How many guitars is fairly normal?

[Gary Gretsch]

So I have only been playing a few years and definitely not a great player. So not counting the guitars I have made and a couple inexpensive guitars my collection is growing. With a new Iommi arriving tomorrow that leaves me with about 8 guitars And about two more I want to add to the collection. Am I getting in to crazy territory or is this normal? I would like to know how many guitars others here have?

 

[Knucklehead71]

I have around 30. I'm not sure the exact number, but that's pretty close. I don't know how normal that is, but it seems excessive to me. I think I would like to have 6-8 guitars. That seems like a more reasonable number.

 

[Colnago]

I'm sitting at 47 guitars, which is one less than my age and the most that I've ever owned.
I think one should own close to your age in the number of guitars.
Makes sense to me. I need one more...

 

[Bad Penguin]

41 for me, with the answer always being "one more".

 

[jtcnj]

So, the "normal" number is.....
n=n+1?

15 here, including 1 bass and 1 acoustic, with at least 2 to be sold.
Most are cheapy imports.
That is counting 3 AXL LP types I built from bare husks that I got dirt cheap, so I tell the wife I kind of count them as one.....

 

[smitty_p]

I have one acoustic and six electrics for a total of seven guitars.

Though there are guitars I see from time to time that catch my interest, I specifically avoid adding more. A couple years ago I had two acoustics and seven electrics. I sold one acoustic and two electrics. This took me down to one acoustic and five electrics. Then, I added my Gretsch White Falcon to bring the electric count back up to six.

I'm probably going to hold it right here.

 

[skelt101]

 

[Go Nigel Go]

I have 7 electrics and 5 accoustics +1 cheap-o bass I salvaged off the scrap heap at the moment. If I am honest, I could get by on and fully justify maybe half a dozen instruments to cover all the bases I regularly need as a player. That said, I have some I bought just because they were cool, and that is really all the justification I need to go beyond the purely utilitarian requirements that would have gotten me through every gig I have ever been involved with. If an instrument inspires me to practice and play that is good enough to buy it. Assuming I can scrape the cash together, N = N + 1 seems like a reasonable formula to me!

 

[Gary Gretsch]

So far I think maybe I am not that bad. Then I think I just sold about 50 CB Radios. LOL.

 

[SGBreadfan]

I’ve been playing for most of my life, right around 50 guitars right now. Do I need them all? Certainly not, but I sure do enjoy them.

 

[Col Mustard]

I was up to 11 in like 2018


Then my whole world caved in, my lady was diagnosed with Cancer and I started selling everything I could. I retired from touring, gave everything to my partner so he could continue without me.
I sold all the most valuable "vintage" guitars in this collection. I sold my house, I sold my boat, I sold guns, fishing rods, tools, anything anybody would buy. The three oldest guitars I owned raised almost $6000. We needed that money.

Here is the core group I could not bear to part with:

I needed to take Cindy to Tucson so she could be with her new grandson, and I could NOT take all these guitars, so I fostered my Telecaster and my Epi ES-339 (the black and the blonde) with good friends and left for Tucson with the five on the right.
Here they are closer up:

How many does a guy need? The above group of five covers a lot of tonal ground. Two SGs, one with mini hums, one with '57 Classics,
one fretless bass and two acoustics. I'm back in Michigan now and have retrieved my lovely Tele Deluxe and my Epi ES-339, so I'm back up to nine. Sometimes guitars just appear in my life...

I don't know HOW this happens.

Now let's talk about amps. I kept only the small ones. The Vox VT-30 in the picture above is my go-to amp. But the Orange Micro Terror in
that picture gives up nothing. It looks like a toy, but will drive a fine stack of speakers. I play bass through a Roland Cube CB-60, which does everything I need.

IMHO it's best to have good amps than a huge collection of guitars.

 

[CicadaNation]

3 electrics and 3 acoustics. Plus a bass and a travel acoustic. So either 6 or 8 depending on how you count it. I’m one in/ one out at this point.

 

[Maguchi]

So I have only been playing a few years and definitely not a great player. So not counting the guitars I have made and a couple inexpensive guitars my collection is growing. With a new Iommi arriving tomorrow that leaves me with about 8 guitars And about two more I want to add to the collection. Am I getting in to crazy territory or is this normal? I would like to know how many guitars others here have?

I would say about 1 guitar for each year of life.

 

[Decadent Dan]

 

[Go Nigel Go]

My wife once asked me why I had so many guitars when we first got together... She started playing Bass about 16 years ago, and now she has 6 Basses, so I guess that answers that.

 

[cerebral gasket]

Define normal.

Imagine if people collected a large number of pianos or drum kits in the same manner that some folks here collect guitars.

 

[Chuteboxehero]

I think I had about 25 at one point but have started to thin the herd over the past couple of years. Kinda figured out what I really like and moved along some of the guitars that hadn't been out of their case for 6 months plus... Now I have 17 electrics and there isn't one that I would want to sell barring absolute catastrophe.

 

[MR D]

AS MANY AS YOU WANT.

I find getting one guitar that covers the musical ground I'm on, comes in handy.......I like having 2 or 3 guitars out and about....... to just hangout and look at....this being ETSG dot com....and SG Standard of each variety, an ES 335, 70's FLYING V, Les Paul CUSTOM Black Beauty...eye candy.....is a good thang !!!

 

[papagayo]

 

[smitty_p]

View attachment 50441

Okay...gotta ask.

Do you really have nine identical SGs, or is this some clever photo editing?