One electric that can actually do it all or very close to it

[Steve DeRosa]

Originally Posted by Glennwillow

...My first electric guitar, a 1978 wine-red Gibson ES-335, has dual humbuckers with a coil-splitting switch...However, I did buy a Stratocaster next, then a Rickenbacker 360-12 (12-string), then a jazz guitar (currently my Eastman AR910CE), and then I picked up a very modestly priced, used MIM Telecaster. So, I think I got it covered...

You're still missing something :

[Glennwillow]

Originally Posted by Steve DeRosa

You're still missing something :

Oh, you caught me, Steve!

I would love to get myself a nice Gretsch! I may yet!

- Glenn

[Bushleague]

Originally Posted by Ian111

Classic surf, rockabilly, blues, country, classic rock, funk, pop, 70’s punk, 80’s metal, and 90’s grunge. And not a Strat/Tele for example with a humbucker, P90, and a single coil. A guitar in its classic configuration like a Strat with 3 single coils. A bigsby or tremolo can be added to any of these guitars.

My nominee is a Les Paul or SG Special with P90’s and a Bigsby.

While my guitar of choice has always been a LP, p90's or PAF's... with surf in the mix I'd have to go with a Fender. Make mine a Tele.

Known more for their clean tones, heres a short list just off of the top of my head, of bands that have used Tele's to create some downright NASTY tones. https://youtu.be/0IxYbx4nRCw

Rage Against the Machine
NOFX
Face to Face
The Bosstones
Ten Foot Pole
Less Than Jake
Dance Gavin Dance
Get Dead
Nirvana
Sound Garden

[Ian111]

OP here. After much reflection. There isn’t. Once you get to the point where certain tones are acceptable to your ears a Tele can’t replicate what a Les Paul can do and a Les Paul can’t replace what a Strat with a tremolo fan do.

Now there is the Fender Acoustasonic (which I don’t own and haven’t actually tried) but it sounds like it can “do it all” but none of it kick *** from what I can surmise. But if you’re a busker with a looper the Acoustasonic seems admittedly a pretty awesome solution.

[Dru Edwards]

Originally Posted by Ian111

OP here. After much reflection. There isn’t. Once you get to the point where certain tones are acceptable to your ears a Tele can’t replicate what a Les Paul can do and a Les Paul can’t replace what a Strat with a tremolo fan do.

Now there is the Fender Acoustasonic (which I don’t own and haven’t actually tried) but it sounds like it can “do it all” but none of it kick *** from what I can surmise. But if you’re a busker with a looper the Acoustasonic seems admittedly a pretty awesome solution.

I agree Ian. It's no different that the analogy with automobiles, sometimes you just need a truck to get the job done.

[stephenT]

Originally Posted by Ian111

OP here. After much reflection. There isn’t. Once you get to the point where certain tones are acceptable to your ears a Tele can’t replicate what a Les Paul can do and a Les Paul can’t replace what a Strat with a tremolo fan do.

Now there is the Fender Acoustasonic (which I don’t own and haven’t actually tried) but it sounds like it can “do it all” but none of it kick *** from what I can surmise. But if you’re a busker with a looper the Acoustasonic seems admittedly a pretty awesome solution.

There is no such thing, I agree, sort of.

I designed a T style guitar for a friend who was quite a player. The design goal tonally was to cover T-Bone Walker to Muddy Waters. We started working with a pickup builder to design the set. What we wanted was thicker, almost humbucker sounds from the p90,.. with bar magnets you hear less string separation as opposed to individual pole style magnets. Lot's of tonal variations right there from jazz to "Clapton Woman tone" depending on the tone knob and how you drive the amp. Mated w/ a beefy tele bridge pickup there's lot's of tonal territory with those two positions as well. Country to gut bucket blues, nice full rhythm sounds in the middle,..Pops Staples, Steve Cropper,..

For what we were looking for, a variety of classic single coil sounds w/ a three position switch, that combo of two custom designed pickups (Budz) hits a sweet spot. With a volume and tone knob, one's desired amount of gain/overdrive and one's chosen amp, Fender, Vox or Marshall style,.. there's a lot that can be done w/ those three positions and two well designed pickups.

Even w/ a good traditional style tele you can hit a lot of bases in Rock, Pop, R&B, Country, traditional American Roots music, Blues,.. when you consider famous players and the sounds they get,.. Muddy to Bill Frisell to Don Rich, there's a wide range of tones out of the same instrument.

But no whammy. You could put one on a tele, but it's just wrong.

[Rudy4]

Originally Posted by stephenT

There is no such thing, I agree, sort of.

