Rotating stock aka owning too many guitars

Flanging_Fred

Do you regularly play all of your guitars?

No. I tend to have 3 or 4 in regular use and then rotate around when I get bored or fancy a change around.

Do you rotate?

Yes. I tend to pick one and gig with that for 6 months or so unless the gig suggests using a different guitar for whatever reason. 

Are some specialist?

Yes. 

3 acoustics - nylon, electro acoustic, half size electro acoustic

2 Basses - one short scale
11 electrics
       1 strat
       1 Les Paul
       1 Pointy Charvel 
       2 silly ones
       1 homemade build
       1 for slide
       + some others for my own amusement.

CountryDave

Do you regularly play all of your guitars?
Yes, but some get more use than others.
There are a couple I have in Eb tuning for gigging.  They do a good job and are all I really need.  A couple that get less use than others because they are in a hardcase, but have been around for years and I enjoy them when I do play them.

Do you rotate? 
I've a couple that are home use only and they get rotated.

Are some specialist?
Nothing specialist, apart from the Eb, but that can be changed quickly.


I spent years with just one guitar, then just two and gigged them a lot.  Now I'm a bit older and occasionally have a little bit of spare cash, if I see something I like and have the money, I'll give it a go.  Almost an extended try out.  I've been lucky with this approach that I've owned and played some great guitars.

Every now and then I'll have a bit of a clearout, like now.  It's as much a mental clearout as financial.  But it feels good to do so.

I find myself using the two gigging guitars and a relatively cheap amp/pedal setup for most gigs as no-one in the pubs really gives a crap about the finer differences between tonewoods etc and all the rest of the detail we can sometimes get into.

Lestratcaster

Do you regularly play all of your guitars?

I own 10 in total (6 electric and 3 acoustics). I only play about 3 of them regularly (shocking, I know)

Do you rotate?

If there's 2 of the same type (i.e I have 2 drop tuned guitars and 2 Fender-y single coil style guitars) sometimes I'll alternate but more often than not one is favoured over the other.

Are some specialist?

As above, some are setup in specific tunings so I only use them in those tunings. If I need another tuning I'll reach for a different guitar.

JD50

I have 1 Gibson and 7 Fenders

I have an amp in the bedroom and an amp in the front room

Gibson is hanging on the wall in the front room with a couple guitars lent on the amp.... 
I play 1 or all of these pretty much everyday before work and late eve when the family go to bed.

In the bedroom 1 guitar is strung with flats, 1 dropped tuning and 1 regular.... I play these weekends and early eve

1 guitar is in its case as needs a new nut and a rewire

1 guitar I have loaned to a mate for a year until he returns to the UK


So don't exactly rotate but they all get played regularly.

pt22

Home hobbyist. I've got 6 instruments, each for a different purpose and I try not to overlap too much.

The Archtop/Acoustic
The P90 GoldTop
The Twin Humbucker Semi-Hollow
The Birth-Year Vintage
The Bass
The Project

The first 4 of those I consider lifetime instruments. The bass could get upgraded one day, and the project is all over the place. 

Some are more "workhorses" and that list is in descending order of current usage. I consider most of those specialist instruments. So yes, I do rotate but less so based on the guitar itself and more on the style I'm trying to play or my physical location in the house. I also am trying to bring the archtop exclusively to my lessons now so its getting a lot of use. 

Eventually I'd like a pure tele (the project is a HS Tele), and a strat but for the sake of my marriage I think those will be more than a few years off unless I strike it rich and we move to a bigger house. That would represent some overlap and I'd have less justification for collecting them. 

Grumpyrocker

I've got eight guitars on the rack next to my desk. All in gig bags, other than my LP which is in its hard case.

They all do get played. But some more than others. For example the seven-string doesn't get used as much as the others. I just sort of rotate them really.

Most played at the moment is my PRS SE McCarty 594 which I bought a couple of weeks ago.

Oddly one of my best guitars doesn't get played as much. My Schecter PT Hellraiser Hybrid, is so good, and so gorgeous, that somehow I have issues playing it. I do get these odd obsessions. Did play it last night though. 

drofluf

I’ve got four, a Tele and 3 acoustics

 Do you regularly play all of your guitars?

 No, mostly two of the acoustics; one's in DADGAD the other in a different tuning depending on how I’m feeling. The Tele comes out when I want to play quietly through headphones or fancy noodling with delays and reverb

 Do you rotate?

Not really

 Are some specialist?

