Giddy with anticipation

Yes, I'm giddy.

Most guys aren't man enough to admit that.

Then again, I'm not most guys.

My first guitar lesson in 20 years happens tomorrow. 1 p.m. Mountain Time. I feel like someone about to go on a first date, although instead of "what do I wear," the question is, "what guitar do I bring?"

Do I bring my Strat? Or do I try to impress with my Gibson, which is worth more than all my other guitars combined? I could also bring my Hondo and show off how I refurbished it from a piece of crap to a pretty good guitar. Or, I could bring my Tele and show how I'm a down-to-earth guitarist.


First impressions are important. I want this guy to know that I'm serious about my playing. I also want to convey my style, such as it is. I also want to bring my A-game. This is going to be an evaluation lesson, where I show what I can do and he molds my lessons from there.

Maybe the date analogy was a bad one. This is more like going into a yearly job evaluation. Or a job interview. I need to show him what I can do. Which guitar will help me do that the best?

I've been playing my Gibson a lot lately. It's a Les Paul Junior Lite, an odd name intended to differentiate it from the Les Paul Special dual cutaway it looks exactly like (both models were made at the same time). The shorter 24-3/4" scale and flatter radius makes it much easier to play, but the inherent Les Paul shape, which was obviously designed for the between-the-legs seated playing position, doesn't fit well with my preferred resting-on-the-knee position. I play it much better standing up, but from my previous experience with guitar lessons, I'll be sitting down. The P-100 humbuckers are strong, though, and sound great with a high-gain setting.

My Strat is the most comfortable guitar I have. It fits perfectly on my knee when I play sitting down. The contours fit my shoulder and - ahem - gut comfortably. Even though the standard Fender 25-1/2" scale and 9-1/2" radius make it a little more difficult to play than the Gibson, the neck on this guitar is one of the smoothest and most comfortable I've ever used. The fretwork is outstanding and the satin finish is like butter. The only downside are the pickups, which are typical Strat single coil but don't do high gain very well, especially the bridge pickup.

As for the other two, the Tele suffers from the same shortcomings as the Strat, but with even weaker pickups and no comfortable contours. The Hondo is a Strat copy, so it has the benefits of the Strat but with a bridge humbucker. But it's kinda ratty. I also have it tuned down a half-step, and since it has a floating Wilkinson tremolo, getting it back to standard pitch isn't simple.

So it'a down to a choice between the Strat and the Gibby. It'll probably come down to whatever guitar I feel like playing that morning. Any advice?