Searching for #1

[BloodRose]

I dunno if maybe I am an oddball, or if others share my thoughts, so Im gonna air this out..
I have a few guitars and I love each one.. Im in a position where most of them are in storage and dont get the attention they deserve. And lord knows I need the money for other things..
Most of them, I play and think to myself, if I could have only one, Id be happy with this one... But I dont have one guitar that stands out as the be all end all..
Is much as I like the variety, it is starting to stress me. Im stressed about them getting ruined in storage, Im stressed cuz I dont have the money to keep them, I feel bad they dont get played and I also know that Im not that good a player to have such gear..
Plus, I figure if I could settle on one, I could get better as I bond with that guitar..
The problem is.. Finding #1.
Oddly, typing this thread, my brain just went and did an elimination process that Ive NEVER been able to do before...
I Just saw my whole list and some took that one step forward..
Here are my candidates:
Explorer This is probably the closest Ill ever come to a #1. Ultra cool, big sustain/tone, plays great

Kramer Pacer -Heavenly neck, feels great, orig floyd, Its a Kramer..

Washburn Steve Salas MG130- Nice big frets, 24.75 scale, fat tone.

Washburn MG104- beautifully made Superstrat, big frets, great neck

ESP/LTD G600 Gus G model- Easy to play, sounds great con: alil neck heavy, Lic floyd, on knob

Michael Kelly Patriot Q- Yeah really. Nice big frets, Big LP tone. tonepros and good hardware. con- only 2 knobs

Taylor solid body. plays and sounds great

Burny Les Paul Sustains eternally, great neck for a paul. cons: not sure EMG ZW set could be my only combo, weighs a ton and frets a little

One other option would be a nice LP Traditional pro. Love the bigger frets, and really like the neck shape and all.. Its pretty much my perfect LP. Just not convinced an LP could be my one and only..

I guess I prob am gonna have to have a LP type and a Floyd type..

So, Im a whacked?? Maybe I need to sell all and get a Gibson Neal Schon?? LP with floyd?? haha I dunno
Thanks for reading my drivel.. Sorry if it is childish or silly.. Im just at a point where I want to get ultra serious about learning to play of give it up and as much as I love having a Stable of playmates, it's become more stress than enjoyment.. So, gotta make some changes..
Thanks

 

[Thurisaz]

Re: Searching for #1

I think you need to sell a few that you don't have a sentiment for, or you need to deal with having many #1's... sorry, but that's how it is.

 

[BloodRose]

Re: Searching for #1

I know that.. thats what Im getting at with the thread.. I already have a few for sale.. gotta move alot more.

 

[Thurisaz]

Re: Searching for #1

I'd keep the Explorer, Kramer, and LTD. Then get a nice LP and then if you need to, kinda gear each guitar towards what it can excel at most.

 

[Fender_Punk]

Re: Searching for #1

Sounds like a very nice stable. If I were you I'd keep the Explorer, Kramer, Washburn MG104 and Taylor. If you got a Michael Kelly Patriot why do you need a Gibby LP? Though if you got rid of it along with the others that should cover a LP Traditional.

As much as I love me some Teles, I don't think any guitar is a be-all or end-all and I like having different guitars with different tones or looks for that reason. Keeping a manageable collection that can cover your entire tonal palette is about the best a guitarist can aim for, and finding out what the tonal palette is and how many is manageable is different for everyone.

 

[J Moose]

Re: Searching for #1

I dunno man. Seems like you've been pondering this for a while... long time coming.

My favorite guitars are the ones that grabbed me from the very first notes.

When I play those I don't think about other instruments until/unless I need a different tone. Of the 14 or so guitars here I basically use my LP, PRS and bigsby Tele for the bulk of work. And really, there I've got a dual humbucker guitar; an H/S/H with trem and a single coil-P90 combo. I'm not sure that I really "need" anything else, besides maybe a strat for those times when only a strat will do... otherwise, if not for recording & session work I could live without a strat.

