Desire is a funny thing.
Ever since I got my first cheap guitar, I
always wanted a Les Paul, a US Strat, and a US Precision Bass. For some reason, the bass just 'had' to be black body/maple neck (probably because Jean-Jacques Burnel played one!).
I often wonder if, back then, I actually wanted these guitars not because they were nice instruments, but simply because I couldn't afford them.
On the journey to end up with my 'dream' stable, my first step, over 25 years ago, was to get a Strat. It wasn't the US Fender I'd always wanted, but the hand-made Strat-style guitar I still have and use today. So much do I love this guitar, I'll never part with it, and as I grew to love how it played and felt, my desire for a 'genuine' Fender Strat diminished.
Next came the bass, and a short time after I got the guitar, I bought a new Japanese-made Fender PB. That was a beautiful bass to play, but very light in weight. It had the old-style large machine heads fitted and these actually overbalance the bass to the extent that you'd have to hold on to the neck when playing it with a strap. I kept this bass for a long time, until I traded it in about five years ago against a white Yamaha with active pickups (similar to Michael Anthony's). A nice bit of kit, it sounded much better than the PB, but after a while, I found it wasn't as comfortable to play.
The next step was to trade this in and acquire the first instrument from my original wish-list I'd bought so far, a (used) US Fender Precision. Not quite the 'dream', it was black body/rosewood neck, but close enough! LOL, I felt I'd finally 'arrived' when I took it home! It played like my old Japanese built Fender, and sounded much better that the Yamaha.
So, on the bass front, I was happy at last. Until I played a US Jazz bass. My eyes were opened. The thinner style neck made this bass much easier to play that anything I'd ever tried before, what with my stubby little fingers. To cut a long story short, I sold the PB (and at a tidy profit!) and bought a shiny new US Standard Jazz Bass - black body/maple neck. Correct configuration, wrong bass! And I can't see me ever selling it. Even if I find that I 'need' another bass, this beauty is going nowhere.
The final piece in the puzzle was going to be a Les Paul. Or at least something that offered me something different from my 'Strat'. My quest took me via a Line 6 Variax 700 (now sold) and a Dean Razorback 'V' (up for sale). Although I really liked both of these guitars, especially the Variax, I still felt I 'wanted' my Les Paul...
And then I received an email from this guy called 'Spacey'
And, as they say, the rest is history.
Designed from scratch to my specifications, even down to a stubby-finger friendly neck profile, my dream collection of guitars was finally completed when Ruby arrived from across the pond!
And I suppose the point is, that I'm now lucky enough to possess three beautiful instruments, all of which I'll keep forever, but none of them are any of the three guitars I'd always dreamed of owning! And now that I'm fortunate enough to be able to add the Strat and the LP if I wanted to, the desire has (mostly) gone, so content am I with my collection.