Since a lot of people went back in time for their history, which makes it fun to see the evolution, let me do the same.

I got a no name acoustic when I was 10. I played that for a year and the next Christmas I got a Hagstrom 3 pickup. That guitar had what is still the thinnest neck I ever saw. I lost track of it for many years as it was semi abandoned in my old bass player's house, and he moved like 3 times.

That was it for about 10 years, as sports entered the picture, and then the military. When I got out I picked up some Les Paul copy mainly to play slide on. After that came a used Telecaster. It was natural wood with a white pick guard.

In 1982 I traded that Tele and $400 for a Les Paul standard. Along the way I picked up a Strat with active EMGs that may or may not have been hot for what I paid.

I retired from playing in 1994, and sold my Les Paul for $2200 and the Strat for $950. That was my "living on" money while I went to college for an associate degree in computer studies. In 1995 I was in Dallas for an MCI training class and bought a white Strat, just to get Randy California's autograph on it, as Spirit was playing some little club near where I was staying. I later added Todd Rundrgen and Sting to it. BB King and Chuck Berry refused to sign.

I then did not touch an instrument until about 2009 (and it shows). At that point I started gathering gear. A Tele here, an Ibanez there, the PRS SE, some 2nd tier stuff like a Fender Bullet, an Epiphone Dot, an Ibanes bass (a pawn shop find for $50). I was up to about 10 guitars, and I finally realized "You are not even a guitar player!!" So I started selling them off, trading for MIDI gear, etc. When I retired in 2013 I treated myself to the Les Paul I have now, as well as my Nord Electro 4 (the best Hammond you will ever hear on anything but a real Hammond), as retirement presents to myself.

So right now, the population is down to the Les Paul, the Ibanez Rio, the Applause acoustic, and that Ibanez bass. I play the Paul some on my recordings, but mainly as a placeholder until I get a real guitar player in to replace my tracks. I really have little interest in playing out live anymore. I just want to write songs, and I need to get off my generous posterior and get to work on the next CD. Lots of ideas, very little done with them.