# Does downsizing your collection really work



## Rick31797 (Apr 20, 2007)

I decided to downsize my guitar collect this year, so i ended up selling only 1 guitar my Gibson LP tribute, and since then i have bought 3 more guitars, i also started selling some effects pedals that i didn't use, and slowly over time i see i have more effects pedals now then before...i am not sure this downsizing works at all, it seems that when you sell something , the money just goes into more gear....


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## dcole (Oct 8, 2008)

I have succesfully downsized my collection. It was never large as I only had 3-4 guitars at a time. So I scrapped everything I had and bought a nice Gibson SG. No hard feelings towards other guitars except for one. I do still have the first guitar I ever bought 17 years ago. Its sitting in pieces right now and I would love to get it going but I really have only one choice to play and it makes me happy.

Oh and no effects pedals. There bad!


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## Swee_tone (Mar 23, 2009)

I've had my collection up and down a couple times. Right now I have 2 guitars and 1 amp. I've been as high as 8 guitars and 4 amps.
I find that when i'm busy recording and playing with others, I hardly think of aquiring gear.
I do have a nice handwired tube amp , but i've been looking lately at the Peavey VIP 3 modeling amp... so I guess it never ends!


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## -ST- (Feb 2, 2008)

*What are you saving it for?*

..........


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## keto (May 23, 2006)

I've been trying to downsize a bit the past year, and have sold/traded a few off. Still, I find myself with....10 guitars. I think, if I keep looking I might find more lol
-a cheapish acoustic
-G&L S500
-60th Strat
-LP faded Studio
-CV Tele (highly modded)
-Blackout Tele (highly modded)
[email protected] Hagstrom
-EVH MIJ Wolfgang Special
-AGILE 335 style 12-string
-MIM Jazz Bass

A couple of those I have had up for sale/trade, a couple are my principal band guitars, and the rest I have no current use for but want to keep despite not ever cracking their cases.

And that doesn't count the 3 Tele necks and assorted bodies in various states of construction or disrepair lying around the house. Or my kids' 6-7 guitars that reside here.

I was WAY worse with amps, but think I have that under control now, have 4 and 1 is actively listed. Which would leave me with a 6-watter, a 22 watter, and a 40 watter. I can live with that. I'm still bad with pedals, have a HUGE board populated, that I could strip and repopulate at least twice :/


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## Guest (Jul 13, 2013)

Been thinking of downsizing for a while myself. I'd like to do a quantity for quality trade.
Mostly because the novelty has worn off of some of my guit's. I may post something soon.


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## zontar (Oct 25, 2007)

Downsizing?

Shudder!


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## pattste (Dec 30, 2007)

laristotle said:


> Been thinking of downsizing for a while myself. I'd like to do a quantity for quality trade.
> Mostly because the novelty has worn off of some of my guit's. I may post something soon.


I did that 7 or 8 years ago. I bought one expensive (Gibson) guitar and eventually sold three entry-level but pretty good (Epiphone) guitars that I wasn't playing anymore. Then I realized that I really needed more than one guitar, but because I had tasted the really nice stuff I ended up buying a second expensive one. Then I realized I really needed an acoustic so I bought one. Then last year I happened unto my dream guitar and had to buy it. So I now have exactly as many guitars as I did 7 or 8 years ago except that they're worth 3-4 times more.

I find that when I'm not checking out the forums like Guitars Canada or The Gear Page and I'm busy writing and playing music, I tend to buy less gear and be happy with what I have. This also explains why my two friends who also are guitar players are perfectly happy with a used Epiphone Les Paul Studio and a 20 year-old cheap ass chinese Jackson super strat respectively.


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## dradlin (Feb 27, 2010)

Rick31797 said:


> ...it seems that when you sell something , the money just goes into more gear....


I don't get - how this is a problem?


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## sulphur (Jun 2, 2011)

I've been trying to avoid upsizing!


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## Roryfan (Apr 19, 2010)

laristotle said:


> Been thinking of downsizing for a while myself. I'd like to do a quantity for quality trade.
> Mostly because the novelty has worn off of some of my guit's. I may post something soon.


That was my strategy. I had well over 20 guitars, but once I got a few really nice ones it became easier to move the rest. Trouble is, the market is so lousy right now I usually end up taking a partial trade so I still have about 20 kicking around.


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## Guitar101 (Jan 19, 2011)

-ST- said:


> For the last few years I've been working on the principle that a guitar that I don't play... is worthless
> 
> This has made it considerably easier to approach acquisitions with the view that anything I would actually play is worth more (to me) than whatever I have lying around idle.
> 
> ...


A very wise person. I'm pretty sure guitar companies like Fender, Gibson & others, hate people like you.


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## Robert1950 (Jan 21, 2006)

I've never had the money to upsize in the first place, so downsizing will never be a problem.


