Your favorite guitar that you own

[Heath]

Okay, so I'm stuck at work and I am so stinking bored it's killing me.  I'm desperate for distraction.  So please, I beg you, post a picture and some info on the favorite guitar you own.  Give us (me!) something interested to read and look at.

Requested rules:
- Should be yours, not just a favorite model/brand
- If you have more than 1 favorite, please do 1 per post.
- Tell us about the pickups, special wiring, mods, etc.
- Both store bought and homemade guitars welcome!!
- If homemade please share details of what went into building it.

A (not so) quick blurb about me:
I love guitars.  I buy some, I build some, I have way too many at this time.  Here's my downstairs collection (upstairs holds ab out 20 more):



I don't play as well as I used to due to some injuries to my left hand and wrist (index finger has been stuck in a blender (seriously), the same finger has been stabbed/pinned to a table, and nodes on the connective tissue in that wrist compress nerves which makes me hand go numb from time to time).  That why I'm reticent at times to post audio demos of pedals, etc.  I still jam pretty good, I just can't noodle and wank very well.

Just to set things off right, when I build a guitar, I typically do not do the wood work as I just don't have the facilities for that.  I do some finishing work, wiring, mods, setup - everything except actually cutting the wood and nitro-spraying... so I'm at least as good as TMG :p  If I want a solid painted body, I'll buy it that way.  If I want a translucent stain job, I can handle that myself.  I will admit, though, I despise finishing work, especially since I am in an apartment and own cats.  If I had a workshop, it would be a different story.

I'm currently using the following pickups in my builds (from recollection):

- Dimarzio: Bluesbuckers, Cruisers, Fastracks, D Activator-Xs, and Choppers.

- Tone Rider: Rebel 90s

- Seymour Duncan: Invader, SH-4 JB, SH-2 Jazz, P-Rails, Parallel Axis HB, STK-S4 Classic Stack Plus, SSL-5, SSL-52, Parallel Axis Stack, SSL-1, Hot Soapbar SP90, Vintage Soapbar SP90, Vintage Jazzmaster SJM-1, Hot Jazzmaster SJM-2

- Mullinax: Oh, Salvation!

- Dragonfire: Hot Texas Tele neck, Tele Rails bridge, Active 81C HB, DFDG (David Gilmour) active pickguard

- Guitar Fetish: Mean 90s, Lipstick tubes, Boston Blues, Brighton Rocks, Classic '52 Tele set, Dream 180, ceramic and AlNiCo minbuckers, Retrotron Liverpools, Retrotron Memphis

- Gibson: Set of P-90s out of a Gibson Les Paul '50s Tribute

- Fender: Custom Shop '69 (wound by Abigail Ybarra) and Custom Shop '54

- Rio Grande: Fat Bastard

So you can see I'm not afraid of trying some cheaper pickups.  I'm also not about expensive pickups.  Well, not usually.  I'll go for a cheap set from a reputable vendor any day.  The fact that they're cheap means it's no big loss if I don't like them.  For example, a lot of people talk shit about Guitar Fetish pickups.  Do they suck?  Some of them are very unimpressive to me, the Loudmouth, for example... Blah.  Removed.  However their Mean 90s are outstanding!  I don't like them as much in a Mahogany guitar, I've discovered, but in brighter wood-body guitars they kick ass.  I got the Tone Rider Rebel 90's for my black Mahogany Les Paul and they work much better with the darker sounding woods.

So fuck the corksniffers.  If it sounds good, I like it.  If it also costs half of what another brand charges, even better.  I'll put my Boston Blues up against any other strat pickups and I'll bet you in a blind test they'd hold their own.

Dragonfire pickups are great for a cheap build.  Personally, I'm not particularly fond of them except for a few exceptions which I'll go over in the guitar description below.


So, anyway, favorite guitar for this post...



I decided to start with one I built myself.  This was my first foray into guitar building.  I was very ignorant and it was only through luck that I ended up with a really great guitar.  

It started with a $100 Telecaster I bought off Ebay.  

For $100 I was willing to take a chance.  I had wanted a Tele for a while but I was kind of gun-shy about dropping a lot of money without knowing what I was really looking for in a guitar.  I was an Ibanez/Floyd Rose guy who was tired of Ibanez/Floyd Rose at the time.

