My first guitar was a Fender Squire. POS, I know, but I loved it. I got a Jackson Dinky Pro Reverse for half the price due to a price tag that was marked incorrectly :)

I got an Ibanez acoustic about 6 years ago (don't even ask me the model - haha), and a Schecter C1 Plus around the same time.

Of those four, I'd have to say the Schecter is by far the best. Best sounding, best feel, and best looking guitar I've owned. It ain't much, but it's mine and I love her :)

I love the neck on my Ibanez.
It's a cheap guitar, but sounds great, especially with the Screamin' Demon pickup I put in the bridge.

I use to have an Ibanez RG series didn't paid much for it and I loved it. (it got stolen long time ago) I think I would buy it again but I recently purchased a Parker and it feels better I think so I'd say Parker.

Zoro.
http://www.produccionestecate.com

I own a Fender Am Standard Strat (1991). Used to have Ibanez RG 550, Yamaha RGX 612, Westone Spectrum LX and a cheap ass Condor Strat with H-S-H DiMarzio pick-ups.

Love that Fender sound, though I now would like something with a bit of warmth but with the strat feel, but without the strat hum.

Never cared for a Tele. Never want a floating trem like Floyd Rose again. What a headache.

I'm using Schecter. Standard series, SSH, swamp ash, birds eye maple neck. It's very very good instrument. They just know how to make a good guitar.

Friend of mine has got Schecter telecaster - No. S0046 :o !!! Beautiful sounding but wierd combination: bird eye maple neck, mahogany body with maple top. Rare bird.

iiiiii

i had a gretsch, a strat, and a gibson es-137 among many others and right now i have a schecter which works quite nice and sounds awesome for the price. but my favorite i have ever played is a limited edition '52 copper colored telecaster. the sound of it made me want to cry cuz how beautiful it sounded.

haha uhmmmm for some reason i couldtn delete my first post.

my bad. :/

There seems to be a little about a lot of guitars I like so I built my own from USAGC and Warmoth parts.

For necks I use 24 3/4" scale bolt on fatback strat or tele necks from Warmoth. Made from mahogany or white korina. All except one pau ferro are rosewood boards.

For bodies I use swamp ash strat types but I have one tele body, all are either USACG or Warmoth and are of varying weight, 2 bodies are from some guy on Ebay.

So they have the sound of both, they give me the things I like from both the Fender and Gibson guitar.

Most neck pickups are Duncan Antiquity firebird bridge mini hums, antiquity P-90, antiquity Texas strat and one with a Phat cat, 2 with Duncan PAF type pups. For bridge pickups I either use C5. CC, Duncan Custom shop Brobucker, Phat Cat or Texas strat.

In all I have 13 of them, I'm not completely done with all of them.

I'll post some pictures when I get some time. All are natural wood and finished with wiping varnish commonly know as tung oil, which it is really not.

I like the one I'm playing at the time the best!

Currently (ALWAYS subject to change) I own an 87 Strat. 62 reissue. Its stock. I've had it since 88. Its aging nicely. Its name is Betty. Its a very naughty white girl.

I have what we like to call a SLI.....(stratlike instrument) Its a Chandler body, Boogie boat neck, and theres a Duncan Jazz Humbucker in the neck position, a 57 reissue strat p/u in the middle and a Duncan JB in the bridge. Its a 5 position switch and it has an old Kahler floater with a heavy counterweight on it. Its a rather warm and heavy sounding guitar....more Jackson than Gibson or Fender.

I have a 1965 Fender Jaguar. It is also stock and it gets recorded a LOT. The neck is one of the best I have ever played in about 40 years of wearing these planks out.

I have a homebuilt thing that currently needs a setup. It has Schaller p/u's, eastern and western maple body, a first year Schecter neck.....<----not to be confused with the Schecter company these days...they used to be one of the first after market high-end parts companies out there. This is a one piece rosewood neck and has the little Fender wire on it. Both p/u's are 5 wire so its got mini toggles for all sorts of selection. It has a Washburn bridge. I picked out the slabs, and did all the laminations about 25 years ago.

I have a 414 Taylor. A 2000 model. Its going to get its braces shaved one of these days, but it records really well....its a little choked for live.

