An updated version of my Guitars101 Blog Post - complete with descriptions (to fill free time at work and blow off some steam, today has sucked).
Acoustic
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1982 Yamaha G245SII Classical - "Angelita" - $250 w/HSC in 1982 from a Classical Guitar Store in Champaign Illinois - This is the guitar I learned on when I first started out, it currently resides in Alabama in my mom's closet.
19?? El Degas Classical - $FREE from Mr. Orr's Guitar Class (Opelika High School) - It sat around with holes in the top and the wrong strings on it in a practice room when I was in High School. Mr. Orr gave it to me and I started converting it to an Electric Acoustic, only to never complete it.
2004 Epiphone AJ8SCE "Veronica" - $198, Pawn X-Change, Everett WA - I bought this for an acoustic jam with Ancient Tongues guitarist/vocalist Stonedge back in 2008. It is my current main acoustic.
2004 Lauren Acoustic Guitar - $FREE, Todd's House, Marysville, WA - S66/DI's Bassist Todd gave this to me for free after his daughters put kitty stickers all over it and stuck it in a closet to be forgotten. It's my Alternate Tuning acoustic and Slide acoustic as the intonation is REALLY bad.
Electric
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1985 Kramer Focus 3000 "Joy" - $250, Auburn Guitar Shoppe, AL - My first electric, bought for Christmas 1996 by my mom after I missed out on the Foto Flame Jazzmaster I wanted six months earlier. I currently still have this one, it's modded to hell and back and needs an overhaul something terrible.
1990 Harmony Strat Copy - $10, OHS Band Room, Jim Spain, AL - Bought this for $10 from a classmate with the hardware in a pickle jar. It was original sunburst, I repainted it Aqua, it had the second Pickguard I ever made (the first is the B/W/B one on my Kramer), which was made out of a piece of Plexiglass I found along Fredrick Rd in Opelika one afternoon.
1997 Harmony H-804 "Brittney" - $90, OHS Guitar Class, Wade Allen, AL - Bought off classmate Wade Allen, it was his first guitar. I immediately took it apart, refretted the neck, removed the black finish from the fretboard that wore off on the player's fingers, put in new pickups (initially EMG Selects that found their way into my Kramer), and rewired it with a Gibson wiring scheme. Later was repainted silver hammered metal and tuned down a whole step with flatwound strings.
1999 Home Built Van-Halen II Jazzmaster/Jaguar (later Baritone Guitar) - The first body I built using scrap wood from the lumber pile at Lowes. It was a scaled up and oversized Jazzmaster body made out of pine, with 2 single coils for a humbucker, a Kahler trem, and the neck off the Harmony Strat. It later had Jag-style electronics and had a plexiglass pickguard, and was set up as a baritone guitar till the neck fell apart.
1996 Fender Jag-Stang with EMG Pickups "Nikki" - $undisclosed, Auburn Guitar Shoppe, AL - I got a really good deal from Mark on this after it hung around the shop for a year, and has been the benchmark by which all my other axes are compared ever since. It's a lot more beat up than it was back then but pretty much the same guitar it was when I got it, one of the first I did not cut up to modify.
???? Warmoth/DiMarzio/Fender/EMG Parts Mutt Strat - $40.00, Pawn Shop, Montgomery AL - I bought this when I lived in Montgomery for awhile when Hawk found his Crate Blue Voo Doo amp. It got parted out into several other guitars (the Mutt Strat in particular, and the Striker after the neck went to my first Explorer).
2001 Home Built "Trashmaster" Teisco/Harmony/Ibanez Frankenstein - $10, Opelika, Spare Parts Bin I had - I built this out of the worst parts I had laying around - a cut up Teisco bass pickguard and control plate, a Harmony H-802 pickup, a Harmony H-804 neck with my first refret on it (not bad, playable, but not good either), cheap crappy tuners, a Harmony H-804/802 tailpiece and bridge, and a $10 Ibanez LA Humbucker from Crossroads Music before they went down the drain. The body was a Jazzmaster-like shape made out of pressure treated pine with a glued and nailed on construction grade plywood top painted in Krylon and Testors Model paint. It also had the Ground wire sticking out of the top. Despite the crappy parts, it came out the other side of the sucky meter at AWESOME.
