So, Guitars!

Let's take a look at those guitars. (UPDATE: ADDED TWO MORE GUITARS! A Squier VM Mustang in Sonic Blue and an Epiphone Les Paul Jr. in vintage sunburst.) This is my current collection, less one, and that one is a steel-string acoustic I keep at my mom's place so I've got something to play when we visit. It is a Squire 25th Anniversary (CORRECTION: 20TH ANNIVERSARY)!) dreadnought I found in a local pawnshop for about $90. Solid spruce top, nice tone, very playable. 

 But here is the old TrueTone. More work on the upper frets would probably make it playable right up to the 14th fret, where the neck joins the body but I got tired of messing with it. It does have a steel reinforced neck but it is not adjustable. All the trim is painted-- there is no binding. The bridge was not glued on so that made it easy to get the intonation right. It was way off when I got it, the strings were too heavy, the action was a mile high. I shimmed the neck, worked on the frets, set the bridge, filed the string slots in the plastic nut, and now it is playable. I want to believe it came from the old Western Auto in Monterey Center, right here in Lubbock. This came from a local estate sale. They wanted $75, I made a $45 bid at my wife's urging (she is very tolerant of my guitar hobby) and won. (UPDATE: I did more fret work and now I can play it right up to the 14th fret.)

 Here is the Glen Burton Les Paul copy I got from eBay recently, in vintage sunburst, under $200 with shipping. I can't find anything wrong with it. It looks fantastic and plays great and sounds like any Les Paul I've every heard. I'm perfectly happy with it and plan to get a Glen Burton SG copy before the end of the year. I'll probably buy it on eBay.

 I bought this candy apple red Squire vintage modified Jaguar from Musician's Friend last year. Nice guitar! I had two vintage Jaguars at one time. One was a sunburst pre-CBS and I found that I had to do the very same bridge modifications on this guitar as I did on that old one. Once that work was done, it was perfect. (UPDATE: I replaced the bridge with a Stewart McDonald Mustang bridge.)

 I bought this Mexican Stratocaster new from Jent's House of Music here in Lubbock in 1999. I was preparing to rock out during the big Y2K crisis, but we were not attacked by our electric razors and coffee pots so the whole thing was a bit of a bust. But not this guitar! This is my "Buddy Holly" instrument. I blocked the tremolo.

 Several years ago I found this nice Squire Jagmaster in a local pawnshop for under $100. Another bargain, and a very good player.

 And this Cordoba Cadette is another pawnshop bargain-- a little over $100 after sales tax. These things retail for close to $300. It has a 24" scale, like the Jagmaster and Jaguar. I need to put new strings on it.