I have a 1974 Ibanez Ragtime acoustic. It is a plywood guitar that plays really well. It has a wonderful wide neck and it sounds like an orchestral archtop on steroids.

I have a Seagull 12 string. Really nicely balanced tone and will stay in tune for days.

I have a 1985 Guild Pilot bass. Please do NOT tell anybody about these basses. They are the last reasonably priced American made basses left. They play like a dream. This one is active P/J and weighs in at 7.5 lbs.

I have a 1987 Guild Pilot 5string bass. Its passive with Bartolini's. Again fairly light @ 8.7 lbs. For all you bassists...the low B is firm.

I have a 2004 Fender Fretless Jazz Bass MIM. What a nice bass! Records great. No dead spots in the neck...action is low and firm.....sounds like a Fender.

If I were to list the guitars I've owned and sold over the years for various reasons, it would depress me. At least my last real collectable went to my SpitBoys bandmate and I still get to play it every now and then. A 1965 Fender Pbass. Stock. VoiceOfGod pickups. This one, you plug it in... Turn the knobs up to ten and....well....there it is. It has Black Roto-Sound flats on it. They're about 10 years old now and are just starting to sound 'right'.

I love guitars as much as I love mics. Maybe more.

The next bass will probably be a Gibson Thunderbird although recently I did see an early Valley Arts 5 string bass for sale very resonable price too.....................hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.

You got GAS..... 8)

Yeah....Had it since I just a baby....

Some day I'll send ya a list of the stuff that has gone away.......Like the 4 "L" series Strats....Only one of em was a sunburst....

Or the 1961 LesPaul SG with the Vibrola and P90's instead of Humbucks......

Or the Ampeg AUB1 bass.....Or the first Fretless Dan Armstrong west of the Mississippi.

Or the 57 Pbass, the 61 Pbass, the 63 Pbass( I still have the neck) The 61 Jazz bass with the stacked knobs (STOLEN !! I still know who did it....) Or the 1970 Gold Top (about 7 years back now)....Theres the 62 Tele...the 69 Tele....the 72 Strat...the 74 Pbass or the 74 FRETLESS Pbass (first year BTW). The 79 Pbass...All three of the 1969 Telecaster basses...all cream w/white pickguards, two were customized...one was stolen and 6 months later I saw it on "IN CONCERT" ...its a long story...even my wife knew it was mine. The 76 Jazz. The 89 Jazz<---p.o.s. The Hagstrom 8 string bass......

God there so many...I havent even gotten into the acoustics !

yeah.....I got it bad. Its not likely to end anytime soon.

yup...the countless fender amps....bassmans, bandmasters, Princeton's, Deluxes......white/brown/tweed/black/silver!!!!!!!!!

The Les Pauls, SG's, ES-335's, 345's, starts, teles.......and a partridge in a pear tree.

Almost 40 years of buying and selling, getting stuff stolen from you, blowing stuff up. It was fun.........but I have nothing to show for it but a lot of useless information.

BigDaddy there is NO useless information. Thats what these sites are all about.

Gosh I wasnt even thinking of the AMPS...............That'll be another hour of listing.

It's all running through my head now....all those guitars and amps.....geez.

At least after all these years I found my sound, now if I can find my style of playing. I listen to that recording and I hear a bit of everyone. After all these years it's time to find me.

Bigdaddy, DaveDog, (and others) all I gotta say is

...misery loves company!

Gas confession

"Hi, My name is Bob and I have Gas."

"Hi, Bob!"

Well, I'm mostly a bass player. Guitar is about my third instrument. But I have (and have had) a bunch of them. A big part of the story is that I'm a lefty. Tried to play bass rightly for a few days in 1970 and took it back the store and had them flip it over. (It was a knock off Hofner that I wish I had never gotten rid of.) So for much of the last 37 years I made do with my Gibson EB-3 bass (so many dead spots that I name it after a girl that I dated once in high school) and a Martin D18 (still have that one). Anyway, somewhere along the line Al Gore invented the internet and I was able to find all kinds of lefty guitars. It's been an adventure buying and selling. I even made a trip to lefty heaven, Southpaw Guitars in Houston. You rightys are just going to have to imagine the impact of walking into a store with 300 lefty guitars and basses.

