Polygamous Guitarists Unite

[phoenix 7]

Not that kind of polygamy -- I mean the kind where you can't play just one type of guitar - Strat, Tele, LP, etc. I really want to be monogamous and settle down with one guitar -- it would really simplify life! But it seems I can't -- I need to play my LP, my Strat AND my Tele every day. Gotta have the whammy bar on the Strat, gotta have those big fat bally LP tones, gotta have that badass Tele attitude. Can't do a gig without at least two of those three. I love them all too much to reject any one! This being The GAS Page, I doubt I'm alone.

[filtersweep]

I type mine by solid, semi- and hollow-body--- and thus far have "only" one of each.


What I don't understand is someone who needs 5 different strats, due the the nuances between models...

[nmiller]

I have two #1s, and they sound and feel totally different. I usually know which one will sound best with the material we're playing in a given night, but it seems that every time I just want the feel of the other guitar. I end up staring at both cases for a good ten minutes before making up my mind.

[lakehaus]

I don't gig, but I play everyday.

I love tone, and I've found I cannot get Fender tone from a Gibson and vice versa.

I love Fender tone the most, but have yet to get Tele tone from a Strat.

I love Gibson tone the most, but have yet to get SG tone from a LP.

Nothing sounds like a Gretsch.

If I had to live with just one amp tone, it would be the 5E3. I don't think I could live with just one guitar tone.

[ransacker]

I cycle through a true #1 and always retire the previous #1 to some alternate tuning or honoured place in the rotation.

[lifeson1]

LOL! I have two #1's myself, my Tyler Classic, and my Lifeson LP Axcess - Go Big or Go Home! Although I DO have a highly modded MIM strat, an Edwards LP Custom, and a partscatster walnut tele that I pull out on my dive bar gigs - the Tyler or Gibby won't make an appearance there. . . So, monogamy is out for me! Although, to push my strat/tele into LP territory I throw an EP Booster up front and that does come pretty darn close.

[Robert1950]

I prefer to have a few friends with benefits myself.

[Funkwire]

"Polygamous Guitarists" has such a nicer ring to it than "gear slut"!

[silvertone1481]

Is an SG different enough from a Flying V to count?

[TNJ]

I gig with either a PRS Custom 22, a Baker B1 Inferno, or a Gibson Dot Neck ES335 (Cherry ).

As the T-shirt says..."One Woman...MANY Guitars!".

S.
j

[SackvilleDan]

I definitely can't commit... the closest I come to polygamy is bringing an LP Standard and an LP with P90s to the same gig... I still can't be a one guitar kinda guy

[GAD]

I have to have at least:

A Strat
A Les Paul
A P90 Guitar
A Semi-hollow body
A Gretsch hollow body
A shredder
An acoustic
and...

[xjojox]

I generally gig with five....



I typically need a solidbody with hummers (LP/PRS/McInturff) and I often bring two (one with thicker tone, like an LP or McCarty and one brighter like a McInturff or superstrat w/bridge hummer). That covers most of the night. But I also bring a strat, typically with a few mods for broader tone possibilities, because some tunes just demand a strat and that's that. I bring an acoustic-electric for the "unplugged" set, which maybe doesn't count in the context of the conversation. I bring a custom tele that is strung very heavy and only used for altered tunings, which I'd just as soon leave home but a few of the drop-tuned songs are really popular. Drop the Q-stick set and those altered tuning songs and I can do two but prefer three. (I can get by without a tele since I'm not playing anything twangy live, but nothing sounds like one).

If I had to choose one guitar to cover as many bases as possible I could get by with a superstrat, HSS or HSH. If I went with a glued-neck, something brighter than a LP like a McInturff or PRS with some decent ability to get me into Fender territory.

Fortunately the penalties for guitar polygamy are limited to having to pay for them and having to schlepp them around, and one guitar doesn't seem to mind or get jealous when I play another. So I'm willing to carry a few extra to cover all my tone bases.

In terms of what I like to have in the stable, that's a whole 'nother subject! To paraphrase my friends above... nothing sounds like a Gretsch... or a nice hollowbody jazzer, or a semi-hollow, or a good tele, or something with lipstick tubes, and don't forget those P90's........

[fisticuffs]

I take 3 basses to gigs. All fretted, 4-stringers tuned to "E". They do sound different but it's pretty subtle. Mostly just GAS. I've been starting off with my G&L hollowbody ASAT, switching to the Jag Bass (up for sale in the emporium) for one song near the end of the first set where it actually does sound better than the other two, Pink Paisley for set #2. and back to the G&L for the third. I really need something that sounds drastically different like a Rick or fretless but I;d probably still bring too many to the gig.

[MKB]

I have 3 #1's, all Gibsons. The others are just tools, used when needed. Most gigs have only two guitars, a #1 Gibby and one of the tools (usually a Strat) for when a string breaks or when Sweet Home Alabama is requested.