I got it and it was a piece of shit.  Sounded terrible, neck was unfinished and had razor fret ends, cheap-ass tuners, crooked bridge, etc.  It sucked, so it went in the corner.

I swapped out the pickups on my Ibanez (my first experience with guitar wiring) and I kind of got addicted to how much difference I could make with not much effort or expense.  I loaded it with Dimarzio D ActivatorXs in the bridge and neck, removed the middle pickup, and wired the 5 way switch to include some unsual settings with 2 pickups.  The damn thing RAGES.

Anyway, that led to me feeling I could do something with that Tele.  In the end I got rid of everything except the black body itself and the bridge.  It's pretty, solid, and weighs a ton.  To this day I do not know what kind of wood it's made of.  I got a purple pearloid pickguard and control cover, reinstalled the bridge straight, added purple strap-loks, bought a 70s big head Strat neck for it (looks awesome and balances that heavy body a bit better), and added some Wilkinson tuners with the heads swapped for Skull heads.  Topped it off with new skull speed knobs.

I had no idea how to shop for pickups.  I didn't really know how much difference I would hear between a $10 pickup and a $100 pickup.  I'm a penny pincher so I went on Ebay and started looking for Telecaster pickups.  I came across the neck pickup from a DragonFire Texas Blues set for $12.

I put that pickup in a Tele with that no name brand bridge pickup and tried it out.  I'm telling you, that cheap ass DragonFire neck pickup sounded nice.  I felt pretty good about keeping it.  So I went to the website to get the matching bridge pickup.  Problem is, they only sell them as a set.  So, instead I got their "Tele Rails" bridge pickup.

By this time I had been doing some research about pickups and wiring, etc. so when I went to install the Tele Rails, I created an entirely new wiring harness with new pots, switch, etc.  That was a big deal for me at the time since I barely knew how to solder.  I wired the Tele rails in with a push-pull knob which changes it from Series to Parallel coils.  I went with 500k pots instead of the 250k pots that were in it before, mostly because I wanted the Bridge (rail humbucker) to sound nice and bright, like a Tele on Roids.

I can't adequately describe the joy I felt when I had it all put together, tuned up, and ready to plug in.  I'll fight anyone about those 2 particular DragonFire pickups.. they sound WONDERFUL.  The bridge in Series growls like a Doberman, in Parallel it adds a nice bit of shine to it.  I thought "holy shit," but then I flipped the switch to Bridge + Neck and then it was "HOLY SHIT!"  Nirvana (not the band).  Such a beautiful sound.  Next, of course, the neck by itself.  I've never cared much for neck pickups.  In my experience they tend to be muddy and crap sounding.  The 500k pots really brought out the life in that neck pickup.  Very soulful and sweet sweet sweet sounding.  I was in love with my new guitar and still am.

I could put "better" more expensive pickups in it, but honestly, why would I?  Anyone who has played it has had nothing but compliments (other than "Damn, it's kind of heavy").  Not sure if I just got the best of the best from DF or what, but I think it's one hell of a guitar.

So, could i have bought a decent Tele for what I spent on parts?  Absolutely.  Would it sound as good?  I don't think it would.  I also probably wouldn't love it as much as I do this one.  I'd also be dealing with the configuration someone else came up with instead of my own.

[Surgeon]

My 2004 les paul custom.
Seymour Duncan Custom in the bridge, Pearly gates at the neck.
Just awesome playing and sounding. A great rock machine...



My 2000 classic (custum bridge, seth lover neck) is a close second though...

[IvIark]

Woahh, that's some collection there matey.  I just showed the picture to my wife and she's feeling pretty well disposed to me now so thanks for that.  And your LPs are beautiful Surgeon.  You must be a surgeon

I've whittled away the dead wood in my collection to just 8 guitars:

Gibson Les Paul Standard tobacco sunburst

Fender Lite Ash Strat

Ibanez RG770FM (Japanese)

BC Rich Mockingbird Natural Neck Thru with Full Shred pickup in the bridge position, Alnico Pro II in the neck and custom switching arrangement for coil taps and reverse phase in both pickups.

