This guitar shares #1 status with my PRS Hollowbody (below). Besides its obvious ergonomic shape - it balances perfectly when seated - the Forshage ergo weighs under 6 lbs and has significant acoustic tone thanks to its mostly hollow construction. With the versatile pickup switching arrangement, this makes for an extremely comfortable and versatile guitar.
I had previously owned a PRS HB Spruce, and this one is even better. It seems to weigh even less than the Forshage, and can be described as very much like an ES-335. It leans towards the bright end of the spectrum, but the tone control is expressive and that can be dialed down in favor of a darker, warm tone. All in all a "fat" sounding guitar with great sustain and sweet chime. A nearly perfect good-for-anything instrument. I was not looking for this guitar, but when I saw one in ORANGE at Ishibashi in Japan, I was utterly unable to control myself.
The Klein is an almost mythical creature, with its one piece rosewood neck and totally unique ergonomic shape. I find this guitar to be perfect for textural, ambient music, thanks to its effortlessly smooth neck and TransTrem. It also has a very wide range of tones thanks to the pickup configuration. Kleins are hard to find, and worth quite a bit of money. I'll be holding onto this one until I really need to sell it, if that ever happens.
On its way
The 335 is my benchmark for electric guitar tone, period. It is jazzy; it rocks; it funks out. Many of my heroes have played them. This one is from my birth year and is a nearly mint "under the bed" specimen. It does everything a 335 is supposed to do, and I love it. The only thing that keeps it from go-to status is its weight and awkward shape for playing seated. But when I get a 335 jones, it answers the call.
I started chasing a 175 in the early 90's thanks to Pat Metheny. But I went through a couple of things before getting to this one, a holy grail blonde '57 with first year PAF humbuckers. I practically stole this guitar because it had been entirely refinished after a well-worn and abused prior existence. While that kills its 5 digit market value, I nonetheless have a 50+ year old guitar with original Gibson PAF's and a perfect setup, that totally nails the best electric jazz tone around. Warm, fat, liquid tones pour out of this thing.
My oldest daughter's name is Sienna, so that was the genesis of the hunt that rounded up this Sienna Sunburst Tele. It's just a classic slab of ash with a great spanky Tele tone. The '83 is distinctive for its bridge design, which requires the strings to be anchored on the bridge, rather than being strung through the body. The influence on tone is unknown, but my Tele is simply one of the good ones. It's too heavy to be a go-to however.
I bought my Strat Plus brand new in '91. It was the first electric guitar I bought with my own income, and while I spent very little time selecting it, I got lucky. I have since added a "bridge on" toggle switch to get all 7 possible tones out of it. I particularly love the satin neck on these guitars, and the locking tuners allow it to never go out of tune. Mine has a great ballsy, modern Strat sound, which is perfect for the music I like to play on it.
This was my first Warmoth project. It emerged from a quest where I decided that PRS guitars were too bloody expensive, and I could build my own custom design for much less. This guitar previously had a mahogany/pau ferro neck in 25.5" scale, and different wiring. Over time I tweaked it to its current and final configuration, with an unfinished padauk/ebony neck in 24.75" scale. This is an incredibly good sounding guitar that is sort of like a smoother, chimier Les Paul. All of the pickup settings (24 of 'em!) are useful. Alas, she's a heavy girl...
This is my 4th of 5 Warmoth builds, a semi-hollow swamp ash Tele with a canary wood neck. This guitar has been through several setups, and for a long time it had a rosewood neck, which was too heavy relative to the body. Fitted with Harmonic Design Z-90 pickups, it has a focused, zingy sound with lots of power and punch. It is also lightweight, which brings it close to go-to status.
My first electric guitar, bought by my parents in 1984. I had no clue or I would have avoided the terrible metalhead tremolo bridge, which I have never used. Otherwise, this guitar was a great pick. Alternately jazzy, rockin', or funky, this is a small bodied ES-335 style guitar that got me through high school and college. I could have saved many thousands of dollars if I had just, well, kept playing it. Oh well. But then this web page would have been pointless!
