Your gear over the years

[guitarguru777]

Post photos / pics / stories about all the gear you have had over the years. Good or Bad!

The very first "professional" guitar I ever purchased myself. picked it up for $400 in 1998 from some guy who had it in his attic. Original case and original sales recipt in the case. All parts, and the bridge still had the cover on it when I purchased. It was played ONCE before I bought it. Unfortunately I lost it in my divorce along with the rest of my collection below.

So after purchasing the Jem above i got on a Jem kick for quite a few years. This is the collection I sold to Ed Roman in 2002 to finance the divorce. God I hate that bitch....

My Jem and Universe collection minus the VBK above cause it was in for a re-fret / setup.

My very first 7 String guitar $200 from a local shop in New York. Dream Theaters Six Degrees had just come out and I HAD to have a 7 String.

My Blue Floral Jem that I purchased after my Divorce. Sold it 5 years ago to finance the of building my custom 7 String.

My OLP Petrucci that I had purchased in 06' when I moved to Vegas and my custom 7 string that I built when I sold the Blue Floral Jem above.

2008 built my first home studio and brought my long lost friend back from NYC after a vacation. 71 "Lawsuit" Ibanez Les Paul. Cheap Blue Strat that I bought for $15 on Ebay. I gave this away to a friend who had just had all his gear stolen along with a little 15w amp and a boss Metal zone. I never played it so it was no big loss. Carlo Robelli acoustic I got from my GF at the time, and a Rogue 5 string bass that I still have.

My baby - 70 / 71 transition model Marshall Cab. This thing sounds AMAZING! Replaces original speaks with V30s and GT65s got it for $100 from a local guitarist who was moving out of town and needed to sell his gear fast.

My Peavey VK - Probably the best $299 I have ever spent on an amp. Sounds great for being what it is!

Pure sex! The 5150 of Doom this was an amazing Craigslist find for only $450! Another guy hard up for cash selling off unused gear. When I bought it he had the "Euro Tubes" Integrated quad setup in it, I replaced all the tubes with some nice JJ's and its been my GO TO amp for every situation in the last 6 months.

My Live rig:
Ibanez 550, 71 Ibanez Les Paul, Custom 7 String

Momma bear, pappa bear, little jr

The 5150 as is it today. Removed the Red Film from the clear Lexan panel and put in some LED's

The wife bought me this last year. We were in Guitar Center and I was checking out a Mesa Nomad. She walked in the back and picked it out bought it on the spot and had them take it out to the car. I got in the car and was like WTF! sounds great, very fun to play.

So lets hear your gear stories and see some pics!

 

[Joematthews]

I love the blue floral jem sooo much.

 

[Chryst Krispies]

My gear fucking fails in comparison, but if I learned anything in this thread it's don't get fucking divorced...all your gear gets effed.

 

[Jarkko Mattheiszen]

Wow, I'm not much of a JEM guy, but that's one hell of a collection!

My first one was a Reno RN-3. Couldn't find a picture of one, but it was your everyday cheapo stratocaster copy. Black body, white pickguard, rosewood fingerboard, the usual. My family got it for me as a birthday present when I was 12. Took me a year to realize you were supposed to play it with a pick

After the first year I pretty much lost my interest in it, but a few months later I picked it up again and got really interested in playing the guitar. Soon after (I think I was 14 or 15) I saved up for an Ibanez RG-321:

I still kinda miss that guitar. It was super easy to play and really solid considering it's price. At this point, me and a friend discovered a beat-up Les Paul copy in an abandoned housed. It's neck was broken in two pieces, the finish was cracked, the hardware was rusty and so on, but we decided to salvage it. I tried to fix the neck several times but it didn't hold up, and it was crooked beyond repair, too. Here's how it looked (on the left):

A year or two later, I felt like getting a new guitar for no apparent reason. Little did I know, it was clearly an early sign of GAS. I knew LTD's were all the rage back then, and I wanted something even heavier, so I bought and LTD EX-351 from some young dude in the yard of a little village's church:

Another really well playing guitar for the price. I think I played my first gig with this one. Anyhow, some time later I started hearing rumors of these magical EMG-81 pickups that were supposed to sound brutal. My 351 had HZ series pups (H-1's IIRC), and I started to feel the body shape was a bit over the top, so I took it to a music store and asked if I could trade it in for an EC-400 that had an 81 in the bridge and a bit more conservative body shape. The clerk (Stam1na's guitar technician nowadays. Well, he was back then, too, but they weren't signed at the time and nowhere near as well-known.) tried the guitar and basically told me I was a moron for wanting to part with it Thinking back I could have just switched the pickups as I really liked the 351's feel. Nonetheless, I got the EC-400:

The EC served me perfectly well until last year. I had no real reason to change that one, either, but I just wanted to try something different. Schecters were getting a lot of praise, and after some mindless internet drooling I got obsessed with the Hellraiser C-1. I found it for a good price (a Finnish store had it on a discount) and ordered one:

It's a nice guitar, but somehow it just doesn't fit in my hands that well. I think I'm too used to the 24.75" scale to feel comfortable with a 25.5" anymore. A few months later I visited my parents' house and dug up the old Les Paul, partially sanded, parts missing and overall in a less than flattering condition. I thought it was about time to fix it up, after all we did salvage it to give it a better home. Got her a new neck, sanded the rest of the cracked finish away, stained the body and applied a tung oil finish on it. Surprisingly she actually plays and sounds like a real guitar now Here's how she looks:

The funny thing is, the original electronics (they're probably at least 50 years old now from what I've learned) work perfectly and actually sound really nice.

What's next? I just placed an order on a Gordon-Smith Custom Explorer, but more about that here: http://www.ultimatemetal.com/forum/...h-guitars-question-about-brazilian-cedar.html

 

[Jarkko Mattheiszen]

Shit, I forgot the good ol' Yamaha CS-40 I bought off my sister and later sold it back to her

 

[Chryst Krispies]

Missing my Cordoba classical guitar, and my first Ibanez RG120. But that's pretty much what I'm workin with.

Amps are my block letter 5150 and Framus dragon cab. That's it.

 

[Jarkko Mattheiszen]

Oh, and here's this guitar that's a complete mystery to me:

I found it in the dumpster of a landfill a few years back. I have no idea what it is and I haven't even tried to repair it. Maybe I should dig that one up, too, and see if the body can be patched.

 

[grywolf627]

Missing my Cordoba classical guitar, and my first Ibanez RG120. But that's pretty much what I'm workin with.

Amps are my block letter 5150 and Framus dragon cab. That's it.

You bastard! A Lynch Sunburst Tiger?? :drool:

 

[Chryst Krispies]

I rocked that shit at my first show. 8th grade style.

 

[narcossintese]

That 5150 of doom was badass, should have kept the film when you added those leds!

 

[JeffTD]

I'lll have to dig out pics and years, but it goes like this, chronologically. Everything on this list has been sold, unless otherwise noted.

Gtrs:
Squier Bullet
RG220
Schecter C-1 Stealth (still have)
Jackson DXMGT
Jackson RR-1
Schecter C-1 Classic
Schecter C-7 Hellraiser
LTD H-207
LTD Viper-407
LTD EC-1000
Schecer C-1 Blackjack
Ibanez RG1527
LTD MF-400NT
Warwick Rockbass
Carvin DC747
Edwards Les Paul Custom
ESP M-I NTB (stolen)
ESP Dave Mustaine Axxion (bought for $650 at GC, sold on eBay for $1800!)
Seagull S6 Cedar (still have)
ESP M-II Maple
Ibanez RG1077XL
Stinnett Custom #003 (my baby)
Ibanez RG7620

Amps:
Squier 10w
Crate 15w
Peavey Transtube Supreme head
Peavey XXX
Peavey 5150 (FJA)
Mesa Single Recto
Peavey 5150 (bias mod)
Peavey JSX
Peavey 5150 II
Peavey 5150 (stock)
AxeFX (returned)
Mesa 3ch Dual Recto
Peavey 5150 (stock)
Krank Rev1
Peavey 5150 (bias mod, still have)

Cabs:
Fender 2x12 w/Eminence V12's
Rivera 4x12 w/V30+C90 X-pattern, later swapped for all V30's
Mesa 2x12 Horizontal
Mesa 4x12 Oversized
Mesa 4x12 Oversized (still have)

 

[Chryst Krispies]

I still remember how AWESOME those jsx clips were. I was at school and was shitting my pants listening haha.

 

[pattonfreak1]

Sorry the pics are so big... Don't know how to resize them via photobucket


Kramer Striker Custom S-424CR. My #1. My fave. My main. This guitar plays and sounds ridiculously well for the amount of money I paid for it.

Ibanez RG7321 7 String (Modded with DiMarzio D-Sonic Bridge P.U.)

