How important is "coverage" to your guitar collection?

That's what my guitar collection is all about. I don't even see it as a collection, but as tools to play different styles of music voiced as accurately as possible. It's nice to have a les paul, a tele, a strat, 335, some hollowbodies and acoustics (they are as varied as the electrics are..), classical, flamenco, resonator... you know how it goes..

At least with amps it's better, because I like fender tube stuff, and age and modern stages limit the amount of amps that are appealing any more, so a couple (a few? )will do!

 

I was a one electric and one acoustic guy for a long time too. Then I met you enablers on here and AGF and then coverage became very important. I’m now pretty much where I want to be so life is good.

 

I do it too. 11 guitars here. A few strats, a few LPS, a semi, trems, hardtails, humbuckers, P90s...
Just in case...

But I realise that none of it is important. I can happily gig with any one of them, and I doubt it would make any difference to the audience or even to my band mates.

And I rarely gig now anyway.

It boils down to the fact that I like having different guitars. I like looking at them and it's fun to choose one and play it. I appreciate how lucky I am to have all these toys.

My only rule is that if I find myself rarely taking a particular guitar down and playing it it's a candidate for selling or trading.

 

As above I've said I'm now happy with my guitar collection for coverage.

Amps on the other hand, which I have two, are both power by EL34's. Wondering about a 6L6 amp for coverage.

Sent from my CLT-L29 using Tapatalk

 

I initially thought I got a vintage style Tele, Jazzmaster, Strat, and Squier Tele Deluxe for coverage.

But all they do is reinforce how perfect my American Special Tele is for me.

When I play the other guitars I think, ‘this is nice.’ Then when I play the American Special I think ‘oh yeah, this is the one.’

 

In the end all I want is the guitars that I play all the time. The also-rans need to go to those that will elevate them to their "always play" status. No matter how nice it is to have a lot of guitars I do not want any that are not of a regular and consistent go-to status in my needs. I'd rather they achieve that status for those that find them as much a go-to requirement as I do mine.

 

I'm down to only 3 single coil, rosewood board, full body, 'Fender style' electric guitars!
So I guess it's not that important to me.

 

I guess coverage is what is in the back of my mind when looking at 'new' guitars. This week I made a decision to trade in one of my guitars to justify buying another...not that I really had to, but I think I have a limit to the number of different guitars it's worth me owning due to not playing them all and I feel that would be a waste. It's not like I'm a pro, I do gig, but not even monthly.

I thought hard about the guitars I have and decided to trade in my avatar Tele to get a Gibson SG I found with a fatter 50s style neck: Sure I like the neck humbucker I put in the Tele, but if I'm honest I don't really use it much and otherwise it's very similar to my other Classic 50s Tele. So it has to go. I put it back to standard yesterday and it plays very nicely, but since I have another the same in a different colour, then easier to let it go.

I think this leaves me with a good range of guitars for what I use them for: I play covers mostly, but I will tend to do a whole set/rehearsal with which ever guitar I'm in the mood for. So long as I get roughly in the ball part (bright/clean/rich/dirty, etc) then I think it's more down to playing the part right.

As of tomorrow's exchange I'll have the following:

Strat
Tele 50s Classic
Esquire Partscaster
Les Paul Humbucker*
Les Paul Studio P90
SG Standard Humbucker*
Gretsch G5622T

Amps wise I cover enough for what I need too:
Fender '64 Custom Deluxe reverb
Marshall Mini Jubilee head and V30 2x12 cab
Marshall SV20H head and Greenback 2x12 cab
Fender Champ clone

Hardly have any pedals, just a couple of overdrive pedals and clean boosts.

Looking at that list, I think there is still maybe more than I need or can justify...

*Might seem a bit similar but the LP is an old Epiphone I can't bring myself to get rid of after 25+ years. Nearly traded it for the SG, but the duplicate Tele seems more sensible.

 

I like to think that all my guitars sound a bit different, but I always play the same type of music so it doesn't really matter.