Hohner G3T (Steinberger copy) with Dimarzio Super Distortion pickup in the bridge and 2 x Little 59s in the neck and middle position. 3 individual mini switches to select each pickup as either full humbucking, coil tapped or off.

Tokai PR52

Jackson PS4 Performer (Japanese) - on loan to a friend

Ibanez PC300CENT Electro acoustic

I love them all, the Mockingbird is a great alternative to the Les Paul with a similar sort of sound and response (although the top horn has displaced a few of my ribs in the past when I made the mistake of sitting down with it), the RG770FM is a metal machine, the strat ... is a strat :o), but my favourite guitar will always be the Les Paul which I bought new in 88.  It may not be the best looking Les Paul with no fancy book matching or flamed finish, but it sounds better than any similar guitar I've ever played and will be with me forever.

But my most used guitar by far is the Hohner G3T (although it's had a sabbatical because it needs a re-wire and pot swap, but when I get round to it, it will be my most used again).  It sounds surprisingly excellent with the pickups I have in there (even though I need to swap one of the 59s for something else because it's boring having two of the same pickups in there).  It's incredibly versatile and it's perfect for use sat down in my office at my desk, being very compact and having a leg rest to make it easy to hold in position.  The Steinberger bridge is also absolutely brilliant and turns into a fixed bridge by just sliding a lock into place.

I still want a Tele of some description and will get it one day when the temptation gets too much, but apart from that I'm 100% happy with my gear now and won't be making any changes that I can foresee.

Here's a pic of most of them, I haven't taken a family shot of them all for a while and so it's missing the Strat and the Tokai

[rocket88]

some real nice guitars you guys have. and i really love that mockingbird.

i can't pick just one since all of mine are completely different, and have a place in my heart.

Basses:
#1 G&L L-1000: completely stock, built in late 1980 early 1981, very unique and rare build as she's got a mahogany body, trans red finish, and an ebony fretboard, according to G&L she may actually be the only one built like this and built by leo himself. the first bass i bought myself when i was 16. took my a year paying the guy what i had to buy her. sounds like thunder come to life, plays like butter.


#2 G&L L-5000: completely stock, one of 400 made, the only 5 string designed and built by leo. has a close string spacing for a bass, most people hated them, which is why they didn't make many, definitely one of the best basses i've ever played.


#3 Fender Jazz: bought her after i bought my L-1000, during my jaco phase. i ripped the frets out, put in maple veneers in place and coated the fretboard with epoxy. changed the tuners to hipshots, added a badass bridge, had MJ at seymour duncan custom shop make the pickups exactly like she did for jaco in the 70's, re-did the wiring and have orange drop tone cap.


4: Jazz bass: i built her from scratch. has a swamp ash body, rosewood fretboard, hipshot tuners with a drop tuner, badass bridge, seymour duncan antiquity jazz pickups, aguilar obp-3 preamp with active/passive switch, and hidden batteries under the pickguard so you don't know it's active.


5: Tobias Growler: through-neck, one of the last Tobias's built by michael before he sold the company to epiphone and they went to shit. has bartollini soapbar pickups and bartollini preamp. has 24 frets, super low action, plays effortlessly.


6:Custom Build 5 string: in progress. 1 piece walnut body, maple neck with pau ferro fretboard, stainless steel frets, will have a black badass bridge, hipshot ultralights, bartollini soapbars, currently have a bartollini preamp which may be switched to an aguilar obp-3


7: Acoustic Bass: but when i was going to college cause i couldn't bring an amp. has electronics built it, sounds great.


8: Fender Jaguar: i just needed one, i can't explain why. completely gutted it. now she has a seymour duncan quarter pounder p-bass pickup and quarter pounder j-bass pickup, hipshot tuners, hipshot brass b-style bridge, rewired with pickup selector switch, and orange drop tone cap, may get obp-3, haven't desided.


still want to built another jazz ,maybe make a picolo out of it, or something that i can leave in open C, not to mention still need an early 1980's G&L L-2000 in white, a 1980's G&L sb-2, a thunderbird, as well as a few others.

Guitars:
#1 Ephiphone Les Paul: i forget the model, but it's the one right below a gibson. real flame maple top in sunburst. changed the pickups to a pearly gates in the bridge, and a jb in the neck. replaced all the wiring and pots, and switch with high qualitiy parts, and orange drop tone caps.


