You don't want to know how many guitars I have in the house. For that matter, I'm not sure myself. My wife, Jennifer, and my visiting sister claim to have counted 43, but that includes junkers I keep for parts, ones I plan to fix up some sweet day and then sell, and some I even plan to sell without fixing (they're all right already). I usually say I have 25, because that accounts for all the keepers and a few others.

You owe it to yourself to at least consider, seriously, a better instrument than you have now. Sometimes there's little difference, if your present axe is "above its raising," as they say, but sometimes it will be immediately obvious that the "better" instrument is WAY better, and your playing will show it. It's a little like playing with people better than you -- you stretch yourself and improve. The worst playing I ever did was during the time I was a teacher, since I almost never played with anyone better than me, and my "top" got pretty low, indeed.

Bob Clayton