Three Guitars for Me: How I chose these three? And what is expensive? 

Nice to see you playing on your videos…please keep doing that

My first thought was, "three guitars all with the same pickups?" Hmmm... But then again, if you're going to put one set of pickups in your guitar, P90s are possibly the strongest candidate. I get such a range of sounds out of my P90 guitars. Using the volume and tone pots allow P90s to lean into thinner and fatter pickup territory more than other pickups IMO. Did you know the Another Brick In The Wall (pt 2) solo is a goldtop Les Paul with P90s? That blew my mind when I found that out. It was a benchmark Strat tone for me for the longest time; I kept wondering why I couldn't get the rest of the way there. Haha. Now I know.

Loved catching this one live. Please do more like this! I love the interviews but this is really cool.

I'm also 63 years of age and you provided me with a great reason for bringing another guitar into the house! If I can't have one now when am I going to have it😂

I have recently done a guitar cull down to two great guitars. I have a Gibson Satin 335 in natural loaded with Lollar Imperial Low Winds and a bigsby (Inspired by Bill Frisell) and a TMG Hollow Jazzmaster loaded with Ron Ellis P90s. I must say that since trimming down my guitars I have been much more content with my tone and the guitars I own.

I rarely sell any guitars….anymore. I always regret it later. I’d rather rotate them into and out of cases, it’s like getting a new one when I haven’t played it for 6 months 😂. I did sell a LP classic sea foam green and my Blackie is up for sale. I replaced the lp with a 594 single cut 10 top,still have my 07 LP Blonde Beauty and 2 Teles and a Strat. NF53 is incoming next 🤦🏼‍♂️😂

The thing about the “a guitar for every situation” thing is that, for the most part, any one given guitar has a wide range of things it can do well. Look at Rabbea (I hope I spelled his name correctly) doing metal with a vintage Fender guitar. The guitar itself is very rarely the limiting factor. It is almost always the player. Which, to be clear, is an entirely valid reason for getting a new guitar. But understanding this can help you be more thoughtful in what you buy and in how you approach the guitar.

I am a bit of a Collings fanboy. I currently have a SoCo LC, Eastside LC Deluxe and I’m fortunate to have an AT17. I had a custom 0001 with an Adirondack top that I gifted to my guitar teacher. They all sound fabulous to my ear and the fit and finish are impeccable. The SoCo and the Eastside have low wind Lollar Imperial humbuckers. These were both used guitars. I think the Eastside LC now ships with Lollar Charlie Christians and the SoCo LC has Throbak humbuckers. RIP Bill.

I love your comment about Ibanez: That they don't have a factory and are a guitar marketing company. My first decent guitar was a 1992 Ibanez EX-370 I bought new in college. I heard EX stands for "experimental" and this was the first batch from a new guitar shop in (If I recall correctly) South Korea that they were working with. Great guitar, too. Still own it Loved the whole video, thanks

I am fortunate to have one of the new USA Casinos (it is a 2020). The P-90s in it are really great. On the hot side of vintage and I think they are awesome and very versatile. Play beautiful cleans for jazz and such, great light drive and a little harder if you are careful about the feedback.

Love all these three and I totally ‘get’ where you’re coming from. My three are my B&G Little Sister, Tele partscaster and Gordon Smith Junior style. Any other of my few guitars are really only song specific. That white Collings of yours really looks like One to Rule Them All to my eyes and ears. Great and thoughtful content Keith, and thank you. PS Caveat…I’m yet to try a Strandberg and it kinda niggles at me.

Love this. I’m selling my AmPro II Strat because I felt like I had to have one to “cover all the bases” - but I hate how it sounds in every position (not a knock on the tons of people who love the sound of a Strat) - it’s just not for me, but it’s hard to come to terms with not liking what everybody else says is awesome

You landed in a great spot with Collings. My electrics are all PRS Core or Suhr Custom Shop, but after a long and expensive acoustic journey I landed with my Collings D1(will keep forever), and I would love to find one of their electrics that speaks to me in the future.

Thanks all the best from England LOVE YOUR PODCASTS

Disappointed that I missed this one, but a great live stream Keith!

Lovely. My three are the Explorer and Jazz that I built, and the Strat I hotrodded with a humbucker, because Jerry Cantrell.

Thanks!! Great content!