Anyway, my favorite electric guitar is a Tele. I have three. A MIA with a b-bender and g-bender installed by Music One in Montana. (Damned if I didn't start playing with a steel player a few years ago.) It has Barden pickups and a Vintique bridge (I know, I know - more money then sense at the time.) Another is a DIY Warmoth, and the third (often my favorite) is a Fender Japan 62 RI with Bill Lawrence pickups.

Electric guitars that have come and gone:

Gibson ES-335 - I got better jazz sounds on my tele with the Bardens and you wouldn't believe the sloppy work the did converting it to lefty.

Strat - I had a stock MIA and never warmed up to it. They don't make the Mexican models I like in lefty, so some day I'll have to build one. I have a righty that I've done a lot of work on and it get s a lot of use in the studio.

Rickenbacker 360 -12 string. Great guitar, but it was clear that I wouldn't get enough use out of it.

I also went through a few more teles befor I found the ones that have stuck

Right now my main bass is a P-bass that has been cobbled together from various parts. Body from a MIA P that I painted candy apple red. (That's a fun finish to do.) The neck from a Hot-Rod P that is one of the nicest Fender bass necks I've ever felt. Tomastick flatwound strings.

MIM P-bass body with a USA custom fretless neck in ebony and a J-retro preamp. Veeeery nice.

I have a lot of parts on my workbench that will some day be a fretted Fender J with round wound strings and a J-retro. Things just have to calm down a bit.

Rick 4001 in maple. I'm going to put this on the market soon. Good bass, just doesn't do anything I like better than the Fenders.

A Turser Hofner knockoff. Not a bad instrument. Very light. Good for showing what Sir Paul would look like if gained a lot of weight, lost a lot of hair, and lost even more talent.

For acoustic guitars I have the D18 and for my 50th birthday I got a Taylor 314.

I think we should start a 12 step program for GAS.

How do I love thee, oh mighty geetar? Let me count the ways...
Hamer Artist Goldtop /w. P90s, made in Chicago (pre-Kaman).
Carvin Bolt "kit guitar" my dad woodburned art onto. Swamp ash body, birdseye maple fingerboard, abalone dots, Wilkinson.
1956 Strat. Not a reissue, a real one. I bought it for $125 from a neighborhood kid when I was 16 in 1971. It included a tweed Deluxe amp that we "converted" into a Leslie cabinet (don't ask!). I promptly painted the thing BLACK (it was originallyDakota Red) to match Richie Blackmore's Strat. I broke the tremolo arm off in the bridge doin' the "Highway Star" thang. It currently sits in an ancient tweed case I got from Ted Turner of Wishbone Ash (!) downstate at my folks' place along with a...
1963 Firebird I. A reverse-body, SINGLE pick-up Firebird I bought from George Gruhn in 1973 for $400.00 It has been sold and traded around Florida swamp-rock bands over the years. I hated the thing, it was too "top-heavy", but it was sooo unique. Got it back last year...for a LOT more than I originally paid for it.
Aria Pro II TA70. Matsumoku-made-in-Japan version of a 7/8-size ES335.
Made in the early 80's. Bought it with upgraded Schaller tuners/bridge, sitting in a genuine "Gibson USA" HSC for a whopping $125.00.
Another Matsumoku. An Electra Phoenix, Matt's version of a Strat. Maple neck, bought it new in 1982.
Third Matsumoku. An 1978 Ibanez Les Paul Custom copy with sooo many mods....
MIJ Fender Telecaster Custom. Maple neck, torn down to replace the pups with Rio Grandes as soon as Santa is done...
1964 Gibson LG-1. My dad bought this one for me when I was 10 for Xmas after I stuck with the guitar for a year. Bridge is starting to belly up (they all do that), scarred from all the years.
1964 Gibson C-1 classical. Bought this to keep the LG-1 from bein' lonely.
1977 Yamaha FG300. MIJ, fancy pickguard, inlays, tune-o-matic-style bridge. A wonderful recording steel-string.
And, like the others, this is my current stash. Over the years, there have been so many others, bought, sold, swapped, and, unfortunately stolen...
Nothing breaks your heart faster than to lose a Les Paul or a Strat, or a Jazzmaster to a thief.

I'd love to hear the tele bass story. if you can't publicly talk about email me.

