anyone ever consolidate all your guitars to one?

I consolidated once but I didn’t stay put.

 

I've sold several less expensive guitars to fund a more expensive one a number of times. I don't know what "standing pat" means. I only keep guitars I play (I don't collect and don't like collectors) but there's more than one of those!

 

All of my guitars have a sound of their own, and trying to fit all of those sounds into one guitar just wouldn't be realistic. My Strat won't sound like my Tele, which won't sound like my SG, which won't sound like my Music Man.

If you're able to consolidate, though, I don't see the problem. If you're more utilitarian in your instrument selection, then it doesn't make sense to have multiple instruments that sound similar. If you have 1 guitar that does it all for you, then that saves you time, money, and storage space.

 

I own 7 guitars right now. I've considered selling them all to finance one or two vintage jobs.

But nah. I like these 7 and they are fine guitars in their own right and are getting vintage themselves. My oldest is a 2000 and another is a 2003.

 

Can’t be done. I need colors on my palette. As for selling several to fund one, that’s a fools errand. A $4500 guitar is a $2500 guitar with pretty inlay and gold plated hardware, neither of which make it sound better.

 

I couldn’t do that because Im looking for a certain palette of sounds, and have guitars for the genres and styles that Im into. With only one, Id have to choose between my musical tastes, which is impossible. I guess it may be possible for some to stick with one axe, with the right mindset and scenario, but I would feel limited.

I suspect foul play by the GAS troll, tricking you into believing the seductive and psychedelic “if only” mind phrase.

 

My rule is “if it ain’t a co #1, it ain’t worth keeping.”

I’ve got 6 guitars I consider co #1s. Some get more playing time at one time or another, mostly depending on the needs of my current band and mood. But I consider them all 100% on equal footing as far as how good they are and how much I enjoy them.

 

And a much more bothering to get dings and dongs in it..

 

One good Les Paul reissue and one good Strat reissue is all I need, but have have more than this

 

i know i cant do it. 3 would be the absolute minimum.
Strat + LP + either an acoustic or 335.

 

Glad you're happy with your guitars. But ... those aren't "vintage."

Those aren't even knocking on the door of "vintage" and asking if they could come in.

 

Try one guitar with a six-position selector: Santana called it his rainbow.

 

I'll be doing that in the next year or so. It's going to hurt, but time marches on and I have no need for the collection I have.

 

Those guitars might be as old as the owner is or as far back as they remember as a kid so everything before then is vintage. 2000 is knocking on twenty years ago now. When you are a kid you think your parents are older than the hills, until you get to be that same age and think they were absolute kids themselves back then. Or vintage is everything that predates Apple's iPhone launch in 2007 when everyone carried a flip phone -- which is strange when it seems like just last week it was the seventies.


As far as getting down to one guitar instead of a fleet ... the most often cited preference for that has been the Telecaster because of its versatility. If someone gets to keep two or three then they add a LP-ish model and a Strat. Then an SG and a Jazzmaster or Semi/full hollow body. Those acoustic only players are outside the normal spec limits and are on their own.


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I have more guitars than most people I know, but I buy and sell less often than any of them. I also hate the selling process, so I often don't have a guitar go out unless it's being traded in on another.

Finally, once I've swapped in new pickups (and sometimes tuners/bridge), I feel a little more permanence. I'm never getting that money back anyway, so might as well...

It's been working for me.

 

I was once in a band wherein as a group, it was decided to purchase a van. Then trouble came up, and I got stuck with the bill. As a result, I had to liquidate everything I had, guitar and amp-wise, and was forced to own just one guitar, and one amp. This was from a fairly sizable collection of custom made and vintage guitars back in the 1970's.

I got back up to a nice collection aqain after about ten years, and was put in a similar situation with my wife's business partners taking off on her and leaving her stuck with a lot of debt. They were later found and thrown in jail, but the damage was already done.
I was again left with one guitar and one amp.

I am now 71, and have amassed the guitars and amps I currently use, but nothing like the collections I previously owned and used. At this point, I am happy to have the guitars I use, and am not interested in going back to the larger grouping I previously had and used.

But, I am happy that at least I did have and use the guitars I did. If I were to be able to do it again, while some of the guitars might be different, others would not be changed out.

 

Go for it if that is what you want to do. Would not work for me personally, but then again, I'd have to sell 20 of my guitars to buy 1 at $4500

 

I feel like getting down to just one would be really hard for a serious musician, but you could probably get by with two.

 

You will always buy more.