A Look at my Guitar Collection.

hey everyone! did this video about a week ago and then sat on it because the audio was a bit uneven at times and overall I thought the video was a bit... meh. and maybe a bit too long.
however not really up for doing it again, so here it is warts and all. hope you don't hate it, haha.
cheers, Kelly

[@paultownsend6043]

The world needs more people like yourself to remind us mere mortals that you don't need a £5000 guitar to sound good, because man you make those guitars sing.

[@KellyDeanAllenGuitar]

Thanks Paul! Yeah, I think someone else called it a working man's collection, and that's exactly what it is. I can't afford $3000 Gibson Les Pauls and $5000 custom shop Stratocasters (would be nice!), But i still like to collect.

[@StH00D]

I wasn't a tone-wood believer until I moved some dark sounding pickups from my relative heavy Jackson Soloists and put them into my Gibson Flying V. They became a much brighter sound in the lighter guitar. Now I prefer lighter guitars for the brighter sound. I agree totally on Tele's but found a Yamaha Pacifica one, changed the pickups and sounds awesome, even does distortion better than most humbuckers!

[@JuggalloJGallo]

The old saying beware of the man with one gun, he must know how to use it.... So True you are a good teacher on the guitar lead riffs especially when you slow down a show use where you at.. Sweet Jane!

[@lindahaley1947]

I found this interesting,Kelly....Mom

[@KellyDeanAllenGuitar]

Thanks mom! Haha

[@JuggalloJGallo]

Kelly i meant to say apprieate the guitars you have that pr4 performer and your strat is unreal your 2 babys. If i had your talent on guitar and anything beside my Squire that berates my talent i have a multi funtion keyboard that's my real fortay . When i saw you play the sweet jane riff i said dam he's good a decided to watch your lessons and play like you. Your raising kids and i just came down with a problem with my health so you know money restirctions keep us from buying the guitars our talent deserves . Keep teaching David

[@chrishh03]

Im with you, man. Ive always wanted a Les Paul so badly. So when I was 13, I took my confirmation money and went to New York City and bought a Cherry burst 1980 Les Paul Custom for $1500 in 1998. Like a complete idiot, I sold it about 5 years later because well....Girls-need I say more. I started playing again a few yrs ago and just have 3 Strats-a Squier Affinity, American Ultra and a Mexican. But man would I give anything to have a Les Paul again but they're just too expensive. Great collection! You're very talented and I hope you keep making videos of lessons and covers!

[@impoopnrightnow906]

Noice! I like seeing "real" guitar collections. Don't get me wrong, I like "Philip Mcknight" level collections too, but it's almost ridiculous at that point. A normal person's guitar collection means more imo, they're for playing, not showing off.

[@KellyDeanAllenGuitar]

Thanks man! Other than the quantity, yes, it's rather normal stuff. Still love it all. Except for the Tele, haha.

[@eddiejr540]

Agreed!!!

[@yogxoth1959]

@@KellyDeanAllenGuitar What’s wrong with the Tele? (Haven’t watched the video yet.)

[@KellyDeanAllenGuitar]

@@yogxoth1959 can't get the action where I like it. Not in love with the glossy Maple neck (hate that glossy feel under my fingers) , and not in love with the tone of it.

[@stephencowan139]

Hi Kelly, just found this posting on your guitar collection. Your Squier with the duncan designed hot rails sounds like it's based on the squier hot rails delux which I have recently bought. Fantastic guitar for little money! I've been buying/selling guitars for too many decades but the Squier is a keeper! We're you aware that most of these models had the middle/bridge pickups in the wrong positions.As these have outputs of 11,11 and 22 this will really affect the tone! I switched mine without touching the wiring and now have positions 5, neck 4 neck/bridge 3 bridge, 2 middle/bridge and 1 middle. Position 4 sounds very close to the mid position on a les Paul! You soon get used to the switching positions! Hope you found this helpful Cheers, Stephen from Scotland

[@Vidfavne]

Thanks for the tour, very interesting. High end brands means nothing. I've owned two Gibson Les Pauls and sold them with no regrets because they just felt meh, and didn't inspire me at all. I do regret selling my Epiphone Les Paul though, which was great for playing early Metallica stuff. At the moment I have 20 guitars, ranging from a cheap but good Chinese Les Paul with Iron Gear pickups to Charvel to one of the first Fender YJM Stratocasters from 1987. But right now I'm (almost) exclusively playing the Korean-made Ibanez SA360blahasomething that I got at a pawn shop auction for about US$40 (!!!) a year ago. It just feels right.

[@TechOttawa]

Such a great video - we are guitar twinsies. I have almost the same acoustic and same relationship with it. I just found some tiny bridge mods for it and got it singing MUCH better. Now for a decent pickup so I can get some pedals going. Rock on!