My main guitar that I always seem to Gravitate towards is my Taylor 110-E 6 string acoustic/electric . It sits on a stand next to my side of our bed and whenever I get a new “ tune in my head “ I just reach over & pluck it off the stand & try to work it out through my head to hands . I also own 12 more guitars ( yeah I kinda have a small addiction) and have 3 more acoustic guitars, a very nicely setup Fender Squire Affinity Strat ( bought it for $70 and upgraded it with a Wilkinson pre wired Pick Guard set up & some Ernie Ball strings . It sings !! Also have an Ibanez Art-core model A-S-73 ( 335 Gibson style semi hollow body ) , A Dean “ Boca “ 12 string electric , a Telecaster knock off called a “ Cozart “ with T.V.- Jones pickups in it and another Stratocaster called a “ Simon “ that I have no clue about where it originated , and finally a Taylor solid Body prototype guitar that is one of only about 1,000 made & was branded on back of the neck “ NOT FOR SALE “ . That one I actually Won at a raffle at our local “ Concerts in the park “ near home one night . I found an ALL Mahogony Fender acoustic late one evening as I was pulling out of my parking lot at work just laying in the gutter , missing a couple of strings and with a 3 piece guitar stand strewn about it in several places . My wife commented I’m becoming like an old “ Cat lady “ but instead I bring home guitars …😆. My favorite is whatever one I’m currently playing at any given moment. Aside from the audio issues here in your video I enjoyed this one . Thanks Kieth 😎👍

I missed the live presentation, Keith. I'm busy cramming for an audition on Tuesday. This old bear needs to learn a bunch of cover songs on bass, and vocals for a few of them. O.M.C.B.= Old man cover band.

Great vid, as usual! Collings has only got on my radar recently - the 470 JL Julian Lage is on my wishlist for sure. As far as the 3 (electrics) I could live with, my 1968 Les Paul Custom, 1992 Roger Sadowsky NYC HSH S Style and my new Duesenberg Starplayer w P90 Neck & Humbucker Bridge. And, OK, runner up awards go to my 1957 Hofner Club 50 and 2018 Japanese made Gretsch solid body 😃

good listen on a stormy day carry on

Not too loud or too quiet, just nice content. Thank you for all your work.

I have a 335, les paul with p90s and a jazzmaster… I get every sound I need

I'm in a cull now, prior to moving out of the country. It's hard to get rid of a great guitar, and also much harder because when you buy to play (not for resell) you take a bath on each one. I have $500 guitars that outplay a lot of 1500.00 guitars, and will be selling them for maybe half what I have in them or less. I'll likely end up taking 4 with me to Scotland. :-/ I will say that seeing these nice P90-equipped guitars makes me want to add rather than remove. I appreciate the philosophy you espouse about the most music from the least gear. As I sell off guitars, amps, and pedals, I keep thinking about how little I actually need as a non-pro musician. You sure seem to love the P90s. I get that. One of my keepers has Duncan P-rails and I keep leaving it on the P90 settings.

that first one is a huge score, gorgeous guitar. I haven't watched the whole video yet but I imagine it takes quite a while to receive a custom order...

That Collings is a killer guitar. I have a Novo Serus J that came with Fralin hum canceling alnico rod p90s. My previous Serus that I stupidly sold had standard Fralin p90s and was perfect in every way. I swapped the pickups in my current Novo to standard p90s and they aren't playing nice with the stainless frets. I'm considering the Lollar alnico pole p90s - something that will give me the brightness and clarity that I like without that odd high-end "ping" on the front end of the note. The original hum cancelling pickups did not have that problem but were a bit sterile and I prefer single coils.

I don’t have “that”many guitar’s but, each has a job, a sound, no duplication. No redundancy. Each one unique.

OK, a few points to cover from this video. Firstly though, those are beautiful guitars. Big Collings fan here. Love that 360. Heck, I love 'em all! Your audio issue is NOT the cables. It's intermittent and unrelated to the signal. I'm not techy - I don't know what a bandwidth issue sounds like, but it also sounds like old-school RF interference; anyone near you running a microwave or lawn mower? Might upset any wireless connections you're using. Swapping out Lollars? Not in my house. I have two Collings (290 and I35LC) with Lollars that please me enormously. BTW, my 290 is wired so it's hum-cancelling in the mid position, which is helpful sometimes. RU-vid compression - I hear folks mention that a lot. I'm not sure that it's even a thing. Check out Joe Perkins video on the matter where he does some detailed comparisons of pre and post YT audio. You may never mention 'RU-vid compression' again.

Jason Lollar says with p90’s to not be afraid to crank the bridge pickup to the point where it is nearly hitting the strings and then back it off. He prefers the bridge much higher than the neck. It will make the bridge “snarlier” (his word) and will make the middle position Albert Kingish.

Hey Keith! I too have have more guitars than I need man, I love all vintage styled Gibson / Fenders. I have two P90 style guitars as well here and I love them both too, no matter how much I play the other models though for me, I feel at home with one of my SG’s though. I’m just very comfortable with them in my lap playing, Les Paul models always feel as though it’s going to fall backwards off my lap 🤣 the Standards just feel very ass heavy to me, they do feel better though playing standing up though /shrug.

I love Collings, they’re superb guitars. I have i-35lc, its fantastic.

