Give me diversity or give me something else...

As I've bought, used, and sold more than my fair share of gear over the years, I've certainly developed a "find something that works and stick with it" mentality... With guitars, that manifest itself first with Ibanez guitars & more recently with PRSi; with amps, the focus has been primarily on Mesas & Egnaters; even with effects, I keep coming back to the Lexicon MPX-G2 and the TC Electronic G-Major. Granted, I've gone through a considerable amount of gear, but any guitar/amp brand that I've owned more than 5 of or any effects unit that I've purchased at least 3 times must have something going for it, right? With the amps and effects units, it's all about the versatility... the Egnater modular amps easily cover the tonal spectrum of a dozen classic amps; the MPX-G2 has dozens of classic stompbox emulations built into it; etc.

On the guitar front, though, I started to find myself yearning for a bit more diversity... I was up to 18 PRSi, quite a few different models (diverse from a PRS perspective), but at the end of the day, not drastically different. So I decided to sell off half of my PRS collection and branch out with the following guitars:

• Ernie Ball Music Man John Petrucci 7-string (ok, technically I already owned this one)
• G&L ASAT Classic
• 2 G&L Legacy Standards - one stock, one with the EMG David Gilmour DG-20 pickup configuration (3 SA's + SPC + EXG tone controls + PI-2 phase switch)
• Gibson Firebird V
• Gibson Les Paul Classic Antique
• Gretsch G6120-1959 Chet Atkins hollowbody
• Heritage H-535 semi-hollowbody
• Rickenbacker 360/12 12-string

I've tried a few other guitars along the way (G&L ASAT Deluxe semi-hollow and ASAT Special, Gibson EDS-1275 doubleneck, Ibanez JS1000-BP Satriani and TC-630 Talman)... each was cool in its own way but not so unique--at least in relation to what I already owned--to make it worth holding onto long-term.

I'm looking forward to putting these through their paces in the studio... I recently used the EBMM Petrucci 7-string and G&L ASAT Classic on a few tracks and am waiting for the golden opportunity to break out the others. The Heritage H-535 and Gretsch G6120 have already become staples for big band performances. While I've fiddled with the Gibson Firebird & Les Paul a bit for Necessary Distraction rehearsals, I expect the PRSi will continue to be the main players for rock-oriented gigs & practices going forward.

So what's next? Hard to say... Given my recent fascination with Gibson, I've been eyeing the SG Supreme for the past couple weeks. I've always been intrigued by the EBMM Steve Morse and Axis Rosewod models. Sometimes I wish I still had a Steinberger around (not for the tone, but just for the TransTrem!). And I'm always on the lookout for PRSi--maybe a Custom 22 or Singlecut Trem--though Lord knows I really don't need any more PRSi.

Let's face it... at this point, I probably need to sell some gear before picking up something new, and right now there's nothing I really care to part with. Could this be the end of my GAS? I highly doubt it...

--B