Most guitarists will be able to relate to Vince Gill saying he’s “never tried to acquire a massive collection [of guitars]” and “[I] have more than 40 Telecasters” in the same interview. Despite our best efforts, dedicated guitar players will often find themselves with more guitars than they know what to do with—a guitarsenal, as it’s called in my home. Throughout his decades-long career, Gill has been no exception.
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From electric Teles to vintage, pre-war Martins, Gill’s guitar collection reflects the multi-genre character of his professional work. The “Nicest Guy in Nashville” plays bluegrass, traditional country, blues, contemporary Christian, and rock ‘n’ roll, each with its own distinct sounds and styles that work best on certain guitars. And frankly, if I played guitar half as well as Gill, I, too, would be buying every good guitar I could find.
But as every guitarist knows, at some point, you have to thin the herd. In a 2017 interview with Guitar Aficionado, Gill explains how he managed to do that, both purposefully and inadvertently.
Vince Gill Realized He Needed to Trim His Collection at 40 Telecaster Guitars
One of the guitars most closely associated with Vince Gill’s career is a white 1953 Telecaster he bought for $450 from an Oklahoma City guitar trader in 1978. He played it in Pure Prairie League, and Gill continued playing it when he broke off into his solo career in the mid-1980s. While he still has that beloved Tele, he told Guitar Aficionado he started avidly collecting Telecasters to find more that matched his first guitar’s feel and playability.
“I’ve been trying for almost 40 years now to find one that reminds me of my white one,” Gill said. “But I’ve never found it. I got close. But I can’t find that neck and that sound. There’s just something magical about that guitar. That’s still the one I wind up playing.”
Nevertheless, Gill’s search for a similar Tele landed him with 40 different models. “For a long time, I took a lot of pride in never selling instruments and only acquiring them. But at one point, I finally got to the place where I said, ‘Okay. Let’s look at this logically. You have more than 40 Telecasters.’ And there are a lot of people now who are making nice instruments. I try to buy their guitars to help them out and get them going.”
Sometimes, the Universe Takes Matters Into Its Own Hands
The decision to clear out a guitar collection that you spent years curating can be a difficult one to stomach. Sometimes, the universe doesn’t give you a choice. In the same Guitar Aficionado interview, Gill recalled how the Tennessee floods of 2010 destroyed many of the beloved guitars in his collection. “All told, about 50 guitars were compromised,” he said. “Some could be rescued, although not many. Most were ruined.”
“I lost a guitar used on ‘One More Last Chance’ and a couple of guitars that my friends made for me. Amy [Grant, my wife] gave me a nice, old, small-bodied Taylor that I used on a duet I did with her from 93 called ‘House of Love’. That one got destroyed. I also lost about 30 old amps and 60 vintage cases. It was a real painful spring-cleaning.”
Gill said his wife offered a more optimistic perspective amid the heartbreaking recovery process. “She said, ‘You lost all that stuff. But you can make a living with just one guitar.’”
And when you’re Vince Gill, well, that’s certainly true.
Photo by Nathan Congleton/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty Images
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