#2 G&L ASAT: looks like a tele, plays even better, sounds like a tele on steroids. sold my sunburst tele to get this one. still need a normal tele though.


#3 G&L Legacy: traded my strat for this. amazing to play, sounds like a vintage 60's strat, has such an amazing neck.


#4 Acoustic Guitar: grew up in the 90's, so......every kid in the 90's had to have one. lol


#5 Danelectro Dead-on: i have a thing for danelectros. so light, sounds great, super playable.


#6 Danelectro Hodad: original release from the mid 90's dark blue sparkle, humbucking lipsticks, coil tap ability, total surf rock guitar.


#7 Crown: random 50-60's mij guitar i picked up at a garage sale. took out the original pickguard, single coils pickups and original rocker switches, and made a new pickguard, installed guitarfetish Surf 90 Alnico II Rockabilly Pickups, les paul style wiring. the finish was falling off, so i refinished her in a vintage 50/60's aqua color. has a neck like a baseball bat, have to make a new one so that i can get the action lower, its way high.


i'm on the hunt for either a white sg or a white les paul, a normal tele, firebird, explorer, and who knows what else.

i also have a cheap sysdine terminator guitar, that i picked up for next to nothing cause i just had to have it. i mean it's black, and says terminator in gold.

[Surgeon]

Oh, I tjought we were just showing off our favorite, I have other pics to post tomorrow then...

[rocket88]

i think that was the idea, i just can't decide, it's like being asked about which one of your children is your favorite, i don't want anyone in the family to get jealous or upset. , but if i had to, i think my L-1000 and two jazz's re my favorite basses, and my ASAT, Les Paul, and hodad are my favorite guitars.

[Frank_NH]

OK - here are my current top favorites (not my whole collection though):



Gretsch 6120 DSW-FSR Black (2014).  My new cowboy guitar with Dynasonics, for that Rockabilly twang .



Gretsch 6120N (2001).  This is my rock and roll guitar.  I changed the stock pickups to TV Jones Powertrons.  Awesome pickups!!  I can play anything from Elvis to Led Zeppelin on this one.



And finally this is the OFFICIAL test guitar for the Frank_NH Effects Pedal Laboratory.  .   It's a Fender Squier Pawnshop 51 body with a telecaster neck I had lying around.  The pickups on this thing are really good - strat neck pickup and a hot humbucker that splittable with a push-pull volume pot.  I modded this to remove the rotary pickup selector switch and put in a standard Les Paul three way switch.

[Heath]

Wow!!!

Surgeon,
Those are beauties!  Love that red!!  Great pickups, I bet she sounds like a dream.

I spend a LONG time with a chip on my shoulder towards both Gibson and Fender.  I regarded them as overpriced assholes gouging artists, blah blah blah.  While I still feel their prices are fucking insane, I've come to a resignation that it's tough to beat a Gibson Les Paul for a beautiful (looks, feel, and sound) instrument.  Your pics definitely speak to that!

Mark,
That's just the half I have downstairs.  This is what happens when you grow up poor with dreams of being a guitar god, get married to someone who spends all your money, leaving you with one barely adequate guitar and a shit amp...  You find yourself divorced and (if you're lucky) suddenly having leftover money at the end of the month!  Take a lifelong guitar deprivation + an early mid-life crisis, and you get a LOT of guitars. :D

I love all of your guitars, but I have to say that Mockingbird is just drop dead gorgeous!!  Wow!  I also totally get your comment about it injuring you.  I've never been a flying V player, but I borrowed one on stage quite a few years back and while playing "Heading Out to the Highway" and pretending to be a rockstar, jumping around, etc. I came down on one knee, bottom V prong stuck against my thigh and the top prong slipped from under my arm and struck me right under the chin, putting my top to front teeth THROUGH my lower lip and nearly knocking me unconscious.  It was a bit of a Gene Simmons moment.

rocket88,
BASSES!!!  YES!  Your collection is impressive, dude.  Some super-fine gear you have there.  

Here's my Fender American Standard Jazz baby:



I'm still getting used to the tamer pickups in this.  I've got a Red SX Jazz bass with really hot stonkin pickups that I snagged as a learner bass.  The two play very very different from each other.  The SX is snarly punk and the Fender is mellow and sweet.

