Did you know a guitar can catch on fire, I didn't. My favorite quitar was a blond natural 1971 Fender Stratocaster,  in early '82 the amp it was plugged into shorted out, and the switch assembly of my Strat shorted and set fire to the pickguard, it managed to burn a hole about 4" around into the pickguard, burned the interior and neck and melted most of the wiring. Needless to say this was the inspiration to start looking for a replacement, since the only other guitar I  was using at the time was an  Explorer with humbuckers, and I never liked the voice of the instrument , I have never since bought a guitar by looks alone.   So the hunt began for a new one, I was looking for a Strat of the same sound as the old one, and was shown the "S-1", by a dealer  who specialized with Gibson, and it was love at first note, and in the twenty-odd years since she is still my main toy.

What ever happened to the 1971 Strat, well the Explorer was traded in immediately, when I bought the "S-1", and over the next eight years I worked on rebuilding the Strat, and whlie these days the only thing left that are Fender original parts are the body and the pickups themselves, most of the remaining replacements came from Japan or Korea  due  to Fender modifications to the Strat over the years, most of their made parts didn't fit. So now while she's speaks Japanesse quite fluently, she is the loudest bitch as far as output, I still don't she's grounded right, but I like the new sound too much to have her fixed.

* see "influences"

Since then my collection of toys has grown(though it seems that I manage to get those with clear finishes normally), including in no special order:

Domino 1968 Silverhawk semi-acoustic -White
Fender 1971 Stratocaster - Blonde
Gibson 1981 S-1 MkII - Mahoganey
Gibson 1975 Grabber Bass- Wine
Gibson 1976 Grabber Bass - Blonde
Fender 1997 Squire Stratocaster-White (first solid color)
Casio MT-68 (strap mounted)
Casio CT-638
 Ibanez 1999 Iceman IC300 BK -Black 
Watson 2001 'Red Queen' -Red/White