Ever got curious why most guitarists have more than 1 or 2 guitars? Some even owning 10, 20, or 50 guitars? Is that really necessary?
Usually, this leads to wives getting mad at their husbands for spending money on another guitar, especially when it takes up a lot of space. This has led to many memes of guys hiding their guitars and purchases, or making up excuses. Point is, do people really need that many guitars or are they just wasting money?
Hi, I’m Nostalgia. I’m a female guitarist and have been playing for about 2.5 years at this point, with quite a few breaks in between. Right now, I have 4 guitars in my possession. I technically owned 6, but have sold 2 of them.
In my case, my first 2 guitars were cheap Stratocaster guitars. I bought them both online so I couldn’t try them beforehand. I then saw a person selling 2 new guitars as they were leaving the country. Super sweet deal, and I would get 2 new models to play with: a Telecaster and a Les Paul.
I gave my first guitar to my mom when I moved out as she wanted to learn (not like she touched it since), and sold the Telecaster to raise money. While I heard good things about Telecasters and had ideas for it, I was never a fan of how it looked, nor a fan of the butterscotch colour. I then got an electric acoustic guitar as I had plans to gig with some singers and it would be good to have if I couldn’t plug in. I never felt like any of these were my dream guitar though. They were just bought cause they were cheap and within reach.
Epiphone Les Paul Special
More recently, I got my last guitar. I always wanted a pink guitar due to my aesthetic, but didn’t see any that intrigued me online. I did miss out on a limited time one as it was out of my budget. By chance, I met with a musician and we visited the store. I came across this one, it was pink, it was thin and sleek, and it just felt right in my hands. I played it for a bit and I just knew I was going home with it. For $500 and some, there really was no reason to say ‘no’ and risk missing out on it again.
I don’t see myself ever having more than 5 guitars in my collection, but as I’ve learned more and more about guitars and music, and I can definitely see why others may opt to have more, or why they claim they need more. So in this article, I figured I’ll share a bit about those reasons so non-guitarists can get more insight, especially cause guys aren’t the best at explaining themselves.
Disclaimer: I’m NOT encouraging people to own more guitars nor am I promoting consumerism. Do not try to use me or this article as a defense as to why you have $25,000 in credit card debt lol For many, 1 or 2 guitars is enough, and there is no shame in just having 1 guitar. Having more guitars does not make one a better guitarist or a professional, and that goes for having more gear or an expensive amp. I’m just here to give curious individuals insight into why some guitarists have more guitars than they seem to use or have space for.
Why People Have Many Guitars
1. Different Guitars Fit Different Aesthetics
Unlike the clarinet or the saxophone which really only has one look, the guitar is like shopping for clothes or shoes. It’s very easy to fall in love with different models and looks, and you may want different styles to fit different outfits or themes. While this is certainly one of the more shallow reasons for having many, it’s not completely ridiculous. There’s a reason we have various dresses or suits in our wardrobe.
2. Different Guitars Have Different Features & Purposes
While guitars may be similar in theory, they do produce different sounds and/or make work in different settings. An acoustic guitar is super convenient as it is quite loud on it’s own. People tend to travel with these and play them around campfires. An electric guitar has a solid body and thus, doesn’t resonate as much. While quieter on it’s own, it has the built in hardware that allows the player to plug into an amp and ‘amplify’ their sound.
There are also electric acoustics which are acoustic guitars that can be plugged in, along with hollow body guitars which are louder than an electric but still has it’s many features. And while bass is technically a different instrument, it is still a ‘bass guitar’ and a lot of features and skills are transferable between the two. Thus, it’s quite common for guitarists to own a couple basses themselves.
There are also practical features. The Stratocaster, for example, has a slimmer body and is contoured to fit you better, making them more comfortable to play longer. During one practice, my lead guitarist had to use an acoustic as his electric was being repaired, and it was difficult to do some riffs since there wasn’t a cut out near the higher frets. If the guitarist is a lefty, they have the least options to choose from, so it they see a design they like, they won’t hesitate to get it since they may never see it again.
3. Different Guitars Fit Different Genres & Styles
On top of guitars having different designs and purposes, some guitars have unique features and tones that may make one model more admirable than another, or worth the extra money when playing different styles.
Some guitars have 7 or 8 strings, which is great when one needs more notes to solo with. The whammy/tremolo bar is pretty popular as well. It’s a lever that will raise or lower the bridge, allowing for cool effects not possible otherwise, but less than 25% of guitars have them built in.
Adding on, certain guitars are said to work or sound better depending on the kind of music you want to play. Acoustic tends to fit better with pop, country and folk, while electric tends to fit better with jazz, blues and rock. They also say that Stratocasters and Les Pauls sound best with distortion so it’s great for blues and classic rock, while Telecaster or Jazzmaster has more versatile and clean sounds so it’s better for indie and math rock.
You may hear people talk about ‘pickups’ as well. These are in the centre of the body of guitar under the strings and they are what ‘picks up’ the sound produced by the strings so they could be amplified. Guitars usually have 2 or 3 pickups, though there are some with 1. The guitar will produce a different sound based on the kind of pickups available (Single Coil vs Humbuckers in most cases) and it’s locations. The video below has many Stratocasters with different pickup configurations.
4. Pride In Owning Certain Brands or Models
Many of us started with budget or lower end guitars, so it may be a goal of theirs to one day own a Gibson, Fender, PRS, Gretsch, or ESP. There are also some models that are limited time or quantity, making them a collectors item (and worth more money later).
I’m not a materialistic person nor care about brand names for anything, but many people do. Some aim to own a Prada bag, or a Rolex watch, or Gucci glasses, and it’s the same idea for guitar enthusiasts.