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## fredyfreeloader (Dec 11, 2010)

Downsizing is good (B_ll S__t) it's annoying. I dispensed with all the amps and then bought a Fender Frontman 25R that's it for amps. I might have kept some but they where big and I couldn't find any amp hangers. Guitars now that's another matter I sold 3 and bought three more or was it four. It's easy to store guitars just by more guitar hangers and there easier to hide.


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## sneakypete (Feb 2, 2006)

Guess it depends on the seller....I`ve sold off more than 70 guitars over the past three years or so...zero regrets and if I buy something now it`s to resell if I think I can make some money. Looks like my guitar collecting days are over.


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## Drazden (Oct 26, 2007)

I sort of feel like maybe, if you don't actually end up downsizing your collection, maybe you don't really want to downsize ;-)

I reached a point a few years ago where I found myself with enough guitars I couldn't keep track of them all. I had to store them at the cottage, in the basement, at friends' places... That's when I knew it was time to downsize.

So I'm down from 13 or 14 electric and acoustics to... 6 or 7 right now, I think, and I'm still downsizing. 

It's gotten to the point where, whenever I decide I need to lose another one, I always change my mind and hold onto it "for a little longer." 

I think I've reached my limit. I've got 4 electrics right now... Probably 3 will be with me permanently, but if the right offer comes along I wouldn't hesitate to get rid of one or two of them.

The question is, why did you want to downsize? If you want to collect guitars, collect guitars; there are some pretty unbelievable collections on this board!


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## -ST- (Feb 2, 2008)

..........


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## marcos (Jan 13, 2009)

My wife has no problem with me downsizing !!!


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## Rick31797 (Apr 20, 2007)

> The question is, why did you want to downsize? If you want to collect guitars, collect guitars; there are some pretty unbelievable collections on this board!


I probably am not serious about downsizing, i sometimes think if something happens too me what will my wife do with all this gear i have..she does have an idea of the value of some of it but she would need help selling it all, and there is nobody in the family that has any idea of what some of my guitars would sell for..

I like Collecting guitars and amps, but room is an issue, and i really do have a hard time letting go of gear especially guitars, i play them all once and awhile but mostly they sit in there cases


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## OldGuitarPlayer (Feb 25, 2013)

At one point I had 2 telecasters, 2 Stratocasters, an Ibanez Artist soldbody and an old Yamaha acoustic. I also had an old silver face Fender Champ amplifier and a Peavey Classic 50 212 combo amp. At a gig however I would only bring two electrics.

Now I have an old Norman acoustic, a Squier CV 50's BSB telecaster and a Fender Deluxe 90 amp. This setup provides all the entertainment I need and I play a few gigs and jam sessions a month with either guitar.


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## Greg Ellis (Oct 1, 2007)

I decided a long time ago that if I was going to get into multiple guitars, they would be guitars that differed substantially from one another.

At this point I have an old Tokai Strat and a nice Epi SG, plus a dreadnought and a smaller folk-size acoustic. There are a couple of junkers in the closet that i haven't bothered to sell off because they're not worth anything, but I'm pretty happy with the four that I use. Each guitar is a LOT different from the others, in look and feel and in the way that I use them. Someday I might venture into the tele style or a Les Paul, but I think I could be happy with these four even if I never bought another guitar in my life.

Pedals are a bit different - I have probably half a dozen that aren't on my board right now but I'm not really ready to let them go yet. But even there, it's about covering the bases, not replication. I'm not using a compressor at the moment, but I have one. It's not likely that I'll get rid of it, but I won't be buying more of them either.


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## zontar (Oct 25, 2007)

Greg Ellis said:


> I decided a long time ago that if I was going to get into multiple guitars, they would be guitars that differed substantially from one another.


That's how I've been for a number of years--I do have a couple that are similar--but for the most part they have substantial difference to how the play, sound, etc.

For example, the last two I bought were an acoustic 12 and a full hollowbody.
Both different from my solidbodies.


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## Stringtown (Jul 16, 2013)

I personally find it's very hard to get rid of the first guitars I've ever bought or received as a gift. I have a Godin Jazz Montreal, two epiphones les paul (one Zakk Wylde bullseye) and a Seagull acoustic that I don't think I'll ever be able to part with for example... I made the mistake of selling my very first acoustic guitar for $50 a few years ago and I still regret that decision a lot, even though I hated playing with it and thought it sounded like total crap.


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## zontar (Oct 25, 2007)

I had no problem parting with my first guitar --a K-Mart special, waste of good plywood acoustic.
I sold it for the same price I paid for it.
I actually consider my Classical my first guitar (It was my first good guitar) and I still have it--but I doubt I could part with it.
I felt crushed when the headstock broke--fortunately a friend of mine is a very good woodworker and knows guitars a swell, and he did a great job fixing it.


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