Well, I'm not an active player by any means, but for example, I have:

Washburn 6 string electric
Daisy Rock 6 string electric (don't judge, it's a Mojo Jojo guitar)
Traveler 6 string electric (mini guitar for, well, traveling)
Martin 6 string acoustic (another travel guitar)
Ovation Roundback 6 string acoustic
Fender Dreadnought 12 string acoustic (it does have a piezo pickup in it though)
Kala Ukulele

Guitars that I still have, in order of acquisition:

- A guitar that I built in a high school wood shop class with a body modeled after the Randy Rhoads Jackson, a Tokai neck, a Floyd Rose trem, and 1 DiMarzio humbucker.
- 1984 Yamaha 12-string Acoustic
- 1985 Gibson Les Paul Standard
- A classical guitar (I forget the brand)
- 2002 Fender American Series Stratocaster
- 2010 Martin DC-Aura Acoustic
- Warmoth Partscaster (my son and I both built one each together)


After getting each one of these, I thought this is one guitar I need; after this I'm covered. But there's always one more that you just don't know about yet.

Here are mine, in order of acquisition:
-Ibanez AS 73 semi-hollow electric
-Warmoth Partscaster (Mexican neck/seafoam green body)
-Epiphone acoustic/electric (my cheap acoustic)
-90s era Japanese Fender Telecaster
-Taylor 314CE acoustic/electric


Just sold my vintage Guild D40.

There is only one acceptable reason to want two guitars.

If you only have one.



It works like this:

Ong = Np + 1

where Ong is the optimal number of guitars, and Np is the number presently owned.

Honestly, I haven't counted lately. It's double figures, but less than two dozen. And I'm seriously considering moving a couple out to do a custom order this year. I probably should have done it last year for my 50th birthday, but I put my energy in trying to convince my wife to buy me one for that. Didn't work.

But I've converted her to the +1 formula!

I'm pretty happy I have some decent guitars from the brands Charvel, Gibson, Fender and PRS. I'm a little weak with acoustics though. I have my Fender Tim Armstrong acoustic/ electric which is my main guitar for learning/ lessons/ mucking around and my 30+ year old Yamaha acoustic and a Martin LXE1 signature acoustic (small guitar).

Would like to get a better acoustic eventually from either PRS, Gibson, Martin or Taylor. I'll need to do my homework on those.

I think you're being a little conservative with that formula.... isn't it an exponential progression? The more you have, the more you want!

Might be worth checking to make sure you don't have another burr, but you probably don't have one.

Shhhh!!!!! She's sitting right over there!!!!

Thanks everyone, for the advice. I think I am going to hit Guitar Center this weekend and check out their used selection. If I don't find something I like, I'll probably pick up the Yamaha or another one around that price point. Just looking used first in case they have any good deals. I'd be happy to buy a "better" guitar for the same price that has a little wear and tear on it.

I think that formula is right - there's ALWAYS one more to buy....

I'm at 23 and holding - for funds...plus 10 amps and a large rack of studio and guitar effects....

I'm very fortunate in that my wife never gave me shit about any of it....in fact she even bought me my 52 Tele reissue one year...

So I have absolutely nothing to complain about...wouldn't be fair....

If you are up to spending in the $500 range, I found a lot of used entry level Taylors when I was looking for an acoustic/electric. I ended up going with a higher end guitar, but I've heard very good things about the less expensive ones.

Uh......I mean, what problem? I can quit any time I want...

I quit when I saw Stanley Jordan the first time. He opened for Winton Marsalis, and I turned to my friend and said, "Yep. I'm done. No question about it."

Three hours later I was sitting in my room trying to figure out what he was doing.

Thirty years later, I still can't do it.

Some time later, I saw him play this live, standing on both volume pedals and rocking them back and forth.

I'm at 19 or 20, but I'm thinking of moving a couple to do a custom order this year.

I'm very lucky, too - not only does my wife accept my hobby, she appreciates it, and even requested a recording she could put on her iPod (an acoustic version of Alice Cooper's "You And Me"). She bought me the Gene Simmons bass for our anniversary last year, and went to Experience PRS with me, and said, "No wonder you love it here."

Best of all, she has an appreciation for the instruments - she's been to the Martin factory with me as well, and she appreciates what goes into them. Several years ago, I showed her a thread from a guitar board - a guy who's a great repairman posted pictures of a guitar he'd gotten in. Some woman got pissed at her boyfriend, threw his guitar down the steps, then stomped on it with high heels. I showed the pictures to my wife, and she said, "I might get mad enough at you to throw all your stuff out on the lawn, but I'd never do that to one of your guitars." A few weeks after that, I was at that guy's shop and he showed me that guitar and I told him that story, and he said, "She's a keeper. I've seen too many women who'd think this is just a starting point."