I'm planning on building a P-Bass in the near future.  I have about half the parts lying around.

I lust after you Danos AND I have a soft spot for old Japanese guitars, so I immediately started drooling over that gorgeous aqua beauty.  I'll post a couple of my Jappys later :D


Frank_NH,
There are few things in this world more beautiful than a Gretsch.  Yours make me envious!! :)  I've got a silver double cut duo jet that I love dearly.  I need to get a new nut for it, but every time I pick it up it's like I can feel Malcolm Young channeling through me :D  If I had been a bit more worldly in my guitar experiences (I kind of indulged my passion for guitars in a bit of a vacuum until fairly recently) I'd probably have about 5 Gretsches now and a lot less of the others, heh!

Man, those are fine, dude.  Wow.


Surgeon, again,
I knew my first post was going to be very long winded, so I had suggested one favorite per post, but I don't want to make anyone feel restricted as to how they can post :)  Plus I technically posted half of my collection in that first pic :P

Also, I have a bunch of favorites, so I hope everyone feels they can post their first, second, third favorite, whatever :D  And if your first two pics are any indication, I would love to see more!

Speaking of multiple favorites, here's my next one, a Yamaha SVG800.  This is one of my "babies," so to speak.  Completely stock.  I don't have the heart to change her, plus she's damn near perfection as is.  The tremolo bridge should be the industry standard, but it's expensive and complicated and musicians are some hard headed dudes who don't much care for change or innovation these days. :p

Yamaha has always been one of my favorite brands.  The first guitar my hands ever touched was an old Yamaha acoustic and it planted some serious seeds in my psyche.  They are the most underrated guitars on the planet as far as I'm concerned.

Check this gorgeous thing out:

[Frank_NH]

Heath - the Yamaha SGV is in fact one of my favorite Yamaha guitars!  I just love the body style and hope I can score one someday. I read that the nut width was narrow on these (1.625"), and I prefer a wider neck but that wouldn't prevent me from getting one.  I've seen some on eBay but have restrained myself so far (which is easier to do now that I have the new Gretsch ).  How do the pickups sound?  Like P-90s??

[Jopn]

Well, I'm a drummer who plays guitar at a "hobbiest" level, so my gear reflects that. None the less, I'm glad I found this guitar and it certainly holds its own against much more expensive axes.About 3 years ago in a trade for a synthesizer I wasn't using, I picked up my first decent quality electric. I guess it's the first electric that I actually "bonded" with, and probably wouldn't be playing electric hardly at all if I hadn't come across it.This is my 1993 Mexican Strat Special. These came stock with SSH config, coil split on the 'bucker and a single TBX tone control. I later added the second toggle for engaging the neck pickup despite the 5 way position (usually called the seven sound strat mod). That mod plus the 'bucker split bumps it up to 11 different pickup combinations. Combined with the TBX tone control this guitar has endless usable sounds. The best part, however, is that in all combinations the tone is still drips with strat signature tone.Anyways, enough talk, here's some pics:

[IvIark]

Hey Zach I loooove that G&L ASAT, exactly how I'd want my Tele to be, that colour and with a rosewood board.  I'm going to have a look for one.
And I don't play bass (other than the usual noodling guitarists who have never really played bass do ) but I'd learn just to use that Tobias Growler.  I think it's the sexiest looking style of bass ever, and you just can't play one without looking cool.

[Surgeon]

Oh, there ar eso many awesome axes posted so far!
I owned a lot of guitars and still do but the 3 gibsons I own look, sound and play fantastic... everytime I think of downsizing I can't bring myself to put one on the block and I keep them all....

here are a few more if you'll allow me:

- Gison nashville junior dc. Limited edition of 300. Just a great jr. Not usually a fan of white guitars but that one called my na, e. Original gibson p90... yes, that's my backyard....



I have two kit guitars, one is a telecaster (of which I don't seem to have pics on my photobuckket account at the moment). Just a stain on the body with no finish. I polished the neck to a shine, it's the absolute best neck I ever played. The other is this explorer. For both guitars I replaced all the hardware I could with parts I made from scrap metal (notice the pickguard), also the jack plates, etc. The neck plates were made from old lawnmower blades. The trussrod cover is a piece of broken cymbal. The logo was burnt with a blowtorch, a nail and a pair of pliers... old-school...








