NGD: Eric Johnson Stratocaster Rosewood

After a weekend of deciding whether or not I could live with or without the rosewood version of the Eric Johnson Stratocaster, I went ahead and pulled the trigger.  What. A. Trigger.

Buick Lucerne Aqua Firemist?

Apologies for the pics. I'll get around to proper pictures this weekend, along with a review.

 This is probably the first time ever that the purchase of one guitar has made me appreciate another guitar more. Unsurprisingly, the subtle differences between this and my maple board version seem to compliment each other perfectly. One is not really an better than the other, but variations of the same excellent theme.

I'll get into that more in a future review post, but suffice to say if you love one, have both.

Decisions, Decisions

Hindsight is 20/20.  I wasn't immediately sold on the purchase.

With the posting of this guitar having caught my attention like few others have, I struggled with the idea of another major guitar purchase.  Buying bargain basement guitars like the Squier 51 is one thing, but throwing considerable scratch at something like this is another entirely.  The only way I was going to justify this purchase was telling myself that I'd sell a few other pieces to bring me closer to even on the transaction.

That all seemed fairly obvious, but it raised a more important question: Which guitars would I sell?

Aside: Thanks to the folks at the strat-talk.com forums for serving as free addiction counselling through this first-world ordeal.

Right off the bat, there are some guitars I will absolutely not sell.  These are:

  1. The Black American Series Telecaster - My First US guitar
  2. The White Blonde Eric Johnson Stratocaster (Maple) - My favorite guitar
  3. The Sonic Blue Blacktop Stratocaster - Because reasons.
  4. The Yamaha Pacifica - Oldest guitar.  Sentimental.  Not worth anything anyway.
None of these are going anywhere.
Then, there are the rest:
  1. The Vintage White Squier 51 - Acquired Recently.  Would have no concerns selling.
  2. The CAR Squier Vintage Modified Jaguar - I really dig this guitar, especially after the new bridge and tuners, but it's not in the primary rotation.  A utility player I might be able to live without?  Love the shape and colour though...
  3. The Gibson Les Paul Studio - Second time I've owned a Studio, second time I've considered selling (or sold). Have finally gotten this guitar where I want it in terms of setup, but it is clearly the guitar that would yield the greatest return.
  4. The Epiphone Les Paul Standard - Purchased at a great price.  Should yield decent ROI.  On the other hand, daughter nicknamed it "Honey Chocolate Brownie", and it's the only name that has stuck.  Damn sentiment.
  5. The "others" - A Vantage Electric that has been stripped, painted green, and sewn back together... A Yamaha jumbo acoustic not worth much...
Would I need to sell all four of "the rest"?  Of course not, but of the four, only the Squier 51 enjoys zero attachment.  

Final Answer?

I'm not ready to make these decisions, but I have posted them all for sale.  There have been more than a few offers for the Studio, though none that have me ready to say goodbye forever.  The Epiphone got a trade offer for a Squier Pro Tone Stratocaster, which had my attention, but the pictures received showed a guitar heavily "loved", with many modifications.

The fingerboard is the most concerning

As is the case with most things, patience will likely pay off.  Selling the Squier 51, plus one other piece, should be just enough for me to put this little mental annoyance to bed.  In the end, it really isn't about the money, it's about curating the collection.

... At least that's what I keep telling myself.

Popular posts from this blog

Squier Jaguar Review - What do you mean, modified?

Image
Quick Update:  Restringing the Stratocaster with the System III requires the patience of a saint.  I'm not going to go through the many stages of anger, frustration, denial, acceptance, and final victory, but suffice to say there might have been a bit of crying.  Squier Vintage Modified Jaguar I bought this guitar on a whim.  Over some holiday gathering, I went to a music store with my brother.  This caught my eye, and the price was right (Less than $300 out the door).  Sure it had issues right off the bat, but it was soooo cool. Let's get something out of the way - I have no idea why this is part of the "Vintage Modified" series and not the "Classic Vibe" series. You see, the Vintage Modified series is supposed to be a collection of classic designs with a few modern popular updates. This definitely isn't that. WTF is modified here? As Lee Anderton rightly pointed out (see video below), this is pretty much a spot on recreation of the orig
Read more

Pacifica 112 vs. Squier Standard Stratocaster

Image
My recent Squier Standard Stratocaster has me thinking about entry level guitars, and specifically the first new electric guitar I purchased, a Yamaha Pacifica 112.  They're great guitars if you ask me, but for obvious reasons don't get the exposure a "real Stratocaster" does (as real  as a Squier can be I suppose). A comparison of the two may be apt. A Squier Stratocaster lists for $289.99 on L&M , while a new Yamaha Pacifica 112J will set you back $239.99 plus tax.  I seem to recall that the Yamaha and a hard case ran me just over $400, so we're about exactly where we were 20 years ago in terms of price.  Weird. Don't expect a comprehensive review of either guitar - that really isn't the point.  I want to talk about a few differences that indicate where your money is going and hope you can figure the rest out yourself. Yamaha Pacifica 112 / Squier Standard Stratocaster The Yamaha was my second electric, purchased sometime around 1995.  Th
Read more

Squier Vintage Modified Jaguar: Trade Bait?

Image
I bought my Squire Vintage Modified Jaguar on a weekend while visiting my parents. I had decided that I needed to get out of the house for a little while. Aside from going to the mall, there's not much more to do than visit the music store, which is all the excuse I need to wander around Long and McQuade for an hour.  This was back in the day when I still knew most of the people who worked there, including the owner. Well, I say the owner; he wasn't the owner anymore, but he WAS the owner, and then the manager prior to his retirement retirement. At any rate, I went there with my wife and poked around. I saw these Jaguars and Jazzmasters that I had recently watched reviews for on YouTube. Lee Anderton and Rob Chapman had raved about them, except for the bridge, which was the same as the original design and didn't lend itself to bending. But they had a solution: if you ordered a Musicmaster bridge (I'm not sure if that's the model from Allparts anymore), it would fit
Read more

1985 Contemporary Stratocaster Review

Image
I'm really not looking forward to this... Despite being an overall fantastic guitar, I'm a little apprehensive about restringing the damn thing. This particular Stratocaster came into my possession strung with 9s, and strung poorly at that.  The locking nut eliminates this from being much more than a minor gripe from a tuning stability standpoint, but I'm accustomed to 11s on most of my guitars, and playing this just isn't comfortable. There are a lot of things to like about the Fender System III tremolo, but the process of restringing doesn't seem to be one of them.  I haven't taken the plunge yet, but it seems that the online community is universally in agreement - It is a total pain in the ass, and there's no good way to do it.  I'd have to imagine this was a contributing factor to Fender not continuing to use this system (though I bet the introduction of the roller nut on the USA Stratocaster Plus models was the real culprit/hero). Mor
Read more