Want more? Check out Volume 1! To submit your #1 guitar for our next gallery, send an email with 1-3 photos and a caption describing the instrument to rebecca@premierguitar.com.
GALLERY: Show Us Your Gear - #1 Guitars, Vol. 2
"Croation picker Miholcic relies on this 1998 Fender Custom Shop Strat, serial #15, built by Herbie Gastelum. Miholcic says, ""It features a one-piece birdseye maple neck, alder body with quilt maple top, and excellent Floyd Rose Tremolo. It looks, and most importantly, sounds amazing. Texas sound in one guitar!"""
"Santilli's #1 guitar is one he built himself that he calls the Santilli Cafe Racer. The guitar is a single piece of poplar with a water-based finish. ""Over the years I've collected plenty of guitars to cover every tone I could think of,"" he says, ""But this guitar that I built a few years ago is just such a joy to play. The neck is very fast and the humbuckers can be tapped. I would say it sounds like an SG and a Tele. I've made a couple, but this is the one."""
Perkins' go-to is a 2006 Suhr Thinline with Brazilian rosewood fretboard.
Sansone plugs in a 1993 PRS EG-2 as his go-to guitar. The guitar features a duo of Lindy Fralin single-coils and a PRS humbucker.
"Among this ""Twang Trio,"" the far left guitar is Jacopec's go-to. It's a 2004 Fender Highway One Tele that's been modded with a Seymour Duncan '69 neck pickup and GFS Lil Puncher bridge pickup with a pull-up coil-tap wired to the tone control and a Joe Barden bridge plate with compensated brass saddles. He says, ""It's the lightest, most alive, most resonant Tele I've ever played. You can feel the string vibrations from the tip of the headstock and through the body. I love the fact that the thin Highway One finish relics naturally, and it really adds to the overall tone. I've owned a ton of Teles over the years, but I got really lucky when I found this one, hands down the best I've ever had."" "
"This 1997 Gibson '57 Historic Black Beauty is Dumanski's #1. He says, ""It's loaded with Gibson PAFs and it sounds insane!"""
"Veazey was one of a few of our readers who built their own #1 guitars. He refers to this one as the VZ Custom. The unfinished body and neck came from Musikraft, and it's stocked with Fender Noiseless pickups and a Joe Barden Vintage bridge. The body is ash with a purpleheart top and neck."
"This 2010 NAMM Nik Huber Redwood Dolphin is more than just a looker, according to Mazza. ""It's my most prized and thoroughly played guitar. What I love most about this gem is its ability to cover such a wide sonic spectrum. You can coax any type of music from her gullet."""
"McKinney's #1 guitar is a brand new 2011 MIM Fender Telecaster. ""I like it because it sounds awesome, it can do just about anything,"" he explains."
"DeMaio calls his PRS, ""World's Greatest Guitar."" He notes that the trem bar's cap is broken, the knob on the rotary pickup selector is missing, and there's no truss rod cover. ""These things on a premium guitar make my soul feel funny, in a good way. There is a method to this madness,"" he explains, adding, ""How does it sound? Likeи. me."""
"Mark turns to his American Fender Tele Deluxe, saying, ""[I'm] always amazed at the array of tones I'm able to get, whether it's straight to the amp or through my pedalboard. Simply amazing."""
"This custom ""partscaster"" is Gruber's #1, and only, guitar. ""And I love it, "" he says."
"Galensky couldn't choose just one favorite guitar, saying ""Between these, they pretty much cover all the bases, from blues to bluegrass, from rock to jazz, all in matching suits."" The instruments are all Gibsons with tobacco sunburst finishes: (bottom) an F5 ""Sam Bush"" model mandolin and an Advanced Jumbo Reissue, (top) a 1958 ES175 with PAF and a recent model ES-339. "
"Tyson put together his #1 guitar from a Warmoth mahogany body, Moses Graphite neck, and Kinman single-coil pickups. "
"This Strat, named Brownie 2, is pieced together from various Fender parts: a MIM '50s Strat body, Tex-Mex Strat neck, and Custom Shop Fat '50s pickups. "
"This 2004 Ibanez SZ520 is the least expensive of Carlson's five guitars, yet it's his go-to guitar. He says, ""It is sort of a Les Paul [style] with double horns and coil tapping. The Duncan/Ibanez pickups are very good. While my other guitars have their places, this is my can-do model. I love the Ibanez quality at the price point, and the SZ is a true workhorse."""
"Handmade by a Spanis master luthier now based in France, this AMV Custom Guitars Valkyrie has a myrtlewood/maple/mahogany sandwich body. ""The P-90 pickup sounds very 'roots,' and the Gibson scale neck is a model of comfort,"" explains Lucas, ""My best guitar I ever had."""
"Payton keeps it old-school (and envy-inducing) with this vintage duo from 1964. The Fender Jazzmaster is all-original, and he plugs it into an original Fender Deluxe Reverb amplifier. "
"Cleckler relies on a 2003 US-built Fender Telecaster HH in Chrome Blue. He says, ""Great weight, perfect neck, and a real screamer."""