Nice trio! The 360 is quite compelling as an offset fan, kind of a LP Special crossed with a Jaguar. Would love to be in the presence of a 470JL someday.

So over the last 20 years I have picked up over 10 guitars and amps from Rob at Lidgett music in CB a true old school shop. My wife and I stop in every time we are in the area. Support your local shop They are the folks that keep the love alive.

I missed it! I'm here now, Friday morning amidst the rainy day.

When you do the P90->PAF video, are you also going to cover the P100, and discuss the differences between those and the P90s? AFAIK, Steinbergers are still available new - don't they sell the Spirit line?

off topic question I have an HX effects , would you think an hx stomp would pair well enough to make a "ghetto" Helix? I've also considered "amp in a pedal" solutions , but I enjoy the smallish footprint of the HX and a couple expression pedals

Great video as always - however, the voice audio was very low, couldn't really hear it on my Laptop.

Keith part of the reason you want so many is because you love so many different models of guitars I’m very particular with what I like so only a few for the bill makes it easier not to buy more I wish I was that open minded

Nice guitars man!

Hahaha gotta love going live. I had to stop buying or my wife would divorce me jk. My faves are my basic 5. New R9, used R4 for the P90s, CS 56 Strat a CS 1936 advanced jumbo and my favourite my 1930 L-1. I have had the privilege of owning many great guitars over my 62 years on this planet and I’ve decided these are my keepers. The L-1 was the most expensive but worth it in my estimation (not my wife’s). My adage has been three electrics with differing pick ups a larger acoustic for power and a small acoustic for a couch guitar. Thanks Keith. Love the vids.

Bigsby loaded I30 is a one stop shop. Incredible guitar

Shit! I missed you live fellas! however, this is great, I love Collings, some of the best guitars ever produced. attention to detail and tone is touching perfection!

Wow! Coolest ring modulator pedal ever!

Lidgett music is almost the only store I deal with. Fantastic people.

Love that i30 Keith…there’s something about the esthetic of an ES style guitar with P90s

Just need my Tele ('51 Nocaster CS) Strat ('57 CS HR), and Gibson CS '63 ES-33TDC and my Rick 370RM. Done.

Hey Keith,what is the radius of the neck on the i30

The pearl buttons on that denim shirt is the worst thing for the back of any guitar. I found that out the hard way ! 🎸

I have too many guitars, several are up for sale. While I have a few "special purpose" guitars, I have three guitar models that work for me, cover 97% of what I do, and I have multiples of each: Hardtail: Ibanez PS (don't have the cracked mirror models; I have all the current models) FR/Floating: Jackson X Rhoads RRX24 for everything else, and my favorite guitar: EBMM Kaizen 6 Cheers!

mic volume was abysmally low here, im unable to watch this on my laptop because of it unfortunately :( going to have to find a pair of headphones

I'm very interested in the third guitar. I'm finding it hard to find Collings in Australia. Any suggestions for a Gibson scale length offset body guitar with P90's and a Jazzmaster style trem that might be available in Australia?

What a fantastic video have a good weekend if you could pick a favorite guitar brand what would it be have a wonderful day Keith

Keith, I was hoping for an answer to the early question re: why you replaced the 390s w/the I30LC. What does the Collings do better (for you), or conversely, what did the 390 do/not do that you found wasn't an issue with the Collings?

What kind of amp are you using, keith?Keith? Maybe you said and I missed it. Thanks

I can check out Fender Japan guitars any time.

Are you tempted to increase your guitar stock by 25% and get a Collings I-35 (to fill the semi-hollow slot in your collection)?

Do you know why all Collings electric guitars strung with D’Addario 11-49 strings? You said that you have gone to a lighter gauge string, so I was curious why and how that is working out.

I suffered through it and am happy I did. Guitars didn’t come through well at all.

I have two guitars and one amp, and a small pedal board A PRS s2 singlecut standard satin and a Schecter Nick Johnston, with a Fender Bassbreaker 30R My board has a Tuner spark boost, sd-1, Mojo Mojo, Phase 90 script custom and Flashback 2 I am content

From Leo: I have just started watching, but I have to ask, where's the Strandberg? I have a couple guitars with a single P90 and a couple with a pair of P-90. I like the clean tones, but do not use a P90 or hollow body guitar when a tube screamer pushing a tube amp hard is the needed rig.

What models are those three guitars? Thank you for great content.

I would have bought those 3, and kept the other 10. I was only ribbing you about owning expensive guitars. Like, “hey I’m super spartan, only 3 ‘59 Bursts and 2 Dumbles. How could I get by with any less?”