Right now, i have a black Gibson Firebird Studio with gold hardware and pickups. I am also waiting on a Ibanez S Presige guitar to come into my store.....it is a nice piece of wood!

Quote:
"It is a nice piece of wood!"
That's what she said... :lol:

moonbaby wrote: Quote:
"It is a nice piece of wood!"
That's what she said... :lol:

lol nice one.... 8-)

1969 Telecaster Bass story.

I am a ZZTop fan. Have been since before there was a ZZTop. Also an unabashed Dusty Hill fan. You real bass players know why.

So, I had to have me Telecaster basses. The first one was a 69 with the single coil. It was a great playing bass but I was young and the gleaming Humbucker that Fender was sticking on there was appealing to me. So I sold the 69 and bought a 69 Telecaster Bass. I'm sure this confuses those who dont understand fully the Leo Fender/Henry Ford methodology of assemblyline economics. There was also an interim 1970 Tele bass with a single coil on it......(as an aside I also owned a 1961 Tweed Vibrolux....think 1956 cabinet as well as a twotone 62 Strat sunburst)....okay.....(whut I'm saying is sometimes, the Fender folks simply built something that was made out of parts left over from a previous model and style of instrument, amp, whatever)

I also loved the Jazz bass sounds and was discovering that the Fender Humbucker was closer in sound to the EB-O than the Pbass/Jbass sound so...I routed a nice hole in the bass and installed an old Jbass pickup a couple of inches above its normal jazz bass bridge position, I also installed a STRAT selector switch in the rather largish pickguard that those basses had on em. It was about the same angle as the Strats' switch and was right above the two knobs. It was a very clean job and I'll bet a dollar that to this day there arent more than ONE 69 Telecaster Basses out there with a strat switch and a Jbass pickup a couple of inches above its normal position in the wood.

A few months later it was stolen. Out of my house. In Tulsa. Along with other stuff including cash. The dogs were locked out....if you were the perp you'll remember all this cause the little black retriever woulda taken you out had she been able to get in......She did chew some of the chain link through in a couple of places. Anywho........A few months later my wife and I were watching "In Concert" and a band who I will leave unnamed was playing on there....Southern Rock....bigtime..etc etc...Love em myself.....and theres my bass. On TV. I said, "Hon, doesnt that look like the Tele?" She said, "Damn right. Why dont we call the station." Well it was a syndicated show, and those that were in charge of the station at that time of the night were all out in the parking lot getting stoned while the programs were being run on the tape player so I never got anyones response, and of course they wouldnt have given me the info about the producers of " In Concert" and they wouldnt have given me the bands phone number and what-the -hell....

So, I bought a 69 Tele Bass. I had learned by now that the Humbucker that Fender had on em had 8 pole pieces and the cover unsoldered just like a Gibson and the coils could be split and all sorts of tricks could be applied. This one had two sets of mini toggles. And a Jbass pickup closer to its actual Leo Fender suggested position...Sounded kinda like a Ricky 4001 on steroids.

The first one sounded the best. Something about the position of the Jbass P/U made it perfect together with the sub-lows of the humbucker.

Anybody seen it?

I've seen that bass and forgot what band it was. But I remember that bass because it would be something I would have done.

Here's a vote for PRS, even though its not on the list.

Of the options provided, I would have to go with Fender. However, I enjoy the tone and playability of my PRS McCarty Korina and Carvin SH550 much more than any Fender I've put into my hands.

Gibson pre-'78, used to be a time when an SG, and a Strat were close in price.

Really don't see an improved product on the Gibson side, especially after quadrupling the price.

8)

I gave a vote for Jackson because of the three guitars that I have owned it has the best feel and overall build quality. The body wood is great quality and it stays in tune very well. I see that many of you prefer Gibson and I like them, but I didn't vote for a few reasons.

1. Price - It seems that you don't get any real quality from a factory stock Gibson until you spend 2-3x what you would on a comparable guitar.

2. Quality Control - I have picked up a $3000 Gibson LP and put it down after minutes because it played and sounded horrible and wouldn't stay in tune. It wasn't one of the overplayed floor models either, the guy pulled it down so I could play it. I have also picked up a Gibson LP at around a third of the price and I almost convinced myself to buying it that very day because it was a beautifully crafted work of art and a breeze to play.

