What Kind Of Guitar Owner Are You?

I started out building my first bass from a body (and electronics) salvaged from a concert (where it had been executed onstage). The neck and tuners were ordered and the nut was hand machined from a brass shear pin off a combine. I played and held onto this guitar for about 8 or 10 moves, and somehow lost it (and miss it). It was sweet.
I owned (and sold) several other basses and guitars (not because they were bad or that I needed to have something different, but because I can't afford to just buy new outright). One of my favorites was one of the original Riverhead basses from Headway.
Currently, I have a Yamaha acoustic/electric (FG335), a Hamer electric, and a Michael Kelly 5-String acoustic. Just usable axes for a modest musician. Nothing expensive or extravagant, but very playable, hard-working stuff!
 
I still have the 1966 strat that I bought in 1976. Other guitars have come and gone. If a guitar doesn't do it for me I move it on down the line. I always buy used so I can usually get my money back out of them. I sold a early 70's les Paul custom sunburst years ago that I really hated to part with...but I needed the money at the time. I bought a les Paul studio for $500 a few years ago that I really like and don't plan on getting rid of. the only guitar I have really paid much for was a guild DV52 acoustic I bought a couple of years ago...$1100...but it's a westerly made guild in mint condition that sounds absolutely amazing.

I think I'm done buying guitars at this point...the 66 strat, the les Paul studio, and the DV52 cover all the basses for me...except for possibly a beater cheap ass acoustic to take on camping trips and so on.
 
I have all the guitars that I PLAN on buying. If I stumble up on a deal I just can't refuse....well...
Now I'm on a quest for amplifiers.
 
It's funny how some people bond with certain guitars and others don't. For example, I've never really liked any Les Paul, I have an SG that I barely use. I don't care for traditional strats. But I love Teles, Jazzmasters, most anything with P90s (or similiar). Different tastes I guess.

I wish I could find a picture I could post of the acoustic I play the most. My grandpa bought it used in 1935, it has no finish, a huge crack down the front, two tuning keys are broken off so I have to use plyers, the neck is literally about double the thickness of my strat, the bridge is screwed on, and it has "REX" woodburned into the head stock...it's an archtop f-hole. Sounds like crap, plays well (because of the tree for a neck), but it's always out so it's the one I play the most and write on.
 
aaronmcoleman said:
It's funny how some people bond with certain guitars and others don't. For example, I've never really liked any Les Paul, I have an SG that I barely use. I don't care for traditional strats. But I love Teles, Jazzmasters, most anything with P90s (or similiar). Different tastes I guess.
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Yeah...I was that way too. Nothing wrong with LPs (some are sweet sounding/playing/looking guitars), but I never had a big urge to own one (though I liked SGs). Maybe it was 'cuz EVERYONE was buying either LPs or Strats back in my younger days....but then when I first saw the Hagstrom Swedes in the early '70s, I fell in love instantly. They still have that LP style of body from a distance, but are noticeably different when you look closer and when you play them.

I too never cared for Strats, but love Teles.

These days, while I do have a lot of Hagstrom guitars...I also have others too, and have actually considered buying a LP or SG just for some additional tone variety. I don't ever play any one or two of my guitars more exclusively than the rest...I don't have a particular "favorite"...I just use the one that I think will work best for the situation.
I'm not really a "collector"...but man, I'm always looking at guitars, and I have to reel myself back in to keep from buying another one. I thinned out the herd awhile back and said I would not add more...and only buy a new one if I sell an existing one....but I don't want to sell any, and I still want some others!!! :D
 
Illsidgus said:
I can still remember my first electric guitar and amplifier because they were cigarette brands. The guitar was a Kent and the amp was a Winston.
:guitar:
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+1

LOL! A Kent strat-type knock-off and a Kent amp! Purchased for me by my parents. They had good intentions and it was a lot of money for them (GOD BLESS THEM---when I think about how really poor we were back then and how much I never knew it!)

