Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes yes yes!!!
The whole point of having really cool guitars and amps is that they sound great - and to play them.
Otherwise you may as well put them in a glass case and hang them on a wall.
I routinely take out my players:
Red 1962
ES 345 that God made for himself, but somehow I ended up with it.
1964 Stratocaster - refretted with Gibson frets before I got it, plays like a dream and sounds really . . . snarky!
and sometimes take out the other cool stuff, like:
1960 Telecaster
1961 LP Special
1956 Goldtop
1963 Epiphone Crestwood Custom
1961 Sunburst ES 345
And the best part is that most people have no clue what they are so it's cool (and if they do have a clue, they usually think they're reissues, anyway)
And the one's who do know are usually very into it, so no problem.
I have a friend who has a real 1959 Sunburst Les Paul. It looks so clean that people think it's a re-issue. It's hilarious - they're cooing over my Telecaster, and offhand with his 'burst 'Oh, nice guitar'. Yeah, right.
If I'm going to a blues jam, I will sometimes take out the Goldtop and my mint '66 Blackface Vibrolux Reverb. I absolutely love the sound.
Take it out and play it - after you've walked into the first cymbal you won't worry about it any more - and in the meanwhile, you will have a killer guitar/amp to play.
Of course, the rules are a little different - it's in the case, out of the case, back in the case and in my hands until it's locked in the trunk.
But once in a while I'll let a guy use the amps. Had a kid use
the Vibrolux one time - he told me it sounded great and asked what it was a re-issue of.
The quizzical look on his face when I said "It's not a re-issue" was priceless.
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