My definition of a 'nice" guitar stops well below even average mid level name brand guitars. I've traded up several time lately and felt justified in reducing quantity while increasing quality. that satisfies me. When I play what I've have now I'm reassured that it feels, sounds, and plays better than what I had and I can easily trade again and gain some cash beyond the inflation bite. The "nice" deal is part of the niceness of it all. Better tools gained with perhaps little more expense is the goal. Oh, and I don't mind having more types than I'm able to play regularly. Twelve is a good number for me - I can swap one out each month and keep 3-4 types out all the time. I couldn't possibly commit to all having P-90s.

Love my i30 lc! My baby and i wont let her go untill I cant play anymore.

⚓️ Thanks Keith 🌈 love these videos, for sharing experiences with guitar, that lends knowledge & experience to a wider audience. ♨️ Currently I’m aboard SS Jeremiah O’Brien at Pier 35 San Francisco in support of OPEN SAUCE … a producers event 🎶

It’s a shame such a great live video was plagued with distortion.

I would keep them all :)

Looks like a very “Larry C” group of guitars. I agree with the Collings fans, especially their acoustics, but they’ve never been in my price range. 🎶🙁

Sound levels are all over the place coming through my speakers

the volume was too low for me to hear with my laptop. Just FYI. Thx

This is funny. Thanks to Keith I have my heart on a Strandberg, and since then as much as I have considered buying other guitars, I had this idea that any more guitars would just mean less time with the "headless light-weight", and that's it, right there, GAS cured.

I had to curb myself and made a rule no ordering guitars on line, I have to physically see/play it. Besides curbing my habit, it's just a good rule in general.

After my parents passed, and the estate was settled, I bought literally everything I had ever wanted from when I was a kid. Ended up with 28 REALLY nice guitars (including Keith's R9, BTW). I looked around one day and thought to myself "this is ridiculous, and stupid". I'm in the process of paring them down to some REALLY, REALLY nice pieces that I can pass on to my son. The R9 I got from Keith went to CME in trade for an R8 Historic Makeovers. Still have a Paoletti strat, 2 R9's, a Washburn Nuno Limited to turn into something else. Not sure what, if anything else I "need". Also have 3 (!!) 100 Watt heads to liquidate. I bought a Amplified Nation 22W Overdrive Reverb and an AxeFX 3 to replace those. Might just invest the rest. :)

Hope you reviewed this video before throwing that cable away. Wasn't the guitar distorting, it was the stream itself.

In all honesty, I could easily pair down to three guitars and two basses.

Basic guitar(and other stringed instrument) types that I like to have readily available (so far): acoustic: classical, (various scales and types) square neck resonator, mandolin, flat top; electric: LP, Strat, Tele, SG, 335(9), H-H with 24 frets, GB-ish, P-90 set raised for slide. Pickup mixes: H-H, S-S-S, H-S-S H-S-M, H-S-P90, H-P90, P90-P90, GF-GF, MFD-MFD,

What is expensive? Everything has a price tag. You can pay it or you can't. The only person to blame for you not being able to afford it is yourself. You might think that's harsh, but it's a solid fact, ultimately.

P90's

Three guitars. All P90s. I can’t live with that.

I moved recently. A friend offered to move all my music gear at once in a GMC Acadia. All but four fit in, admittedly a capacious car. "You have a problem!" he laughed before making me unload all this stuff. Half an hour later, I had to agree. The trouble is: I set out to avoid this very thing. The oldest guitar I own is an HSS piezo Parker. I counted up the switching options to 27. More if I buy the SD superswitch. Acoustics really got everything rolling, though. I need a 12-string, a jumbo, a mandolin, Dreadnought, a resonator, baritone, a spare jumbo for when the #1 is in the shop, and a family eirloom. Maybe I'll get a parlor guitar, but nothing has really impressed me. Replacing all of this with two Emerald Chimeras has occurred to me. Then the electric guitars infested the house. I bought my first Telecaster not long before the move rounding off the tribe at seven plus a 4-string bass. Not one Stratocaster graces the house, and I know that I will attend to it, just like I know I would bring a Jazzmaster in at the drop of a hat. All that said, it's the amps that are telling me to thin the herd. Mores specifically: my 40 pound pedalboard. I can't stand hauling it out after a set. Why keep so many guitars? But which ones to let go? By extension: which guitar(s) would do everything I have already assembled?

You dont need one of every guitar. You need 2

What? NO STRANDBERGS?

One of my biggest complaints with “jazz” is this idea that everyone solos. No, it’s a band, not a roundtable discussion. I say this as a player that should NOT solo much if at all.

wow, having 3 high end guitars like that while your guitar skills don't reflect that at all, sounds more like "1000 watt world" to me.

I'm a traditionalist. I like guitars that have been in production for at least 50 years. Give me an LP special, SG standard and a strat and I'm good to go. Which is pretty much what I have plus 4 or 5 others :D Rock on, Keith.

Really great to see you play Keith 👍👌