What is the coolest gear you've ever played?

Fiesta Red

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I snuck a couple of strums on one of Waylon’s leather-covered Teles.

I got to play a few riffs on Buddy Guy’s Strat (at his invitation) when I snuck backstage and met him at Antone’s right before Damn Right I Got The Blues came out.
 

brookdalebill

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I snuck a couple of strums on one of Waylon’s leather-covered Teles.

I got to play a few riffs on Buddy Guy’s Strat (at his invitation) when I snuck backstage and met him at Antone’s right before Damn Right I Got The Blues came out.
Cool!
I've played a few, uh, "iconic" guitars.
Trigger, SRV's #1, and Albert Collins' Tele.
I can thank being a "music store guy" for getting the opportunities to see, and (gently) handle them.
The one I was most sorely tempted to play/touch was the Peter Green/Gary Moore/Melvin Franks/Kirk Hammet Les Paul.
It was on an exhibitor's table at the Arlington Guitar Show.
Unfortunately, it had a big ol' DO NOT TOUCH sign woven into the strings on fingerboard.
TEMPTED?
MIGHTILY!
It probably would have earned me a security guard escort out, and a lifetime ban.
It may have been worth it, but my "good boy" prevailed.
 

Wally

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……too many to recall...but…the most impressive was the 1953 Telecaster that I sold to Nacho and which he still has as of the last time I checked. That one was in his words a “tone monster guitar”. I have never played another Tele-type guitar that sounded anything like it…and that includes the Broadcaster he bought from me.
 

ChicknPickn

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So hard to say - - but maybe the best first impression of a rig I ever had was the first time I played a Strat, ever. A dentist friend invited me over and he had an American Standard plugged into a big Hughes and Kettner tube head. His playing room had a high ceiling and a nice natural reverb about it. I suddenly "got it" where Strats are concerned.
 

Travis1972

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Simple question - what is the coolest (and/or best sounding) gear you've ever gotten to play?

Now, I am a dedicated tele man, but I must say the coolest stuff I ever got to play was back when I was in school in Ithaca, NY - at the old Rumble Seat. I got to play a 1958 Korina Flying V and the Skinner Burst before Joe Bonamassa bought it.

Elliot let me plug them into a 100watt JMP Marshall through a 4x12 from the late 60s, which was the only time I ever got to play one of those too. Never experienced anything like that...was truly incredible on all accounts.

How about you?
 

Donny Osmond fan

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Simple question - what is the coolest (and/or best sounding) gear you've ever gotten to play?

Now, I am a dedicated tele man, but I must say the coolest stuff I ever got to play was back when I was in school in Ithaca, NY - at the old Rumble Seat. I got to play a 1958 Korina Flying V and the Skinner Burst before Joe Bonamassa bought it.

Elliot let me plug them into a 100watt JMP Marshall through a 4x12 from the late 60s, which was the only time I ever got to play one of those too. Never experienced anything like that...was truly incredible on all accounts.

How about you?

You will not believe this. 2 guitars both cheap. One is the older Gretsch gold top, basswood body nickel knobs single cut sounded amazing. 550 dollars. Played great.

Mitchell single cut Guitar Center in house brand. I have touched the new ones. But I never played them.

I fooled around with the older one. The quilt top. Natural wood binding. Alnico 10 pickups, coil split, locking tuners, really nice wood, neck, stainless steel frets, and neck profile.

Made like the ESP-LTD EC-100 Deluxe. Nice upper access to the upper frets. Sounded great. Only issue was it was hard to pull up the knob to coil split the pickups.

Both was great. But I got something else used that was more expensive new from a brand I always wanted.
 

aFewGoodTaters

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An old Hammond B3 and Leslie 122...I'm far from an organ / keys player, but man that was an awesome (and powerful!) rig to sit behind. A bit intimidating as well.

As far guitar gear is concerned, maybe my old '67 black panel Super Reverb? I don't have much experience with vintage guitar gear, but that amp is incredible.
 

Short on cash

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When I bought this...sounds great through any of my vintage amps. Sounds good through new amps as well !
 

