Many among us own several guitars. In some cases, it's natural. You "need" an accoustic and an electric. For you giggers out there, well, you better have a back up from what I understand.
However, many of us ended up with far more than real "need". The excuses we've made up to define need have been imaginative. I "need" single coil guitar. I "need" a dual humbucker. I "need" a Tele. I "need" a 12-string. On and on.
So, the question is this. How many guitars (roughly is fine) do you own, and which one do to find yourself playing mostly?
I'll start. I own 10. The first one I migrate to or grab when I can is the Epi LP custom. I rotate my guitars some. It's at my downstairs "playing station" right now, which gets the least use. After I fix a switch on another guitar today, it will go down and the LP will get hooked back up to the Blues Deluxe. Hence, it'll again be the one I play the most. Period.
Roy
"I wonder if a composer ever intentionally composed a piece that was physically impossible to play and stuck it away to be found years later after his death, knowing it would forever drive perfectionist musicians crazy." - George Carlin
I suspect it will be my Casino, but that guitar's new so I can't be absolutely certain. Until I bought the Casino, it was my Washburn Idol.
Well we all shine on--like the moon and the stars and the sun.
-- John Lennon
well since I've thinned out the collection (I'm down to 4 from 9 a few months ago) it's easier to answer this. I have a Martin, Fender Strat, Fender Jazz Bass and Gretsch Double Jet. No contest the Martin is always always always the one I go to the most.
My squire Thinline Tele
This thread gave me a chuckle because I am constantly switching guitars. Lately I have been playing my Fender American Strat and that is my favorite for now. Before that I was playing my American Tele, before that my Faded SG, before that my LP Studio, and before that my Strat. So I guess I come full circle. :D
For me it usually depends on the types of songs I am playing at the time. In my last group we played Classic Rock, but the heavier stuff like Black Sabbath. So, I was going with my LP and SG for that darker humbucker tone. The group I am in now plays lighter stuff so I went to the Tele. Then I watched this video of Robin Trower a few weeks ago.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x0d1HilfLxA
Man, I was a huge fan of Robin's back in the day. Anyway, I fired up my Strat and used a chorus pedal to get Robin's vibrato tone. Ever since, I have been back on my Strat. :D
If you know something better than Rock and Roll, I'd like to hear it - Jerry Lee Lewis
Honestly.
Need doesn't come into it. How can you take yourself seriously as a musician without a large collection? Everything has its uses.
I spend 90+% of my time playing my Alhambra 4P classical, but I've got 3 more classicals as backups just in case, and then I've got 2 electrics because it's not safe to have just one - what if you break a string - and I use the LP clone more than the strat-a-like?
I work out songs on CDs using my 6 string Washburn, and take the 12-string down the pub sometimes. And I've got a mandolin and I'm going to get my head round it.
It doesn't stop at axes either. I've got a 30W Marshall for best, and a 10W that I cart around when I'm teaching. I've got 4 multi-fx units because, well, just because, even though I use the Korg more than the Zooms; and overdrive, distortion and flange pedals because it would be rude not to and I use the Dano Black Licorice more than the others. Oh and a chorus too.
And I've got a Yamaha bass, with another amp, and a Yamaha keyboard, and a Yamaha drum synth, mics, a couple of tambourines and a recorder. 4-track tape, 4-track digital and 24-track HD recorders (because you never know when you might just need all that functionality) complete the collection. Oh, yes, there's a descant recorder in the bag too. Did I mention that already? I think the 4-track digital's getting more use these days although the 24-track got used just after Crimbo to record Blackpool Rock (see the Alan gets experimental thread somewhere else on this site)
And I look at this as the absolute bare minimum I need just to get through the day.
Actually, I could use a small PA for when I play with the guitar orchestras - we weren't loud enough to go over the crowd last time out. Maybe there'll be a bonus this year and I can splash out......
