My favorite guitar...

[Robert S.]

OK I have some nice guitars. My bad but I like guitars. I like mandolins, violins, keyboards and mouth harps as well (I don't own a mouth harp) but that's off topic. My current guitar list is as follows.

2024 American Pro ll Stratocaster
2024 American Pro ll Telecaster
2024 Gibson Les Paul Std
2024 USA Epiphone Casino
2024 Ibanez PIA3761ch

The problem is that whichever guitar I pick up, in 5 minutes, that one is my favorite! Now realize that I am biased. I have owned Fenders, Gibsons, Ibanez and Conklins over the years but I am Les Paul spoilled to my core. I avoided playing my LP in preference to the others but to no avail. I m a Les Paul guy to my core. The PIA is a tough bitch, hands down. The Epi has so much chime and class ( hollow body P90 loaded) and a a Strat is a Strat, a Tele a Tele...

I have Gods Harom of guitars but I am drawn to that fricken Les Paul. It's simply lovely but seriously, aqll my guitars are.

what's your favorite git-fiddle? Do share!

 

[orpheo]

I used to have a collection of over 100 pieces, now I'm done to just a handful. Of those, my favorites are of course what I have made and not even the ones that are arguably the best ones I've made.

I just play on a tele that I have beaten to death, my 'iron maiden' strat, my '59 LP style, and an LP 'custom' Florentine with trem. And a Bich.

I can do it all on that. I don't need anything else.

 

[orpheo]

I have no singlecoils in my collection anymore, which is a bit of a shame I guess, but I don't care. This is what I like and this is all I need.

 

[Mincer]

My 2 favorites are an Ernie Ball Silhouette Special, and a Warmoth I built. Both have scalloped fretboards, and they have the same wiring (1V, 1T, my 'Do It All' 2HB wiring). They are both very balanced and lightweight. I tend to go for getting the sounds I need out of one guitar rather than switching guitars for a specific sound.

 

[ehdwuld]

I have too much love for one guitar

Is that so wrooong

 

[Chistopher]

I tend to go for getting the sounds I need out of one guitar rather than switching guitars for a specific sound.

Funny, we both have the same goals but do it very different ways. You tweak your gear to easily get the sounds you want to play, I tweak my playing to match the gear I'm using. There's merit to both ideas of course and I feel most people are somewhat in the middle.

 

[solspirit]

I have 3 strats, a bass, and a Chinese LP copy. The bass is a dust collecter and I rarely pick up the LP copy. I always find what I want out of one of the three strat configurations that I have.

 

[Sirion]

This one: a Kramer Baretta ca. 1988. The original neck was broken in freight (I blame the NZ postal system), so it has a different neck on than it came with, and it currently has a Hunter pickup in the bridge. I love the aesthetics of this body: it straddles between hard rock and heavy metal aesthetics in a way that I can relate to. What is more, the second cutaway is surprisingly useful for upper-fret access, something that is not really obvious without trying it. Most of all, picking it up is always fun.

 

[Seashore]

#1 electric - Gibson LP Classic 7 string
#1 acoustic - Taylor 615ce (maple jumbo)
#1 bass - Ibanez SR1006 (6 string neck-through, maple top)
#1 sentimental value - Gibson "Gothic" Explorer

 

[beaubrummels]

My favorite is a Gibson '60RI Les Paul. It's been a holy grail bucket list forever guitar for me since I was quite young.

 

[strat dude]

I reach for this one the most for sure.

 

[Robert S.]

My 2 favorites are an Ernie Ball Silhouette Special, and a Warmoth I built. Both have scalloped fretboards, and they have the same wiring (1V, 1T, my 'Do It All' 2HB wiring). They are both very balanced and lightweight. I tend to go for getting the sounds I need out of one guitar rather than switching guitars for a specific sound.

If you remember I was all about installing the Jimmy Page wiring in my Les Paul’s so I’m familiar with the one guitar does it all school of thinking but nothing but a Strat sounds like a Strat…

 

[Robert S.]

I have too much love for one guitar

Is that so wrooong

Absolutely not! Now go in peace and feel no shame!

 

[80's_Thrash_Metal]

A lot of the time this one is my favorite:

​​​​
Until I see this one:

And then it's my favorite...
Until I see one of these:

And once in a while this one needs some banging on.

