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Let's talk about that single guitar that means the most to you, the treasured one, the one that you wouldn't borrow to anybody not even if they offered you a thousand bucks.
In my case that honor goes to "The Veteran" which is a 1989 Squier Stratocaster in Lipstick red.
I bought this guitar new on my fifteenth' birthday back in 1991 to replace a cheap Telecaster copy with an Yngwie Malmsteen approved scalloped neck, the damn thing just wouldn't stay in tune. I knew I wanted a strat and I had saved up enough money to buy myself a Squier, the shop from which I bought it carried Squiers in Black and in white, only one example came in red and I bought it. This particullar shade of Red was apparently a rare color for squier because I haven't seen another one since. The Squier became my main guitar as I started gigging with it almost the day after I got it.
Later as I entered my final teen years and passed the 20 mark in age I began to experiment with the guitar, it became all covered up in stickers and I eventually began replacing the stock single coils for something more powerful, putting in several Humbuckers in the bridge position before settling on a Dimarzio DLX soapbar pickup, leaving the empty holes where the neck and middle pickup sat vacant. And I replaced the original neck (I never really liked the profile of that neck anyway) with a Telecaster neck and to keep the sweetheart in tune I installed a Kahler vibrato. In that guise "The Veteran" survived for many years.
Here I am playing "The Veteran" live. December 2004
Last year I decided to clean "The Veteran" up, I removed all the stickers, replaced the pickguard and put the neck and middle pickups back in.
But wear and tear began to rear their ugly heads and it became apparent that the old faithful was ready to retire. So I brought her back to strat hood by installing a 1985 Squier Strat neck, replacing the Dimarzio with a single coil and wiring it all up like a Strat is supposed to be wired. I did keep the Kahler vibrato, loving the smooth way it worked and the way it kept my guitar in tune.
So as a tribute, I made a matching copy of "The Veteran" using the Dimarzio and a similar Kahler bridge. A playable snapshot of "The Veteran" as it looked with the tele neck. I routed the body myself it became a real labour of love, the resulting guitar got the nickname "The Rookie"
But "The Rookie" didn't replace "The Veteran" as my main guitar as I intended it to do, my red Epiphone Les Paul did that.
Just today, I came home and I noticed that "The veteran" was missing from the stand, suspecting my younger brother (Who also is my next door neighbour) who owns a key to my appartment, knew more of it, I decided to check things out ant his place, and sure enough, there it was. Before I walked out with "The Veteran" I told him:
"Look, if you want to borrow a guitar please ask me first and second, you can borrow any guitar you want from me EXCEPT the red one, NOBODY but me touches that guitar, understood?"
In my case that honor goes to "The Veteran" which is a 1989 Squier Stratocaster in Lipstick red.
I bought this guitar new on my fifteenth' birthday back in 1991 to replace a cheap Telecaster copy with an Yngwie Malmsteen approved scalloped neck, the damn thing just wouldn't stay in tune. I knew I wanted a strat and I had saved up enough money to buy myself a Squier, the shop from which I bought it carried Squiers in Black and in white, only one example came in red and I bought it. This particullar shade of Red was apparently a rare color for squier because I haven't seen another one since. The Squier became my main guitar as I started gigging with it almost the day after I got it.
Later as I entered my final teen years and passed the 20 mark in age I began to experiment with the guitar, it became all covered up in stickers and I eventually began replacing the stock single coils for something more powerful, putting in several Humbuckers in the bridge position before settling on a Dimarzio DLX soapbar pickup, leaving the empty holes where the neck and middle pickup sat vacant. And I replaced the original neck (I never really liked the profile of that neck anyway) with a Telecaster neck and to keep the sweetheart in tune I installed a Kahler vibrato. In that guise "The Veteran" survived for many years.
Here I am playing "The Veteran" live. December 2004
Last year I decided to clean "The Veteran" up, I removed all the stickers, replaced the pickguard and put the neck and middle pickups back in.
But wear and tear began to rear their ugly heads and it became apparent that the old faithful was ready to retire. So I brought her back to strat hood by installing a 1985 Squier Strat neck, replacing the Dimarzio with a single coil and wiring it all up like a Strat is supposed to be wired. I did keep the Kahler vibrato, loving the smooth way it worked and the way it kept my guitar in tune.
So as a tribute, I made a matching copy of "The Veteran" using the Dimarzio and a similar Kahler bridge. A playable snapshot of "The Veteran" as it looked with the tele neck. I routed the body myself it became a real labour of love, the resulting guitar got the nickname "The Rookie"
But "The Rookie" didn't replace "The Veteran" as my main guitar as I intended it to do, my red Epiphone Les Paul did that.
Just today, I came home and I noticed that "The veteran" was missing from the stand, suspecting my younger brother (Who also is my next door neighbour) who owns a key to my appartment, knew more of it, I decided to check things out ant his place, and sure enough, there it was. Before I walked out with "The Veteran" I told him:
"Look, if you want to borrow a guitar please ask me first and second, you can borrow any guitar you want from me EXCEPT the red one, NOBODY but me touches that guitar, understood?"
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