The "Well Rounded" Guitar Collection

Something I've often considered, is what is the ultimate list of guitars one would want in their collection. Some people I have known in the past have over 30 guitars - one old friend of mine had 36 - All of them were Gretsch. This is more of an addiction and a passion for the fine instruments that Gretschs are. The most common collectors are always in it for the prestige of owning rare, antique or famous guitars. A very inspiring magazine that highlights this is Guitar Aficionado.
My interest in collecting guitars is based on covering the sonic spectrum of various types and makes of guitars, as well as the pure love for the art form that guitars are - like fine automobiles.

The main points I've considered in starting/continuing my collection is:

• I want to play a variety of styles, and a broad spectrum of guitar sounds - including bass, acoustic and traditional instruments.
• I want to be budget conscious, but I want each guitar to be a work of art as well.
• I want to have as few guitars as possible due to space limitations.

So then, I set out to create the list of styles, or categories, of guitars, followed by the list of key makes and or models.
Here are the categories:

• Stratocaster/Telecaster - Fender Bloodline
• Les Paul/SG - Gibson Bloodline
• Hard Rock/Metal shredding machine with active pickups and a Floyd Rose tremolo
• Semi-Accoustic with rockabilly twang and vintage tone
• Fender Electric Bass
• A Bass for Jazz/Funk with 5 strings and active pickups
• A classical guitar with nylon strings
• A traditional acoustic guitar
• Other stringed instruments....

If you read my article on sentimental guitars, you have to consider these as part of your "total number of guitars" calculation. In my case, I made a couple mistakes. My old Stratocaster is not really a Stratocaster anymore, and deserves to be preserved as an art piece more than a playing instrument now. And the Stienberger clone I have is not really worth playing. So these two instruments are basically dead weight in my collection.
Based on the categories I came up with listed above, I started my adventure in building my collection.

The next articles will touch on each instrument category in my collection.