2001 Home Built "Excalibur" Explorer Hondo/Kramer/Peavey Frankenstein "Kandi-Lynn/Kendalin" - $FREE, various sources, Opelika, AL - I got the body from my guitar teacher in high school (Mr. Orr), got the neck off the Kramer Striker ST-100 below, it's had a lot of parts swaps over the years, it currently has an EMG H and EMG 60 from the early 80's in it, and a Washburn Wonderbar.
2001 Squier Double Fat Telecaster Deluxe "Karen" - $Trade for Affinity Strat, David Tollerud, Montgomery, AL - David was the second lead guitarist in Lithium for awhile, I traded the Affinity Strat below for this guitar, eventually I got the strat back and wound up with BOTH guitars. This guitar was sold on E-bay to fund me moving in 2005. I never really got along with the set neck and strat hardtail with the arched top too well.
1998 Squier Affinity Stratocaster "Gladys" - $100, Chris Cargile, Opelika, AL - Bought from a classmate, was his first guitar, had a yellow blotch on the pickguard, which I replaced with a blue pearloid pickguard (the FIRST of my blue pearl strats). I had this guitar up until 2005, when I gave it to a girlfriend who harassed me about too much. It got stolen from her, and it still has not turned up till this day.
1984 Kramer Striker ST-100 "Valerie" - $75, Pawn Shop, Montgomery AL - This was actually liberated by Hawk. It later had the Warmoth Neck on it from the above $40 parts mutt strat. That neck now is on my Jagmaster, and the body for this resides in storage awaiting a new paintjob and probably a replacement J.Frog style neck.
1984 Arbor Strat Copy - $45, Pawn Shop, Opelika, AL - This guitar was DOA when I got it, hence why they knocked a huge sum off the price. I played it stock for awhile before consolidating the parts into my Black parts mutt strat. I don't remember what happened to the body.
2003 First Act Discovery "Kiddie's Guitar" - $70, Wal-Mart, Opelika, AL - I bought this after a ####ty day at work to make myself feel better. It was the little blue Les Paul copy with the built in amp. It stayed stock for awhile, but currently has an HSS config with Strat wiring, and is tuned up 1 step to F# standard.
1986 Kramer Focus 3000 "Merilou" - $150 w/HSC, Pawn Shop, Opelika AL - The last guitar I bought in Alabama. This was sold to a co-worker in 2005. It was in pristine condition, and my guitars get beat up, I felt it belonged with someone who'd baby it more than I would.
1999 Rogue/Harmony H-804 "Testybum Signature Guitar" - $25.00, Hot Lixx, Everett, WA - This thing was sitting around without a bridge at Hot Lixx music for awhile, I bought it to get another "beater" guitar, as well as had a new youtube idea to parody the Esteban ads with it. It currently is only a body in storage.
2004 B.C. Rich Bronze Series Warlock LTD Edition "Maggie" - $50, Pawn Central, Everett, WA - Bought in late 2005 as a part of a pair for $100 with my then room mate. She took the solid black one, I took this one that had better pickups but was a horrible glad-bag brown transparent color. I loaned it to a friend, and later got it back, which then I repainted it metallic blue and swapped the pickups out.
1988 Vester Concert Series II "Punch-Out" - $35, Hot Lixx, Everett WA - I bought this to cannibalize it for new tuners for my Jag-Stang in late 2005 as no shops had proper tuners, and Guitar Prison (Center) does not know a 3X3 from a 6 in line set of tuners. The guitar was put back together in late 2009, but is still not up to snuff for my standards, it needs some fretwork and better pickups.
2005 Home Brew Explorer Parts Mutt "Vester/Kramer/Aria/Ibanez" - $35, Hot Lixx Music, Everett, WA - I bought this body from Hot Lixx, it had a Kramer neck on it that had the pointy tip sawed off and rounded over. It had pickups from the Vester and an Ibanez non-locking vibrato unit on it, and sounded great, but the string path was horrible, it was eventually given to my ex-room mate.
2005 Home Brew Explorer Parts Mutt "Kramer/Arbor/Peavey" "MTD" - $35, Hot Lixx Music, Everett, WA - I built this out of an Arbor Explorer Body and a Kramer Focus 6000 neck I got from Hot Lixx. It had a Peavey Falcon humbucker in the bridge and a DiMarzio Super II in the neck, and a Floyd Rose II vibrato, it sounded great, but the neck joint was wonky. The body currently resides in storage.
