And here are the 5 that I own in the order I acquired them after the great reset of the unexpected losses and house fire of 2021.
Taylor 514ce V-Class
Moved back to MA after the Maine house went up in flames. Had no guitars. Decided on having one again and put all the money into this Taylor without really planning to plug it in. Great intonation right out of the box on this acoustic, which I love. Plays well with 11’s and 10’s, and usually I’m using the 11’s for the fuller sound.
Breedlove Organic Solo Pro Concert CE Nylon - Edgeburst
A nice Nylon Acoustic is nice to have around. Still didn’t plan on ever plugging in again and figured I could jangle and noodle myself more so into a frenzy without tearing up my fingers like Jerry Garciaing on the steel string acoustic 11’s was doing.
PRS SE Hollowbody II – Charcoal Burst
My introduction to PRS and my first hollowbody. Got one of this model from Guitar Center and they basically took my money and sent me a broken guitar that would’ve needed immediate repairs to make it whole. (Pickup selector switch was snapped off.) I mean G.C. being an authorized dealer you figure they’d have got the guitar in complete working order before sending it to me at the new price. The incident along with some other happenings in my family make use pretty anti-Guitar Center/Musician’s Friend now. Anyway, we’ll stick to Sweetwater for long distance shipping, but I found the Charcoal Burst SE HBII on a Reverb listing from a more local Authorized PRS dealer, and went to see it in person. Love this guitar. Leaves just the right amount of what remains to be desired, which is fine. At least long before I’ll ever possibly have $ for a high end model I got to see that PRS is legit.
PRS SE Hollowbody II – Faded Blue Burst
The price went down and I wanted another one just for a different string gauge and type, setup differently. Originally I was trying bro’s Ibanez EKM10T Hollowbody for that but it lead me to want another PRS SE HBII which suits me better. Couple interesting things about this blue one is 1) it was shipped to me from Baltimore, so although not a Core guitar it was being sold by an authorized Baltimore dealer. 2) You can see that the stoptail is crooked and slanted in a way it is not on my Charcoal SE HBII. Intentional? Mistake? Don’t know but I got over it and kept it at the lower price and it intonated just fine. Notice that while I have the Yin-Yang on the Charcoal PRS and the crescent and star symbol on the Blueburst, the blue guitar has the red headstock tuner making for red, white, and blue.
Ibanez AEG5012 12-string - Dark Violin Sunburst
This has a nice feel and sound for a $330 guitar. My 1st 12-String, and actually the 1st 12-String I ever played aside from my Dad’s old Rickenbacker electric 12-String that I only tried strung up with 6.
And here’s my new guitar rack that fits my 5. I set it up as I started using my Vicks Embrace Cool Mist Top Fill Humidifier in the room and Boveda packs in the cases. As you can see I made it into a fancy high-tech hygrometer equipped guitar rack and I can actually dial in the humidifier's settings pretty damn accurately for the environment they’ll be sitting in. So between 44-53% I have watched it be in these guitars' environment since I started running the humidifier. I figure a slight rehydration wouldn't hurt. This has allowed me to keep my relief more stable during the winter season, and ultimately the guitars get to maintain better health. I also find it helps me pick up more guitars more often if they’re not cased up 99% of the time. Theory is that with more in reach I’ll increase the amount of time my hands are on guitars.
This runs on an Auto-Mode on the opposite side of the room according to it's own hygrometer, while the 3 hygrometers placed on the guitar rack track so I can be sure.
Also since getting the 1st PRS I’ve made my effects chain and played around with the order of the chain. The hollowbody PRS’s really do some nice things with harnessed feedback through this, and the Screamers before and after Compressor and before and after Wah all makes a difference. I also just add Amp emulators and a touch of Reverb after this chain with either the Native Instruments’ Guitar Rig 7 on PC or on what’s built in on my bro’s studio equipment. Still considering buying that Boss RV-6 Digital Reverb Pedal.
-> PRS SE HBII ->
-> DigiTech FreqOut ->
-> Ibanez TS9/808 AnalogMan Silver Mod Tube Screamer ->
-> AnalogMan Bi-Comprossor ->
-> Ibanez TS808 Tube Screamer ->
-> Morley 20/20 Wah Lock Wah ->
-> Ibanez Tube Screamer Mini ->
-> Boss NS-1X Noise Suppressor Pedal ->
-> Boomerang Looper ->
-> Audio Interface to Native Instruments’ Guitar Rig 7 on PC
So maybe I'm complete for a while.
