[decimon]

You know who you are.

[Psalm 73]

Sure, close your eyes and picture Jimi igniting his fender, Townsend wind-milling (then smashing) his, Bo Diddley's square sound box, Dickey Bett's red guitar.....
Mmmmm

[relictele]

They call it GAS (gear acquisition syndrome) and it’s discussed ad infinitum on music forums.

I own three Stratocasters and God knows what else so I’m happily unaffected by the phenomenon....

[sauropod]

Strats. Arguably the most beautiful solid body electric ever created.

[ClearCase_guy]

Great scene in the movie "Blowup" (1966) -- the Yardbirds perform in a small club, and Jeff Beck's sound system acts up. In anger, he smashes his guitar and throws it into the crowd. People fight over it and somehow the main character (David Hemmings) ends up with the neck of the guitar. He is chased by the crowd, but eludes them and ends up on the street, holding the neck of Jeff Beck's guitar.

He looks at it, shrugs, and drops it on the sidewalk and leaves. Someone waiting for a bus notices this, goes over, glances at the guitar neck, shrugs, and decides not to pick it up.

Because it's junk.

[Huck]

The people who do this sort of thing are the people who can't really play. REAL players know better. It's fine to cop licks off your heroes, but to try to imitate them, down to what pick and strings they use, etc., is just hero worship. It's no different than grown men wearing a replica of some professional athlete's jersey. It's the behavior of a fan boy. Find your own identity.

I have about 12 guitars. Did I say "about"? Do I really not know exactly how many I own? Aaaah, life is good.

[Huck]

All that haughtiness aside, I wouldn't mind a little alone time with this baby, just for fun:

TIGER by Doug Irwin

[Cboldt]

they play them often ... "fetish objects increase confidence and reduce anxiety and hence increase performance."

Key points there, played often and reduced anxiety means practiced and relaxed. It's not the object, per se (although it IS easier to correctly play a quality instrument than a crap one), it's the state of control and mind that make the most difference.

Schecter here - duly noting that the pickups suck. Anybody starting a child out on an electric, I recommend the Ibanez Mikro. Great sound, decent hardware all around.

[Mad Dawgg]

Electric Guitars are indeed Magical Instruments and a Guitar played extensively by one of the "Guitarati" becomes imbued with god-like super powers enabling the ordinary Guitar player to achieve Guitar Hero level playing skill!

Everyone knows this...

[the invisib1e hand]

“Researching” guitarists is like grasping a handful of air. You’ll never get it. Fuggeddaboudit. And go stick your probes and meters somewhere else.

[Maceman]

I don't think that aspiring jazz players like myself have such a fetish for their guitar heroes' instruments.

But a lot of guys shot heroin in the 40s and 50s, because they thought it would make them play like Bird.

I love my Gretsch Country Classic Jr. though -- even though I've never seen anyone else play one, including my own guitar heroes like Pat Martino, Lenny Breau, Joe Pass (and lately Bireli Lagrene).

Any time I do a gig or go to an open mic jam session, people always come up and ask me what the hell kind of guitar I'm playing.

[KarlInOhio]

write authors Karen V. Fernandez (University of Aukland, New Zealand) and John L. Lastovicka (Arizona State University).

I would love to see the money trail for this research. At a bare minimum they were getting their salaries paid by their universities to do this rather than teach. At worst they were getting stacks of money from both the United States and New Zealand government to answer these questions vital to both nations' survival.

[4yearlurker]

Love my Fender 1984 Bullet. MIJ. Great sound,great action! I have a couple of Strat Squires that I beefed up. Love them too. I'm thinking about a Epiphone Dot 335..........