Do you have a #1 electric?

[Dru Edwards]

Anyone have an electric they consider their #1? Although I don't currently have any guitar I consider my #1 (I love them all), the current guitar I reach to most often is my Gibson SGJ.

It's got a thin satin finish which has already worn through in one place. I consider it my 'beater' guitar and it's fantastic. The '61 pickups handle hard rock and metal great.

What about you?

[raysachs]

Robert Cray hard tail strat. I’ve been a strat guy since 1979, as an only guitar for most of that time. I have a roadworn tele and an Epiphone ES339 with P90s and neither of those are going anywhere. But if I had to get down to one electric for some reason, no question it would be the strat...

Bit of an update to this two months later. As much as I LOVE the hardtail and the pickups (and the way I have the wiring and tone controls setup), I only LIKED the stock neck. It was comfortable and played great, gave me no problems. But it was never my perfect neck, the one your hand almost caresses as you play it - the one that just feels perfect from the first second and it probably what forces you to take that guitar home with you... Well, my #2 electric is a Road Worn 50s model and THAT has the best feeling (to me) neck of any guitar I'd owned. Somewhat but not overly thick, feels basically unfinished, 7.25" radius, maple fretboard, narrow/tall frets - just perfect. So I took a chance and bought a Road Worn 50's strat neck and put it on the Robert Cray. INSTANT PERFECTION!!!! It's basically the same as the Road Worn tele neck except it's got a soft-V that you feel as you get close to the nut, and of course it's got a different headstock. But equally wonderful.

And now the Cray has transformed from my #1 electric to my lifetime #1 electric. I've played a number of much more expensive strats and didn't like any of them as much as the Cray with the stock neck. And I like the Cray with the Road Worn neck waaaaay more than the original. So I'm gonna hazard a guess that I'm gonna have this guitar for the rest of my guitar playing life. And given my history with Strats, it'll probably be my #1 for that whole duration. Here are a couple of quick before and after pics - it actually looked a little nicer with the rosewood board, but it plays so incredibly now, it's not a close call...

Cray-5 by Ray, on Flickr

untitled-2 by Ray, on Flickr

[stevecuss]

50th anniversary sunburst Strat with CS pickups.

Love it.

dream second guitar is a 335 derivative or a Gretsch of some kind.

[roylor4]

Well, my #1's take turns depending on the day and what I'm playing on them.

My most versatile guitar is my '72 Squier Thinline. The hardware is just ok, but the chime and openness of the wide range humbuckers is really pretty amazing. It's the best all-rounder in my house.

For Classic Rock and slightly heavier stuff my Ascari GT90 is awesome. The chunk & grind of those P-90 does great overdriven tones.

[DanR]

I have a number of electric guitars, each bringing something unique to the table, so it's hard to really have a number one. Having said that, this is my prized possesion, a 1967 Gibson ES335 w/stoptail conversion which I have owned for over 40 years:

[mechanic1908]

Yes

[YamahaGuy]

It's gotta be my highly modded Yamaha Pacifica 012. Mods include:
Nickel jackplate
Upgraded tuners
Graph tech saddles
Tusq XL nut
Seymour Duncan (bridge) single coil sized humbucker in neck position
Dimarzio middle pickup
Bill Lawrence XL500 humbucker in bridge

This is very versatile and the tuning is ridiculously stable for a tremolo equipped instrument -- and I do use the trem -- it's not blocked off.

[Ian111]

My LP Studio in my sig.

[bsman]

My #1 is probably my Les Paul "Junior Special" P90 (2012 production with the much-derided torrified maple fretboard). It's totally consistent and I have found the P90s way more versatile than any of my other SC or HB guitars. I would formally have said my #1 was my '09 MIM tele, but that one needs work, so the crown has been passed on.

[jseth]

My 1974 Gibson ES-345; I've owned it since '75 and have done EXTENSIVE modifications to it to both have it make the noise I want and to have it play (and stay) in tune - which it would not do with the OE "trapeze" tailpiece.





With coil taps on the Seymour Duncan pickups, it gets a pretty fair single-coil tone, and I like the Jeff Beck in the bridge position more than any other bridge humbucker I've heard...

Fatter fret wire, Schaller tuners (one of the first things I did to try to stabilize the tuning issues), removed the pickguard, removed the "Varitone" switch which sucked up a LOT of the output, had a "by-pass" switch installed instead, which sends the output of the pickups straight into the amp, bypassing the tone and volume pots (I use it like a preset or to balance out the volume between the humbuckers and the single coils)... and, of course, the main departure from stock, I had the face routed to accept a Kahler Tremelo Locking Nut system; heretical, I know, but this was back in 1983 and I was determined to make this guitar my "Do It All" electric... in hindsight, I wonder why I didn't just sell it and get what I wanted? The frivolities of Youth, I suppose...



I do have a mid-70's Gibson ES-175; it's on consignment at a local shop. I love it and it's a great jazz box, but I rarely get the opportunity to play it with other folks, so it's going to a new owner at some point...

The 345 pretty much does it all for me - plays like a dream and makes a huge variety of sounds... I seem to recall that you got a chance to play it a bit, Dru, when we met that one time...

[DukeX]

I really depends.

Today: '62 AVRI Telecaster.
Tomorrow: Epi Dot with BCS vintage wiring kit and SD Antiquities.

[Chickee]

After two years of dialing out all the gremlins this axe came from the factory with it has become an all time favorite of mine! Lindy Fralin noiseless p/u’s and all rewired with Switchcraft jack and three way switch. Fret ends dressed, a buzz stop added and a high quality bridge( the name escapes me right now).
I couldn’t give up on this guitar. The finish is impeccable. It weighs in at 7.5lbs(just perfect for a Jazzmaster), and is one of the very last Classic Player Jazzy’s sold with a real honest to goodness rosewood fretboard(that’s all the same color, not striated like wood they use now).
I really dig this guitar.

[Steve DeRosa]

Originally Posted by roylor4

Well, my #1's take turns depending on the day and what I'm playing on them...

My #1's have changed/come-and-gone over the last half-century-plus, but the common characteristic has always been sonic/stylistic versatility - as follows:

• '64 Gretsch 6117 Double Annie (my only electric for many years)
• '77 Hagstrom Swede
• '82 Yamaha SSC-500 (best $199 I ever spent and still my "beater" electric)
• '86 Fender/Squier Strat
• '11 Gibson LP Studio '60s Tribute (goldtop/P-90 - my "rock" axe, and IME a better surf guitar than anything bearing the Fender or Mosrite label)
• '12 Godin CW II (my blues/jazz/rockabilly and all-around backup guitar)
• '16 Grestch Electromatic G5622T-CB (3-PU's, a Bigsby, cats'-eye soundholes, and "that great Gretsch sound" in spades - my go-to gig machine for the last three years)

[David Eastwood]

Here's my #1 - Rickenbacker 650D (Dakota), which I bought brand-new in 2001. It has a lovely chunky neck (1 3/4" at the nut) and two sweet sounding Rickenbacker humbuckers. The pickguard is not original - I replaced the standard issue chrome with a gold one from Pickguardian.

[PTony]

Well...on stage my Gretsch G5620CB-T in Black. With my newly acquired and modded G5420-T as my backup.

At home it’s my Fender Player Tele in butterscotch Blonde, with my 87 E Series Strat as its backup.

Acoustically...easy call. My J-45 Standard with K&K, with my much loved and super fun to play Yamaha FS-720 in TBS with JJB-330 as a backup and my office guitar to chart and write.

I’ve sent many off to others. These remain (minus the Reverend/LP)