I would still like a basic 'punk rock guitar' like a LP Jr or SG Jr or single HB Tele.

 

Good question set me thinking.

I have the coverage I think I want - Strats Teles 335s SGs P90 Les Pauls. Lowden and Larrivee acoustics.

I'm beginning to wonder about the ES175 though which I got with the idea of one day stretching into jazz but haven't yet........... Maybe I need to move it on to someone who'll play it before too long. Original 1961 with unmolested PAFs so its a bit of a waste.

 

“Coverage” is fairly important to me.
I have my needs covered very nicely.
I have one favorite electric guitar, but the others do indeed cover the other tones I want/need.
I also must confess to a little redundancy.
I have two Les Pauls and a nice Larrivee RS4, which is essentially a long scale Les Paul.
I aslo have two of the same model bass, which I justify (to myself) with different types of strings.
I find my #1 electric works with everyone I play with, while the others, like my Strat and B bender guitars work best in certain circumstances.
Luckily, in my little world, I’m the only one that really cares.
I’m happy, and gear (tools-IMO) “rich”.

 

I'm not a professional jack of all trades player in a cover band anymore – so I choose my guitars to sound like me. Unfortunately that changes from time to time so I have more tones covered and amassed more guitars now than I had in my professional years.

 

I’ve definitely tried to fill in some gaps when buying new guitars. But I also don’t mind doubling up if I just see/want something cool. My “coverage” is way more important for recording. There are times I might run through 75% of the entire collection chasing the sound in my head. Other times I’ll pick up a guitar at the other end of the sound spectrum when I’m already sure I have what I want nailed down. I just want to see if there’s anything else in my brain that wouldn’t have been pulled out with the one that I had pegged from the beginning. Lastly, the stuff on my hit list now almost 100% focused on “I’ve always wanted” type stuff rather than “I don’t have one with” type stuff.

 

In the end ...Guitars are tools ... You need the correct tool for the task you are attempting ... You wouldn't refinish you car with a hammer ... Or drive nails with a paint gun...

 

I suppose my idea of coverage is pretty crude: an acoustic, an electric, a bass, and maybe a twelve-string.

 

Eh, to a certain extent - I like to have a bass around, and I love a 12 string acoustic, even though I don't play them much. I would enjoy owning a resonator and a lap steel, even if they didn't get much play time.
A good telecaster can "cover" my basic electric guitar "needs" though - there isn't any music I play that can't be done just fine on a telecaster (really, any of my 4 electrics). But it's fun to own a few different kinds, they do sound a little bit different from each other, and they have different styles and looks which can be cool. I do sometimes wish I had a whammy bar of some kind.

 

Hi.

I get the idea of ‘coverage,’ totally.

And, I feel that I have positioned myself in a place where I’m covered.

But I guess I also see things fairly simplistically, as I feel I’m covered with one LP and one Tele.

I get the idea of just plain wanting something too,* and if I were to buy another guitar it would probably be just because I wanted it, for whatever reason - looks, sound, quirks, undefined feeling of desire, whatever. It wouldn’t be for the notion of coverage.

Pax/
Dean
* within reason, not talking about mindless consumption here

 

I went down that road. Had to have a Gretsch, Rik 12, ES335, Nylon String, acoustic 12, Taylor, etc. Also was crazy about having various finishes.

I have none of those now. Sold everyone of them. Down to Strats (2), Teles(2), an SG, Gibson acoustic and Martin 000.
Would sell one each of the Strats and Teles but can’t decide which should stay or go.
It’s a fool’s errand to seek them all. The more you have, the less you play each one of them. None become “your guitar”.

 

Every guitar,amp, cab.pedal,preamp. Has a specific job & was picked that way. Have what i need covered pretty good.

 

As a songwriter "coverage" for me is very important. I write in a number of different genres which means that I like to have enough versatility in my instruments to produce a demo with the "right" sound/ambience/feel. Having said that, I have one acoustic and one electric that are my main players when I'm performing and not recording; while the other six guitars bide their time in their cases.