2005 Black Parts Mutt "Squier/Arbor/DiMarzio" Strat "Gladys II" - $FREE, Everett, WA - I built this slowly out of various guitars I'd buy up from Hot Lixx/Pawn Shops, and use the parts to build this which was to be my ultimate strat copy for awhile. The body is from the Montgomery Pawn Shop strat above, the neck is now on my Squier Affinity Strat (listed below), and the Pickguard is on the Hohner strat. The body is now at my house being stripped for new paint.
1998 Fender Jaguar with Seymour Duncan Cool Rails Pickups "Bettie" - $650, The Guitar Hangar, Bought over the internet - I had a G.A.S. inspiring dream one night about Jaguars and Jazzmasters and a huge music shop, and just HAD to buy one, the $2000 I had in the bank at the time was burning a hole in my pocket, so I decided to put up to $700 of it down on a reissue Jaguar of some kind, and this was the best deal I could find. This ties with the Jazzmaster as "second Favorite" in my collection.
2006 Home Brew Flying Vee Parts Mutt "Aria/Gibson/Arbor" - $35, Hot Lixx Music, Everett, WA - I assembled this using the Arbor Strat neck, a Gibson 490R, and a hot wound humbucker of some sort, with an original Floyd Rose. This was my main 2 humbucker tremelo guitar before I got the Jagmaster. Currently the body is in storage.
2001 Squier Stagemaster-7 - $175, Father's Pawn Shop, Lynnwood, WA - I bought this in mid 2006 to do 80's covers that are normally done on Synths (so I could get a low enough range). It has not been seeing much use lately, but I still have it. Amongst the first of my guitars to get the pickups wax potted.
2004 Squier Affinity Stratocaster "Gladys III" - $80, Pawn Central, Everett, WA - I bought this stripped down Affinity Strat for $80.00, it had no strings, no knobs, and no pickup covers. I put it back together in late 2009/early 2010 and it has become my current main Strat. It's basically a rosewood board reproduction of the 1998 Squier Affinity listed above.
2007 Squier Jagmaster - $250ish, Kenally Keys Music, Everett, WA - I walked into Kenally Keys a week earlier to see if they still had the one I played in stock which was excellent. Against my will, the clerks ordered this guitar, and FORCED me to buy it, needless to say I was pretty pissed. To add insult to injury, it would not stay in tune, so I put a Floyd Rose on it and ####ed up the original neck cutting the nut shelf (something I'm fixing ATM). It currently hangs around my Girlfriend's apartment, with the Warmoth neck off the Striker on it, with the pickups out of the Red explorer in it, which made it far better than it was.
2007 Squier Affinity Telecaster Special "Karen II" - $184, Kenally Keys Music, Everett, WA - I bought this on a whim. I pulled it off the rack and pitted it against more expensive Telecasters and found that THIS was the Tele for me, and it's been my main Telecaster ever since. Presently it's slated to have a through body string vintage style bridge installed.
1973 Zenta/Dana/Sears Roebuck & Co. Telecaster - $50, Pawn X-Change, Everett, WA - I bought this on a whim as a restoration project. It was very dirty, had the wrong strings on it, and was missing a tuner, but it cleaned up really nice, and sounds and plays amazing for a Guyatone made piece of 60's-ish era Japanese cheese.
2007 First Act ME-537 - $100, Wal-Mart, Everett, WA - I bought this to build a Les Paul copy out of, eventually I had to sell it to pay some bills.
2008 First Act ME-636 (#1) - $100, Wal-Mart, Everett, WA - I bought this because it reminded me of Paul Dean (Loverboy's lead guitarist's) old Hondo sig model from the 80's. I had to sell it to pay a few bills in 2008.
2008 Dean ML-X - $200, Guitar Center, Lynnwood, WA - HSBC screwed the pooch and overcharged my Preferred Player's card. In order to get the money back, since they took my money hostage, I bought a guitar with the intent of selling it to get enough back to pay the bills, but just as I was about to sell this one or pawn it for cash, mom stepped in to help out. Currently I plan to do an anti-Guitar Center/HSBC paintjob on it because of this and the fact that they were sexist assholes to my girlfriend this year. I HATE Guitar Center.
2004 J.Reynolds Lefty Stratocaster Copy - $50.00, Pawn X-Change, Everett, wA - I bought this to play lefty and experiment with the strings being upside down. During tight times in 2008, I had to sell it to make the bills.
