“If you have to ask, ‘Why do you need all this stuff’, you don’t understand what a collector does.”

Joe Bonamassa responded to “trolls” who call him out for vigorously collecting vintage instruments, arguing that he is by no means “cornering” the vintage guitar market with his hobby.Although some would argue that a highly dedicated player and an alumnus of B.B. King’s with a genuine passion and reverence for vintage instruments might provide the best home for a surviving piece of rock/blues history such as relic axes, there are apparently also those who think otherwise.

By now, Joe has become well known as an avid collector, often sharing his rare finds with his followers online, while some of his purchases also end up in the news due to the incredibly interesting stories behind them. All of this isn’t always greeted with enthusiasm, and Joe told Dean Delray in a recent interview that some “trolls” actually seem to mind his hobby (transcribed by Ultimate Guitar):

“When I posted a ’54 Goldtop I got from the grandchildren of the original owner in Massachusetts, I had several people [saying], ‘Oh, another one [that’s] never gonna see the light of day; just think about the music that can be played [on it] if somebody else bought it.'”

“Wait a minute. Let’s unpack this logic. First of all, the grandchildren contacted me [for] two reasons. One, they knew I collected guitars. And two, they knew I offered a good home and a fair price. End of story. This isn’t guitar-collecting socialism. It’s not one guitar for everybody.”

Moreover, Joe argues that he’s hardly hogging all the valuable relics that are still unspoken for, providing some numbers to prove that:

“I’ll get back to the trolls, [saying], ‘You wanna buy it? You buy me out.’ The answer’s always no. And the logic that, by collecting something, you’re taking it away from the people that could be using it — that doesn’t hold water. Here, you’ll see 3-4 Super Reverb Fender amps. From late 1963 [or] early ’64, to the time they discontinued them, Fender made 66,000 Super Reverbs. I own maybe 5 or 6. That’s not exactly cornering the market.”

He named another example:

“Sunburst Les Pauls; I own 15. They made almost 600 of them in ’59; 17,000 total from ’58 to ’60. Not exactly cornering the market. I always tell people, if you want something — there’s tons of ’em. You want a Goldtop? Go on Reverb. List 10 shops that are honest dealers, there are plenty of guitars for everybody.”

Joe concluded:

“If you have to ask, ‘Why do you need all this stuff’, you don’t understand what a collector does.”

At the same time, Joe is well aware that he won’t be taking his collection to the grave. Reflecting on what would happen to the treasure stored at Nerdville after he’s gone, the guitarist said:

“I left it to my niece and nephew. If I get hit by a buss tomorrow, they’re gonna own one of the biggest guitar collections in the world. After I’m gone, I would hope that the collection gets broken up. Somebody else’s gonna own all this stuff.”