It's here, and it's great
Late in 2007 I began to play nylon stringed guitars in earnest, suddenly hit first by Brazilian and then by Flamenco bugs. This is a negra flamenca with a spruce top and pau ferro back and sides. I have experienced the phenomenon of a guitar "opening up" with this one as I've played it throughout the past months. This is my first real flamenco guitar and I bought it new at Luthier Music in NYC.
This vintage Conde blanca is a treasure from an older age of flamenco, before modern toque became a defining sub-genre. It has the distinctive throaty, raspy punch of the old school tone exemplified by players such as Paco Pena and Sabicas. This guitar has a very comfortable neck, weighs practically nothing, and has a sound that belies its diminutive size.
A funky throwback that is actually still produced by the Giannini company of Brazil, this oddly shaped guitar possesses a perfect sound for bossa nova music. It has laminated jacaranda back and sides, and a slimmer neck than is found on typical classical guitars. I hunted this one down after becoming inspired by "Tiny Band," a group of Chicago-based American musicians who play Brazilian music and have videos on YouTube. Thanks to Adam Haus for exposing me to this thing! It started me on the path to flamenco.
I have experimented with solid carved archtops before, and had a hard time getting used to them. They can be "barky" and have awkwardly mounted electronics, or none at all. This Eastman oval hole archtop is beautifully crafted and has gorgeous flamed maple back, sides, and neck. Its tone is rich and sweet, and through an appropriate amp it exemplifies what an amplified acoustic archtop can be.
My father bought this guitar with my guidance at Mandolin Brothers in NYC. This is a classic dreadnaught from Martin and while I find it uncomfortable to play due to its girth, it does its "thing" in an exemplary manner. Ringing, deep tones - perfect for strumming.
This guitar has a story. I acquired it when an childhood friend's brother passed away suddenly, and I assessed and sold his guitar collection. I had the chance to keep other guitars of greater value, but this Ovation just felt and sounded right to me. It brought back my college days, when I owned an Ovation and wrote many songs on it. O's may not be the "best" acoustic guitars, but they do their own thing, thank you very much. This guitar forced me on a journey back into acoustic instruments that continues to this day. I consider it one of life's fateful twists. (In memory of Steve Philips)
This fretless is a salvage effort from two Warmoth projects gone awry. The defretted neck from my first Warmoth was paired with a spruce-topped, chambered mahogany body, and a cast off Joe Barden Two-Tone humbucker. The result? Um... a fretless guitar. Not for the meek, but proving to very cool indeed. I coated the pau ferro fingerboard with polyurethane to protect it and preserve sustain. I string it with flatwounds and tune down a whole step to D.
During the recording of my album Looking Past The Present, I had the desire to add some lap steel tracks to some tunes. This Hawaiian-inspired mahogany instrument fit the bill. I keep it around for the next such inspiration.
On its way from San Diego CA...
This was my first "custom" instrument, built to my specs. I ordered it from Carvin's catalog and waited the painful 8 weeks to completion. It is a fretless 5 string bass with white fret lines, which makes it look less cool but helps me play it better. I used this bass a lot with the improvisational trio Helun back in the mid 1990's. It has killer fretless mwah tone and plays like butter. The color is really deep purple, but it refuses to be accurately photographed.
This is a 4 string fretted bass with a mahogany body, walnut neck, and rosewood fingerboard. I had not played this bass much until recently, and after a setup and tweaking it just rocks. It's got a deep, growling tone with enough bite to funk out... Or you can control it with your touch for smooth bell-like melodic playing.
This is my 4 string fretless made from all mahogany, with a coated (DIY) rosewood fingerboard. It is a very warm bass, especially suited for jazz and R&B. Probably should have gotten an ebony board on this one, but it has a very unique sound that I do enjoy.
$1800