Everything else is superfluous & nice to have around but I could live with those three quite easily.

Maybe you just need to pick one or two and play 'em... whatever they are.

Nothing wrong with selling it all & getting that one ride you REALLY want...

 

[Uk Ant]

Re: Searching for #1

I'd keep the Kramer, and that Explorer is far too nice to sell

Ditch the rest say me!

 

[Hot _Grits]

Re: Searching for #1

Depends what you want to do and hear.

If you pretty much like one tone then one guitar can make sense.

If that's you then I'd say keep the explorer (they always sound great) and maybe the kramer if you need a floyd guitar.

 

[muttznmongrelz]

Re: Searching for #1

Out of the ones you've listed...I'd retain the following...

* Explorer This is probably the closest Ill ever come to a #1. Ultra cool, big sustain/tone, plays great

* Kramer Pacer -Heavenly neck, feels great, orig floyd, Its a Kramer..

* Taylor solid body. plays and sounds great

* Burny Les Paul Sustains eternally, great neck for a paul. cons: not sure EMG ZW set could be my only combo, weighs a ton and frets a little

...just to cover your bases and due to the qualities you've indicated about each. Honestly, you should have an acoustic (Taylor), a LP (Burny), a Supa-Strat (Kramer) and the Explorer simply sounds like it's a "stand out" among your guitars in your view!

If you were to go down to 3...well...bye bye Burny!

 

[Lake Placid Blues]

Re: Searching for #1

The number 1 will find you, not the other way around. My current number 1 strat was a guitar I threw together out of left over parts. I thought that an all rosewood neck would be cool on this one guitar but it didn't work out, so I had this left over neck without a guitar. So I built a swamp ash body for it and used up some other left over parts. I didn't really think of it as becoming my number one but after awhile it grew on me. It's kind of like the girl you didn't expect to have feelings for, but after awhile you realize she's the one.

 

[milkbone]

Re: Searching for #1

If they make you happy, either by playing them or even just knowing that you own them then keep them all.

 

[uOpt]

Re: Searching for #1

If you like PRSes, you could look into one with a tremolo.

That gives you a variety of closeness to Gibson (from Custom over McCarty to SC245), but they do have the trem.

Whether you need a real floyd or can live with a PRS trem I don't know.

You should also give the Burny a fret level. Mine turned into a real nice playing one.

The Gibson LP is still swiss-chessed and Nashvilled. A traditional is, well, more traditional than a LP 2005-2008 Standard, but not really all that traditional. If you find a good one, fine, but it's unlikely you find "the one" here easily if you already have an Explorer and a Bunry LP you like a lot.

 

[KeeperOS]

Re: Searching for #1

Hey man, kinda know what you mean (kinda), I have just 5 and still feel guilty (even more so when I have GAS again :9.

About choosing a no.1, fat chance of that happening, sorry!!!

However you do realize you have much room for downsizing.
Knowing you a bit better I'd say that the ones you don't need me to tell you to keep are the Mistress, THE Kramer, maybe the Taylor (she's ubber versatile but doesn't really have a specific character of her own) and at least one LP (Patriot or Burny, whichever you like better when you DON'T think of which is the cheapest and/or rarest...).

Then keep the additional ones as space/money permits. Personally, I'd be hard pressed to get rid of the Salas (even one of the two) or the MG104, even if they wouldn't be my go-to guitars often. There's just sth special about that era Washburn MGs (I should know!)

As for me, the Schwing (I call her Izzy) and believe it or not, the Patriot Limited are my go-tos right now. Man after the big block at the floyd Izzy became SO much fuller I actually had to RAISE the mids at least 2 notches at the amp to compensate!!!
As for the Patriot, hand-picking her resulted in me having a real diamond in my hands for an inconceivably small price. She'll be getting new pickups at some point for sure but not because the Rockfields are bad by any stretch of the word but because she's THAT much worth it

 

[WhoFan]

Re: Searching for #1

i'm finding my new Number 1 everytime i shop for axes...

truth is i'm a strat guy and i've found the best strat i've ever played so i'm happy with it that way for sure... It is that CS 1966 reissue in Firemist Gold i bought 6 months ago... best strat i will most likely own... i'm more of a 50's style strat fan but this mid 60's era of Fender strat construction has always had me interested... the larger headstock, the round-lam fingerboard, and so on... It does not look like the perfect strat to me but it plays and feels and sounds like the strat i always wanted

 

[BloodRose]

Re: Searching for #1

If you like PRSes, you could look into one with a tremolo.