I seem to have no pictures of my acoustics either but will at least post pics of my taylor later... it's my #1 and it has been on my studio album and all my gigs of the last 10years...

[Surgeon]

heath, that's an amazing collection you have...wow... I was a bit like you before. However, i must say that after I bought my first Gibson, I understood... that classic was my first and it's a hell of a guitar. I used to have bands and gig regularly and 99% of that time was spent with an LTD EC-1000 and I'll defend them as much as I can. these are as nice (or nicer) than most gibson studios I've encountered. however, the thickness and nut width of my gibbys is why I like them more... that and the fact that, while the ec-1000s are nice, they don't have the edge against my classic or custom.

Mark: Beautiful axes! I'm far from being a Surgeon, that's a screenname I've used on most forums for the last 12 years. I chose it while doing my master's degree... I was doing surgeries on frogs. I'm actually a clinical biochemist. While my paycheck won't make many green with envy, I'm pretty sure no one will ever pity me either. I'm just a deal-hound.
the prices for new and used Gibsons is ridiculous here in canada but I can only assume that for you guys across the pond it's so much worse... you guys much have the feeling of being raped thrice everytime you look at the price tag. Tobacco burst is one of my favorite colors for a les paul...

Frank: love the Gretsches, I'll have to have one someday...

Rocket: beautiful basses!

[Surgeon]

And the rest of the collection (someday we'll have to do amps too!)

First up: the scavenger-caster... I pretty much explained this one in the explorer post so here it is. It's my #1 when it comes to 5 minutes noodling or for testing pedals... it's on the wall (as opposed to my gibbys that always sleep in their cases) and I don't mind it being banged-up.



Next up is my #1 acoustic: Taylor 414. For the last 7 years I'Ve been mostly a folk-acoustic musician outside of the house. Released an album, toured a bit, gigged a lot, etc... bought this in 2004 when I got my first job after my master's degree. Used it everywhere from the studio to the stage... sounds and plays amazing. I use a Seymour Duncan Mag-Mic for live use... just superb.



Here is something I bought 3 years ago. It's a Yamaha LJ16. These are handmade in China. I bought it as a back up to the Taylor for bar gigs and I haven't had a chance to put the electronics in (should do it this month, my last parts are coming). I gotta tell you guys: this is easily 90% as sweet sounding and playing as my Taylor and it cost 1/3 of the price. These are real sleepers, used they can be had (here at least) around 500$.  They're worth more than the asking price and I cannot recommend them enough. I made a nice bone nut for it. Made a nice saddle too but cut it a bit too low and frankly, the stock nut sounds almost just as good...



And last but not least: '70s Yamaha FG336. Bought this for 200$ when my brother wanted to learn guitar and lusted for it ever since. At some point he gave up and sold it to me for cheap. He had left it next to the woodstove for a while so I had to reglue the heel. It's very very good. They were supposed ot be hummingbird copies, I'm guessing it doesn't sound as sweet but it sure has a great dreadnaught vibe and is great as a grab and go guitar for noodling or jamming with friends...



That's all for me, for now...

[Travis]

Surgeon - Your backyard is beautiful and so is that Jr!


Here's my baby.. My Rickenbacker 660



I got this maybe 6 months ago. When I went to the shop I was looking for a 620 and they had two of them but as soon as I played this I knew I had to get it! The nut width is wider than other Rickenbackers (which are very narrow) and this neck feels perfect to me. Better than any other Ric I've played.

