Your collection of musical instruments

[quantum]

Anyone have a large collection of instruments around your home?  I mean you buy a little something every so often and before you know it you have an orchestra at home?

[pianoplayer88]

My instuments that I have are a piano(duh!), guitar, clarinet, and my voice.
I only play the piano and sing.

[thalbergmad]

5 banjoleles
1 tenor banjo
1 plectrum banjo
2 5 string banjos
1 piano
1 organ
2 piano accordians
1 squeeze box
2 electric guitars
1 accoustic guitar
1 semi accoustic guitar
1 lute
1 mandolin
1 mouth organ
1 ukulele
1 trumpet
No tambourines. There are enough on here.

Thal

[rhapsody4]

5 banjoleles
1 tenor banjo
1 plectrum banjo
2 5 string banjos
1 piano
1 organ
2 piano accordians
1 squeeze box
2 electric guitars
1 accoustic guitar
1 semi accoustic guitar
1 lute
1 mandolin
1 mouth organ
1 ukulele
1 trumpet
No tambourines. There are enough on here.

Thal

plus Tubular Bells.

[healdie]

at home as a family we have a piano 4 guitars, a flute, saxaphone, oboe and violin.

[quantum]

At the moment we have

1 piano
1 spinet organ
1 piano accordion
2 Bb clarinets
1 Flute
1 Dizi
2 tin whistles
1 Filipino bamboo flute
1 pan flute (labeled in G sounds in Ab)
1 acoustic guitar
1 set of bongos
1 set of maracas
1 violin bow (for bowing random objects)

and a whole bunch of stuff that was never intended to be used as instruments being put to creative means.

[aewanko]

A piano which only has 61 keys. I'll get my 88-keyed piano when I'm dead.

[pianochick93]

I have a piano, 2 flutes, 2 acoustic guitars, and a few recorders.

[wotgoplunk]

Piano, clarinet, 4 recorders (Soprano-Bass), violin, and soon to be added, a bass clarinet.

I've also got a harmonica and a kazoo if those count.

[dana_minmin]

1 Piano, 1 violin, 1 guitar, 3 recorders, 1 harmonica, 1 pipa

the piano is the 1st resident.

[jabbz]

3 88s (well, only one is an 88, but you get my drift)
2 violins
1 Double Bass
1 lute
1 mandolin
2 flutes
1 piccolo
2 Clarinets Bb
 4 guitars of various types
1 trombone
1 F.Horn

and a tuba 

[aewanko]

why do you people get to buy so many instruments? oh man, prices going up by the millisecond today.

[quantum]

why do you people get to buy so many instruments? oh man, prices going up by the millisecond today.

cragslist, ebay, garage sales, etc.  You can find deals out there.  Eg: I got my flute for $25 at a rummage sale. 

[indutrial]

5 Basses: 6-string electric, 5-string electric fretless, 5-string electric, 4-string electric, 4-string upright contrabass (broken)
2 Guitars: 6-string electric, 6-string acoustic
1 Dumbek
assorted wooden flutes and toy instruments that were given to me as stocking stuffers and vacation souvenirs.

Damn, Thal...I'm jealous of your banjo collection.

[thalbergmad]

Damn, Thal...I'm jealous of your banjo collection.

And I am jealous of your guitar collection.

I love stringed instruments, but being left handed is a bit of a bugger. The four string Banjos are easily converted, but the 5 string cannot and they are difficult to find. As for guitars, a dealer once adivsed me that he sells 200 right handed guitars for every 1 left handed guitar, so regretfully not all models have left handed options.

I learned today that neither Gibson nor Epiphone made a left handed "Lucille", so there goes my B B King impressions. However, i was able to locate a left handed Epiphone Sheraton which is a reasonble alternative.

Yours leftingly.

Thal

[jabbz]

This any good Thal?

https://www.tanglewoodguitars.co.uk/products/default.asp?cID=26463273&sID=26465223

[thalbergmad]

That looks very similar to my left handed Epiphone Sheraton, but not as nice. Gold pickups and mother of pearl inlays are nicer.

Thal

[indutrial]

And I am jealous of your guitar collection.

I love stringed instruments, but being left handed is a bit of a bugger. The four string Banjos are easily converted, but the 5 string cannot and they are difficult to find. As for guitars, a dealer once adivsed me that he sells 200 right handed guitars for every 1 left handed guitar, so regretfully not all models have left handed options.

I learned today that neither Gibson nor Epiphone made a left handed "Lucille", so there goes my B B King impressions. However, i was able to locate a left handed Epiphone Sheraton which is a reasonble alternative.

Yours leftingly.