2008 Fender Jaguar HH Special "Little Moon" - $700, Kennally Keys Music, Everett, WA - I bought this guitar thinking it'd be cool to have another Jaguar around, and to cut down on my Trem use, but as it turns out, I did not like the sound of it (it was a little too tinny, the pickups were too weak, and the bridge system contributed greatly, I mucho prefer the Jaguar vibrato). I traded it in for the 1966 Fender Mustang Below.
1966 Fender Mustang "Stefanie" - $1000, Tommy's Guitar Shop, Everett, WA - I bought this after Tommy and his tech Rebuilt it. It had been hanging on the wall half a year already, and then they finished it in late 2008. The guitar had 2 problems initially the nut broke during rehearsal after 4 months (fixed that with gorilla glue and a Q tip), and the bass side spring adjustment screw was seized by rust, which I undid in mid 2010 using Gun Cleaner and WD40, and a pair of vice grips. This is another favorite of mine.
2009 Home Built "Fender Jazzmaster" "Candy-O" - $650, various parts sources, all around the world from Everett to Hong Kong - I built this guitar because the prices on Jazzmasters had darted up rather HIGH, and the Classic Player Jazzmasters never turned up in my neighborhood. Originally it was to be an Ocasek Clone, but now I'm glad I did a late 70's natural finish instead. Currently the second second fave. It's been gigged really heavily this year.
2004 Harmony 2183 (modern version of the H-804) - $25, Spence (Nilihelm) - Youtube viewer Nilihelm had been talking awhile, and he needed to get rid of 2 guitars - this one, and the Kay below. I got this in a box full of blankets, and put it back together. With a few tweaks and a new Nashville TOM, it actually plays pretty good though it still needs some minor fretwork to play at the top of it's game.
2004 Kay KE-17 - $25, Spence (Nilihelm) - This is the other of Spence's guitars that went to me. Currently it's undergoing a full overhaul to have a Kahler, a 3 coil Motherbucker (built by me), and a neck single coil....sort of like a poor man's Hamer Phantom, but repainted white, so I can do some cool stuff with fake blood.
2008 First Act ME-636 - $100, Wal-Mart - Marketed under the 222 Series (but still the same as the last guitar), I bought this and then routed it for a neck humbucker, and put the bridge pickup out of my first act ME-431 in the neck position. I use it occasionally but it does need Wax Potted something horrible.
2009 Daisy Rock Retro H-12 String - $177, Kenally Keys Music, Everett, WA - I'd been wanting a 12-String for awhile. I eventually plan to put some better pickups in it though, Firebird style humbuckers don't sound good on a 12-string electric, I need something with more Jangle, like a Rickenbacker or Jaguar pickup, I'm tempted to put some surface mount Jazzmaster pickups and 1 meg pots in this guitar.
2007 Yamaha Pacifica 112v - $150, Kenally Keys Music, Everett, WA - I'd seen this guitar sitting on the rack for almost 2 years, and nobody had bought it yet. It's missing the Truss Rod cover but otherwise in mint condition. I've been playing it a little more often recently, I really like the neck. It's been gigged once.
Basses
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1987 B.C. Rich Ironbird Bass "Carrie" - $210, Bubba Lewis Music, Valley, AL - Mom bought this for me in 1997, I picked it out as my first bass because it looked different. Later on I put Seymour Duncan invader guitar pickup pole pieces into the DiMarzio P-Bass pickup, which gives it an edgy loud sound compared to what it originally had.
1985 Segovia Bass - $80, Pawn X-Change, Everett, WA - I bought this bass for $80 out the door, it had a warped neck, seized bridge, broken pot shafts, and vulgar stickers, totally punked out. I straightened the neck after leaving it unstrung for awhile. I sold it for $50 to a co-worker, who I bought it back from, and then replaced the bridge, and since then, it's become my 2nd favorite bass to play.
2007 Epiphone EB-0 - $150, Guitar Center, Lynnwood, WA - I bought this on a whim while out with a potential date a few years ago. She pointed it out and I bought it when I found I liked the neck. However, this bass has been a PITA at times as it does not have stable tuning and is a little too tubby for my usual preferred musical style. Currently it's on loan to Ancient Tongues.
2008 Fender Mustang Bass - $800, Guitar Center, Lynnwood, WA - I bought this after eyeing and GASing for one for 2 years. Currently it's my main bass guitar, and it has my favorite neck in the house as far as the basses go.