The pickups are my favorite thing about this guitar. Their sound is so clear and defined. All three switch positions are solid gold, but my favorite is probably the middle where the fifth knob blends in the neck pickup. You can just get such a nice clear, balanced sound out of that setting

I just love the sound out of this thing. And it looks pretty cool too in my opinion

[rocket88]

thanks guys. i know i'm one of a few bassists here, so that's my main gig, just started fiddling with guitar and now i have nearly the same amount of each. it's been a going collection, well at least now that i'm older and just bought a house and have bills, lol, so i always keep my eyes out for deals. like that L-5000 i won on ebay, unexpectedly for $500 including shipping, when they show up i see them for $1500 or more. i could have gotten a '78 rickenbacker 4001 when i bought the L-1000 when i was in high school for $700, but it just wasn't right, it was natural and i've always wanted one in black with white binding and picguard, so i just couldn't pull the trigger. i'm beyond picky. lol

i don't know about you guys, but each one of mine is so much different from the next tone wise, that it's really hard to say one is better then the next.

heath: with the jazz the stock pickups aren't as punchy or in your face, but there's a ton of different pickups out there. if you really love the tone and just want it louder put a preamp in it, like an aguilar obp-3, which will give you control over bass, mids, and treble, or get a drop in unit like audere, which i might get for my jaco bass. the audere is supposed to be completely transparent, so it doesn't change your tone, but adds output and a real eq, the aguilar on the other hand, make the bass more in your face. it still retains the tone of the pickups and bass, just like when it's passive, but adds something to it. i love the color of your jazz, btw, it look fantastic. thanks for the love on the crown, it's as close to the original color as i could get, and the new pickups just fit it perfectly, and the dano's i just love them. it's like pokemon i got to catch them all.

surgeon: got to say i love the explorer and telecaster. there's something about those bodies that just look great. and the tele is going to look amazing even when it gets worn, or if it gets damaged. it'll look like an old roadworn telecaster that some musician too around to world for years.

frank: i'm totally jealous of the gretch's. i've always wanted to get a gold gretch. can never explain why, but i've lusted after one since i was a little kid. i played one the other day and it.....was......amazing. can't really spend the kind of money on one though, which just kills me.

mark: i can't agree more, i feel in love with the look, then i played it and all i could think was "I must get one." look for an ASAT tribute. i had mine built like that, but now they have the ASAT classic in that color, i've seen them new and used between $300-500USD it's a steal, because all the electronics are american, it's just built overseas.. i mean i loved my fender tele, but the ASAT just kills it, IMHO. i'm thinking about striping the legacy and staining it to match the ASAT.

the growler was my first real bass, and it's amazing, it actually saddens me that when ephiphone bought tobias they turned it into a bargain basement POS, nothing like the real deal. look for an MTD, it's Michael Tobias new company and he has a line that's built overseas that plans almost like the growler, there's just some slight differences in tone, but nothing major. and yes, she sounds as good as she looks. lol

travis: gorgeous rick. isn't it funny how that happens? you go in for one instrument and you walk out with something completely different.

jopn: nice strat. i don't think that you need a lot or expensive instruments just to sound good. nothing wrong with what you got. i've almost bought one just like that, but i got a tele instead, cause for me there's something about the tele body that i love.

i have laying around somewhere disassembled the first one i ever got, which was a SX p-bass. i also gave my little brother one of my basses, a 5-string yamaha i had from back in the day, but i just never used her and he wanted a 5-string. i really think yamaha's guitars and basses are underrated. almost everyone i've played feels and sounds great.

Oh, and i forgot one, cause i have it put away. it's a les paul jr. signed by the beach boys. i want to get a display case made for it so i can have her out for all to see.

i'm lucky, cause my gf doesn't care how many i have as long as i'm happy, and don't make us go broke. lol. so i don't have to hide anything. i just walk in with a new one and say "hi honey" as i bring it to my office/studio with all my others are.

[tjdracz]

Hey guys!

Long time, no speak. Being absent for couple months after job loss, internet loss after moving houses, stay abroad, stay in the hospital and other bullshit, I'm back in full swing! I dread even checking my email for hundreds of unread messages, hopefully nothing TOO important ;)

As for favourite guitars, here's mine:


Straight from Czechoslovakia, circa 1962 Jolana Star VII. Bought if for like £10 (seller refusing to let it go for less due to "sentimental value"). Had two tuners and knobs missing, nut was nowhere to be seen replaced by a pencil. Frets in pretty bad condition. Neck pickup sounded really weak so after taking it out, I found out that it was stabbed with a screwdriver severing the copper wire.