"Named ""Miss Ruby,"" this MIM 1997 Fender Players Deluxe Strat was Morris' present to himself for five years of sobriety. ""I played every Strat in Indianapolis that I liked the looks of over that week. I played them unplugged for 15 minutes, and then picked out the best sounding one and amped it...Her wood is superb, her dry tones and sustain were so perfect, she made an American-made Hendrix Strat pale in comparison with unplugged sustain,"" he explained. He took the money he saved and spent it on a gold-plated brass pickguard and Joe Barden pickups, then modded it so each has an On/Off/On mini switch. ""Each pickup has in-phase, off, and out-of-phase potential,"" he explains, ""I can get any sound that these Bardens will give me and man does this girl rock."""
"Miller's rig is anchored by his favorite guitar, a PRS CE 22. ""A PRS CE22, a Hot Rod Deluxe, some Line 6, Tull and Fogelbergиthese are a few of my favorite things!"""
"My #1 is a 2010 Gibson Les Paul Traditional Plus in Honey Burst finish, says Hansen. ""After trying thirty or forty Les Paul guitars around town in my pursuit for the ultimate one, I just couldn't find a guitar that I bonded with. I decided to take a gamble and order a brand new Traditional, straight from Gibson's factory through Long & McQuade... Wow. This guitar has been there by my side since that fateful April day in 2010. It's the best guitar I've ever owned, and I've owned quite a few over the last couple years. I have yet to modify it other than having a bone nut installed. The playability and tone are superb, and it's a testament to why Gibson guitars have the name they do."""
"You may have a special bond with your guitar, but Southard loved his Gretsch 6118 Anniversary (Annie) model so much he and his wife named their daughter after it! Her name? Annabelle (Annie) Gretschen Southard. "
"Stuhr's first hot-rodded axe is also his favorite. This early '80s Kramer Striker ""Intimidator"" has a DiMarzio Dual Sound humbucker in the bridge Fender American Standard single-coils in the neck and middle positions. The guitar has an extra three-way switch that selects between humbucker, standard single-coil, and zero-hum single-coil modes. "
"This Warmoth Greenie was inspired by Steve Vai's Charvel days, says Funk. It's loaded with DiMarzio pickups and a Schaller Floyd Rose tremolo."
"When Malikon sent in his photos, the introduction said it all, ""Hi, I'm Malikon and this is my loverи.erи.guitar."" The front guitar, a Limited Edition Fender FSR HH Super Strat, is his workhorse. ""With the humbuckers and coil tapping, there's almost nothing it can't do, from jazz to death metal and everything in between."""
"Cigar box guitarist Speal has relied on this guitar for 15 years. He built it in 1996 using an empty cigar box, stick from Home Depot, and three guitar strings. He plays it with a 3/4"" socket slide, and has everyone he shares the stage with autograph it. ""This axe has been on almost every album I've recorded,"" Speal says, ""It has the sound of total deep blues. There's nothing like it. As you can see, I'm slowly wearing a 'Willie Nelson' hole in it!"""
"Peterson bought this 1978 Gibson Les Paul Custom in silverburst brand new on his 18th birthday. The finish has since faded to an eye-catching green. He says, ""She's a heavy beast, but I love her."""
"MacFee isn't quite sure of the year of this Carvin DN612 Koa, but he estimates it to be around 1984. This double-neck beauty is loaded with Seymour Duncan JB and 59 pickups."
This 1993 PRS CE-24 has been Belknap's #1 since the day he found it in a pawn shop in 1994. I have had the neck stripped and refinished with 80 coats of gunstock oil,"" he says of the guitar's modifications. ""After trying four replacement pickup sets, I chose Dragon IIs as the best match for this maple-topped alder body. The DOA 5-way rotary was switched out for the popular 3-way toggle and push-pull tone control. Replaced the chrome tuning keys with ebony, and replaced all plastic parts possible on the guitar with brass parts. Numberless amber speed knobs replaced the original speed knobs, long gone by time of purchase."""
"Russ Schneider, aka Sugapablo, calls this beauty the ""White Strat of Eternal Hope."" The guitar is a Fender Standard Stratocaster that's been customized with Fender Hot Noiseless pickups, Killer Guitar Components Brass Tremolo Block, Graph Tech TUSQ DX Slotted Nut and Saddles, and upgraded components."
"This stunning Gibson Les Paul Classic Antique was offered as a Gibson Guitar of the Week in 2007. 400 of the guitars were made in Fireburst finish. ""After trying out several Les Pauls, I kept coming back to this one,"" Fernandez explains, ""It plays very nicely, and the Classic 57 pickups really sing."" "
"This 1994 Carvin TL60T recently underwent some upgrades: Torrence rewired it with a pair of Seymour Duncan P-Rails, a Shadow Kill Pot, and a ToneStyler. ""Delicious!"" he says."
"Kneiblher says of his Epiphone Emporer Regent, ""Acoustically loud and tuneful. I choose this over my Larrivee D9 these days."""
"This Heartfield EX-2 has been Madson's #1 guitar for over 21 years, purchased in the summer of 1989. He had the original electronics swapped in 1990 for the EMG SA/89 combination with a splittable bridge pickup and fat boost. He says, ""Light, resonant, and usually the go-to guitar, even after all these years."""
"Dora's Ernie Ball Music Man Silhouette Special is a limited edition color called Gunsmoke Pearl. He says, ""It's been heavily modified with a custom pickguard, DiMarzios, simplified controls, and stainless steel frets. I have never had another instrument that is so easy to play and adapts itself so well to my needs. It is an extension of myself."""
"Lehtinen relies on this 1994 MIJ Vintage 62 RI Fender Stratocaster when riffing in Finland. The guitar has a ""fotoflame"" top and Suhr V60LP pickups."
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