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Travis1972

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A very early prs eagle through a vintage blues breaker! why the sadistic guitar shop guy would do that to a 17 yo idk but Ive had an itch for a vintage blues breaker ever since ,had a few clones and just didn’t do the same for me so not sure if the amp was just that awesome or just has been put on a pedestal in my brain for 30 years and now no actual amp will ever match that half remembered half imagined tone that Marshall had .
 

Ed Driscoll

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The one I was most sorely tempted to play/touch was the Peter Green/Gary Moore/Melvin Franks/Kirk Hammet Les Paul.
It was on an exhibitor's table at the Arlington Guitar Show.
Unfortunately, it had a big ol' DO NOT TOUCH sign woven into the strings on fingerboard.
TEMPTED?
MIGHTILY!
It probably would have earned me a security guard escort out, and a lifetime ban.
It may have been worth it, but my "good boy" prevailed.
I saw it at the 2006 Dallas Guitar Show, when it had the "do not touch" sign on the flight case:

100_0131-X2.jpg


100_0136-X2.jpg


100_0137-X2.jpg
 

ermandadana

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Simple question - what is the coolest (and/or best sounding) gear you've ever gotten to play?

Now, I am a dedicated tele man, but I must say the coolest stuff I ever got to play was back when I was in school in Ithaca, NY - at the old Rumble Seat. I got to play a 1958 Korina Flying V and the Skinner Burst before Joe Bonamassa bought it.
Showbox jiofi.local.html tplinklogin
Elliot let me plug them into a 100watt JMP Marshall through a 4x12 from the late 60s, which was the only time I ever got to play one of those too. Never experienced anything like that...was truly incredible on all accounts.

How about you?
At the time I was pretty floored by how all of a sudden I sounded like Boston, if Boston was about 13-14 and just learning how to play. It was pretty exciting, and in retrospect, a pretty shrewd offer...”this’ll keep him busy, and silent.”
 
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radiocaster

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That I don't own? Gretsch Tennessean, 1960s, Ampeg Reverberocket (6V6), Orange OR15.

Also Vox Phantom bass with effects (Delta IV).
 

wangdaning

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Got lucky, kind of, and got to play a lot through a 1918 Gibson L3. Frets are worn down, crack along the top, bridge held up with popsicle sticks, but man, the feel of that super thick neck and the ring of the notes coming out. My bro has to give it back to me, I know he can't play it right, he is left handed and a bassist.
 

JohnnyThul

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Well, maybe a little weird, but, the coolest piece of gear I ever played was an early 90's Steavens Poundcake 50 MK II with 6L6 . It's a modern multi channel amp, built in Germany to withstand any abuse (the PCB boards had traces like railways and were so sturdy as I have never seen after).
I bought it around 2002, not really knowing, what I bought, it was just an affordable mutli channel amp on ebay (back then on ebay you had maybe 300 auctions at all in Musical Instruments in Germany :)) and I bought it unseen.
To that point I never played any high end stuff, let alone classic Marshalls, so, I did not know much about sound. And I was just barely beginning playing guitar more decent.
I played the amp for 6 years or so, maybe 40 shows and 2 times a week on band practice. It never let me down, it always sounded perfect, I never used pedals with it, because, the thing just worked.
I sold it to my best friend, after I didn't had a band to use the amp in. He still has it and says, it's the one amp, that he will take to the grave.
When I sold the amp, I began to look into amps more detailed, but was more into Fender Blackface amps and Plexis. Then, when I had the itch for some hardrock again, I began looking for an amp that sounded just like my Steavens. I never found one. I tried all the modern classics, Bogner, Diezel, Soldano but none sounded like that amp.
I even tracked down another 50W MK II Poundcake with EL34's, but it didn't sound like my old one.
I then realized, that it was a special one. The sound haunted me and still does to a certain extent. But as I began to use pedals for overdrive sounds, that led me to another sound aesthetic.

But still, any time someone raves about the latest Hot Rod Marshall derivate I smile inside, knowing, that there is only one to rule them all (in my world) :)
 

elihu

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I picked up and played a blonde Gibson ES 350T that was supposed to have belonged to Chuck Berry.

Johnny B Good!
 
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