Rather than do a ‘best of’ style post, every year I’m doing a rundown of what guitars I’ve had my hands on, and what I’ve learned from the experience.
This post covers guitars that I play at home for fun. I’ll cover the guitars that I gig with tomorrow.
Previous years: [2019] [2020] [2021] [2022] [2023] [2024]
A Big Shift In How I Choose Guitars
For the last 30+ years, I’ve always built my rig around my choice of guitar. This year, I’ve completely flipped that on its head, and started choosing guitars to suit my rig.
That began late last year, when I bought Jessie (my Fender 52 Reissue Telecaster) to pair with my Fender ’57 Custom Deluxe reissue Tweed Deluxe amp. That’s one of the best decisions I’ve made in the last few years. Jessie’s really unlocked the tones in that amp for me.
This year, I’ve picked up three new guitars. One was a bucket list guitar. The other two? They were both chosen to fit my rig. And, so far, that’s really working out for me.
At some point, when I’ve figured out how to talk about it, I’ll write about it in a dedicated blog post. I think that there’s some useful advice in there that I wish I’d had decades ago.
The Haters Missed Out On A Great Guitar
The Fender Vintera II Limited Edition Road Worn 60’s Telecaster was part of one of the most controversial guitar series that Fender has launched in recent years.
Before the guitars were even in players’ hands, the Internet was awash with people basically complaining about charging proper money for guitars made in Mexico. Just goes to show that most hatred is driven by prejudice and utter ignorance.
It was their loss, because this guitar can quite happily hang with Fender Custom Shop Telecasters for tone. And I say that after personally A/B’ing it against four different Custom Shop Teles that I consider to be exceptional tone monsters in their own right.
Since I got it, I’ve found it to be more useful than I expected. I’m learning so much from running this guitar into various signal chains.
I bought it to be that bright-but-vintage-voiced Telecaster for signal chains that were a little too dark with Jessie. It certainly hasn’t disappointed there. Hopefully, by the time you read this, I will have published some Tweed Champ demos. I couldn’t have made those demos without this Road Worn 60’s Telecaster.
But I’ve also found that this guitar’s tone is particularly useful for checking the tone of any signal chain that I’m building. The bright bridge pickup reveals how much extra low-end the signal chain is adding, while the dark neck pickup helps me hear what’s going on with the top-end of the tone.
Does this mean that I’m turning into a Telecaster player?!?
Am I … A Telecaster Player Now?!?
This year, I’ve mostly played my two Telecasters.
If I’m not reaching for Jody (the Road Worn 60’s Telecaster), it’s normally because I’m reaching for Jessie (the 52 Reissue Telecaster that I picked up late last year) instead.
So much so that, as the year drew to a close, my Les Paul started to feel downright alien in my hands. That was a surreal moment!
The PRS Paul’s Guitar Has Finally Fallen Out Of Favour
For most of the year, I’ve either been playing tweed-tone pedals or my Tweed Deluxe amp. And it’s a rig that (in my opinion) just doesn’t suit my PRS Paul’s Guitar.
As a result, my Paul’s Guitar has gone from being my most-played guitar to being in real danger of being moved on. I probably won’t (it has very little resale value, as I’d have to sell it as parts-only / faulty – and these guitars really don’t hold their value in the first place), but I’m really not sure where I’m going with it in 2026.
Another challenge with my Paul’s Guitar is that I’ve found it to be extremely picky about guitar strings. To my ears, it only really works when I string it with PRS’s own Signature strings. Unfortunately, they’re both very expensive for what they are (uncoated strings at coated string prices, with uncoated string life-length), and very difficult to get hold of.
(I do love the PRS Signature strings. They also sound great on my PRS Custom 24 and my Silver Sky. But – unlike my Paul’s Guitar – both of those guitars also sound great with more common strings.)
It’s unfair of me to say that it’s been one of the biggest disappointments that I’ve ever bought. Despite its issues, I have played this guitar a lot. But if anything ever did happen to it, I wouldn’t replace it with another one.
And let’s be honest – since I bought mine, most of the guitars I’ve bought … I bought them to replace my Paul’s Guitar.
Which is why …
… I Passed On A PRS Crimson Phoenix This Year
Back in February (I think it was?), PRS introduced a limited run of guitars based on the Paul’s Guitar. Known as the Crimson Phoenix (because of its looks), the guitar was basically a Private Stock Paul’s Guitar with custom pickups for a lot less.
I was definitely tempted to go and visit the only one in the UK that didn’t sell on pre-order. But in the end, I decided I’d didn’t want to spend that kind of money with PRS. Had my fingers well and truly burned with the Paul’s Guitar, and especially my experience with PRS’s aftermarket support.
