What is the most versatile guitar?

[Clint 55]

Strat absolutely. Can play anything, especially jazz. This is the most versatile pickup config I've ever seen with the stock pickup locations. Mini neck, stack mid, full hb bridge. Can get any possible tone.

I guess he's playing a tele tho. :P

[beaubrummels]

IME a Telecaster. I've gotten more music out of, and played in more types of bands, with a Telecaster than any other guitar. ES335 has definitely been used on more recordings than people are aware of, but I don't know if you can get chicken' picken' country out of it. Whereas a Tele, I can get anything from twangy country, roll the tone and play jazz, or rock, blues, funk, have even done some metal tunes with one in a pinch.

[Seashore]

For me I guess the baseline is an LP. I've been playing Gibson-style guitars for so long that I don't dig Fender ergonomics. I want a Tune O Matic and I want that neck angle.

But also I don't really dig "versatility" too much with my guitars. I'm happier with a one-trick pony that's set up perfectly for me than I am with Endless Possibilities and Tonal Variations. My favorite guitar is still this Explorer I've had for about 25 years with the bridge pickup wired to the jack. I guess I'm not the target audience for this question.

[Mincer]

I hate switching guitars, so I'd rather have a few I can do the whole gig with, one at a time. Versatility is in the skill of the player, not the instruments. Steve Howe does it with an ES 175, Steve Morse does it with a 4 pickup super strat Music Man.

[GuitarDoc]

My vote is for the Strat with HSS with splitable bucker. Dave's HH with his "Do-it-all" wiring is also an excellent choice with the right pups.

But the ES335 has been used to play just about anything...
Chuck Berry; Ritchie Blackmore; Jason Isbell; Justin Hayward; Bob Weir; Alvin Lee; Larry Carlton; June Millington, Elliott Smith; Noel Gallagher; Peter Frampton, Carl Wilson; Dave Grohl; Freddie King; Eric Clapton; B.B. King; and Alex Lifeson, are just a few of the notable players with different styles.

[GuitarDoc]

Or an ES345...even more versatile than the 335.

[GuitarStv]

It is definitely up to the player. I am wondering what guitar you can hand to 20 guitar players and 19 of them would be happy.

I think that you're asking for something impossible there.

If you handed 20 guitar players a guitar, at least a third of them would want a trem of some sort . . . and at least half would be miserable with one. An equal number of guys will want high output humbuckers as want low output single coils. Then we get into frets (there's a jumbo crew and a teeny-tiny crew), neck shape (baseball bat vs Ibanez style hand-cramper).

But at least we can all agree on hot pink as an appropriate colour. . .

[jeremy]

i agree, i think thats a tall order. neck shape, setup, string gauge... making even 5 of 20 happy with the same guitar would be surprising depending on the people. if you got 20 semi-pro/pro guitar players from different genres who arent dicks, put out five different styles of guitar, id think the hsh/hss strat would by consensus be the most versatile. the hh guitar can cover a lot of ground but the middle pup adds some tones that you cant really get from hh. you can cop them sorta, but its a compromise at best

[PFDarkside]

It’s this. Full stop.

[soulforger]

Paul Reed Smith, P24, the new Mark Lettieri signature or an older 513 off the used market. If you want hollow the SE Hollowbody II with Piezo would be grand!

[alex1fly]

It is definitely up to the player. I am wondering what guitar you can hand to 20 guitar players and 19 of them would be happy.

19/20 guitarists would probably be happy with a HH Strat or a HH Tele, I think. Those tones would be familiar to everybody. Bonus points for a 25” scale so also maybe one of the non frilly PRS models like the Mira with two humbuckers and a partial coil split would fit the bill for 19/20 satisfied guitarists.

[GuitarStv]

It’s this. Full stop.

That's a really cool guitar. Very slick how all the positions and combos are hum cancelling, and its' super convenient to switch from sound to sound.

[GuitarStv]

19/20 guitarists would probably be happy with a HH Strat or a HH Tele, I think. Those tones would be familiar to everybody. Bonus points for a 25” scale so also maybe one of the non frilly PRS models like the Mira with two humbuckers and a partial coil split would fit the bill for 19/20 satisfied guitarists.

I don't think 19/20 guitarists prefer humbuckers. And even of those that do, I don't think 19/20 would be happy with they same sort . . . a bunch of guys are going to be happy only with high output 'buckers and a bunch with only low output ones.

[Powdered Toast Man]

IME a Telecaster. I've gotten more music out of, and played in more types of bands, with a Telecaster than any other guitar. ES335 has definitely been used on more recordings than people are aware of, but I don't know if you can get chicken' picken' country out of it. Whereas a Tele, I can get anything from twangy country, roll the tone and play jazz, or rock, blues, funk, have even done some metal tunes with one in a pinch.

Exactly. Show me what you can't do with a Telecaster. Jazz? Yep. Classic rock? Yep. Country? Yep. Modern rock? Yep. Pop? Yep. Funk? Yep. Metal? Yep.

It's funny because I've talked to metal guys who while in the music videos they're playing their HH typical metal guitar and they tell me that in the studio the track was done with a Tele that they had there.

[beaubrummels]

Any session guitarist's guitar would be a good candidate. In addition to the Dan Huff above, a Brent Mason tele, or a Trevor Rabin strat would be pretty versatile, if we're venturing past stock models. (Though I thought the thread was originally about just stock models.)