I never bought another off-brand after the Kent experience. I see no need to ever get rid of my LP, Strat, or G&L. I regret trading my (noisy-*ss) Tele for a nice, vintage JazzMaster which is now musically useless to me; it will be sold. I keep my Variax for absolutely noiseless recording and because it's lighter and more convenient than amplifying my banjo for New Year's gigs (Philly area) and. . . who would buy it anyway? My Ibanez X-Ing is for MIDI input/sequencer input and . . . who would buy it anyway?


Paj
8^)
 
Originally I said that I just buy what I need but I guess that I am also a mini loyal collector. I only own three guitars, all of them Ovation. My Ovation Anniversary I purchased in 1979, My UKII in 1986 and my Classical in 1987. I would not part with any of them.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, my first electric was a Kent. It fell over one day back in 1966 or 67 and the headstock broke off. I have owned other guitars, some I wish I still had like my 1968/69 BlackJack violin shaped bass guitar. I traded it and my bass amp for a Honda Super 90. Another guitar I wish I still had was a 1971 Epiphone cherry red 335, I think, anyway it was a double cutaway slim hollow body with f holes that, in a fit of anger, I smashed it into a million little pieces. I was much younger then and had a bad temper.

I had a Yamaha classical that got stolen in I think 1973 and the person who had my Yamaha when it was stolen gave me his Silvertone Archtop to replace it. I accidentally sat on it while horsing around and it shattered into a million little pieces. The one that got away I almost purchased in 1971, it was a Gibson Les Paul Custom Deluxe 25th Anniversary model. It cost $700.00 and I had paid $100.00 down on it then lost my job and had to let it go. The guitar that I had up until I bought the Ovation Anniversary was an Epiphone acoustic. After I bought the Anniversary I sold Epiphone for $40.00 at a yard sale.

That is my guitar history up till now. The only way I will every get to buy another guitar, and I would love to have a Gretsch White Falcon or Country Gentleman, is to divorce my wife of 35 years or maybe just run away from home. :D

Doei :guitar:
 
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Well, I said earlier I never sell anything today my 65 RI twin is going to a new home, my hot rod deluxe is going to be checked out, and my SG and Ibanez (never liked it anyway) might be going too :( It's a sad day, but I'm getting a '62 AVRI Jazzmaster and a '72 Twin plus extra cash. So two amps and two guitars I never play for a different amp and guitar plus $$$ seems like a nice deal to me.

So I guess right now I'm the kind of guitar owner who buys and sells! haha, but I doubt I'll sell anything that I currently have.
 
Illsidgus said:
Originally I said that I just buy what I need but I guess that I am also a mini loyal collector. I only own three guitars, all of them Ovation. My Ovation Anniversary I purchased in 1979, My UKII in 1986 and my Classical in 1987. I would not part with any of them.
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Three ovations? Wow. I kinda feel like people either love or hate ovations, not much in between.
 
Paj said:
A 1946 LP?

Paj
8^?
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It had to be the 20th Anniversary model except that doesn't quite work either. I distinctly remember the "Twentieth Anniversary" logo on the 14th fret. But that can't be right, because it came out in 1974 and I put the money down on it in 1971 or maybe it was 1972. I am at a loss here. Twilight Zone I guess.
 
I have owned many different guitars over the years but my current guitars are 2 x Fender TelecastersPhil with teles avatar 160x220.jpg
 
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aaronmcoleman said:
Three ovations? Wow. I kinda feel like people either love or hate ovations, not much in between.
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I do love my Ovations, and in the 1960's, 70's and 80's they were some truly outstanding guitars. From the 1990's on, I don't think that I would buy one. The one exception is I would love to have an Adamas I, 2088 GT. But who has nearly $6000.00 for a guitar.:eek:
 
