9.2 - My Instruments
I have a Yamahha FG-340 Acoustic which I call my "Lucky Yamaha" or "LY" because it plays and sounds better than my old Martin HD-28 did (and which I subsequently got rid of.) I use the LY for all my acoustic work. No, it's not for sale.
I've been told there are three versions of the FG-340. Mine has a three-piece back, with the center piece being black and the outer two pieces being natural wood finish and mirror pieces of the same piece of wood, a two piece top, also mirror pieces of the same piece of wood, Yamaha tuners, and cream binding (or at least, white binding that is now cream colored because this isn't all that young an instrument these days.) The image below shows both sides of my particular instrument, complete with all its scars and other badges of honor.
Yamaha FG-340
On the electric side, the king by default of my collection is an old CBS-era, '74 Fender Stratocaster that I've had since it was made. This thing is hacked to death. I pulled out the neck and bridge pickups and popped in Gibson humbuckers. I reamed out the area under the pickguard (with an electric drill — hey, I was a teenager, what did I know?) and installed some custom electronics for sustain, overdrive and distortion. I pulled a couple of springs off the vibrato (which had little effect, because I threw the whammy bar out) so I'd have somewhere accessible to jam a 9v battery. The frets are original, and they are beat. You can see exactly where I most like to play by the indentations beaten into them. The body cracked out by one wing as a result of my over-zealous work with the drill, and I ended up breaking off three toggle switches in the pickguard because I was always hitting them during a performance. Now that you couldn't easily turn the electronics on and off, I pulled the knobs off the sliders too, and so it's got these low-profile spikes, sort of a goth rip-your-skin-off booby trap if you don't play the guitar just so. Mostly, this guy stays on the wall these days because the Strat neck is so thin that my hands have trouble isolating individul strings. The guitar still sounds, and plays, wonderfully. It's just me that doesn't work that well any more.
The three guitars I play the most are a Washburn MG-74, a Schecter Devil Tribal archtop, and an Ibanez "Flying Squid." These are like the Yamaha in that when played, they put the lie to their otherwise unimpressive genesis. Korean made necks and mass produced bodies and finish have, somehow, culminated in three guitars from three different companies that I consider to be about as good as you can get. Ultra fast actions, clean and reliable tonality, toasty pickups and dead quiet passive electronics. I love these three; all retail for under a grand and I paid far less for them.
I also have a Goth monster of a guitar with delusions of greatness, a B C Rich "New Jersey Beast" which, though quite interesting looking, even a bit frightening, isn't nearly the guitar it thinks it is. I drag it out for screaming metal songs where finesse isn't an issue. Females tend to move further away when I play it. Guys spontaneously combust into discussions of Ozzie. It's really kind of funny.
For bass, I have an old, heavy Gibson Les Paul (4-string, of course.) I don't play it. It's a backbreaker, plus its a four string, and I'd just as soon not go back there, thank you. It's collectable, so I keep it, but that's about it.
After years and years of playing basses, buying them, selling them, I finally found what is, to me, the Holy Grail of bass: The Ibanez SRX 705 5 string. I promptly sold every other bass I owned except the Les Paul.
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