Collectors???

[cockroach]

Alain,

Although I started this thread, I don't want to 'bash' the Aussie guys with their huge collections of guitars, nor do I wish to 'bash' you!(I live in Australia too- a long way from France!)

I still think that if there were no or fewer collectors, a lot more fine old guitars might be available to a lot of players who would dream of owning just ONE..
These old fine guitars are never going to be around and available to purchase if they stay securely locked up in a few large collections..so they might have just as well have nearly all disappeared or been junked over the years.

If a player wanted, say a 1957 sunburst Strat, unless he has lots of money to try and buy on the current vintage guitar market, a new or modern re-issue is about his only alternative...

Good luck to you- but be careful- that recent flood in Nashville USA destroyed the presumed safely stored collections of a number of famous players...

[Alainlafrance]

John

Vintage guitars within large collections are only a few compared to the number of remaining guitars from these periods.
Collectors are looking only for flawless, 100% genuine guitars.
Guitarists are looking for great sounding guitars; their purchasing criterias are different.
Next week end is the Arlington (TX) Vintage Guitar Show; it will give a good idea on the trend for prices: will they keep going down or stabilize ?
We'll see.
Alain

[bor64]

As a humble guitar owner,and even a more humbler guitarplayer...I did read this topic with great interest!
Owning a collecting is just sometimes a burden,some people are so narrowminded that they refuse to speak with you(on meetings), because you onw more guitars or other stuff....it says more about them...but gee
I started collecting guitars because of the love of the kind of music they were used on...shads music!
I bought my first guitar before I could play DUH..... (not that I can now).
I bought my first pre-cbs strat around '78 before it became a hot item or a fashion...the prices were very low.
I buyed a shadows related guitar back then,with my youthfull pre-ception,it gave me the instand shads sound errr little did i know.
I own a original sample of every mayor guitar Hank used,because it brings me closser to the sound I want to emulate...my humble playing it the weakest link.
Most of us own a F Red strat,because of multiple reasens...but mostly the shad/Hank connection....If Hank had stick with his black strat...live was more simple hahaha
The joy of collecting is other than owning....because "the hunt" for a special guitar can be long,It toke about six years to get a original 1970 strat in black with mapleneck,the same as Hank had....
I use 98% of my guitars regular...I did gig with those also,guitars are made for to be played.
So i'm collecting,not to make money,but to (tying) get the sound I like to hear!
http://www.4shared.com/audio/cFrShHxq/happybirthday21mod.html
Left my 58 fred-at the right all the shads....
A collection cost money,even after the purchage...paying the Dick Turpin's of the enchurens that's daytime robery hahaha
In the past I allowed other people everywhere i was playing ,to try out my instruments....but because of the lousy atitude towards the guitars and me I stop doing that.
My guitars are not 100% prestine anymore because they are played on.
I don't pay silly money for a guitar,all the rare old ones, I bought in the good ol' days..I payed for my original '65 Marvin about the same as for the 40th HBM Anniversary Marvin,but that was in '88...
Tin hat in place

[chas]

If my memory serves me correctly, didn't Randy Bachman's collection include nearly 400 Gretsch guitars? Although his collecting started, I think, from looking for (or a replacement for) a Grestch that had been stolen.
I don't have any issues with collections - we all derive pleasure from guitars in different ways, very often our reasons for owning/liking any given instrument can differ quite a lot even within our own (usually modest) collections. Having said that, some of us don't really have 'collections' as such just a lot of guitars that we have acquired to use for one reason or another, and the numbers slowly grow! Sounds familiar....?

Chas.

[RayL]

some of us don't really have 'collections' as such just a lot of guitars that we have acquired to use for one reason or another, and the numbers slowly grow! Sounds familiar....?
Chas.

Agreed, Chas.
As I'm interested in recording, the sound and the features of a guitar are more important to me than whether, for example, it's the exact model played by some famous person. So I've gradually filled the gaps in the types of guitar that I have available but not spent thousands buying 'names'.