Although I sound pretty down on PRS right now, I’m still very much enjoying the PRS guitars that I already own. Because when PRS gets it right, they make fantastic musical tools.
Deadnote Reclaims My #1 Role
It seems odd saying that Deadnote (my PRS McCarty 594) is back as my #1 guitar, seeing as I’m mostly playing Telecasters right now … but that’s how I think of it.
For the last 7 years, I’ve been playing Deadnote in the middle position, with the neck humbucker split. I always thought that this would give me a brighter tone.
At some point this year, I stopped splitting the neck pickup … and discovered that this makes the guitar brighter overall. Go figure; I don’t understand it at all. It seems completely counter-intuitive to me. But it works, and it’s made me fall in love with Deadnote all over again.
Running both pickups as full humbuckers also adds a nice bit of extra push and punch to the tone, which is absolutely perfect for my Tweed Deluxe amp.
And it still has the best neck carve on any humbucker guitar that I’ve ever owned.
I’m incredibly grateful that I have one of the o.g. 594’s. PRS has changed the pickups twice (first to the TCI 58/15 LTs, and now to the McCarty IIIs), but for me, it’s this first set of 58/15 LTs have make the McCarty 594 something different, something special. I absolutely love that it doesn’t sound like my Les Paul (unlike the later pickups that PRS have switched too).
It’s strange, isn’t it? I bought the Silver Sky because it gives me the exact Strat tone that I couldn’t get from an instrument with Fender on the headstock. And I passed on the Core-line NF3 because it couldn’t give me the Tele tone that I wanted. There’s definitely a part of me that wants PRS to make guitars that sound better than the original brand.
But not when it comes to Les Pauls.
I don’t need a PRS to give me a “better” sound than my Les Paul. My Les Paul already gives me the sound that I want. If anything happens to my Les Paul, I know that there are plenty of other Gibsons out there that I can fall in love with. Yes, they’ll sound different, but that’s part of why I love Les Pauls so much.
In my opinion, the best Les Pauls all have their own unique voice. Les Paul players form a strong bond with their instruments if they find the one with the unique voice that suits them, that speaks to them.
PRS guitars with a unique voice (they do exist!) are happy accidents, not the company’s goal. PRS is all about making guitars that consistently sound excellent, and consistently sound similar from year to year.
And I’m okay with that.
An Unexpected Opportunity To Pick Up A Bucket-List Guitar
My local guitar store AStrings.co.uk moved to bigger premises this year, and used some of the extra space to start stocking Yamaha electric guitars. I went down on opening day, and found one of my bucket-list guitars freshly unboxed and hanging on display.
I’ve wanted a Yamaha SG1802 Goldtop for over a decade – it’s one of my dream P90 guitars – and it hasn’t disappointed. Monster tone, monster sustain, and utterly flawless construction quality. The only slight negative is the monster weight!
If you’ve ever wanted perfection, but couldn’t find it in a Gibson, then you should take a good look at the Yamaha SG range. As long as you don’t mind the weight, it might be what you’re looking for.
(Btw, do go visit AStrings new store if you get the chance. They’re about 5-10 minutes north of Junction 32 of the M4, or just off the A470 if you’re coming south from mid-Wales. An easy journey if you’re in Wales, Bristol, Bath, or anywhere between Worcester and Taunton.)
A Les Paul Junior Snuck Up On Me
One of my other dream P90 guitars is a single P90 double-cut.
I have a custom-made one, called Morag (my Ragh Guitars RPJ from 2018). It’s a monster guitar, but sadly the neck’s set at the wrong angle, making it unplayable partway up the neck. It’s such a good rhythm guitar, I don’t want to take the risk of killing the guitar’s mojo by having someone try and redesign the neck. I’d rather keep the guitar the way that it is, and find a replacement.
This year, that replacement found me.
Desiré is my new Gibson USA Les Paul Junior. It’s one of the lightest Gibsons that I’ve ever played, with one of those rare necks where the nitro has set like polished glass. Even though it doesn’t have a vintage neck carve, I find it incredibly comfortable to play.
And it’s got such a clear voice too, which (so far) seems to work really well with my Tweed Deluxe amp.
How Did You Do On Your Plans For 2025?
That was easy. I didn’t really have any 🙂
Any Plans For 2026?
I’d like to get a new Warmoth neck for my old 80’s Charvel … but I’ve been saying that for years, and haven’t done it yet.
The only problem with the existing Warmoth neck on my Charvel is that my tastes have changed since I got it back in 2013. These days, I prefer bigger necks with a more rounded fretboard radius.
And the only problem with changing the neck is that the guitar sounds so good, I’m worried that I won’t like the sound with the new neck. Given the price of Warmoth necks (+ shipping and import costs), that keeps putting me off.
So don’t be surprised if I don’t do it this year either.