Leaderboard

Here are the instruments in my collection: 1987 Chandler Strat: This one is a triggers broom. Bought in 2006, I had the muddy green finish stripped back to bare wood and everything else was replaced. Jon Shuker finished the body for me and I did the neck in tru-oil. Because I wanted this to make 80's session noises, it was fitted a prewired HSS pickgard with EMG 85 in the bridge and two EMG SA in the mid and neck positions. The electronics feature a mid boost control and the EMG85 is tapped by pulling on the vol control. Tuners are no brand locking type and work well enough. Unusually, the body is solid two piece quilted maple so the notes ring clear and unmuddied. The bridge is a Wilkinson VS100CV, these haven't been made for many, many years and offer the benefits of both vibrato and hardtail. The trem arm locks the bridge in place when not in use. I have another three VS100CV bridges stashed away for future use, one in gold and two in chrome. Finally, I got the chance to briefly meet Nile Rodgers on my birthday back in 2013 and he signed it for me before being whisked off by Acoustic Guitar mag staff. I tried protecting it with coat of acrylic but the acrylic has started flaking off and it made the signature a little smudgey. :( Speaking which, Nile Rodgers was the reason I decided to take up guitar. This is a replica of his Hitmaker strat made by Al Knight - made with Fender licensed parts apart from the body. The wear isn't quite the same these days but it features a thin alder body, Sperzels, Gibson speed knobs and a hard to find Kahler brass pickguard finished in chrome just like the original. Electronics are standard wiring with Fender Noiseless Vintage pickups. I'm pleased to say it gets satisfyingly close to the sound of the original! Being a big Al Murphy fan and needing something with humbuckers led me to this, a Yamaha MSG/Image Deluxe. I have two, one of them is the Mk1 and this one is MkII where the vol pot is slightly further from the bridge. All mahogany construction with a maple cap, I have since installed Armstrong PAF humbuckers so can extract some nicely jazzy sounds as well as a fat crunch. The pickups can be coil split and while I was aiming for a tele twang, the mahogany construction kind of gets in the way of achieving that. Still, the sounds are funky enough. Otherwise both are still stock, with a Yammie RM-Pro vibrato bridge. These are great guitars, seriously underrated. Finally - a Klein replica. I made the body with help, from NZ beech with a redwood top and the neck is an old Music Yo Steinberger jobbie. Bridge is a Steinberger R trem and a Fernandes Sustainer kit is fitted for infinite yowling. I'm not totally sold on the beech body, it seems to dampen the attack a little without reducing harshness so I may yet look for a replacement from mahogany or limba. Still gassing for an Ibanez Artcore AWD82-ATF for semi hollow sounds. Was going to make one but with this being nearly identical spec to what I planned, it's a no brainer. Assuming I can find one.

Got my eye on one of those Godins - the one with no cutaway and the neck p90. Ity's jockeying for position as "next buy" against a Player Series Strat and a Gretsch 5420 or similar.

I have one of these Godin 5th Avenue jazz guitars incoming in about a month but without the fancy maple top. I've found a company here who claims to ghost build them and Godin make some great kit.

$25000... Hell, why not? You gotta be all kinds of sure its gonna be your 'keeper' or so wealthy that its no big deal to you...

Nice. You really don't see a lot of Ric trebles out in the wild.

There's one clip on youtube of someone using a JF14 with a bass and it sounds quite decent! I haven't really had an inclination to dabble much with pedals beyond what I already have as I'm pretty satisfied with what is on the pedal board now. I've seen Tim Pierce championing the Nobels ODR pedal but I really don't want to end up with a box of pedals that I'm not entertained by.

I replaced the body on my CV again, as I fancied a more classic look and I’ve always been a sucker for a bound body.

If they’re causing you nausea, then yes. Ooh, is that my coat? It’s ok, I’ll get it myself.

I thought I’d post a few pics of my current guitars I’m using. I’ve had a bit of a chop and change recently (more variations on a theme in all fairness) but am very happy with these. First up is a 1995 Fender American Standard Strat in Electric Blue which was a colour offered between 1995-96. Condition is excellent apart from a bit of lacquer wear up at the Cowboy Chord end. It’s also been fitted with a set of Kinman Vintage pickups and a push/pull tone pot that activates neck and bridge pickup together. I swapped out the original white pickguard and backplate for black ones as I think it makes it look better. I was fortunate enough to pick this up for less than I’ve seen used Mexican Fenders go for, even with nearly £300 worth of pickups in it. Next is a 2000 Fender American Standard Telecaster in spotless condition. It sounds wonderful and is a beauty to pay. It originally had a white pickguard but I decided to replace it with a black one.

Here's my weopon of choice, a Starla. I love bigsby's so I needed to look no furthur.