About £60 and three years later, the tuners are there, frets are brand new, neck pickup is a shitty strat-like cantonese special and I love it! It's 24" scale, neck is super skinny, probably less than 41mm in width, thus quite comfortable to play with thumb over. Soundwise is quite bright and one of the position is equivalent to Fender Jaguar "strangle" switch, cutting off the bass. Plus it's got cool floating bridge that makes all those My Bloody Valentine style tremolo strums and 3rd bridge playing possible.
Bonus: Have you ever seen those aluminium neck guitars with their nice rattly metallic qualities? Don't spend thousands of them, get crappy czechoslovak guitar. Truss rod rattles, bridge rattle, screws rattle, all quite beautiful :)

Oh, and almost forgot, haven't got a photo but one of the strap buttons is also a screwdriver for small adjustments. Perfect!

EDIT: got the screwdriver photo:

You can read some more about the guitar here: http://www.meatexz.com/cheesyguitars/jolana_star7.html

[rocket88]

Tom. That's freaking awesome. I can tell you out of the hundreds of emails at least 2 are from me. Btw, I was worried something happened since you haven't been on. I hope things are better and back to normal man.

[negativefx]

One of my closest friends was a master builder at Fender.  It's sort of a '59 heavy relic jazz.  Good eyes will notice that it's a P neck labeled "Jazz Bass".  I'm currently using my preferred setup of P + J with dual gang vol/tone for each pickup.  The pickups are both Josefina customs.  The body is routed to also run a standard J+J setup and I have the matching pickguard and additional Josefina J pickup to convert it to *almost* a true J bass except for the P neck.

It was custom built to my specs down to the badass bridge, dual gang wiring, vintage (backwards) tuners, true bone nut, Schaller strap locks, maple neck, alder body, nitro finish.  My buddy liked it so much, he built a near copy (J neck) for himself.  He said that this bass would be tagged for around $5000-6000 USD but that's his guess... marketing picks the price for master built one offs.

It's my most prized bass for a few reasons... it's the best bass I've ever played, certainly the most valuable I own, and it's one of the last instruments he built in his 15yr career as a luthier before leaving the business and he built it specifically for me as thanks for all the great pedals I built him.  Those pedals were built from layouts on this site.  :)  There's also a special message for me on the neck pocket as you can see in the last picture... inside joke from back in grade school.

I had previously gigged an Aerodyne that I bought through Fender and had him pull some strings so he could build it for me... a custom shop Aerodyne that's certainly one of a kind given that they're typically built in Japan on a line and shipped here.  I still love that bass but this one just has that round fat tone that's hard to find in a bass that weighs 7lbs like the Aerodyne.  This is now my standard gigging bass and has been getting frequent compliments for not only it's tone but unique design.

[negativefx]

... and here's my master built Strat.  It's currently wired up for two Seymours and a 3-way toggle with the usual fender tone/vol controls.  Jazz and Distortion pickups.  Like my bass, the body is routed for another configuration:  standard 3 single strat config.  I have a loaded pickguard with 3 Abby custom single coils (one of the last sets she wired before retirement and she gave them to my Fender friend) that I occasionally use.  Nothing too crazy on this one other than it was built custom for me but my friend spec'd it out as I'm more in-the-know on basses and Gibson guitars than I am on Strats.  It plays incredibly well and is relatively hum-free. One of my guitar players gigs this guitar for a few songs in our set.  I've not had a lot of time with this guitar yet but in the three months I've owned it, it's quickly moved from 'in the case' to 'on the wall by my desk'.  There's a few unhappy Les Pauls down in my basement now.



Beyond this guitar and the above posted bass, I have others I play frequently... the Aerodyne bass mentioned above is my gigging backup, I have a '78 Gibson Ripper that I restored, a Stingray HH, a recently acquired Fender American Deluxe Dimension 4 string that I converted to BEAD tuning (pictured below), and the first instrument I ever purchased: a heavily abused Peavey Forum bass.  The truss rod is shot so the action is pretty high, but has a nice snarl to it (Dimarzio pups) and will never leave my possession.



On the guitar side, I have a '91 Les Paul Standard, an '08 Les Paul Faded with Seymour Jazz + Distortion pickups, a Fender Highway One Strat SSS, a Peavey Raptor frankenstein guitar (it has been lit on fire before), a used '98 Gibson SG that someone sold me for $450 (idiot!).