I don't have my 1st instrument any more. I bought it on layby in 1974. It was a Coronet (MIJ) EB Bass copy - shortscale. It was borrowed and not returned in 1982 but I'd bought an upgrade by then so was able to carry on.
My 1st guitar, bought 2nd hand in 78, was a Bruno Royal Artist semi acoustic which was stolen during a break in in 99.
So I don't have my originals though I wish I did.
I bought two replacements for the Bruno as I wasn't able to get one that had exactly the same parts so managed to cobble together a reasonable replacement.
I only own one name brand guitar & that's a Fender 12 string acoustic that was MIK so I don't really know if that equates with expensive or good - but it was a gift from the missus so I'm lucky to have it.
I haven't spent more than $350 on an instrument though the insurance company paid for a replacement for the stolen Bruno - an Epiphone Sheraton II was the closest they could come to the Bruno & it had a list price of $1700 (yep, we pay ridiculous prices in Oz). I don't play it much as it's really a humbucker plank with chambers attached & the requisite gold (?) electroplated parts corroded badly within 12 months (Iknow I live 150m from the Tasman Sea but it was indoors & in its case!).
What do I play? The Bruno, a Guyatone Mosrite copy and my 1982 Vantage bass. Cheap, weird looking and adequate. Sounds like me.
 
rayc said:
yep, we pay ridiculous prices in Oz. .
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Ain't it the truth... I have guitars I don't play much these days but no point selling them because you get jack for 2nd hand over here mainly, and I mostly bought them when the AUD was really low.... I have an Ibanez RG470 that I can't imagine ever touching again... can't imagine what I was thinking when I bought it, I hate pointy guitars... anyway, if I sold it I'd get mebbe $400 or so for it... not worth the trouble really.

I still have my 80s Burns Bison and I never play that anymore either. Emotional attachment... I bought that because everyone else had a strat or LP... and I wanted to be different. Sounds rubbish though... since then I've bought a Levinson strat which outstrats a lot of strats I've played, a PRS Custom 22, and Gib LP to help a mate out, and I have 4 Matons in the cupboard including a cheapo 12 string that I never play either, as well as a Yamaha nylon string that's rubbish... so lots, but lots I'll never really play again and can't be arsed getting rid of. I gave a Takamine to a neighbour and he spent a couple of hundred of bucks on it fixing it up, so maybe that's what I'll do with the others that I don't need.

A real bitzer collection...
 
I'm the last type too, I have 3 guitars, each has its use, and I'm not planning to change anytime soon :)
 
I'm a brand loyalist, I would say. I love me some BC Rich guitars. I own 3 right now. I'm in the middle of restoring one of them. I'll continue to buy and play BCR guitars, too. I love the way they feel and sound.
 
Vhyle said:
I'm a brand loyalist, I would say. I love me some BC Rich guitars. I own 3 right now. I'm in the middle of restoring one of them. I'll continue to buy and play BCR guitars, too. I love the way they feel and sound.
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Same here . . . in a way. Back in the late-70s/early-80s, my KOA Mock and 1974 Hiwatt DR504 were basically "the sound". Occasionally, I'd use a Strat on a session, but for live stuff it was the Mock and the Hiwatt for years. I think a lot of us got that direction from growing up with what's called "classic rock" these days. Townsend used SGs/LPs and Hiwatts, Drix use Strats and Marshalls, even a guy like Martin Barre had a very distinctive style with his Pauls and Hiwatts.

Over the last 15 or 20 years though, I've tended more to "bond" with certain guitars rather than stay loyal. That can be a good thing or a bad thing . . . not sure. Right now, I love my Jeff Beck Strat, 76 Explorer Reissue, 2000 Wolfgang, and especially my stupid Highway One Texas Tele (bless its pointed head). I still have my Mock, but rarely bring it to gigs (for safety reasons most of all). Otherwise, I tend to strap on an axe, and if it feels right it tends to stick with me.

I had a gorgeous Firebird V, and man . . . did I ever want to love that axe. But, for some reason, the fit never gelled. My excuse (and I'm sticking to the story), it that for some reason the Bird just didn't like me that much ;-).

Suds . . .
 
I've bought and sold a bunch of guitars over the years,mostly on a whim,but these days I'm just hanging on to them.

I have a crapload of electric guitars but I very rarely play them.Out of all my instruments I play mostly a 25 year old Fender acoustic and a Ukulele.

I have no idea why I have all this stuff other than I like it.:confused:
 
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