Do you play your favorite guitarist's guitar?

[P90s]

You're a David Gilmour fan, but you play a 594? Love Jerry Garcia but you play a Telecaster? If you DO play a different guitar from your #1 guitar hero....why?

 

[BrianC]

Pat Travers plays an SCT for most of his shows - I love mine!

 

[goat-n-gitter]

I am a huge Alex Lifeson fan, and I used to own a 1980 Gibson Howard Roberts Fusion like Alex used on the Moving Pictures tour, but I sold it. It played great, but its' tone was rather dark, and it wasn't very versatile. I still have a 1983 Fender Strat Elite like Ty Tabor used on the early King's X records, but lately it just hangs on the wall until I need "that" sound for a recording.
I love the tones my heroes get, but my PRS/Mesa rig makes the sounds I hear in my head.

 

[matonanjin]

Two of my favorite guitarists (behind Santana) are SRV and Clapton. I have a Strat but just can't bond with it. It makes no sense. And I have two PRS guitars but not a Santana. I suspect in a year or so I will be looking at a Santana.

 

[11top]

I haven’t consciously bought a guitar because someone else plays that model.







Well, except for Markie.

 

[sergiodeblanc]

No. I kinda went with PRS back in the early 90’s because I felt like I could forge my own identity with them, nobody I liked played them... and that’s still kinda true now. I mean, Carlos, John, Al, and Donna are cool but...

If I wanted a guitar like my hero, it’d probably be a Strat, and I hate those.

 

[markd21]

No. The closest I ever came to that was playing Ibanez in the late 80s early 90s because ALL my favorite players used them. These days it's just about having the BEST tool for the job. For me, the quality and tone of PRS makes it the best tool.

I'm sitting here wonder WHO my favorite guitarist is these days...hmmm, I can't say. I tend to dig songs more than players over the last couple of years.

 

[RaySachs]

Well, most of my very favorite players (Clapton, Knopfler, Hendrix, Garcia, for starters) are / were primarily strat players and I have and play a strat. But I also have a 594 and a tele-shaped guitar (but it's 2 P90s, so not a real tele per se) and play those too. So, yeah, I play my strat a LOT, but far from exclusively. But if I had to name a favorite or pick just one to keep (God forbid!), it would be the strat - I've been playing one since I started playing and I still love 'em...

-Ray

 

[garrett]

I have so many favorite players. Seems like it's usually a Les Paul, Strat, Tele, 335, or maybe an Ibanez. But PRS makes some of the best guitars out there and they work great for me, so I figure why not play a PRS instead?

 

[dogrocketp]

I'm guilty. Eddie Lang is my favorite guitar player of all time. I have a Loar L-500, made in Korea. It's serial number 105, and is a copy of the Gibson L5 that Eddie played. If I'm playing 20's-30's music, it's this guitar or go home. All my solid bodies are PRS. Period.

 

[Steve's addiction]

My favorite players are me myself and I and I have a model of each one of theirs

 

[Cbouty]

My favorite guitar player is Alex Leifson. I’ve had a Rush patch on every one of my guitar cases and all my straps have Rush logos on them... but Ive only owned strats until last years when I sold them all and now have a core and SE custom 24

 

[merciful-evans]

No.

Since you mention it, Jerry Garcia was my favourite player, but Doug Irwin guitars are not available.

My favourite players now and past never influenced me to buy their sort of guitar. I always loved the (classic) strat sound and used a 70s strat exclusively for 23 years. I hated its handling though.

My favourite player now (my favourite players have to be alive to qualify) is Jimmy Herring. I would never buy a Tele though. The E strings are too close to the edge. I'm too clumsy to use something like that.

Though Peter Green was a favourite of mine, I never craved a Les Paul. Its not my sound. When I did acquire a Les Paul and started to use it, I felt like an imposter. I was using someone else's sound. It felt weird.

There is no perfect guitar for me. Though I have several that I use and enjoy.

 

[P90s]

My favorite players are me myself and I and I have a model of each one of theirs

Have you been able to collect all 3 signature models....or is that out of budget?

 

[BWV548]

I’m probably most keen on John Scofield these days. He’s an Ibanez guy. I’ve not owned an Ibanez in about 35 years. Which is in no way a dig at their guitars

 

[RaySachs]

No.

Since you mention it, Jerry Garcia was my favourite player, but Doug Irwin guitars are not available.

He played a strat in the early days (not REALLY early days, but early '70s, pre-Irwin) and it seemed like he mostly had his Irwin's set up for a very strat-like tone. Maybe with a few more options and a synth built into later ones, but still basically a strat tone. For me, about '70-74 was peak Dead and he was mostly playing strats during that stretch, so I still consider him a strat player. And to the extent I can come even remotely close to his sound (which I can't), I get closest with a strat...

And, if you have any boutique guitar money left over after buying all the PRS's you want, Doug Irwin isn't still making guitars, but Tom Leiber is. He was Irwin's right hand man and is making a couple of models that STRONGLY resemble the stuff Irwin was making. Really nice work too. At prices you might expect... I don't know if it's kosher to post a link here to another maker, but you can search for Lieber guitars. I'll never buy one but it's fun to look...

-Ray

 

[Lister]

Nope. While I own a Strat and a LP, I didn't buy them because my favorites played them, I bought them because they were easily available pre-internet, and were the tools everyone used to make music back in the day. Besides, I'm never gonna sound like SRV, or Hendrix or Rhoads, or... regardless if I'm using the same tools they did. For better or worse(it's worse, oh god, it's worse) I sound like me.

 

[elvis]

Nope. I try a lot of gear and am often surprised at what sticks. I recently had a HBII with the intent of getting old Rush tone, but it didn't click for me.

I do use favorite players' tones as a guide, but I have a LOT of those.

My one exception would be my JEM, but I play anything but Vai on it.

 

[bodia]

No. I kinda went with PRS back in the early 90’s because I felt like I could forge my own identity with them, nobody I liked played them... and that’s still kinda true now. I mean, Carlos, John, Al, and Donna are cool but...

If I wanted a guitar like my hero, it’d probably be a Strat, and I hate those.

I bought a Santana because you're my hero.

 

[bodia]

I've owned lots of different models over the years. I don't think I ever bought one just because one of my influences played one. Not purely, anyway. Besides, I don't own a 150 year old red oak mantle that I could turn into a guitar neck. Plus, I'm not all that keen on pressboard.