That gives you a variety of closeness to Gibson (from Custom over McCarty to SC245), but they do have the trem.

Whether you need a real floyd or can live with a PRS trem I don't know.

You should also give the Burny a fret level. Mine turned into a real nice playing one.

The Gibson LP is still swiss-chessed and Nashvilled. A traditional is, well, more traditional than a LP 2005-2008 Standard, but not really all that traditional. If you find a good one, fine, but it's unlikely you find "the one" here easily if you already have an Explorer and a Bunry LP you like a lot.

Ive only played one or two PRS' that I would consider owning and they didnt blow my mind..
The Burny has probably the best set up of any of my guitars..

 

[BloodRose]

Re: Searching for #1

I dunno man. Seems like you've been pondering this for a while... long time coming.

My favorite guitars are the ones that grabbed me from the very first notes.

When I play those I don't think about other instruments until/unless I need a different tone. Of the 14 or so guitars here I basically use my LP, PRS and bigsby Tele for the bulk of work. And really, there I've got a dual humbucker guitar; an H/S/H with trem and a single coil-P90 combo. I'm not sure that I really "need" anything else, besides maybe a strat for those times when only a strat will do... otherwise, if not for recording & session work I could live without a strat.

Everything else is superfluous & nice to have around but I could live with those three quite easily.

Maybe you just need to pick one or two and play 'em... whatever they are.

Nothing wrong with selling it all & getting that one ride you REALLY want...

Yeah, this has been on the burner for awhile. and now that I lost my storage place and cant go plug em up whenever I want and have to worry about them getting ruined, it has become a very stressful topic.

I know Im keeping my strats. I have a Japanese Squier and my chinese squier isnt worth anything to sell.
I'll prob keep the Tele for tele tones.

So, I have to decide tween my floyds and Lp styles..
I recently sold my LP Studio..

As far as selling all to get something I really want, there isnt anything that I really want that makes me want to do this for. I like the ones I have, just have too many.

 

[BloodRose]

Re: Searching for #1

Hey man, kinda know what you mean (kinda), I have just 5 and still feel guilty (even more so when I have GAS again :9.

About choosing a no.1, fat chance of that happening, sorry!!!

However you do realize you have much room for downsizing.
Knowing you a bit better I'd say that the ones you don't need me to tell you to keep are the Mistress, THE Kramer, maybe the Taylor (she's ubber versatile but doesn't really have a specific character of her own) and at least one LP (Patriot or Burny, whichever you like better when you DON'T think of which is the cheapest and/or rarest...).

Then keep the additional ones as space/money permits. Personally, I'd be hard pressed to get rid of the Salas (even one of the two) or the MG104, even if they wouldn't be my go-to guitars often. There's just sth special about that era Washburn MGs (I should know!)

As for me, the Schwing (I call her Izzy) and believe it or not, the Patriot Limited are my go-tos right now. Man after the big block at the floyd Izzy became SO much fuller I actually had to RAISE the mids at least 2 notches at the amp to compensate!!!
As for the Patriot, hand-picking her resulted in me having a real diamond in my hands for an inconceivably small price. She'll be getting new pickups at some point for sure but not because the Rockfields are bad by any stretch of the word but because she's THAT much worth it

Yeah, would be VERY hard to part with any of the Washies or Kramers, just cuz they are special.
Glad you are diggin your stable.. Man, Im gonna have to try a big block on my Pacer.. outta be unreal..
Or one of the Washburns..