Some love the make and designs of certain brands, some love the sound and tone, many will appreciate the quality, and there are obviously a few who want them just to show off and be envied. Regardless, as long as bills are paid, it shouldn’t matter how people choose to spend their hard earned money.
5. Every Guitar “Feels” Different
“Smells like bullshit” some of you may say, but it is actually a valid point, and some buy guitars simply cause they ‘feel’ good or right in their hands. One must remember that guitars are made of real wood, thus, no two guitars are going to be exactly the same. Same with how even identical twins will still have differences, guitars of the same make and model will also have some subtle differences.
Guitars are generally handmade. While there are certainly standards in place to make them as similarly as possible, they may still need to make adjustments to ensure it sounds the way it should. Necks have different shapes, bridges have different heights, some may be longer to allow for more frets and so on. Guitars that feel and play like a dream are hard to pass on, as the next guitar may not feel as good.
5. Sentimental Value or Nostalgia
Just like any possessions in life, there may be some personal reasons or attachments to certain guitars. Maybe a guitarist they look up to owned a certain model brand. Maybe their father was a guitarist and handed it down to them. Maybe some were a gift! Or a bunch of guitars just needed a new home. We never know where or when someone received each of their guitars, and there may be a good story behind them.
And while they may not ‘need’ all those guitars, it can be extremely hard to let go or sell some of them due to these many reasons: their first guitar, the guitar they played their first gig with, a guitar that brought them through hard times, a guitar that was signed by their idol, a guitar from a late friend, etc. You won’t know unless you ask!
7. Just Cause
Okay, I’m not going to lie to you and act like there’s a good reason for every guitar purchase. Some people just see a guitar they like and they buy it. Some just want to own many guitars or have all the guitars in a certain collection. There’s nothing more to it than that. These would be the guitars they’re more willing to give up and resell if they had to as they don’t have a story or specific reason for buying it in the first place.
Update Bonus: To Save Time With Tunings
I shared this article on a Facebook post just now as a guy was asking this very question, and I’m surprised I didn’t include tunings when I wrote this a couple years back. That may be because I was only playing in standard and would usually stick to one guitar as I was practicing. Every guitar felt different, and since I was practicing songs to perform on stage, it was best I practice with the one I plan to perform with.
For those unaware, while guitars are usually played in standard tuning (EADGBE), there are countless other tunings out there. Rockstars will probably play in Drop D or Drop C#, fingerstyle and math rock musicians will adjust their strings to whatever allows that song to have the most useable open strings so they can solo on top of that and so on.
When I only had one guitar, while there were many songs with alternative tunings that I wanted to play, I found that I really didn’t play them because of the time and effort needed to tune to that song and retune back to standard to practice everything else. I needed to have my foundation down and wanted to learn 10 other standard tuning songs, so that alternate tuning song became an after thought since I couldn’t play it on a regular basis.
Even for my rookie band, I automatically discarded any alternate tuning songs because I know on stage, we don’t have time for 3 musicians to retune for that one song and double check that they’re in sync with each other. When you consider the amount of time the soundcheck guys take at the beginning of a show, trust me, last thing you need is a mid-show tuning to ruin the next few songs cause your string was a little too flat or sharp, and you can’t stop in the middle of a song.
When I went to a few concerts during that time, they too would switch between 2-4 guitars during the 1.5 hour long concert usually because of alternative tuning. It’s way faster for stage hands to lift the other guitar off the musician, place the new one on and plug it in, than it would be for a musician to change each peg and confirm it’s the right tuning in the middle of a concert. If a guitar isn’t tuning properly, it can take longer.
There’s other reasons like the above for changing guitars as well, like needing an acoustic for a slow song. I’ve also seen videos like the below where a string broke, and instead of stopping the whole show, going back stage, restringing and returning, the musician had a backup guitar ready to go and was able to keep playing. But regardless, alternate tunings is usually the main reason you’ll see guitar swaps happen on stage between songs.
So if your man is a more serious or professional musician, this can certainly be a cause, especially if he has 2 or more similar guitars. You can say it’s partially laziness and it would be cheaper to just retune what he has, but it’s always nice when you can sit down, pick up your guitar in one tuning to practice some songs, and then just pick up another in another tuning when you want to write and experiment.
Conclusion
I’m not exactly standing up for people who have many guitars, I definitely agree that some have a little too much myself, but hey, it’s a hobby! And compared to some other collectibles, guitars can actually be played and used to create music. Music already has many mental benefits, and guitars have the potential to bring in money via gigs, videos, session work, transcription and much more.
If they do choose to sell some of their guitars later on, they have amazing resale value! Even budget guitars in good condition can still bring back decent money. So it is, in a way, a kind of investment. If someone broke into your house, i highly doubt they will go after the guitars unless they personally knew the value they held, which most people don’t.
Perhaps talk to your husband and get to know more about the guitars. I know I know, they take up a lot of space, and he may not play most of them, but hear me out. There’s worse things they could be wasting their money on, like gambling, OnlyFans, cars, drinking, video games, etc. Isn’t a guitar better than a watch? Or shoes? At least he can perform for you!
If you’ve ever wanted to learn an instrument, why not get one so you guys can play together? Or if you have kids, why not get everyone involved? Since I’ve picked up guitar, I’ve certainly made a lot of connections. Even my mom and unofficial grandma wanted to try it as they too always wanted to learn. Guitar is so universally loved that it’s kinda amazing honestly!
Final tip, maybe make a compromise or set conditions, like he could only play after he does a chore, or he can only buy 1 a year, or you get to splurge on something of equal value. If he does truly love music and guitars, there’s really not much you can do to stop his urges, so being mad will only cause a riff in your relationship. As long as bills are paid, I’d say, let him have this. If not, as I said above…they are worth a lot ;P