One guitar to rule them all?

imalrightjack

I don't expect a simple answer or any overall consensus but interested to see what you all think. I have a bunch of guitars, namely:

Gibson Les Paul Standard - my go to for my band (bluesy/jazzy/rock);
Fender Strat Plus - hand-painted so never moved on, despite infrequent use - likely to appeal to few on resale but maybe worth a thread of its own;
Danelectro DC59 - won it on here and love it but it serves no practical purpose really;
Ibanez RG652 - twin-hunbucker shred machine;
Duesenberg D-Caster - P90s and quite different to the Les Paul/Strat;
Ibanez Little George Benson - the one I'd keep were I to get rid of them all to get one super-guitar, as the roundwound semi-acoustic sound is unlikely to be achievable with a normal 6-string electric.

So, my actual needs:

• It must cover Les Paul territory, as it's what I play with my band;
• It must have an aesthetic that lends itself to the above - nothing pointy or metal-looking;
• It must also be capable of playing tight thrash metal, so quite a slim neck and high output pickups;
• Coil taps would make sense for the rare time I might want a single coil sound.

Currently the Les Paul and Ibanez would be must-keeps, although the latter is more shred the metal, hence is up for sale/trade. Can anybody think of a guitar I could look for that would allow me to get rid of a bunch the above?

I expect a barrage of sarcastic/funny comments but I'd much prefer serious responses! 

guitarfishbay

PRS

John_P

PRS.    Choose the model that you prefer 22/24 frets, term etc. 

I prefer Les Paul's tgese days but I still take my cu24 out for a lot of dep gigs as it's so versatile.   

imalrightjack

I thought PRS might feature heavily! Any models in particular?

RMJ

Yea I was going to say PRS. The studio model covers a lot of bases and the narrowfield pups are superb. I had one and I'm really rather annoyed that I let it go. 

imalrightjack

@RMJ (and others) - will a PRS work well for thrash?

RMJ

imalrightjack said:

@RMJ (and others) - will a PRS work well for thrash?

I'll have to let others answer that. Bit I would have thought a custom 24 would be a better bet than one of the more vintage vibe PRS  models (McCarty, DGT etc)

Whitecat

The Custom 24 doesn't have that neck pickup girth that a Les Paul has though - to be fair, almost no PRS does but the 22 fret models certainly get closer (with the 594 being the closest yet). That's about the only strike against though as far as your list goes. Definitely could do thrash, esp if you found an older one with ceramic (HFS/VB) pickups.

Sporky

Variax

57Deluxe

Yamaha Pacifica...!

ellwood

I have a Swamp Ash Special with narrow fields and Good Lord it's good. All you can eat and more. My is maple necked, so it has a brighter touch to it. It is a nicely chunky neck too. Lovely bit of kit, and not over the top finish wise. Highly recommended if you can find one.

djspecialist

Yamaha SG

Sassafras

Feline to your own spec.

stickyfiddle

Gibson CS-336. It can't literally do anything but it does lots very very well

Limehouse_Blues

Tele with a high output bridge

Bridgehouse

Precision

imalrightjack

@Sassafras It's on my mind!

@Bridgehouse Precision?

Some interesting ideas but not a Variax! Hated the only one I tried. 

TTBZ

A Les Paul with good splittable pickups will do everything well imo. 

underdog

I'm going to be unpopular, Les Paul High performance at whatever price point suits. Les Paul looks, less meat on the neck, excellent neck join, all kinds of coil taps and switching options etc 

mike_l

imalrightjack said:

@Bridgehouse Precision?

He's a basserist, and a confused one at that...............

usedtobe

Ibanez artist or gs2