What guitar that you still own has been in your possession the longest?

My '79 Les Paul Deluxe, bought new in 1979.

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Tiger eye finish.
Inlays are black onyx w 14K gold outlines.
Braz board and HS overlay.

To this day one of the most beautiful guitars I've ever seen/played.
Yeah, thought of tiger eye right after I posted. Funny, I ran across a piece of paper recently that I wrote a bunch of specs for a private stock in the late 90's. Tiger eye, black onyx McCarty but mine had silver outlines.
 
1989 H.M. Strat

My Dad bought it new in '89. I got it from him around '93 or '94.

One of the single coils went dead and I pulled the pickups because I want a matched set, but the projects been delayed for about 12 years because I don't have a lot of use for a shredder guitar at the moment.

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I've had so much rotation in my guitar collection that I am pretty sure that my oldest guitar is now my CU24 which was made on National Heavy Metal Day 11/11/11 and I became the first owner in 2013.
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I still have (and love) the first decent acoustic I got, bought it new in 1979 after playing not quite a year. My Cortley JST-1201:

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This guitar was supposedly NOS at the warehouse from around 1974. Solid spruce top, laminated Jacaranda back and sides. From the limited info. I've been able to dig up, it seems to have been built at the Terada plant, they now make the core Gretsch hollowbodies.
Still my #1 acoustic, I bought and later sold an Martin OM-28v that didn't do anything for me that my old Cortley couldn't.
Perhaps someday I'll find a high end acoustic that just blows me away (PRS perhaps). But this one will be with me 'til the end.
 
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Yeah, thought of tiger eye right after I posted. Funny, I ran across a piece of paper recently that I wrote a bunch of specs for a private stock in the late 90's. Tiger eye, black onyx McCarty but mine had silver outlines.

FYI...in case you're ever considering actually doing this...don't use real silver, as it will tarnish. White gold will give your the look you're after without the mess (and yes I've done this).
 
The oldest one still in my possession in an old Silvertone acoustic that my mom acquired when she was in high school. I'm guessing mid 60's on age (I've never looked deep into the tag on it). I learned how to play on it when I started back in the early 90's.

After my big gear purge, the last pre-purge guitar left standing is a a Jasmine E/A. I've had it for over 10 years. Not a bad guitar at all....but nothing inspiring either. It fills a need at the moment and works when I need it too. It's just a love/hate relationship. After taxes, a car repair, and a new stove I have permission to buy something much better.

Other than the two acoustics, my oldest electric is only a few years old - the SE Tremonti Custom. Then came the downward spiral as I went Core.....

I miss a few of the guitars that I moved on over the years though. One in particular was an late 80's/early 90's Japanese Fender Strat that I foolishly traded in on an Epi Les Paul Custom. Not that the Epi was bad, but in retrospect I wish I had kept that guitar.
 
My first was a cheap starter-pack variety bass

I used it in my first band and learned a lot on it. By the time I was playing guitar, about 8 or 9 years ago, I had put it away. But I ended up ripping the frets out, planing the fretboard and turning it into a fretless, and now I even record with it sometimes. I use flats on it, the quality of the thing isn't great but the maple in the neck certainly was, and the rosewood board was a really, really nice piece of timber and it plays well after I hacked at it. I like it enough I am considering building a new body with proper electronics for it from scratch and turning it into a real weapon.
 
My first was a cheap starter-pack variety bass

I used it in my first band and learned a lot on it. By the time I was playing guitar, about 8 or 9 years ago, I had put it away. But I ended up ripping the frets out, planing the fretboard and turning it into a fretless, and now I even record with it sometimes. I use flats on it, the quality of the thing isn't great but the maple in the neck certainly was, and the rosewood board was a really, really nice piece of timber and it plays well after I hacked at it. I like it enough I am considering building a new body with proper electronics for it from scratch and turning it into a real weapon.

I've had some good luck with necks on cheap basses. My first was a Squier II P Bass.. Horrible plywood body, but the neck was excellent. Sold it off, but in hindsight I should've scrapped the body and saved the neck. Now I have an SX short scale J and the neck is insanely good for a cheapo piece, lightly flamed even.

PRS wise it's my CU24
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Overall, it's my '74 Rickenbacker (I've had it since '85)
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Nice x2!
 
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