It’s hard to say, i play my RG 80% of the time and when I don’t, I’m playing a jem, which let’s face it, is basically the same thing! Do I suck on other guitars?.. I don’t know because I never find out! I guess we
all play better on what we find comfortable!
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When someone figures out how to do 24 frets but retain the harmonic structure and exact position of a neck position stratocaster pickup let me know.
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Read this
It’s why for the longest time Satriani’s sigs had 22 frets.
good question. I play better on my own $250 charvette than I do on any other; so this led to the erroneous thinking that I should never get another guitar. But one day at guitar center, I picked up a Jackson RR1 and played way better than I normally do right off the bat. I surprised myself and realized that I should give all guitars more of a chance. And sure enough, others that I tried, even those that were considered lesser or inferior models, if I gave it some time, my body would adapt and start to learn how to make the most of it.
IMO, it’s better to try to as many as you can and master as many as you can; you may be thrown into a situation where you need to play a gig (improv) and the more versatility you have the better.
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I’ve thought about classical musicians. Like a violinist. They usually play the same violin for a very long time, right? And they shred like a MF. I notice a lot of real good guitarists do the same thing. Nuno uses the same N4 all the time, I noticed that Andy Timmons plays the same prototype AT-100 that Ibanez made for him in 1994, There are a lot of guitarists I’m not mentioning but a lot do use the same guitar all the time. Ben Higgins, Jerry Cantrell, Marshall Harrison uses his Vigier 95% of the time. It looks like Martin Miller is settled into his biue sig model Ibanez, Teemu uses 2 RGs, on and on and on. Yngwie only plays strats, and usually has 2 that he prefers over the others.
@Costanza that’s what I’m gonna have to do.
@TheCount LMAO, do a video of you playing a Rickenbacker.
@Troy we are talking about if it makes you play tighter if you use the same guitar all the time. Do you only play one guitar most of the time? You made yours custom right? 22.5 scale?
@uglijimus I could play 5 different guitars a day, and I would still be uncomfortable on somebody else’s guitar live. Can I play it? Yeah. Do I feel uncomfortable as s*** on it. Yeah.
I know a guitarist in a 80’s tribute band. He dared me out of the blue to get on stage with his guitar and play in my underwear. What happens?
A. I wore tidy whiteys that night, I never wear those
B. Where the f*** are this custom guitars’ strings and frets at?
C. How did that damn Poison solo go again?
D. Where the f*** is the pedal to turn this solo boost off?
E. Great, chics with iPhones are taking pics of my d***
F. Got balls? Yep. 150 people there. 
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Damn your good points and your tighty whiteys!
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Force of habit. If it ain’t broke don’t fix it. That’s really all it is.
I am in a different line of work than these guys and I test on everything from 22.5” Fender to 25.5” Martin D28 big box. Edit: And freaking tiny mandolin! There can be significant differences that impact picking technique and I have to know what they are.
If it was just me doing my own thing I’m pretty sure I would play the same instrument all the time. It’s certainly easier that way.
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Thanks for the link, I’ve read it but I’m a bit confused. They speak about nodes there but are nodes fixed in real life situations? Meaning, the nodes are fixed in certain spots on the open string but wouldn’t they move somewhere else when you shorten the string by fretting it? As result, wouldn’t the nodes shift a lot as you play different lengths of the string/frets?
The placement of the pickup obviously changes the tone but I’m not sure if the node explanation is correct here. By the way, plucking string in different places changes tone as well. Are these two phenomena related?
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At some point you’ve gotta ask yourself how much extra you’d be willing to pay to not have his name on the guitar. Personally I wouldn’t care since I’m primarily concerned with the functionality of the guitar.
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The placement of the pickup obviously changes the tone but I’m not sure if the node explanation is correct here. By the way, plucking string in different places changes tone as well. Are these two phenomena related?
Yes. It all relates back to string harmonics. Same reason you have to hold a device like an Ebow in a specific position and why sustainer pickups have to be placed in the neck pickup position.
