Thinking back here on all the guitars I’ve owned and played was a fun romp down memory lane and I learned a few things about myself from it. First off, I learned that I’ve had more guitars than I would have guessed. Before compiling this list I probably would have estimated around 12 or 13.
Details 2004 Fender Classic Series Stratocaster Year Purchased: 2020 Price Paid: $540.00 Notes: Great 70s Strat vibe for pretty cheap I really didn’t need another guitar. Especially not another Strat. But The perfect storm of isolation gas, 70s rock biographies and a pending birthday led me to this one. I like 70s Strats. That doesn’t
Details 1979 Gibson The Paul Year Purchased: 2018 Price Paid: Trade Notes: A lifelong favorite This model again. I picked up this beauty in July of 2018 after years of pining for a long lost The Paul I let go back in the 80s. Of all the guitars I’ve ever owned I only regret letting
Details 1995 Fender Standard Strat Year Purchased: 2015 Price Paid: $400.00 Notes: Upgraded by previous owner The Stratocaster is a hard guitar for me to love. I’ve had 3 others before this one. They make me crazy. If I don’t have one I get drawn to them. If I have one I start to hate
Details 2006 Gibson BJA Les Paul Junior Year Purchased: 2007 Price Paid: $900.00 Notes: my #1 live guitar for many years This was a Guitar Center “Impulse Buy” and the only guitar I ever bought from them. I went in for strings and saw it sitting on a guitar stand by the checkout. I picked
Details 2004 Fender Standard Strat Year Purchased: 2006 Price Paid: Trade Notes: Great sounding plugged in In 2006 I helped a coworker sell his 1979 Stratocaster. At this point, after owning the world’s worst Stratocaster, I had sworn off Strats and firmly believed I had no interested in ever owning another. I took my coworker’s
Details 1980s Aria Pro II LS600D Year Purchased: 2005 Price Paid: $500 Notes: Made in Japan. Great guitar I told the story of this guitar way back in 2019 here. It’s a great guitar and still gets a lot of use. I think these are still really great deals when compared to similar specced Les
Details 1990s DeArmond M75 Year Purchased: 2004 Price Paid: $275 Notes: Me no likey I played this guitar at Boogie Man Music in Ellensburg, WA while on a road trip with my wife. I was really into the idea of branching out from the single coil sound and the pickups sounded really good in the
Details 1990 Fender USA 52 Reissue Telecaster Year Purchased: 1997 Price Paid: Trade Notes: Great Tele I wrote about this guitar awhile back here. I traded my American Standard Telecaster and my Harmony H62 for this. I still love this guitar and it still gets a lot of use. I don’t think I could imagine
Details Harmony H62 Year Purchased: 1997 Price Paid: $225.00 ($362.82 in 2021 dollars) Notes: REALLY MISS THIS ONE In fall of 1996 I somehow managed to get myself hired as a salesperson and guitar tech at a vintage guitar shop in Seattle. It was a new shop and pretty small those first few years but
Details Guitar: 1993 Fender American Standard Telecaster Year Purchased: 1993 Price Paid: $750.00 ($1,343.31 in 2021 dollars) Notes: Vintage White. Great Quality but fairly unremarkable This was a quality instrument and after my short time with the MIM Tele I felt good again about owing an American made guitar. I was satisfied with this Tele
Details Guitar: 1993 Fender Standard Telecaster Year Purchased: 1993 Price Paid: Trade Notes: Arctic White. Decent but not great In fall of 1990 I put all my belongings – including the world’s worst Stratocaster and a late 70s Super Reverb – into boxes, loaded them onto an Amtrak train and headed for Seattle. Once settled
Details Guitar: 1983 Fender Standard Strat Year Purchased: 1985 Price Paid: $350.00 ($841.86 in 2021 dollars) Notes: YUCK! That time Fender LOST ITS MIND. In 1985 I popped in for strings at this little hole in the wall record/music shop in Midland, MI and saw this on a stand by the counter. It had a
Details Guitar: 1978 Ibanez Iceman Year Purchased: 1984 Price Paid: $300.00-ish ($747.29-ish in 2021 dollars) Notes: Tasty Sunburst The dude who ran sound in my band special ordered this from Watermelon Sugar Music in Saginaw, MI in 1978. He kept bugging me to buy it from him. I don’t think he needed the money. He
Details Guitar: 1979 Gibson The Paul Year Purchased: 1982 Price Paid: $350.00 ($938.69 in 2021 dollars) Notes: My first Gibson! Anyone who knows me is probably pretty sick of me yammering on about this one. This stripped down entry-level Gibson really made an impression on me back in ’82. So much so that I picked
Details Guitar: Ibanez ST-55 (may have been a ST-50) Year Purchased: 1981 Price Paid: $250.00 ($711.80 in 2021 dollars) Notes: Used Made in Japan Living in a tiny town in the 1980s greatly limited my access to guitar shops. Every now and again my friends and I would take road trips to bigger cities to
Details Guitar: Vantage Avenger Year Purchased: 1981 Price Paid: $300.00 ($854.16 in 2021 dollars) Notes: Brand new Made in Japan This slightly pointy-horned Strat style guitar was around $300.00 from a music store in Midland, MI. I sold my Cortez for 150.00 to a friend and paid cash for the balance. It came with a
Details Guitar: Cortez LP Copy Year Purchased: 1980 (or so) Price Paid: not sure Notes: Late 70s Made in Japan LP Style In hindsight this was a bit of a downgrade from the Epiphone ET-270 that I traded in. I reckon I was just a little sick of the Epiphone and was gassing for something
Details Guitar: Epiphone ET-270 Year Purchased: 1977 (or so) Price Paid: $150.00 ($640.62 in 2021 dollars) Notes: 1970s Made in Japan 2 pickup offset Farrow’s Music on 44th street in Wyoming, Michigan was the first music store I ever visited regularly. They were a small mom and pop affair with a friendly staff who were
Details Guitar: Teisco EP-something? Year Purchased: 1976 (or so) Price Paid: $20.00 ($90.97 in 2021 dollars) Notes: 1960s Made in Japan 2 pickup, semi-hollow sunburst It must have been 8th grade when the wanting for a guitar reached peak want. A kid in my class mentioned in passing that there was a guitar in the