Do you keep or sell under used guitars?

[Faber]

DO you keep your closet queens or is it silly to keep guitars you don't use much at all? I've been considering this with my Ibanez semi - usually I play my strats and tele all the time both at home and with the covers band where they fit in a whole lot better than the semi. About once a month or so, I take out the Ibby and every time i'm struck by how gorgeous it sounds............but i get more mileage out of the fender styles both for tone and how I play on them, and after a while it's back in the case for the semi.

 

So, on the one hand it's already bought and paid for so it's not costing me anything now, and it IS a fantastic instrument in every respect and I might miss that sound even if I don't use it much. OTOH I seem to be mostly a fender player and isn't it rather pointless to keep an instrument around when I use it so little?

 

Any thoughts, general or specific to my situation is appreciated

[CoqBelliqueux]

I traded my Joe Pass recently for the Telecaster. I only used the jazzbox on occasion at that time and the Fender has become my main guitar, maybe because it's new to me? I think yours is different enough that it's worth keeping when you're into that different mood.

 

I think the general opinion is that it's best to gather and keep, having more stuff is the Real American way. The more stuff you have the better. I'm a minimalist.

[lp_junkie]

I will sometimes open a case and not even remember owning the guitar inside, those usually get sold since I know I don't play them.

I have thinned the herd down to 5 Les Pauls, 4 Strats, 4 acoustics and 2 Jazz basses.

In 2010 alone I have already sold off at least 20 guitars, 12 of them Les Pauls.

[m90guy]

I keep some. I sell some. Depends on whats new that I want.

[jr_vw2]

I had an rr3 a few years ago that I never played just for the simple reason that it was a pain to play when I was just jamming in my office so I sold it and now a few years later I have bad RR gas and don't have the extra cash to drop on one. So think about that before you sell

 

like you said it's not costing you anything to keep it.

[Scott Abene]

If I do not play them...

 

I do not keep them

[MONGOOZ]

a long time ago.....i used to sell/trade guitars all over the place....."The List" is truely depressing......so these days....unless there is some sort of financial emergency.....i keep every one of them......i've aquired a couple that i KNEW i wasn't gonna play a lot....but i liked them....so i bought them anyway

[jtr654]

I keep them all because I regret selling them and then try buying them back usually at a incredibly inflated $$$.

[Rekel]

I never sold a guitar, ever. The guitars in my collection are there for a reason.

[mrbrown49]

I never sold a guitar, ever. The guitars in my collection are there for a reason.

 

 

Same here actually.

[DeadNight Warrior]

I just sold one last Friday actually. It was a guitar I really hadn't had any use out of for probably the last two years. I sold it so I could put the money on one of my credit cards. If I didn't have the credit card debt... I reckon I would have sold it anyway and put the money towards a Tele or something.

 

That guitar didn't really offer me anything my other main guitars don't already, except the one I sold has one less string too. If it was something unique from the others, like a hollow body, or completely different kind of pickups, bridge, or whtever, I'd be more inclined to keep it.

[Rekel]

Same here actually.

 

 

Most of my instruments have been with me for up to 40 years. There's an emotional attachment with them for me personally. Selling anyone of them feels like selling one of your kids to me.

[*BLEEP*]

[sarcasm] Oh, I stuff unused guitars inside the wall when I'm through with them, then forget about them. [/sarcasm]



SELL THE {censored} WHILE IT'S STILL WORTH SOMETHING !








...okay, now back to finishing off this bottle of scnapps.

[scuzzo]

i have never sold a guitar,, but i have had some crap ones that i gave away to charity and such... its good to pay it forward one man crap guitar is another really cool playing deal..

[Assumer]

I used to sell but after wishing I had kept many guitars, I now keep everything I purchase. Of course if I just do not get along with a guitar I will sell it.

[Brown Rug]

i don't sell guitars. every guitar i've bought, i know i'm going to use them or at least appreciate them if they're under used. for instance, i will never part with my yamaha AES 620 even though i've 'retired' it, because of the memories i've had with it.

[Doctor49]

I keep them simply because I may not play one of them for weeks or months and then suddenly get a burst of gas for one style or sound and need to play it.

Its what keeps my playing and learning fresh.

[Muddslide]

I've bought, sold, traded, collected guitars, basses and gear for over 30 years.

 

These days I have zero interest on owning more than 3-4 electric guitars.

 

Especially since I like having an acoustic around and I gotta have a bass.

[Cobalt Blue]

With one exception--a guitar that has a great deal of sentimental value--I sell the guitars I don't play. I live in a small townhouse, so there's not much storage, and I don't like hanging guitars on walls, so I keep the population capped to five or six guitars max.

[golias]

I pretty much never keep two of anything. I've got an LP, a Tele, a semi, a strat, and a few odd ducks. Any time a new purchase makes something redundant, something has to go.

 

Exception: My workbench is piled high with cheap strat copies. They are fun to restore, hot-rod, customize, etc., especially since old strat copies are nearly worthless so there's no need to fear destroying them.

[soundcreation]

I'll only sell a guitar if I get something better. For example I have an Orville by Gibson Les Paul that is a fantastic guitar, but I got a greco les paul that I have to admit is even better. So I'm in the process of considering selling the orville. But I've been considering it for like 5 months now...so I suppose a part of me doesn't want to sell it. But I am also in the market for something with a floyd and a more modern sound so if I get that then the orville will be gone cause I don't really want more than 6 or 7 guitars. And as golias said having two humbucker LP's is a little redundant.

 

I have 7 and I play them all. I rotate them evenly cause I love the way all of them sound. More than that becomes to difficult to play consistently...for me anyway.

[Crunchtime]

I'm more inclined to trade than sell. It seems everyone is broke and will not buy anything unless you practically give it away.

[Faber]

Thanks for all the comments - I guess there is a point in the suggestions that it is different enough from my other guitars that it's worth keeping just for variety.

[Pine Apple Slim]

I usually trade or sell, more often than not with regrets later on.

[Brian Krashpad]

I make a point of rotating through the "collection" with gigs, practices and church service performances.

The only two electrics not in rotation are my two oldest, both of which have playability issues, which I'm keeping for sentimental reasons.