The Herd Mentality, Part 1: the First Dozen

So, I have quite a few guitars now. Most of them have come from eBay, and most of them were bargains. I have a little problem, though; I can't actually tell you exactly how many I have, because I don't know. It's time to take inventory. Here are the first dozen.

I don't have enough space to keep them all at home, so at any given time, a rotating selection of instruments is in a climate-controlled storage unit. I try to keep them all in hard cases wherever possible, which protects them from getting knocked around, but also helps protect them from sudden humidity or temperature shifts. That's the theory, anyway. The guitars in storage look like this:


I recently pulled them out to check on them, photograph them for insurance purposes, and record the serial numbers. Here are the cases lined up:


That's a dozen, plus a couple of gig bags that I wanted to save. Here's a roll call:

1. Squier Super-Sonic, silver sparkle. I actually have three Super-Sonics; this one is A016447. Two of the Super-Sonics, were featured in Guitar Pron 5. This one is in excellent condition with no issues, as is the blue one; the other silver ones has some electronics issues and currently has its guts hanging out waiting for me to finish fixing it.

2. Squier Venus, black. Set up with 10s. Featured in Guitar Pron 10. No issues; this guitar is in excellent shape. It is one of the best-sounding guitars in my collection, especially with the single-coil pickup.

3. Squier Venus, sunburst. Set up with 10s. This one has some minor electronics issues and is waiting to go up to Elderly. I need to take some outdoor photos of both the Venus guitars; they just don't photograph well with a flash.

4. Godin LG. Featured in Guitar Pron 9. I have a new bridge for this guitar, to replace the chewed-up bridge height screw. I think I can do that repair by myself without any trouble; I just haven't gotten to it yet. (Are you sensing a recurring theme here?)

5. Peavey Firenza, USA model, with two P-90 pickups. Set up with 11s. This is an amazing guitar. It's built like a tank, and the pickups sound absolutely fantastic. I'd put it up against any Gibson with P-90s. I'll have to do a write-up about it, and record it. I'm keeping an eye out for another one of these, preferably a minty tobacco sunburst model. This one needs some minor fret work; it's been played heavily, but has no serious damage at all. It's a gorgeous guitar, although this photo doesn't really do it justice:


6. Peavey Limited HB, natural flame maple top. This guitar was featured in Guitar Pron 6. It is probably the prettiest instrument I've got, and it sounds great too.

7. Peavey T-60, natural ash body with rosewood neck. This one is a somewhat battered player, but it is an earlier T-60, built incredibly well, and has been beautifully maintained, and sounds and feels great. In fact, the action and "play feel" is the best of any guitar in my collection, with the possible exception of the Parker Fly. With scratches and buckle rash, though, it isn't all that photogenic. Here is a shot:


It needs a new output jack. It's one of the long through-the-body types, and the wiring on these is elaborate and delicate, so it is going up to Elderly.

8. Peavey T-60, natural ash body, maple neck. This is the most common kind of T-60. This one is in pretty good condition, but I'm just not a big fan of the maple-necked T-60s. They don't feel quite as nice to me as the models with the rosewood fretboards. I'd consider selling this one (via eBay) at some point. The glue holding the interior velvet-colored panels in the case has deteriorated and so it needs some kind of restoration work on the case. I might try to hot-glue it. I still watch T-60s go by, but I'm also keeping an eye out for just the right T-15, or T-27, or even a T-40 bass.

9. Squier Jagmaster. I have a love-hate relationship with this guitar. It has a neck pocket issue; the fit and finish just isn't quite up to the standards of the other members of the Vista series. Some of the Jagmasters have the truss rod adjustment at the headstock, like the Super-Sonics, but this one has one of those traditional Fender necks where you must partially remove the neck to get to the truss rod. I really don't like that. When I removed the neck, a big chunk of finish alongside the neck pocket came with it. It's also got an overly heavy body. However, it sounds really good, and I love short-scale instruments. Like I said, a love-hate relationship. I'm keeping my eyes out for another one, with the truss rod adjustment at the headstock. I've seen several go by on eBay, but they are either very damaged, have been heavily modified, or are priced far too high for me.


10. Godin Freeway 4-string bass. I'll have to write this one up too; they are real bargains. It would be a great first bass for a student. This one is set up with flat-wound strings and has a very nice mellow tone.


11. Peavey Limited ST, tiger's eye flame. This guitar was featured in Guitar Pron 1.

12. Peavey T-60, Iced Tea Burst. This guitar was featured in Guitar Pron 4.

That's it for now. More later!