The Five Essential Guitars!

[Steerforth]

OK, this is sort of a survey thread in which you get to choose the five guitars that you consider essential to own.

In my own case, that would include:

1). An ash Telecaster

2). A 50s type Stratocaster

3). A standard Les Paul without any coil taps or other unnecessary stuff

4). A Gibson J-45 type mahogany acoustic

5). A Martin D-28 type rosewood dreadnought.

But that's my personal preference. As you can see, I'm kind of conservative in my tastes.

You can choose anything you want, any combination of electrics or acoustics, anything.

So, what's it going to be?

Rick

[notdave]

'Essential' is a poor choice of word. No guitar is essential, it's a luxury.

[Steerforth]

Originally Posted by notdave

'Essential' is a poor choice of word. No guitar is essential, it's a luxury.

OK, make it "desirable" instead. The point is, what five guitars would you want if those were the only five that you were ever allowed to have.

Rick

[dsutton24]

Hmmmm... it would have to be:

1. '94 MIM Telecaster
2. '86 Japanese Contemporary Strat.
3. '04 Dot
4. Taylor 110 (will upgrade to a DN3 someday )
5. 12 String Telecaster

This amongst the current stable. If I had unlimited money to purchase my 'ulitimates' it would be just crazy!

[Seasicksailor]

Cool idea! However, I'm afraid I haven't played enough guitars to contribute... feeling underqualified! :-D

[colorado]

Electric

Strat
Tele
Les Paul
ES-335
SG w/ P90s

Acoustic

Martin HD-28
Gibson Songbird

[Chris Browne]

I'll play.

Twang
Sproing
Thunk
Chime
Boom

[colorado]

What about wank and wheedle?

[colorado]

Sorry my mistake, obviously wank and wheedle are playing styles not guitars. Carry on.

[Chris Browne]

Yes, in my case the wank and weedle are in the player, not in the guitar.

[notdave]

Originally Posted by Steerforth

OK, make it "desirable" instead. The point is, what five guitars would you want if those were the only five that you were ever allowed to have.

Rick

Better. I'll play.

59 Les Paul
Second run Esquire
Vigier GV P90 new
64 Mustang
64ish Ricky 325

[scantron81]

Easy!:

Candy apple red telelcaster
Olympic white telecaster
Mint green telecaster
Blonde telecaster
Frankenstein partscaster

[Chris Browne]

More seriously...for me it's actually what I have:

SG
Dano DC-pro
Martin style 000
Classical
Martin Dread

In my opinion there's not a lot of overlap here, which I guess makes them 'essential' for me.

[joaopazguitar]

Wes Montgomery's favorite Gibson L5
Bill Frisell's Telecaster of choice
Ulf Wakenius cheap-Les-Paul-copy by Aria guitars
Grant Green's Gibson ES-330
Joe Pass favorite guitar (Gibson or Ibanez or whatever that was)
Jimmy Hendrix's most played Stratocaster

[RomanS]

1. Tele
2. Strat
3. Les Paul (or SG or ES335)
4. Gretsch with Filtertrons (6120, White Falcon, etc.)
5. Martin D-18 or Guild D-25

Sorry, 5 simply isn't enough - a Rickenbacker 12-string, something Gibson-ish with P90s (LP Jr.?), a J-45, an OM- or 000-style acoustic, some type of jazzbox (L5, ES-175, D'Angelico,...), a nylon-string acoustic, a dobro, a Jaguar, a Gretsch with Dynasonics, a Danelectro with lipsticks, something pointy with a Floyd Rose and EMGs (the horror!!!) - there's just too many different types of guitars that could be considered essential.

Actually, it would even be easier to pare it down to only ONE essential guitar, because without any reasonable doubt only a TELE could fill that role - the epitome of Fender-single-coil tones in the bridge position (which with a bit of OD and boost can also emulate Gibson-ish HB-tones - or Rickie jangle with a bit of compression and the bass turned down on the amp), somewhat acoustic guitar-like in the middle (but also not that far from Gretsch-y tones), and kind of big box-jazzy in the neck position (or, with the right pickup, not that far from the quintessential Strat tone - that glassy, throaty, woody, neck PU tone) - no other guitar can emulate so vastly differing yet essential guitar tones at once...
Nobody could seriously argue against the Tele if you had to choose THE ONE essential guitar, but with 5 there are simply too many options of what should or should not be on the list!

[StratBluesRock]

For me:
Pre-CBS slab board Strat
Mid/late 50s whiteguard Tele
Late 60s/early 70s Olympic White Strat with maple neck
'59 Les Paul
Mid/late 50s whiteguard Esquire

Note: all refretted with 6100 jumbo wire.

[bigmuff113]

A vintage Fender Jazzmaster
A J Mascis JM
A Squier Jag
An LP Special.
A Tele partscaster

[DeepSouth]

The guitars I own to cover the bases are:

Fender Tele (Ash)
Fender Strat
Gibson Les Paul Standard
Gibson ES175 (That hollowbody Jazz sound)
A Resonator (A cheap Nashville Chinese one in my case - sounds great though)
Maton EM325C Dreadnought Accoustic.

To me other important sounds (that I don't have would be)

A nylon string classical guitar
A baritone electric
A 12 string electric and accoustic
A parlour sized steel string acoustic with a sound hole mounted pickup (ala Roy Rogers - the slide guitarist not the cowboy)

I'm building 69 and 72 Thinlines - the 72 Thinline should have quite a different sound with the Lollar Regals WRHB's I'm putting in.

[idjster]

For me it's the ones I have right now. I don't have any plans for any more, and I'm not putting money away for one. Mine:

2009 Ibanez AF125 Custom
2007? Epiphone Dot Studio
2011 Les Paul Traditional 1960 tribute
2010 MIM Telecaster
1972 Norman 12 String Acoustic

That be them. That's not all of them, and it doesn't count my wife's guitars, but these are the desired ones...

[Vladimir]

Let's see what I've got:

Fender FSR Telecaster
Fender Roadhouse Stratocaster
Epiphone Casino
Ibanez Pat Metheny 35
Takamine acoustic

Yep, five, thats about it!