music on the stand in a wind and a case that holds them.
guitar stand
rolling file box
canvas laptop bag from an old school large laptop which holds all the cables.
Small edition real book
irealpro on my phone
Hearo ear plugs
strings, picks, emery board, pencils, guitar strap
Focusrite 2i2
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I already have! I have:
- My Gibson ES
- Fender Strat
- Ibanez bass
- DV Mark Jazz 12
- Headrush Pedalboard
... although I do have "stuff" laying around. Cheap guitars from earlier in my "career" that aren't worth selling, and a couple of pedals in case I want to bring to a jam.
I'm only 24, so perhaps by the time I'm older, I'll be having 20+ guitars like my dad.
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It did that last year with amps, sold 4-5 of them, 5 left now. There's no buying market for left handed guitars where i live, or i would have done the same with guitars. Needs and likes change as we grow, also we become more focused on what we want and enjoy, so some stuff periodically goes.. some comes too though!
I'm trying to go from having many good guitars i enjoy and use, to having a few really good ones, that are really what i would like to have. Not a cheap endeavor!!
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I already got rid of most of my unused gear and have now reduced to
2 Archtops : my '96 Tal and my '59 125
2 solid bodies : A franken Warmoth mahogany Telecaster built and my '92 Les Paul Standard
1 Peavey Grind 5 strings bass
2 amps : Roland Cube 80XL and a Fender Princeton 65 Reissue
I don't think I need to reduce more for the moment, but in the future as our ultimate goal is to retire in either Elsass or Baden Württemberg, I will probably just keep my 2 Archtops to cross the big pond...
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I could easily get by with just my Wu and Little Jazz, if I had to. However, my Epi ES175 has so much sentimental value I would really hesitate to let it go. I think it's a tossup between the two guitars.
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Well, hopefully an old age home is at least 20 years away, but in that scenario the only thing I'd keep is the Blackbird Farallon Acoustic Tenor Ukulele, for 4 reasons: Originally Posted by Gitterbug
- It's very comfortable to play lying down;
- I can play it very softly if necessary;
- No picks to drop (I don't use a pick with Ukes);
- It's not made of wood, so if I drool on it I won't ruin it!
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I am a long way from the old age home (Hopefully) and I already drool when I read some of the NGD posts on this forum. Originally Posted by Tom Karol
Well, hopefully an old age home is at least 20 years away, but in that scenario the only thing I'd keep is the Blackbird Farallon Acoustic Tenor Ukulele, for 4 reasons:
- It's very comfortable to play lying down;
- I can play it very softly if necessary;
- No picks to drop (I don't use a pick with Ukes);
- It's not made of wood, so if I drool on it I won't ruin it!
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Such a difficult/painful question. Responses approach the question differently because “bare minimum” is open to interpretation.
“Keep only one” choice: my old and cherished Martin dread
”Keep two” choice: add the mando
”Keep three”: ....I hate this game. I quit.
Actually, I hate this game because I play it in my head too often when I think of how to respond in the event that we get evacuated due to wildfires (I live in Northern California very close to the fires - in fact a rental we own was destroyed in the Tubbs Fire in 2017).
Carry on...
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Super400? Originally Posted by cosmic gumbo
Have you been holding out on us all these years!
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Originally Posted by cosmic gumbo
Ha! ha! You have victimized me again! After checking the prices on those guitars, I see you are up to your old tricks, Cosmic! Originally Posted by AlsoRan
I am going to have to send Big Lou over to "rough you up," if we can figure out where "East of Eden" is.
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