Thal

It's a shame you started playing as a leftie. A particularly direct-speaking store clerk at one of my local guitar shops once chided a woman who was looking for a left-handed guitar to give her beginner-level son, saying "I don't carry left-handed guitars. When somebody starts playing from the ground up, it doesn't matter which hand does what! Neither is meant to have an advantage!" When the poor blindsided woman begged to differ, the jerk smugly asked his co-worker something like "Hey, Johnny...have you ever seen a left-handed trumpet or a left-handed piano! Didn't think so!" and then the lady stormed out, probably picking up a left-handed guitar at Guitar Center later that evening.

As a guitar-teacher who deals with lots of beginners, I don't quite see the point either. At the outset both hands are equally retarded and the technique is basically learned the same way that proper typing skills are learned at first. Though the clerk I mentioned was somewhat of a dickface in his approach to the subject, I'd have to agree that it's almost an unnecessary thing to worry over at the outset and that it will only cause problems finding instruments in the long run.

Every now and then, I've actually attempted to teach my left hand to catch up and it's interesting to practice writing properly with it when you've spent your whole life writing with the other hand. Other activities that are surprisingly tricky with the secondary hand include brushing one's teeth, operating a manual can opener, and using a computer mouse (which I imposed on myself when I had a right-side carpal tunnel scare). Most fun of all is trying to play a right-handed guitar upside-down. I can bearly do "Wild Thing" like that, even with the strings set up in a left-hander's fashion.

[Essyne]

I'm a lefty and I play guitar w/ my right, but I don't think it really matters either way - you're still playing, right hand or no.

[indutrial]

I'm a lefty and I play guitar w/ my right, but I don't think it really matters either way - you're still playing, right hand or no.

Both hands definitely have to do an equal amount of work, unless of course you're just looking to strum some chords. In my own playing, I do a ton of two-hand tapping patterns in the vein of King Crimson's Trey Gunn (who actually plays a Warr guitar, which is engineered for tap-style playing), so both hands matter about the same. I could have probably started on either side. I'm immensely glad I chose the RH variety because I can go into a Guitar Center and wank on almost any of those pieces of s**t that they sell.

[thalbergmad]

As a guitar-teacher who deals with lots of beginners, I don't quite see the point either. At the outset both hands are equally retarded and the technique is basically learned the same way that proper typing skills are learned at first. Though the clerk I mentioned was somewhat of a dickface in his approach to the subject, I'd have to agree that it's almost an unnecessary thing to worry over at the outset and that it will only cause problems finding instruments in the long run.

For me, it was so natural to pick up a guitar or banjo left handed, that i did not think it wise to act against this. Although left handed, i seem to have a slightly greater facility with my right hand, so it also seemed this would be the best hand for fretting. I did spend a few weeks trying to play bluegrass on a right handed banjo, but when i found a left handed one, i progressed at 10 times the speed.

The problem i have now is with my left handed lute. To avoid obscene costs in having one made from scratch, i contacted the Early Music Centre and ordered a left handed lute in kit form that i now have to build myself. This is a much harder task than i anticipated, especially since the rather complex blueprint is of course for a right hander. I expect almighty cock ups to occur during the 4 months i expect it to take me.

The left handed bread knife is probably one of the great inventions along with the left handed nail scissors.

Long live leftism.

Thal

[thalbergmad]

I'm immensely glad I chose the RH variety because I can go into a Guitar Center and wank on almost any of those pieces of s**t that they sell.

I have never tried this myself, but i would love to see someone do it.

It was with interest that i read a few write ups on the Gibson 335 and the Epiphone Sheraton (which i own), which apart from a huge price difference is approximately the same guitar. Many people seemed to think there was no noticable difference in quality between the two, despite the fact that the Gibson is 5 times as expensive. There is a great youtube clip where a guitarist is constantly changing between the two guitars and i am damned if i could say one was better than the other.

I wonder if guitars are a bit like cars in as much as you are paying over the odds for the "name".

Thal

[Essyne]

The left handed bread knife is probably one of the great inventions along with the left handed nail scissors.

Where have I been?  .

[thalbergmad]

The left handed cheque book is another great step forward to anti leftism.

No more contorting your hand to write out your cheque stubs (not that anyone writes cheques any longer).

Thal

[indutrial]

I wonder if guitars are a bit like cars in as much as you are paying over the odds for the "name".

That's totally the case. I've recently fallen in love with a company called Schecter, who seems to know exactly how to successfully imitate all of the top models (Telecaster, Stratocaster) in addition to sporting their own line of excellent models (my favorite bass is a Schecter Stiletto). Best thing of all, they are inexpensive and they offer tons of great to-order models so you can negotiate a good mark-down with Guitar Center salesfolk. In addition to Schecter, I would also love to namedrop Carvin as a good we-do-it-all company that offers great prices for a zillion different models. Their custom shop is also pretty awesome, whereas a lot of the big name companies like Paul Reed Smith and Fender are much harder to deal with in that vein.

I'm from the States, so it's fairly common to see a bunch of idiots spending way too much on instruments because it says 'Fender' or 'Gibson' on the headstock.