The third acoustic is a folding travel guitar. Does that count as specialist? Mainly gets played when I’m away from home. 

noisepolluter

1. I usually play 2 or 3 of my (counts fingers) 7 electrics over the course of a week

2. Not strictly, but I try to make sure nothing’s neglected for more than a couple of months

3. My acoustic only does acoustic sounds, does that count? I suppose my Floyd equipped Charvel does nudge me towards certain styles. 

Fez

1. Yes
 2. Yes most are on the wall so I just go round in sequence (not religiously though). For gigs my black hss strat is my workhorse but I take different guitars to accompany it.

3. Not really. 

rze99

Yes I rotate.

I've got a huge number of guitars and I keep most of them out on stands, ready (amazingly my wife is forgiving) and so I  use what I feel like or just pick one up that is right for what I've wanting to play.

I use Elixr strings so they always sound fresh.

I only use a few for the band though as there specific guitars needed.

Penn

I have a core of guitars I play about once or twice a week each. Rickenbacker 360, Gibson ES345 and a pre-cbs strat copy I made. 

I’ve got an American standard strat but the action is high with the truss rod tight so don’t play that. Tired to sell. Have given up. 

I’ve got a jaguar  vintera I play a bit but never bonded with. Want to love it and it is cool but… not that excited by it.  But keep it in the hope I decide I love it. 

I’ve got an old mex strat that belonged to @Del_Preston i think it was his first guitar and I keep it because I think he will want it back one day. So can’t part with that.  

I’ve got an epiphone Les Paul that was an 18th birthday present I can’t bring myself to sell. 

I have a Besson Aristone my uncle gave me. He was given it by my great father. It was originally bought for my great uncle who died at 18/19 of leukaemia. Can’t sell that or.   

Last one is an eko ranger that was my wife’s grandfathers. Now that I can’t part with. It went all over the world with him when he was in the merchant navy. 

THE SHORT ANSWER

I have three I love and a load of baggage I make myself live with! Should get rid of that strat and jaguar. 

maltingsaudio

1, Yes ish except Mrs M’s Rickenbacker 620/12 because a, it’s not my sort of thing,b, any damage would lead to divorce. 

2 Yes but keep coming back to Eggle and Silhouette 

3 Nothing really out the ordinary 

There are some which could be sold, but when I read of buyers whinging about the smallest scratch  It doesn’t seem worth it

TTony

slacker said:

Do you regularly play all of your guitars?
Do you rotate?
Are some specialist?

1. No.  Some of them haven't been touched in probably 10 years.
2. Yes, within a sub-set of <10; a mix of electrics, acoustics, hybrids, which give me different sounds or are in different tunings.
3. Yes.  Some I consciously have as "a collection" rather than as guitars-for-playing-every-day - see answer (1).

But I am coming round to the idea that I have an oversufficiency of guitars.

There are some tucked away in cases that I'd probably enjoy playing more than the more easily reachable ones that I do play.  So I've just about persuaded myself to bin a few this year.

Paul_C

I forgot to say that I don't rotate my guitars as then the strings are in the wrong place.

ewal

I've got 4 electric guitars, an acoustic and bass. I used to have the electrics in different tunings, but less about that at the moment. I tend to pick the guitar based on tone and part being played. A couple are for riffing, and the other two for cleaner washy stuff.

That's the idea anyway...

Keefy

1. No.
2. No.
3. No.

I currently own 12 electric guitars. They are all out and accessible in my music room and I can grab any one if or when I feel like it. I tend to have current favourites but it’s usually one of the 5 Teles.

I generally take 2 to a gig, whatever I think will work best. To Q.3, some of those guitars are maybe more versatile than others but none are limited to the extent that I would consider them ‘specialised’.

HAL9000

Had six but really only played three regularly. Sold the three I wasn’t playing and rotate the three remaining instruments.

Grampa

2 electrics and 1 acoustic

Do you regularly play all of your guitars?

Yes - The McRosie and GS Mini are out on stands in the study and share equal play time. The ME1 lives in it's case and comes out when I fancy a treat.

Do you rotate?

Not intentionally but all three get regularly played.

Are some specialist?

To me, all of them, but specifically the ME1, my bucket list guitar.

swiller

Do you regularly play all of your guitars?

No. I dont play any of them.

Do you rotate?

Yes. I send each regularly to local tech for upgrades, pup swaps, experiments.

Are some specialist?

Yes. Some people actually play their guitars.

Yorkie

I regularly play all my guitars and whatever gets benched will eventually see the door. My set (7+1) has become so refined that the last sale, however necessary, hurt emotionally. I might not sell a guitar again in a long time. Which also means no new guitars, because I have no more space. 

I don’t rotate them consciously, all my guitars are voiced differently and serve a purpose.