I designed a T style guitar for a friend who was quite a player. The design goal tonally was to cover T-Bone Walker to Muddy Waters. We started working with a pickup builder to design the set. What we wanted was thicker, almost humbucker sounds from the p90,.. with bar magnets you hear less string separation as opposed to individual pole style magnets. Lot's of tonal variations right there from jazz to "Clapton Woman tone" depending on the tone knob and how you drive the amp. Mated w/ a beefy tele bridge pickup there's lot's of tonal territory with those two positions as well. Country to gut bucket blues, nice full rhythm sounds in the middle,..Pops Staples, Steve Cropper,..

For what we were looking for, a variety of classic single coil sounds w/ a three position switch, that combo of two custom designed pickups (Budz) hits a sweet spot. With a volume and tone knob, one's desired amount of gain/overdrive and one's chosen amp, Fender, Vox or Marshall style,.. there's a lot that can be done w/ those three positions and two well designed pickups.

Even w/ a good traditional style tele you can hit a lot of bases in Rock, Pop, R&B, Country, traditional American Roots music, Blues,.. when you consider famous players and the sounds they get,.. Muddy to Bill Frisell to Don Rich, there's a wide range of tones out of the same instrument.

But no whammy. You could put one on a tele, but it's just wrong.

I'd agree with that.

If you want to whammy notes on a Tele just do it Redd Volkaert-style. Redd was known for carrying an extra Tele neck when he went on tour.

[Ian111]

…….Or an acoustic guitar can do it all. Just throw out your assumptions about what this genre and that is supposed to sound like. An instrument is a blank slate. With that mindset you can do anything with a ____________ guitar.

[Pnewsom]

Knowing, understanding, and being able to play the nuances, and vocabulary/vernacular of a given style makes a guitar part sound a lot more legit than any particular kind of guitar. Obviously a whammy bar and an amp with reverb and tremolo come in handy for Surf/Rockabilly, but after that pretty much any two or three pickup guitar would serve.

Despite that, if I could really only have one electric guitar, it would have to be a Telecaster. Josh Smith agrees.

[greenshoe]

PRS -- S2 and Core lines. Actually across the board other than the Silver Sky (which is a strat copy).

They're designed to be versatile. They're not the best at any one thing, but they are great at a lot of tones. If you want the sound and feel of a Tele, get a Tele. If you want the LP, get an LP and so forth. But if you're touring musician (or busy session player), just being able to bring one guitar that can cover just about anything from country to metal and a bit of jazz, and it's really hard to beat a PRS. They do the coil split thing better than any other major company, the build quality is top notch and "quirk free" (which some say makes it more "sterile") and they're incredibly comfortable. Which makes them perfect workhorse guitars if you just want to bring one guitar on tour and playing for say a pop artist whose songs crossover a bunch of genres. Or you're a session player who goes into a studio, with a client you've never worked with before, and need to be prepared to bring a wide array of ideas/tones/etc without having to haul 2 or 3 guitars.

Yes some of them are gaudy, but there's plenty that are not (the S2 for example is very understated).

Second to the PRS would be the Tele in my view, but PRS does the metal/high gain stuff better in my experience (Jim Root Tele notwithstanding).

[maxtheaxe]

OK, here's my do-it-all favorite...deliberate cross between Gibson & Fender in every way imaginable;


Second runner up, because of the "tri-sound" switching arrangement...

[perttime]

Originally Posted by maxtheaxe

...

Second runner up, because of the "tri-sound" switching arrangement...

Oh!
Somebody put a "trem" on an Ibanez AR.
If I ever buy another electric, something from the AR series is on the list.

[Steve DeRosa]

Originally Posted by perttime

...If I ever buy another electric, something from the AR series is on the list.

On my short list as well - former bandbud had one back in the '80s that was a real sweetie...

[Hotspur]

The PRS Paul's Guitar is supposed to be exactly this. One guitar to rule them all, super versatile for someone who wants to cover a ton of ground.

Haven't played one so I can't tell you how well it does that, but I've heard good things.

[LFL Steve]

Originally Posted by Ian111

OP here. After much reflection. There isn’t. Once you get to the point where certain tones are acceptable to your ears a Tele can’t replicate what a Les Paul can do and a Les Paul can’t replace what a Strat with a tremolo fan do.

Now there is the Fender Acoustasonic (which I don’t own and haven’t actually tried) but it sounds like it can “do it all” but none of it kick *** from what I can surmise. But if you’re a busker with a looper the Acoustasonic seems admittedly a pretty awesome solution.

I submit that there is such a guitar that can do it all, do it kick***, and already has, in spades. It's a guitar designed and built by a widely appreciated guitarist but it's a greatly underappreciated guitar. It's the Brian May Red Special.