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If you could only own one electric guitar....

vintage58

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Apr 13, 2003
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3,958
I realize this question has likely been asked dozens of times before (both here and on other guitar forums), but...

If you could only own ONE electric guitar, what make/model/year/color would it be?*

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[*EDIT: Going by comments posted thus far, evidently there is some confusion regarding the actual question being asked. So, just to clarify: I wasn't asking which single guitar you'd choose to keep from all the guitars that you already own. No, I meant if you had no guitars to begin with and you could only buy one electric guitar (which would then be the only guitar that you'd ever own moving forward), what make/model/year/color would it be?]
 
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SpencerD

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Mar 11, 2016
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A PRS Double Dragon in Whale Blue. Not even close to my favorite guitar but if I could have only one...it would have to look cool :oops: 😲
 

brandtkronholm

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Dec 3, 2006
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2,737
Two answers:

1) If you could only own one of the guitars you have now: My 1995 R9. (This particular guitar of mine has been slightly modified: it has PAFs, a double white in the bridge from a destroyed 1959 ES335, a double black in the neck from a broken 1962 SG, and Luxe bumblebees. The pick guard is a cheap replacement, and the bridge pickup surround and amber switch top have been replaced. I’ve owned it since 1996.)

2) If you had no guitars and you could pick just one from all guitars in existence or that will exist:
I’d pick a minimally faded late 1959 ‘Burst, stop tail (of course) with double white PAFs and Grovers OR a 1959 ES345, blonde, also stop tail, double white PAFs, black Varitone ring, and gold Grovers. (Or my 1995 R9 mentioned above!)
 
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Any Name You Wish

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Apr 15, 2021
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493
Two answers:

1) If you could only own one of the guitars you have now: My 1995 R9. (This particular guitar of mine has been slightly modified: it has PAFs, a double white in the bridge from a destroyed 1959 ES335, a double black in the neck from a broken 1962 SG, and Luxe bumblebees. The pick guard is a cheap replacement, and the bridge pickup surround and amber switch top have been replaced. I’ve owned it since 1996.)

2) If you had no guitars and you could pick just one from all guitars in existence or that will exist:
I’d pick a minimally faded late 1959 ‘Burst, stop tail (of course) with double white PAFs and Grovers OR a 1959 ES345, blonde, also stop tail, double white PAFs, black Varitone ring, and gold Grovers. (Or my 1995 R9 mentioned above!)
3) After the apocalypse there is only one guitar left on planet earth, and it is a 1978 Stratocaster, do you take it or give up playing?
 

ultra

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Dec 7, 2001
Messages
958
I would be immensely satisfied with a 1959 ES345, original PAFs and wiring, ABR and stoptail, black Varitone disc and finished in Cherry and faded to watermelon. I could live with that.
 

Jas O

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Feb 2, 2023
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My Silvertone Jupiter 1423. I love it because it's lightweight and has that crazy "blender" setting. Best of all, it sounds good unplugged, so I can play it at night after my wife has gone to sleep. During the 20 years I worked at Guitar Player magazine, it was right next to my desk, and musicians who visited the office -- B.B. King, Jerry Garcia, and Stanley Jordan among them -- always stopped to comment on it or pick it up and play it.

As I recall, I got it the San Jose flea market in 1979 for $35. The White amp cost $30. Those were the days!
 

SpencerD

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Mar 11, 2016
Messages
910
My Silvertone Jupiter 1423. I love it because it's lightweight and has that crazy "blender" setting. Best of all, it sounds good unplugged, so I can play it at night after my wife has gone to sleep. During the 20 years I worked at Guitar Player magazine, it was right next to my desk, and musicians who visited the office -- B.B. King, Jerry Garcia, and Stanley Jordan among them -- always stopped to comment on it or pick it up and play it.

As I recall, I got it the San Jose flea market in 1979 for $35. The White amp cost $30. Those were the days!

Jas! Good to see you here man! I know who you are :oops: :D
 

Vics53

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Jan 21, 2021
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149
Tough one. If money was no object, probably a 1961 LP/SG. It looks great, it's got PAF's and it's light weight.
 

mdubya

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Mar 31, 2010
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1,020
My '59 Reissue ES 335.

Or the current equivalent with ultra light aged Murphy nitro.

YQ374Z9.jpg


It is hard to imagine my life without my Firebirds or P-90 guitars, though.
 

jrgtr42

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Mar 24, 2005
Messages
2,308
That's a hard question. If it was a case of having to give up all but one of my own guitars, my #1, the one I wouldn't give up if I was living naked on the streets, is my 1980 Firebrand SG. (center on my avatar) That was my first electric and the one that still feels like home to me.
If I had no guitars now, but still had the knowledge and experience (and playing talent [or lack thereof]) I have now.... that would be a tough call as to what I would be looking for. Maybe a Les Paul, maybe a PRS, as long as I could get one with the 4- knob layout, still with the switching of the rotary knob. (I do like having the separate volumes for each pickup) Or possibly going for some boutique / custom build that I could customize to my own specs.
If I had to choose one guitar in general, it would have to be something versitile. As much as I love that SG, even with the pickups in it, it still has a relatively narrow range of sounds. I'd need something that sounds good clean and dirty, preferably going from a Strat / Tele spank through the SG's scream, a Junior's snarl and a Les Paul's roar. Honestly I don't know if such a thing is available, but I have ideas on what |I would like to build given the opportunity.
 
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