So, actually to answer the question, it's the Alhambra 4P classical. It's my main concert guitar
A :-)
"Be good at what you can do" - Fingerbanger"
I have always felt that it is better to do what is beautiful than what is 'right'" - Eliot Fisk
Wedding music and guitar lessons in Essex. Listen at: http://www.rollmopmusic.co.uk
I have an Epi LP Standard, Fender Strat, Squier Tele, Oscar Schmidt Delta King, and an Epi acoustic. Each one has it's own sound and "personality", and I enjoy playing them all. I try to rotate them the best I can, but often find myself playing the Strat. It seems to be the one I grab for when I'm not thinking about which one I'm grabbing for. 8)
Dan
"The only way I know that guarantees no mistakes is not to play and that's simply not an option". David Hodge
That's a great question...
It depends on what I'm doing as far as coloring up recordings. Out in front it's always the Ibanez Artist EQ. But coloring up sustained chords I'll use either a Gibson FB-12 (a Firebird 12 string), an acoustic Epiphone (PERFECT action but crappy tone) or an acoustic Martin (PERFECT tone but crappy action)...all punched in and out chord by chord. If I need a real distorted single note feel...I use a '65 Jaguar with a rewound Humbucking and a Gretch Country Gentleman near the bridge.
But my favorite's a '59 Hungarian model I've had for over twenty years! 8)
Cat
"Feel what you play...play what you feel!"
I've got four guitars: Two Strats, one early 60's Harmony Hollowbody electric, and an Acoustic.
My 71 Strat is by far my favorite guitar, and the one I play least.
My white Strat has been my 'go to' guitar for 21 years now.
Unless, I'm in an acoustic mood - then of course, I grab my acoustic (%
I probably reach for that more than going thru the hassle of taking the Strat down off the wall.
THOUGH -
Honestly, if I could get my Harmony to be in a good playable condition more often, THAT
would be my guitar of choice.
It's my first guitar - had it since I was a kid.
And as much as I'm known as a Strat Guy 'round these parts; I just LOVE that dry hollowbody sound 8) :D
In fact, my Harmony is SOOOO out of tune, AND missing the B string, and I still play it more than my Strat! LOL!
Love the way it feels too :D
Ken
"The man who has begun to live more seriously within
begins to live more simply without"
-Ernest Hemingway
"A genuine individual is an outright nuisance in a factory"
-Orson Welles
Ummm .. 21 guitars maybe? Not sure. My Epiphone Les Paul Standard is the one I play most. ..... Black with cream. (And I own a Gibson LP Studio and a Gibson LP Special)
"Work hard, rock hard, eat hard, sleep hard,
grow big, wear glasses if you need 'em."
-- The Webb Wilder Credo --
Right now the herd is at 9 guitars, but I'm going to be thinning the herd quite a bit in the next few months.
Currently, the first string lineup is Ivory (Squier CV 50's Tele) and Krystal (Tribute by G&L ASAT).
Second string is Nicotine (Tribute by G&L Invader XL) and Juanita ('96 MIM Strat)
Playing guitar and never playing for others is like studying medicine and never working in a clinic.
I have six guitars:
Fender Telecaster
Squier Custom Telecaster
SPT Acoustic
Hondo Acoustic
3/4 Classical (no name!)
Shine Bass
Each has a different function; the Tele's for lead and rhythm. The Squier's for slide, kept - usually - in open G. The SPT's my main acoustic. The Hondo - held together with gaffer tape! - is for acoustic slide, and, like the Squier Tele, is usually kept in open G. The classical I hardly touch - bought it for one of the grandkids, she lost interest and I've sort of absorbed it into my little flock. The bass is, well, for playing basslines....
The go-to guitar? The Tele. Always the first one I pick up, always gets preferential treatment when the new strings are being put on...and always the one I play for longest.
I think I've got all my bases (no pun intended!) covered with those....but you never know, do you!
:D :D :D
Vic
"Sometimes the beauty of music can help us all find strength to deal with all the curves life can throw us." (D. Hodge.)
Right now I've got three accoustics and five electrics. Of the electrics my favourite is the cheapest one, a roughly 50 year old Chinese 3/4 size guitar with one single-coil. Of my accoustics it's the 3/4 Giannini, which I inherited from my mother.
Yer right about those cheapies being goodies. From time to time these factories accidently come up with a great one! I'm here to say that I've got an Epiphone acoustic that plays as good as it ever gets...and it was dirt cheap on a rack with a few other ones...that just plain were trash.
It's the luck of the draw at times!
Cat
"Feel what you play...play what you feel!"
