Alrighty, seeing as how I love guitars (just like everybody else here), and because I'm always weary of my next bout with G.A.S., I'm considering my next move. With this in mind, I think the quality of the MIM strat line has never been better, and they offer great value. I already have the CP 60s, as well as the 60th Anniversary standard, both of which I love. And I love the look of the MIM Robert Cray strat, though I've never actually played one (much less even seen one). On top of that I really like the Roadhouse strat, which I have seen/played. Here's the deal - they all seem to be designed for the blues, which is fine. However, I'm wondering what significant difference in performance/sound I'd be getting if I owned all 4 vice the two I already have. Beyond the mere fact of owning two more guitars, do you think the Roadhouse & Robert Cray strats are going to sound/play drastically different than what I have now? Am I better off picking up an American Standard if I wanted more variety in tone? How does the EJ compare to these guitars, at least in terms of sound? Does any of this make sense? Thanks, in advance, for your replies.

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'10 Gibson LP Studio Faded
'09 Fender American Standard Stratocaster
'08 Fender Classic Player 60s Stratocaster
'07 Fender Classic Player Baja Telecaster
'05 Breedlove AC 25 SR Plus

Not to be judgemental or rude, but I notice you have a several great guitars worth several thousand bucks, and play through 1 Blues Jr. Have you considered sampling another amp worthy of your great guitars? I'm not bashing the Blues Jr. But for the price of another good guitar you could balance your revenue across the tone spectrum.

Yeah, I'm thinking that may be something you'd want to look into too. Amps can have as much or more to do your tone as a guitar can. Try experimenting with different amps and next time you're in a big guitar store. Bring one of your own guitars if you're serious about it. You might be surprised at how different they all sound.

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I'm thinking it's time for you to start putting together your own partscaster. You seem to have some cash available and ideas of what you want them to look like. You'll have a lot of fun deciding just which neck to put on, what width bridge feels right and which pickups give you exactly what you want to hear.

However, I'm wondering what significant difference in performance/sound I'd be getting if I owned all 4 vice the two I already have. Beyond the mere fact of owning two more guitars, do you think the Roadhouse & Robert Cray strats are going to sound/play drastically different than what I have now? Am I better off picking up an American Standard if I wanted more variety in tone? How does the EJ compare to these guitars, at least in terms of sound? Does any of this make sense? Thanks, in advance, for your replies.

I am inclined to go along with the idea of getting another amp.I have a Blues Jr. too and bought it when I tried a Jimmie Vaughn Strat through it and was blown away by how great they sounded together.Another amp would really open up a wider range of tonal possibilities with your current arsenal of guitars.Some of the newer modelling amps are much,much more sophisticated and true to their respective models than the older ones. The beauty of a good modelling amp is that for one relatively low price you get a potpourri of amps at your disposal.The Vox Valvetronix especially and a lot of the new Marshall modelling amps have tube driven preamps that give them a realistic tube amp response.Fender's new modelling amps are also worth looking into but I believe most if not all of their models are based on Fender amps.I have an older Vox AD120VTH and it has models from a Blackface Twin to a Vox AC30 and even a Dumble Overdrive Special and the models are very realistic compared to the originals.You can pick up used models pretty cheap these days.

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'65 Strat,65 Mustang,65 Jaguar,4 more Strats,3 vintage Vox guitars,5 Vox amps,'69 Bassman with a '68 2-15 Bassman cab,36 guitars total-15asst'd amps total,2 vintage '60s Hammond organs & a myriad of effects-with a few rare vintage ones.

Thanks, all, for your responses. Funny you should mention the amp, b/c I had been thinking about a different one for a less Fenderish/clean headroom sound - sounds like most of you have been where I'm at now. I almost pulled the trigger ont the Blackstar HT-5 stack, and I'm still leaning in that direction. The idea of looking at the modeling amps is a good one as well. As far as the parscaster, I've thought about that too, but at this point I'm too lazy. That'll have to wait for another day. Thanks again.

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'10 Gibson LP Studio Faded
'09 Fender American Standard Stratocaster
'08 Fender Classic Player 60s Stratocaster
'07 Fender Classic Player Baja Telecaster
'05 Breedlove AC 25 SR Plus

You might want to try something with 6v6s or 6l6s to give you a different sound.I have a deluxe reverb,but there are smaller amps like the champ,or even the super champxd if you like modelling.There is also the egnater line such as the tweaker and rebel 20.