 

[jeremy]

buttercup, youve always been a les paul guy at heart.

i love my lp, and all my guitars, but im a strat/fender guy at heart. as far as a favorite guitar... hard to pick one, but i have a few strats that i favor and an old custom built tele thing i made 25+ years ago that still gives me everything i need. hard tail through body bridge, thicker chambered alder body, maple top, maple/ebony neck, wlh neck, double screw a2 brobucker bridge, v,v,t,t with splits and a phase switch.

 

[Mincer]

Funny, we both have the same goals but do it very different ways. You tweak your gear to easily get the sounds you want to play, I tweak my playing to match the gear I'm using. There's merit to both ideas of course and I feel most people are somewhat in the middle.

Actually, what you and I do are pretty rare. Most people just buy another guitar to get the sound they want. I just hate switching guitars for a different sound.

 

[Texsunburst59]

I own North of 40 guitars which include Fender Strats,Teles, Gibson Lp’s ,Explorer, 335,330,RD Custom, Jr.,Tom Anderson, Suhr, and Core PRS.

My favorite at the moment is a ‘94 PRS Goldtop Standard 24 loaded with a set of PRS 57/08’s.

 

[Aceman]

I don't have a favorite.

Maybe my #1 Les Paul, but only for sentimental reasons. I love them all different ways.

 

[GuitarDoc]

Like Orpheo, I have a lot of guitars (not quite 100, but a lot...over 3 dozen customs and 2 dozen store-bought) and my favorite is one I made about 10 years ago. It's definitely not as pretty as the ones I've been making for the past 10 years but it just does everything perfectly. It's light (only about 5 pounds 9 ounces), the neck fits my hand perfectly so it's easy for me to play, the pickups (GFS Dream 180s) have a really great tone and just work together perfectly with the woods used in the guitar, the guitar is versatile (Dave's Do-It-All wiring) and it can play Beach Boys, Clapton, Hendrix, and Knopfler Strat tones, CCR, Bad Company/Free, and Eagles LP tones, AC/DC and Iomi SG tones, overdriven and distortion tones, and even metal.

An interesting story...A couple months ago a guy was at my house auditioning for the band I was with and he played 15-20 of my guitars and kept coming back to this particular guitar. He wanted to buy it on the spot for $7500 (my custom guitars are priced between $3500 and $7500 depending on extra options chosen) but I told him that it was my personal guitar and it wasn't for sale. He then played several more guitars and still kept coming back to this one and he offered me $10,000...$7500 down and $2500 in a week after he got a loan from his dad. Again I turned him down..."not for sale at any price". (When you have the perfect guitar, how can you put a price on it? How can you ever replace it?). It's the perfect storm guitar for me.

Something funny...I have an old Les Paul DC Goldtop with P-90s that I haven't even touched for over 10 years because the last time I played it I didn't like the tone (it was very thin sounding). Well some of you know that I really love P-90s and over the past several years I have learned how to set them to get the most out of them. Well, earlier this week when I was testing an amp I repaired, I was trying 10-15 guitar through it and I tried this LP...OMG!!! The tone and playability were absolutely gorgeous! I was totally shocked by how good it sounded. I could never have it as my #1 though, because it is not very versatile and it is way too heavy (about 10 lbs).

 

[eclecticsynergy]

After spending nearly five decades as a pro musician I have a fairly large fleet too. Well under 75 total, though, even counting the basses and acoustics.
Still, I couldn't possibly pick just a single favorite. Maybe one each, in a handful of categories.

Favorite Les Paul, a 'pre-Historic' I bought through Guitar Trader in '83.
Favorite Strat, the refinished/refretted '63 I've owned and loved for decades.
Favorite bass, a '72 Ibanez Jazz Bass, 12-pound beast I used on numerous records back in the days of vinyl.
Favorite acoustic, a yellowed & lacquer-checked old Martin HD28.
Favorite semihollow, an '05 Johnny A Custom.
Favorite slab guitar, the korina Moderne I bought brand new in '82.
Favorite boutique build, an amazing '04 McNaught VDC.

Favorite PRS? Now, that'd be a harder choice. I have quite a few and have become very attached to several of them.
A 20th Anni Custom22, a DGT, a korina/Brazilian McCarty, another McCarty with 57/08s. Even a Starla, though that's hardly in the same class.
But if the house were on fire and I could only grab one on my way out the door, it'd be my '87 Standard. Just magical.