Top 3 and no more

DGT - 25 Piece Limited Run
Ec4_ah

While all three are BA, this one stopped me in my tracks.
 
Only have 2 PRS... so I have to go with both...

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and SC245

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I may get flamed, but I have to throw my Strat as my 3rd... Just bought the 305, until now, the 245 and strat shared equal duty... singles vs buckers...
 
They're my top 3 because they're mine. lol
left to right, excluding the Eclipse- '93 CE 24, '11 Custom 24, '04 CE 24
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Late to my own party, but these are my three favorites

2004 Employee guitar, SE Ferrari Hotrod, 2009 Employee guitar
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Now that I've acquired a JA-15 I might have to make a change here.

The 2009 Employee guitar sounds like a monster with 59/09 pups and the Ferrari guitar is just bad ass, so I guess I would drop the 2004 employee guitar in order to add the JA to the list.
Forget it, I'm starting a new thread. "Top 4 and no more" :)
 
My three would be these:

1) The first PRS I bought, a 1996 CU24 in Natural that I purchased new:

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2) My 2005 ME I in FBJ:

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3) My 1987 Custom in Scarlet Red (shown here with zebra Dragon 1 pickups, but I have the original HFS/VB pickups too):

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I derived my three based on functionality, ground covered, how much they're played, etc. I found the notion of limiting the number of tools to be quite frustrating because I'm still playing the game of "collect all the things".

I chose to approach the paring down to 3 based on what I currently have. I’ve had many other models, but for one reason or another, they didn’t work for me (i.e. the ME and McRosie are gone because I couldn’t adapt to crackwood, the SC’s are gone because I’m just not comfortable on single cutaways, the Cu24’s are gone because I do not like regular carved necks, etc.).

So this is my agonizing mental journey down to three PRS. I’m starting with this toolbox:
Sig Ltd
DGT
DGT STD
McCarty
Cu 22 Semi-hollow
513
Mira
HBII
SAS
SANF
P22

• First out is the Swamp Ash Narrowfield. I love the feel of the maple neck, but I’ve never been a P90 fan, and I hardly play this guitar.
• Next out the door is the six pound HBII. The piezo is great, as is the PTC-installed coil split mini toggle, but most of all, the Mira pickups give this a nasty, slutty, mid-century blues guitar sound. My only issue with it is that it sounds better with 11’s than it does with 10’s, and I don’t have the finger strength to play it for very long with 11’s.
• Third out the door is the Mira Korina. As much as I like the raunchiness of this guitar, I do not like the neck carve. I do however use it daily while watching TV. Go figure.
• The Signature Limited goes next. I love the switching, but to me the 408’s are very middle-of-the-road in that they cover a lot of ground, but do not excel in any particular direction. Since I have many tools, this one is redundant.
• The next casualty is the Cu22 Semi-hollow. This is a wonderful guitar with a hugely fat neck. It has loads of jangle and plenty of versatility, but alas, I hardly play it. Sigh.

Now things get tough, as I’m down to six pieces.
• The Swamp Ash Special is a tremendously versatile guitar, covering all ground from thin single coils to beyond a super Strat. I’ve tried several different pickups in it and was amazed by how adaptive it is. But I have myself convinced that I don’t get any tone out of this as much as I get sound. Perhaps I perceive that I’m not hearing tone because I am really a maple over mahogany guy. Or perhaps I’m in need of a cranial/rectal inversion.
• I struggled with this next vote, but the DGT STD has to leave the island. This has some serious drive, and insane amounts of quack, but doesn’t quite match the maple neck single coil sounds I need to round out my collective sounds.
• The most difficult choice so far has been going from four to three. Sadly, the McCarty Dallas Shootout must have its number retired. This guitar is magical, freaking magical. The trees from which it was created came from Mirkwood Forest where they were cared for by elves. The 57/08 pickups provide a wonderful vintage and bluesy sound. As much as I love playing this guitar, it’s really just a DGT with a bigger neck carve and only one volume knob, right?

Made it to three:
• P22. The maple neck is awesome. Having the piezo allows me to handle acoustic-electric ground. Having a stoptail compliments the two trems in my top three. There is even some decent quack in positions two and four which gives this guitar depth. My least favorite feature is the 53/10's pickups. While I’m learning to use for what they are, I still grumble because I can’t bring the P22 to a gig as my only guitar
• 513 MT takes second place. While a tad darker than the SAS, it still has wonderful single coil sounds. It heats up satisfactorily, but I could use a little more dirt on the top end. It edges out the SAS because I perceive there to be more “tone”. All in all, it is a tremendously versatile guitar, and very worthy of top two.
• Last out of my cold, dead fingers: DGT clownburst with under-wound Grissom pickups. There has never been any contention that if I could keep only one guitar, it would be this one. It has balls deluxe, but also provides me loads of quack, and everything in between.

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