Current Guitar Lineup

Ok, but that's what insulation and vapor barriers are for. If your house if affected that badly by outdoor temperature changes, I'd keep them in their cases.
I would highly suggest to you that things are not as uniform as you may think.

I have had a home constructed with 2”x6”s with lots of insulation. Even had it tested for leaks with a blower in the front door. Got a discount from the utility company. I am well aware of a properly insulated home.

A sun shining on an outside wall can rocket in temps.

Fun fact: one square foot of sunlight can melt sand into glass.

Science! ;)

Happy Birthday Sun GIF by Hallmark Gold Crown
 
Some of it will depend on the climate someone lives in too. Next time it’s freezing cold outside stick your hand on the wall to see if you feel any difference from the ambient temperature of the room. Small differences increase the potential for neck warping over time.
 
More pickup swaps!

Stratocaster: as noted before, I got a steal on a set of Dimarzio Injectors which I'm using now with the Area 67 middle. It sounds pretty good but I am not playing this guitar a ton.

Gibson Les Paul: my love/hate guitar. I had the BYO 59 Seth Lover clones in it, then got a good deal on a used set of Friedman Classics, which I tried for a bit. Like last time, the neck is just a little hot for this guitar. I ended up putting in the Dimarzio PAF Master neck and PAF 36th bridge from my PRS into here. The PAF Master is fairly clear for a humbucker and the 36th is hotter and fuller. It's better but still not ideal. At some point I may need to try some Lollartrons or something like that.

PRS CE-24: I put the Suhr Thornbuckers back in, which I like quite a bit. They are a little hi-fi sounding in this guitar, but that's alright. I had a set of Friedman Classics before that I liked in the PRS as well, and I may end up trying those in here again at some point. But the Thornbuckers are like clear and balanced PAF's which sounds great here.

PRS S2 Standard: I put some Duncans that I had in here, a Jazz neck and 59/Custom Hybrid bridge. This combo is great! I keep this guitar in drop tuning, and the brighter pickups help with the mahogany body while the hotter bridge is great for heavy stuff. Also I kind of like the uncovered zebra look.

Telecaster: I was noticing that the Area T Hot bridge pickup sounded a little thin and I wasn't digging it. I swapped it out for a Chopper T that I had sitting around which I previously found a little hot/dark, and now it sounds a lot better. It could actually be a bit fatter, but I tweaked the heights and now it's an interesting setup with the Area T neck. Full and clear single coil neck and kind of a lower output mini humbucker in the bridge.

Right now I need to better define what I'm looking for from my Les Paul, as it overlaps with my PRS CE-24 quite a bit, and I think that leads to some of my love/hate thing. All my other guitars have a good purpose:

Strat does the Strat thing
Tele does the Tele thing
Ibanez AZ is the do-it-all HSS guitar
PRS CE-24 is the do-it-all HH guitar
PRS S2 is in drop tuning for heavy stuff
 
Ran to Guitar Center last night to return the smaller Genelec speakers I bought, and they had just taken in a used PRS S2 McCarty 594. Played it for a little bit, and it's a real nice guitar. Has a nice bigger '59-ish neck, medium jumbo frets, feels very comfortable. Mint condition and about $500 off new price.

I know they don't give much for trade-ins, but I'm half considering dragging in my Les Paul and a few other things I have sitting around to see how far off it would be from the guitar.

Of course, I'm still kind of interested in semi-hollows, and I tested a some of the sub $1k models and they were okay, nothing amazing. Really wish there were some better models in the under-$2000 range.
 
So now I'm kind of leaning towards buying one of the newer cheap Epiphone 335's and not dumping my Les Paul (yet). I played a bunch of them yesterday and they're definitely better than before. I like the big neck on them...I don't have any big neck guitars. The fret edges were pretty smooth as well. I think they're on sale for $500 too, and I can still drag in some crap I'm not using.

Hmm...
 
Oh definitely. I have only bought...one guitar in the last few years?

I've also had my eye on semi-hollows for what seems like about five years. I could probably sneak into one of these and be out of pocket a couple hundred.

I like the standard red finish, but the flame tops are also pretty nice. I already have a flamed sunburst guitar though. The blue looks a little obnoxious but sometimes looks neat online. The dark red burst is also interesting looking.



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Kicked a bunch of tires but didn't buy anything. Tried out several Epiphone 335's, a PRS SE Hollowbody, a few Gretsch guitars, and a D'Angelico. They didn't have any Ibanez unfortunately.

I did determine that I like a bigger neck, which I don't currently have. The Epiphone 335 had the best neck as I liked the bigger 59 style especially at the nut. Most of them had 43mm nut width which I prefer as well. The PRS neck was good but not quite as good as the 335 neck or the S2 McCarty I played yesterday. Most of the Gretsch necks were a bit thin and the D'Angelico was really flat and thin which I didn't like.

