When 2023 start, I thought I had my guitar situation mostly figured out. Surprisingly, it turned into a revolving door of guitars.
Let’s break this down a bit.
- Gibson Les Paul Classic
- GFS Pro Alnico V pickups
- Gibson Les Paul Traditional
- Classic ’57s pickups
- PRS SC245 Ted McCarty Soapbar
- Fender Roadworn Telecaster
- Bare Knuckle True Grit pickups
- Fender Telecaster
- Seymour Duncan Antiquity II mini (neck)
- GFS Power Rock (bridge)
- Fishman VT Powerbridge piezo bridge
- Fender P-Bass Deluxe
- Session Les Paul Custom copy
- Epiphone ES-339
- Squier Classic Vibe ’60s Stratocaster
- Squier Classic Vibe ’70s Jaguar
- Squier Classic Vibe Late ’60s Jazz Bass
I also started out the year with the following amps:
- Fender ’65 Princeton Reverb
- Mesa Express 5:25
I thought I was set. I had a lot of different sounds covered, and that’s a pretty strong line up. Then September happened.
The more I played the Squier Classic Vibe Jazz Bass, the more I realized that, with some fretwork and a good setup, I didn’t need my P-Bass Deluxe. I actually preferred the sound of the Jazz Bass.
I posted it up and quickly found a buyer who’d been itching for one of exact model I was selling. That same day, I noticed a new listing on Facebook Marketplace…that was a year old. The listing was for a Fender Strat (maybe a Vintera?) and a Dr. Z Maz 18 Jr, both at an incredible price.
“That’s odd”, I thought to myself. I sent the guy a message basically saying “I know it’s unlikely that the amp is available, but is it?” and waited. He took a moment to respond, but, to my surprise, he said it was. He was located a good hour long drive away in Rockwall, but off we went.
I bought that amp for the exact amount I sold my P-Bass Deluxe for. It was an absolute steal, perhaps one of the best deals I’ve ever found.
I got it home, hooked it up, and almost immediately knew that the Princeton Reverb was displaced. I listed it for the going rate and soon after found someone wanting to trade. Little did I know how much my collection was going to change, and those changes started within the next 24 hours.
Rather than go into detail that happened each step of the way, I’ll list things out, in order as best I can remember.
- Bought: Squier Contemporary Series Stratocaster
- Traded: Fender ’65 Princeton Reverb
- Fender Partscaster Strat with Vintage Noiseless pickups and a mid-boost Clapton mod
- Line 6 Helix LT
- Traded: Squier Classic Vibe ’60s Strat (original pickups reinstalled)
- LTD MF-1000 with EMG Het Set pickups
- Epiphone SG G400 with an upgraded humbucker
- Traded: CK Lab VJR and LSDelay
- ’97 Squier Affinity Stratocaster
- Traded: LTD MF1000, Epiphone SG, and ’97 Squier Strat
- Partscaster Telecaster with Daphne/Sonic Blue double-bound body, SK Custom T-90 neck pickup, and Amalfitano “Boutique” bridge pickup
- Traded: Gibson Les Paul Traditional
- Gibson Les Paul Traditional Pro V Satin
- Bought: Custom made Watson Tone Supply Double Header and Slugger low-wind pickups and an Emerson wiring harness
- Installed in Les Paul Classic. Removed GFS Pro Alnico V pickups
- Sold: Line 6 Helix LT
- Sold: Session Les Paul Custom
- Bought: two Sterling Axis AX3FM guitars (blue and yellow)
- Bought: Fender Chris Shiflett Telecaster Deluxe
- Traded: Gibson Les Paul Traditional Pro V Satin
- Fender Deluxe Nashville Power Telecaster
- Gibson Les Paul Junior Tribute DC
- Swapped: Bare Knuckle True Grits in the Roadworn tele with T-90 and Amalfitano that were in Partscaster Tele
- Bought: Fender Deluxe neck with Fender locking tuners
- Installed on Partscaster Strat. Removed previous neck from Blacktop HH Strat with Floyd nut
- Sold: Fender neck from Blacktop HH Strat with Floyd nut
- Traded: Sterling Axis AX3FM (blue)
- Squier 40th Anniversary Jazzmaster (Vintage Edition)
- Sold: Squier 40th Anniversary Jazzmaster (Vintage Edition)
- Traded: the Partscaster Tele with Bare Knuckle True Grit pickups
- Jet Pedals Lion
- Emerson Custom Paramount (Chalk Edition)
- Old Blood Noise Endeavors Float
- Boss DS-1 (volume mod)
- Traded: the Gibson Les Paul Junior Tribute DC
- Kit Build Les Paul with Gibson 490r/498t pickups
- Line 6 HX Stomp with extension footswitch
Whew. That’s a lot of stuff…19 different transactions, and I might have missed a couple here and there. Hope it wasn’t too hard to follow.
- Gibson Les Paul Classic
- Watson Tone Supply Double Header neck
- Watson Tone Supply Slugger bridge pickups
- Emerson wiring harness
- PRS SC245 Ted McCarty Soapbar
- Fender American Professional II Stratocaster (to be sold)
- Fender Roadworn Telecaster
- SK Custom T-90 neck pickup (like a P-90 or humbucker)
- Amalfitano “Boutique” bridge pickup
- Fender Power Telecaster
- Seymour Duncan Antiquity II mini humbucker in the neck
- GFS Power Rock in the bridge
- Fishman VT Powerbridge
- Fender Deluxe Nashville Power Telecaster
- Fender Tex-Mex pickups
- Fishman VT Powerbridge
- Squier Contemporary Series Stratocaster
- Texas Special neck and middle
- DiMarzio Super Distortion bridge
- New switches
- neck and middle in series/off/neck in middle in parallel (classic 4th position strat)
- (when neck switch is in series): neck/both in series/middle
- bridge in series/off/parallel
- Squier Classic Vibe ’70s Jaguar
- Squier Classic Vibe Late ’60s Jazz Bass
- Push/Push pot for pickups in Series
- Squier Vintage Modified Tele Custom I (setup as Nashville Tuning)
- Les Paul Kit Build (might be sold)
- Gibson 490r in neck
- Gibson 498t in bridge
- Sterling Axis AX3FM (to be sold)
- GFS Pro Alnico V humbuckers
- Big John Humbucker World Series wiring
- Partscaster Strat (to be sold)
- Vintage Noiseless pickups
- Mid-boost Clapton mod
There’s definite more of a story to tell. Here are some highlights:
- The Squier Contemporary Series Stratocaster is identical to my first “real” electric guitar, down to the custom color. I know it’s not the same guitar because I parted it out and sanded down the original body
- I really loved that Les Paul Traditional. The original owned made repeated attempts to get me to trade it back to him, but accepted that I didn’t want to each time. He finally made an offer and I accepted against my better judgement because I’ve been in his shoes where I regretted letting something go and tried desperately to get it back. I was hoping that I was putting some gear karma back into the world, but alas, the person that holds the instrument I want back was a bit of an asshole about it.
- When I originally created this post (12/22/23), I still owned a Fender Chris Shiflett Telecaster, but I traded it for a Fender American Professional II Stratocaster on 12/31 AND bought a Squier Vintage Modified Tele Custom I on 12/28/23. I jumped the gun by making this post
- Man, if I got started on my pedal journey this year, it’d be another massive post
Either way, if you find yourself here and you’ve read this entire thing, thanks for taking the time.
In a world of noise, be sound.
– KC