Yamaha Pacifica 921S. DiMarzio PAF Pro pickups in the neck and bridge. DiMarzio HS-2 in the middle. Neck by Warmoth.

Squire Fat Strat. Junk. I just wanna get rid of it.

Late 80's Fender Strat. This is the first electric guitar I ever owned and aside from the cosmetic modifications shown this is the condition it was in when I got it. I traded a Huffy bike frame for it. It has been in and out of operation for about 20 years now. Various electronics, bridges, and pickup combinations have been used in it. I still intend to one day restore it... again.

 

[jangoux]

That's a cool thread. Unfortunately, I don't have pics of my gear. Here is the list:

Guitars:
cheap Fighter Strat (slammed it against my bed room wall when my first gf broke up with me)
Epiphone Les Paul 100
Gibson Sg Standard (still got it, my main axe. BK Rebell yell as bridge pup)
mexican Fender Stratocaster Photoflame (hated it. I fucking hate floyd roses)
Epiphone Les Paul CUstom (AWESOME guitar. Gave it to my wife then we had to sell it)
Cort M600 (Still got it, love it. It has 85/81 pups)

Amps:
Little Dean Markley Practice amp
Crate VC3112 tube amp (sold it)
Mesa Boogie DC3 (LOVED this amp, but had to sell it. Best clean ever)
Peavey 5150 combo (hated it...hate myself now for hating it. It was too heavy to carry around anyway)
Custom built SOldano SLO100 copy (had too many problems, so i disassembled it)
THe amp I built (used to be a Soldano copy, then a Recto copy, now it's a mix of ideas)

I had over 50 pedals, most i dont remember...

 

[Mago]

At first I got some kids-classical guitar (8 years old)
until 16 I had 3 other classical guitars, on the first one my sister cracked the head, on the 2nd my mother cracked the body, the third one is actually quite good & still have this one.
Started playing E-Guitar with 14 and used my Fathers old ass Ibanez Fender imitation with a TS9 from the 80's and and DIY BASS cab^^
Then finally got my Epiphone Les Paul Custom, replaced the stock pickups this year with EMG81-TW and EMG89 (my baby now)

My Father bought a Marshall TSL 212 combo, and mehhh, the 14y old me never was happy with it so I bought a *TADA* Digitech MetalMaster to use it with the marshall (yeah, but after some years I finally realized that it sounded like ass)
Then: Ibanez RG370 (sold), Ibanez SZ520QM (still have, set for low tuning), Ltd F-400FM (guitar for live)
During military service I bought the Vox Tonelab (the first one; blue desktop edition)

After military I worked before going to college and bought a 6505+ and a new Randall 4x12 v30 cab.
Now unfortunately I'm only thinking about Diezel & Earforce (damn Lasse ) amps, but those will take some time^^
Recently I ordered a DIY Tubescreamer (808) my bands other guitarplayer will put together.

 

[guitarguru777]

Rock on guys keep em coming!!!

Well i guess I should update my "before pro" gear huh ....lol

Fist guitar ever was a Foxxy super strat. Single angled bridge pickup that was all the rage in style from 86 to 88. I bought that with a Crate GX10 amp. From there I graduated to an Aria Pro II that my Step Father bought me for straight A's. After that guitar was various mid grade stuff. I had a Fernandes strat which was my first guitar with a Floyd Rose. I also had a white Explorer called an "Effector" it had built in effects. Thing sounded great with the Effects off! Then on to my very first Ibanez which was a EX Model with a single locking floyd. After that I found a Kramer that kinda looked like a Dean ML and used that FOREVER! It was my wannabe Dimebag Days. Right down to going out and scoring music stares for Bill Lawrence L500XL Pickups!!

My first decent amp was a Randall RG 100. I ran that with a Digitech GSP-21 processor for years. In 93 I sold it for a Marshall 800 which I loved. Ran a DOD American Metal pedal into that bad boy. After that was a ADA-Mp1 into a Marshall power amp. From there various dual and triple rectos, a tri-axis, then the divorce ....

While getting back on feet afterward I played through a Crate Blue Voodoo, sold that and got a Marshall DSL 2000 and from there had a JMP 2203 from 1980. Sold that to buy studio gear and get my 5150 and Valveking.

I have Jet City 333 I just bought as well and should be delivered tomorrow

 

[guitarguru777]

My gear fucking fails in comparison, but if I learned anything in this thread it's don't get fucking divorced...all your gear gets effed.

Dude come on your collection rocks! You got a Tiger Burst Lynch!!!!!

AND A FUCKING NUNO!!!