Also, the Sire guitars only have a 40mm nut width and are smaller so they are out, which is a shame.

The PRS Hollowbody had the fullest unplugged sound, almost like a mini acoustic, which I also determined that I like. I kind of want a guitar that will sound good unplugged, between acoustic and solid body. The Epiphone unplugged was okay but kind of nasally. The small Gretsch guitars sounded like banjos but the bigger ones sounded better. I didn't get to play all the models but want to check out more hollow body Gretsch guitars, especially if I can find one with a bigger neck.

Plugged in, the PRS pickups were quite hot which I didn't like. The Epiphone pickups were more like PAF style and had a nice warmth and clarity. But I'm not sure how well they will adjust, I need to do more investigation. Looked like the neck pickups had some kind of shelf on the ring that locked them in place. The Gretsch filtertrons were too bright and the humbucker size were still a bit bright but better sounding. I think those would be interesting.

In terms of quality, the PRS SE was good but the strings were dead. Biggest frets of the bunch which I like. Epiphone was a little hit or miss, some were quite good, others were a bit rough, but none were terrible. Frets seemed more medium sized, a bit more vintage style. Gretsch were also hit or miss from very good to meh. One had nice medium jumbo and one had smaller frets.

Will keep doing some window shopping, maybe pull the trigger on something if there's a good deal.
 
Oh definitely. I have only bought...one guitar in the last few years?

I've also had my eye on semi-hollows for what seems like about five years. I could probably sneak into one of these and be out of pocket a couple hundred.

I like the standard red finish, but the flame tops are also pretty nice. I already have a flamed sunburst guitar though. The blue looks a little obnoxious but sometimes looks neat online. The dark red burst is also interesting looking.



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How about that new fangled Bonamassa sig 335 Epiphone just released??

I LOVE 335s. :love
:love
 
How about that new fangled Bonamassa sig 335 Epiphone just released??

I LOVE 335s. :love
:love

That one looks neat, but $1300 is steep, and I don't need all those bells and whistles.

I do think the cherry 335 is my favorite though. I may have to see if they have any new ones in the back.
 
That one looks neat, but $1300 is steep, and I don't need all those bells and whistles.

I do think the cherry 335 is my favorite though. I may have to see if they have any new ones in the back.

Has the CTS Pots and authentic Gibson USA pickups---which is worth a few bucks.

Only reason I mention it is because anything with Bonamassa on it from Epiphone
is limited release and they go up in $$ value---whereas a standard EPI 335 probably
won't.

Sounds like none of that is a concern for you, though.

Good luck! :)
 
Knowing myself, I'll probably end up swapping out the electronics and pickups at some point (which sucks on these kinds of guitars), so being loaded with that isn't as important. If it had a Bigsby and Burstbucker 1/2 instead of 2/3, and was a little cheaper I'd be way more interested. Also, knowing myself, if I really like it I'll be scheming up ways to find a USA model instead.

Speaking of, I should go check out the good guitar shops around me and kick tires on the real deal USA models. See what I'm missing.
 
Another interesting thing, I decided to try swapping pickups (...again...) in the PRS and Les Paul. This time I put the stock 85/15 USA pickups in the PRS and the Suhr Thornbuckers in the LP. I was surprised to find that the PRS actually was noticeably hotter and fatter than the Les Paul. The 85/15 pickups aren't that much hotter than PAF's on paper but in practice they seem to be a good couple notches more. I ended up having to raise the pickups in the LP more than expected, which brought out a nice amount of clarity, and now they actually sound really good. So I'm less inclined to sell it. I was surprised though, even with the Thornbucker Plus in the bridge, it's a little thin sounding.
 
Some of it will depend on the climate someone lives in too. Next time it’s freezing cold outside stick your hand on the wall to see if you feel any difference from the ambient temperature of the room. Small differences increase the potential for neck warping over time.
My main strat spent a couple years in my early stage office where I turned the heat off overnight every night in a coverted part of my detached garage, built on a slab, with R-13 insulation in walls...in Maine. i.e., it went through a freeze/thaw cycle every day for a very large portion of the year (with plenty of those "freeze" nights being below zero). There were other guitars that I had going through that (including my laminate Yamaha acoustic) and...honestly, temperature had no effect on any of them. The only change in playability I ever saw was the usual humidity transitions in spring/fall. The finish on the Yamaha kinda turned to :poop: with that treatment, but I didn't see any real problems at all with any of my electrics.

My example was extreme, and there's a decent chance I was just pretty lucky, but -- I can't really see any way that the low-level temperature fluctuations around an exterior wall, even in a cold climate, is going to cause any damage that the guitar isn't already going to suffer no matter how well you care for it.
 
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