If you were starting again?

steer

I have 1 acoustic, 1 resonator, 1 Electromatic Gretsch semi, 1 MIM tele, 1 P90 Jaguar, 1 good Schecter strat type and 2 x cheap strat types. 

If starting from scratch with an insurance payout equivalent to the appx value of the above I would probably get:

Replace like-for-like my Schecter strat.

Buy a mid-budget acoustic, again this is like-for like.

I think that just about leaves me enough left over to buy a 2nd hand pro-line Gretsch if I was patient enough to wait for one to come up at a decent price. Something like a 6120 - or similar. 

Out of the non-replaced guitars, I would miss the P90s.

RaymondLin

I would probably have a more streamed lined collection. Rather a T5 with a GS mini I would just have a Taylor or Martin.

Rather a PRS 305 and a Fender Strat I would just have a Fender CS Strat.

Jfingers

I'd keep  my Antigua Tele with an S83 serial number. My early 80's Newporter, my almost Wife's Yamaha acoustic bought in Canada well before 2005, my White brand pedal steel and my newish Vox Cambridge 50.

I wish my AC30 wasn't moulding in the garage. It's serial number doesn't seem to match up. I've had it since roughly '83. It has casters, no original speakers and the pedal isn't a pedal. It's a toggle switch and has been since I've owned it.

The thing I miss the most is my £30 WEM Clubman.

I live about a 15 minute drive from the original Celestion factory.

idiotwindow

I don't know about my electrics ( I have three and would probably replace them with similar models) but I probably wouldn't re-buy my sole acoustic, a D-28. I like the guitar very much but I suspect I'd rather replace it with something a little smaller (and maybe cheaper). Possibly even a nylon string guitar.

tanihhiavlt

This is a great thought exercise for a purge

I'd buy a lighter strat (probably mij), I'd not replace the 84 Strat or Suhr, I'd not replace the RG8, or the Bass VI, or possibly the gordon smith. Maybe even the Tokai 335, I'd use all the money from those and the Eastman AR 905 ce to by a lefty ES175 either a Gibson, 77 Guitars or an old Aria.

Hmm I might act upon some of that!

TINMAN82

Definitely a trend for streamlining/ downsizing here. 

HAL9000

Thinking about this a bit further, I reckon that lots of us have over the years bought a lot of gear to fill some imagined gap. You know the kind of thing - you buy a Les Paul because you don’t own a twin-humbucker guitar. Then you realise that there’s a P90-shaped hole in the arsenal and an SG seems like a sensible idea. And so it goes on. But the truth is that your actually a single-coil kind of guy and you’ve amassed a collection of instruments most of which you rarely or never play. GAS is a journey and at the end of it you have a far clearer idea of what you do and don’t like. Hence my earlier post that if I was starting over I’d just have a brace of Telecasters. 

TINMAN82

HAL9000 said:

Thinking about this a bit further, I reckon that lots of us have over the years bought a lot of gear to fill some imagined gap. You know the kind of thing - you buy a Les Paul because you don’t own a twin-humbucker guitar. Then you realise that there’s a P90-shaped hole in the arsenal and an SG seems like a sensible idea. And so it goes on. But the truth is that your actually a single-coil kind of guy and you’ve amassed a collection of instruments most of which you rarely or never play. GAS is a journey and at the end of it you have a far clearer idea of what you do and don’t like. Hence my earlier post that if I was starting over I’d just have a brace of Telecasters. 

Definitely. And there’s the budget influence too as often (albeit not always) the budget increases as time passes. 

Both absolute budget in terms of the “best” you can afford and also the budget relative to what seems reasonable based on current ability level.

So further down the road you can better afford the CS strat, you’re better able to justify it with ability AND you’ve learned by now you’re a strat guy and don’t require a massive collection.

TTBZ

HAL9000 said:

Thinking about this a bit further, I reckon that lots of us have over the years bought a lot of gear to fill some imagined gap. You know the kind of thing - you buy a Les Paul because you don’t own a twin-humbucker guitar. Then you realise that there’s a P90-shaped hole in the arsenal and an SG seems like a sensible idea. And so it goes on. But the truth is that your actually a single-coil kind of guy and you’ve amassed a collection of instruments most of which you rarely or never play. GAS is a journey and at the end of it you have a far clearer idea of what you do and don’t like. Hence my earlier post that if I was starting over I’d just have a brace of Telecasters. 

Yep. I've realised I really don't need singlecoil tones in my life. Every time I have them I end up swapping them for for pickup models that have more midrange and compression, IE trying to get closer to the sound of humbuckers. P90s are great though and I think eventually my guitar collection will end up being 2 LPs: one with P90s (maybe a Special or Junior) and a full fat one with humbuckers.

brojangles

A D28 and a Tele probably. 

Tannin

Thinking it over, although I like each one of my seven, I feel most at home and play my best on a European-style 46-48mm neck, and only the Thunderhawk baritone has that. As bad luck would have it, that is the one guitar I probably could not replace - they didn't make many and they are very hard to find now.

So I'd replace the current crop with:

(1) As many custom shop equivalents as I could afford (the insurance wouldn't pay enough to cover them all), all with medium-wide necks - say 47mm at the nut, give or take.

(2) Also one or two off-the-shelf 12-strings strung as sixes (because  most 12s have a 50mm nut ex-factory - slightly too wide for me but pretty good, and better too wide than too narrow) and because I like the compressed dynamics the heavier build of a 12 provides.

(3) Plus one exact equivalent: the Cole Clark Angel in Huon Pine and Queensland Silkwood. I don't think Cole Clark offers custom necks so I'll accept a squeezy 44mm on  that one. I have 7 #1 favourite guitars but all things considered this is my #1 #1 favourite. 

All up I think I'd go for about five (I don't need seven guitars). Maybe:

* Standard Cole Clark Angel III (direct replacement but custom order because of the rare timbers)
* A custom Maton Artist with a 47mm nut (808 or Traditional body, Sitka Spruce and Blackwood).
* A custom Maton with a 47mm nut, 808 body, Western Red Cedar and Queensland Maple.
* Something nice in traditional spruce and rosewood. Possibly a custom Maton Messiah, possibly a Lakewood, could even be a Taylor or a Martin if I stumble across one I like. (I once fell in lust with a particular used HD-28. When I went back to the shop, it was sold.) OR something with similar sound qualities in different timbers - it doesn't do to get fixated on something just because it is traditional.
* By some miracle, another Thunderhawk.

No. Cancel all of that. I could go down an all-day rabbit hole just thinking about it. Here is the new plan:

(1) Look all over town and buy the best guitar I can find on the day. No preconceptions, play everything, take the the nice one home.
(2) After appropriate thought, commission a custom build to go with #1.
(3) Repeat (1).
(4) Repeat (2).
(5) Run out of money. Stop there.

Dominic

I wouldn't have spent time,effort and money carefully compiling a large,varied and largely useless board of boutique pedals for which I have virtually no use .
A decent drive and delay pedal is plenty enough 99% of the time  thanks .