GORDON KENNEDY
“ PEOPLE ASK,“ WHY DO YOU HAVE TO HAVE SO MANY GUITARS?” WELL, WHY DO YOU HAVE TO HAVE SO MANY CLUBS ON THE GOLF COURSE? YOU CAN’ T PLAY 18 HOLES WITH ONE CLUB, OR EVEN TWO.”
Sometimes those harebrained ideas from guys who are tinkerers— and that’ s exactly the mindset Les Paul had and look what he brought to the world— can yield something remarkable, as long as you’ re not too precious about it. Good things can happen.
Of course, in 1961 my dad had no idea that a guitar costing him a few hundred dollars would be worth exponentially more someday. He had a‘ 59 Les Paul at one point. He told me he purchased it because the form-fit case took up less space in the trunk! He wound up selling it because the weight of that guitar, after playing three-hour shows, was wearing out his shoulder. Those were the kinds of things driving decisions back then. Now you look at these instruments completely differently, to the point where you can’ t afford to take some of them out of the house. The guitar is probably worth more than the house.
I think about the story of Norman Harris from Norm’ s Rare Guitars. Around 1980, he had a stash of Bursts. When the price hit $ 5,000, he figured he’ d better sell before the bubble burst. He ended up selling two of them to Eddie Van Halen for $ 10,000 total, thinking he was a genius for catching the top of the market!
On the other hand, we might be coming to a time when somebody walks into a room full of potential buyers, holds up a‘ 59 Les Paul, and the room says,“ So what?” They explain that this was the guitar played by John Sebastian, Jimmy Page, Joe Walsh, and the room says,“ Who are those guys?” That could happen.
We addressed that possibility in the Spring 2026 issue of Collectible Guitar, that we’ re coming into a massive generational transition, with boomers aging out as collectors, the next generations being minimalists with no meaningful connection to this subject matter. The prices could plunge.
That’ s coming. But you’ ve also got a generation of people out there who think the‘ 68 Super Lead amplifier has been fully captured in a little box. They think that’ s been achieved. But they’ ll never plug into the real thing to know that it’ s a reasonable facsimile at best. Not the real thing.
So, back to your guitars in the here and now … with these guitars as your anchors, in a dense mix, what does the 335 give you that the Les Paul or the Tele won’ t— and vice versa? How do you navigate this tool set?
The Telecaster is, for me, the perfect workhorse
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