jvin248 wrote: ↑Tue Nov 08, 2022 10:17 am
johnnysomersett wrote: ↑Tue Jan 18, 2022 9:58 pm
... Those with few guitars, through choice rather than financial reasons, how do you know it's enough?...
Most players go on a quest to 'find all the tones'. This leads to many guitars. Then many pickup styles in those guitars. Then wiring circuits to get all the options. Some end in the path where they have a Strat with more than 440+ unique switching tones (guitarnuts2 forum). Then anguish about how to sell all that gear because you realized you only play a few regularly and the others were just momentary tone experimentations.
Outside of having just one guitar with just one pickup (look at EVH's Frankenstrat and listen to all the recordings he did with that simple machine and try to explain how he might need more guitars to be 'versatile'), the typical minimum is three:
Tele, Strat, LP.
Everything else is a variation on those three foundational guitars. Sure you may want a Jazzmaster, a Jaguar, SG, Semi-hollow 335 -- but they can largely be duplicated in tone. Ergonomics not as easily, but maybe you have five or six guitars in your fleet instead of hundreds.
I found I can even jettison the LP easily through: Tele with a 4-way switch for series humbucking mode and a Strat with an Armstrong Blender mod to blend between classic SSS and superstrat HSH. Compress it further, since I don't really use a trem (I get myself distracted with them either tuning or fixing the reasons for tuning problems), I could go with a Nashville Tele with a Strat neck pickup, Jaguar middle pickup, and Tele bridge pickup controlled with a 5-way Strat switch and a push/pull neck+bridge Tele tone.
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I agree but also disagree.
Have I been on a quest? Definitely. Am I hoarding/obsessed with tone which cut in my playing time? Also yes.
But I honestly feel it's too simple to see the Tele, Strat and LP as the foundational guitars. I get where you are coming from. Can guitars duplicate others, sure. Are they in the grand scheme of things the most recurring guitars? Definitely.
But the foundational guitar are in my believe the guitars of a genre you play is rooted from. My guitar upbringing comes strongly from surf and blues players like RL Burnside, Hounddog Taylor and sorts. Of which all relies heavily on offsets, student models and other weird Japanese stuff.
So I feel that in the end the quest is not JUST tone. It's the feel, culture, trend, price and the "holy grail" feeling. (I've tried so many strats but in the end bonded most with a MIM 50's guitar and Tokai)
Like me, I can't really stand guitars without contours so a Tele and LP are not much of an option. Of which I guess both are the real two OG guitars bread and butter and the SG and strat are more the sexy V2's of those guitars. So I feel different about strat's.
But sound wise I'm also so obsessed with the 60's garage rock bands/ cheaper guitars that I own a good amount of japanese guitars.
Right now I finally feel I found all the guitars I wanted to own and start selling others off like crazy. But no Tele and LP will remain, can I create similar sounds - very much so.
My three guitars I "need": My 64 Jaguar, 73 mustang with humbuckers and 84 Tokai strat. I feel I can make those sound most like anything and I'm most comfortable playing them. Extra addition my 56 danelectro 00's reissue. It really adds a different sound that I can't nail with the others and I feel Danelectro is a different sound that has influenced the music world more often than it gets acknowledged.