That said, I do really like the guitars they make and if I had to choose any guitar to be my next guitar, it would be a Gibson.

I'm a bass player so these are the basses that I like to record with. I have a Alembic Series II bass that one is my favorite to record with cause it has THE unreal tone. But when i play metal i usally record with my B.C.Rich Widow bass. That thing looks killer and it just has that metal growl to it. I also love my Gibson Thunderbird i like recording with that one two when i wan to get a natural kinda thunderous tone.

I have a strat that sounds like a lespaul with the right bits flipped. best of both worlds i suppose? it can get cheap tele sounds too but nothing can fake a tele... or my es335 for that matter.

best guitar? one of each of course! :)

Well, you are missing one of the best, PRS

I have owned a Les Paul Custom, a few Jackson's (USA), Ibanez, messed with Stats (hmm) and finally got the best of both worlds and some... My 1992 PRS 10 is killer. Incredible feel, intonation and tone. The neck is wide, jumbo frets, slightly contoured. The width etc allows me to play strong which gives string sound rich and full like SRV, Santana, Tom Petty, Nickelback or even smooth contemporary/pop, or whatever. I cannot say enough about that axe. Power chords to the 20 fret, dive bombs with the whammy until the strings are flappin and screaming solo's and it stays in tune all night long. If by chance I snap a string from bending it stupid amazing in a solo... I can change it most times before the end of a song to finish it in style.

PRS rocks.

But, since you are not listing PRS, I would then choose a Jackson that's made only in the USA.

I was indoctrinated into Fender guitars by my dad...Now I just can't help it that the neck of a Strat feels like home. Hum isn't much of an issue with a noise suppressor.

I've gotta agree on PRS guitars. Those are nice! The nicest sounding rock combo I ever heard (my opinion of course) was a PRS - TSL 100 - sonic maximizer.

Never could stand the feel of a Gibson...Always feels like I'm holding a 2x4.

fender all the way for me.
i have an american strat and a p-bass.
what's that saying about prying a ham sandwich from somebody's dead hands or was that a fender guitar..

Great to see this GAS thread back in motion. As an undate for me.....I recently traded an amp for a MM Strat with the EMG set-up. Factory stock... I think they call it the EMG 62 as its supposed to be voiced like the old P/U's. It is. Its black like my heart and has an evil side to it. Its also the quiest strat I've ever heard and if you read my earlier post, thats a whole bunch of em. I also recently changed out the stock P/U's in 'Betty' for a set of Roadhouse Pickups wound up by a friend of mine. Texas specials on steroids. They have a bark to them as well as the chime of the old strat numbers. I'm still looking for that perfect setting and I'm sure I'll go back and line the bitch with some copper....Its encouraging at this point. For you Tele and Strat lovers....and P90 folks, check out Ken. He's really starting to 'get it right'.

Back in 1990, I bought my first guitar at a pawn shop. It was an Ibanez RG440 Black paint w/ a purple haze around the contour. I loved this guitar but one night after the Lollapollooza concert 92', I came home and found the neck snapped at the head stock. :-( The neck is unfinished and allows for a smooth jam session. Recently, I repurchased the same exact guitar on Ebait and its mint. I love this thing. I have a PRS (E) custom 22 quilt 10 and another Ibanez S-series 420. I rate all these guitars high for different reasons. A PRS should be my favorite, but now I got my Ibanez back... Well, lets just say I have been neglecting the PRS lately. For the money I love the Ibanez RG440 most, but for all around use the PRS is more practical.

Yes, I'm a Fender fan (2003 Fender Highway One Precision bass and 2005 Fender Deluxe Active Jazz bass). But you left off my favorite, Guild (1977 Guild B-302 bass and 1994 Guild D4 acoustic guitar).

build quality on my duo jet is FAR better then my old gary moore sig LP.....

gretsch are a joy to play.... silver sparkle next!

jim

PRS? I have a fender HM Strat, Like that. But I love PRS Mcarthy

I've owed like a billion guitars. Of them all, there are two that sound good no matter what. My fender telecaster standards, and my Kramer (Idk the model, but its basically a carved top super-strat). i docked points from the Kramer for having a floyd rose. I HATE HATE Wammy bars. just not my style, but the pick ups where unreal.