Here's what I mean:-
Solid with single coils (Burns Batwing, Strat copy)
Solid with humbuckers (Shergold Modulator, Alden Corsair)
Semi-acoustic (Ibanez AFS75T with humbucker/single coil switching)
Semi-Acoustic 12-string (Baldwin 712T)
Electro-acoustic 12-string (Vintage VEC500-12)
Acoustic 6-string (Diastone)
Electric 6-string with Nashville tuning (Hayman 2020)
6-string bass - Shergold Bass 6
4-string bass with single coils/flatwound (Burns Bison)
4-string bass with humbuckers/roundwound (Alden TV Cruiser Bass)

There are others, but that gives you the idea.

There's nothing there of any great value, but they are all good, working instruments that get used regularly and provide enjoyment. Seems about right.

Ray L

[cockroach]

Hi RayL

I can certainly see the logic of your collection of different types of instruments - particularly the use of guitars fitted with different types or gauges of strings for different styles and sounds, and different types of guitars- solid, f-hole archtop, flat top acoustic, 6 string, 12 string , electric and acoustic, bass etc.- maybe even a banjo, mandolin, and ukelele too!

If I could afford it, and if I felt I could justify the expense to buy a few more guitars, maybe I would acquire more too...so that I could meet whatever the needs of the particular musical job (gigs, recordings, doubling on bass, playing different styles calling for say, acoustic with steel or nylon strings)

Unfortunately, gigs, and indeed any playing engagements of most types requiring the need of having an arsenal of gear, are few and far between for me these days!

So I stick to owning two electric solids (one Tele type and one Strat type), one acoustic electric, and one bass, plus a guitar amp (with a few built-in effects), a bass amp and a small PA setup that can be used for the acoustic-electric. Then I have to totally exploit the challenge of finding all of the tone possibilities of this limited amount of stuff to compromise and do the best I can.

However, I still can't really understand the logic of collecting say, 100 Strats in different colours, different years of manufacture, minor differences in hardware etc...eh????

[Didier]

I am a guitar collector and I assume it.
http://community.webshots.com/user/alainlafrance

What's wrong with collecting guitars ?
I see some Members bashing this Australian guy who owns about 260 guitars.
I presently own about 100 and a friend of mine a little over 300.
Each of them has a story and most of them are of the high end, being unique or very rare.
He plays guitar, I play guitar, but usually with the same few.
Some guitars can be considered as pieces of art and handled as such.
You don't need to paint to collect paintings, so it is for guitars.
Without collectors how many 50's and 60's guitars might have survived ?
We don't take the bread out of the mouth of guitar players.
We don't hunt in the same lands.
Both can live happily together.
But still, yes you need to afford it as for any such collecting
Alain

Alain, I have only two questions:

Can I come and stay with you for a week and can we spend a couple of days at your friend's?!

I had the privilege, with a few other French Shads' fans to visit Alain's basement, and see some pieces of his collection.
He also brought some of them at the latest "Shadtech" meeting.
Those I have seen are real pieces of art, certainly not intended to be played as an everyday instrument !

Didier

[ecca]

What you do with guitars is..... you play them.

[Alainlafrance]

What you do with guitars is..... you play them.

Some yes, some others no...

[abstamaria]

This is an interesting discussion, which happens also in various other hobbies and interests, such as cars, photography, boats, bicycling ...

I don't have much interest in collecting old Stratocasters and other electric guitars, on the theory that in the old days the manufacturers were just churning these off often crude production lines. A new reissue guitar, custom made by a craftsman to the original specification, I figured would be a better instrument; it will be made more carefully, of more select wood, and should sound like the original. Anyway, that is my theory, and so I have bought guitars on that basis. I have a replica of Hank's first Stratocaster and a matching new Precision Bass, both shown elsewhere on this forum. Before getting to those guitars, we acquired a new '62 reissue Strat with the rosewood fretboard, similar to those used by the Shadows when they acquired matching guitars. All in all, with the necessary acoustics, Telecaster, and Jazzmasters, I have about 10 guitars. I have a number of AC30s, since each new model is said to be closer to the original. All are new, made to what Fender calls NOS standard, since they substitute for the guitars I lusted afer in the early 60s but could not afford. I take care of them since I want them to look new and can't afford to replace them. That makes me a collector of some sort., However, we do use all of them for fun sesssion with friends and the occasional shows.

I can understand though the appeal of vintage guitars to someone keenly interested in them, particularly their history. If by some luck the original "Apache" Stratocaster came into my hands, I would treasure it.

Best regards to all.

Andres