I think the harmonic node location is a bit of a red herring in terms of the sound of different neck pickup positions - after all, as soon as you fret a note, you’ve moved the nodes.
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It’s a question of the relative magnitudes of the different harmonics. The closer the pickup is to the center of the string, the more influence the fundamental has. For all notes below the 12th fret, moving the pickup toward the nut will increase low frequencies (and volume). This is the same reason why the bridge pickup is generally so much treblier (that’s totally a word) than the neck pickup: the fundamental is much lower amplitude near the bridge. On average, higher harmonics have more influence near the ends of the string, lower harmonics have more influence near the center of the string.
Picking in different locations along the neck has a similar effect. The frequency range with an anti-node near the picking location will be emphasized. The closer you pick to the center of the string, the more you emphasize the fundamental and lower harmonics. Picking near the bridge excites higher harmonics. Likewise, an ebow is always loudest directly above the pickup, followed by the anti-nodes of the harmonics of the string.
great tone on that solo btw!
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Does switching the instruments throw your sync game off a little? I started paying close attention to all the setup measurements I like. After I wrenched yesterday on the raggedy black Kramer I just got out of storage, It played more to my liking. Maybe I’m making a big deal out of nothing.
@Ian LMAO
@Acecrusher it’s not just the name though. I don’t want the scallops… and I REALLY don’t like someone’s name on my guitar. 
Like what’s been said here, it’s cheaper to just get a American Special Fat headstock Strat and do the mods to it. Basically fretwire and pickup change. My primary concern is not being ashamed to be seen on stage with the guitar. Functionality can be wrenched into it.
@Prlgmnr exactly. I don’t switch to neck pickup unless I’m above the 12th fret usually. Nodes Smodes. I understand what you are saying though @induction Good point.
@uglijimus thanks man. That amp was “on fire” lol. I couldn’t find the volume knob on the guitar that “wasn’t mine”… so you hear feedback when I stop playing. Just another example of how a different guitar pisses me off. On my guitar, my pinky is riding that volume knob. No squealing.
No.
I used to think that until I realized one of my favorite guitars was a “Les Paul”.
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I still think this. Because I don’t like Les Pauls either. 
Not Troy, but for me I can interchange from guitar to guitar pretty comfortably, provided the bridge is roughly the same height off the body. I have a PRS Singlecut I break out every now and then, but a tune-o-matic is a whole different beast than a floating vintage style trem or a recessed floyd, so while I can make do well enogh the mechanics DO feel a little different. It’s part of the reason I don’t generally like TOMs (the fact I own one is largely because I bought a Singlecut SE on a whim, decided I liked it for tracking rhythm guitar parts enough to keep it around for just that, and then when a buddy was selling an awesome real-deal Singlecut from '05 at a really fair price, it seemed silly not to jump on it).
I think as long as the basic specs are similar, though, it doesn’t phase me much.
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I never understood what the big deal was until I owned one. I just thought people liked them because classic rock people played them. Now I get it. It has a sound, and it’s not just “bridge humbucker” or “big bass”. Lots of guitars have bass. Various “super strat” type guitars get good bridge humbucker tones. The Paul has a specific fingerprint of bass, like a low-mids tuned wah type boost, and that is its thing. It is obvious even acoustically.
Other guitars have tried to copy this. I’m sure some do it convincingly. I don’t know, I haven’t played any of the Paul clones. Like the Strat and the Telecaster, it is the archetype for what it sounds like, and everyone else is derivative historically speaking.
When you have a riff that wants the Telecaster sound, you can play a Tele, or you can play a clone, but you need the sound. When you have a riff that needs angry low end, like the entire 1987 Whitesnake album, there’s only one guitar that pioneered that sound.
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Troy, you also seem to have a preference for shorter scales, though, right? Your Mustang, I think… That’s what, a 22.5"? Is that mostly a tone thing or a feel thing for you?