Reminds me of the first time I saw Stu Hamm play "Linus and Lucy" on a bass with no accompaniment. Mind. Blown.

I've since seen solo players who connected with me more - Michael Hedges, Tommy Emmanuel, Michael Manring (bass) - but I'd finally shifted my perspective so that I was inspired, not intimidated.

As much as I love Hedges, this Tommy Emmanuel performance makes my jaw drop...when he plays Daytripper, it really sounds like two guitarists.

So this is mine now.



I decided instead of an acoustic that I'd get an inexpensive electric to supplement my resonator, and for learning basic chords, fretting, etc. It's SO much easier fretting with this than with the giant fat heavy resonator strings. I guess that shouldn't surprise me but I didn't think it would be so dramatic. I literally doubled my accuracy at full (lesson) speed in the fretting exercises I have. I think this will greatly increase the speed at which I progress at basic guitar lessons too.

And I can now keep my resonator in open G (capo to open A when needed), making it faster and easier to jump into slide practicing. This was a good call. Now I will hold off and get an acoustic later on this year, and a better amp, and...

Awesome. Did you get the same color?

You would definitely notice that playability will be easier going to that. Don't discount your time fretting on the resonator though. I'd bet that your time spent playing it strengthened your hands and got you to the point that you could play much faster on a guitar with a lighter setup. I know that I felt the same after spending a lot of time playing my 12-string.

Yes, I got that sunburst one. It's a really nice looking guitar. And agreed, most definitely I don't discount the experience I have gotten at all, believe me! The calloused fingertips I've grown are a testament to the effectiveness of learning on there. It makes this feel practically easy. Especially that low E, which is a .58 gauge on the res. Resonators aren't really meant for playing in standard tune traditionally anyway.

That Epiphone is real nice Jeff. I practice mainly on an acoustic which makes a switch to electric guitar much easier. . My electrics are like butter after banging around on my Fender acoustic.

My local store does a March Madness sale every year. This year, to be honest, the ad looked a little thin. I haven't been seriously jonesing for any particular guitar - I was gunning for a new amp first and foremost, and possibly a set of pickups. One of the things I'm seriously considering is the PRS PS program, which will require moving a couple pieces, but as of now, that's barely in the planning stages.

But I went anyway. Walked through the bargain basement - saw a couple things that piqued my interest, but not enough to commit. We went up to the bass and acoustic section - saw the resonators and remembered a metal body I was considering last year. They were on sale - but gone. No biggie. Downstairs to the software and recording area. Found a virtual synth that wasn't in the ad - an FM7, nice and cheap. So I picked that up. Looked at new interfaces to possibly replace mine, but nothing that I was going to jump at today.

We went back and were looking through the PRSi, and I said to my wife, "You know, there's really only one guitar I'd probably cave on today, and I haven't seen one yet, so we should be good." A few minutes later, we turned to walk down and go through the rest of the stuff I hadn't looked at yet. All the heads and bodies parted as I looked towards the counter, and across the counter, about as far away as possible in the store, like a scene from Wayne's World...I just said, "Shit..."

The one guitar I'd have caved on. Damn! I was almost out of there! But I'd been talking about this guitar for over a year, waiting to try one and see it in person. Three different color schemes, but really only one I wanted. And naturally, that's what color they had. This is the only one of these I've ever seen in that store. I know a few guys who have them, and they all seem to like them. So I figured I'd try it out and hope there'd be a flaw.

There wasn't. The guy who set me up said they played really well and sound good. He said they were better than an earlier iteration through another company that cost a lot more.

And so, sitting on the floor in front of me, is one of these (stock photo because they all look the same)...



It's kind of a frivolous purchase - I don't play at all in EVH's style, and I'm not trying to. Never gonna do the tribute thing. One pickup, one volume. That's it - so tonal variety ain't the name of the game. It's just a fun rock and roll machine - pick it up, plug it in and wail away. It's got a D-Tuna, so I think I'll finally start to figure out playing in drop-D. And I couldn't argue with the price - it was a little over 11% cheaper than I've ever seen these new.

When I was trying to decide, I kept thinking about Tim Wilson and thinking "life's too short..." At $2k, you're not reading this. Under $800, well, you get this!