[@wilhelmrogue1]

The channell is growing KDA.... hell yes,,, give us more awesome content sir..!

[@boburso8193]

I started watching your work a few months back , a lot of your older videos are now showing up in my feed. Really enjoying them, I liked your guitar journey story teller ! Great watch ! Crazy the choices we make and have to live with. Glad you started playing again !!

[@AngusNB]

Thanks Kelly. My guitars are from $200 to about $1000 instruments. Peavey, Squier, Gretsch, Ibanez and Godin. Also two Yamaha and a Seagull acoustic. Being Canadian you've gotta get a Godin. 😁 Mine is a '98 LG with humbuckers. The only guitar I bought new that I still have.

[@eddiejr540]

KDA....great stuff...thats a musicians collection you got there...no art pieces to hang on a wall...those are tools...btw... I just picked up a PRS S2 McCarty 594, it does everything I need it to...its a great workhorse... I love it...rock on my brother!!!!

[@donmason3382]

Really enjoyed this video . There is no shame playing a tele or Strat with a Mexican made neck, or body. They are as good as the high priced models. I did find that the pickups were a bit lacking so a quick change on those and you have a great guitar at a really good price.

[@MrStickman666]

Hello mr Allan from Toronto. In the last 4 years I have picked up the guitar and I’m learning to play with some help from you and others on this platform. Glad to see you have a very musical family. Keep doing videos love them my friend. Take care and thanks for the lessons. Tony ❤

[@KellyDeanAllenGuitar]

Hey Tony! How ya doin man? Long time. Hope you're well.

[@douglaschristine8387]

Good review Kelly.

[@markb.3412]

I have the same PRS 245 and it is sooo heavy, but plays great. Got mine for about same price as you, crazy good bang-for-buck!

[@KellyDeanAllenGuitar]

REALLY heavy guitar, I agree. Big chunk of mahogany. Still love it.

[@slicksalmon6948]

I have the same 245 and never thought of it as heavy. It’s 8 pounds.

[@WickBeavers]

That’s a lot of guitars! I travel and move. Can’t tell you how many I miss, but I think I can get very close to any guitar tone I want now with two humbuckers in a flatline/hollow walnut topped ash guitar made by Neil Smith in Vegas. Maybe a desert island thing… I dumped Masterbuilt, custom shop, PRS 594 ten top and many more. Even my d45. I’m pretty happy I don’t have to make any decisions when I play (every day)! But it sure is nice to see that collection. It kinda translates into all those hours working, doesn’t it?

[@averyfinly842]

Lots of respect to Kelly❤

[@anthonyangelis1094]

Thank you for sharing your guitar collection -I was wondering about all the guitars you were playing. One of my favorites is that maroon colored Strat. Thank you for coming clean on the telecaster. I don’t like them either-I don’t know what it is -the styling -the feel -but I don’t think I will ever own one , I’m a Strat style fan mostly. The one big surprise Kelly Dean was that you don’t really play much acoustic!

[@KellyDeanAllenGuitar]

I LOVE that Strat. It's a partscaster that I built with mostly Fender parts. 920D custom shop pickups in it.

[@StratsRUs]

I love your playing

[@N62583]

Thanks for the tour of all the guitars! Can you tell us a bit more about your set up on your Jackson PS-4, what sorts of things do you do to make it play well? String gauge and any other setup tips? Thank you!

[@KellyDeanAllenGuitar]

Hey man! It's a really flat neck so I've got the action pretty much as low as it will go. No other guitar in my collection had action like this one. I use Ernie Ball (green label) 10's as far as strings go. Everything else is stock. I don't know what the general consensus is on these licensed Floyd Rose tremolos is, but I definitely got a good one.

[@N62583]

@@KellyDeanAllenGuitar Thanks so much for the response. I’ll keep an eye out for a Jackson to pick up. They’ve been on our radar ever since we got one of their minions for the kids, which we all love for what it is.

[@dr.kurtjohnson1791]

Great video !

[@realdevbro447]

Shawn deserves a huge clap. 👏👏👏

[@prashantsarkar821]

I'm going to start using the phrase 'plays like a pig' more often

[@T289c]

I actually have a very similar Yamaha Acoustic from the late 80s and I have found the more it is played the better it sounds. I put some bone pins in the bridge and try to play it at least once a day. It has a very nice tone and sustain. Don't mock your Yamaha...it's like a Vintage wine.....and it likes to be played!

[@Pedro_MVS_Lima]

Kelly, it is quite interesting, namely because you customised many (most?) of them to suit your needs. Seemingly simple idea, but you need to know what you want and how to get it and of course you do. I agree this isn't a display collection but a working kit, and I very much appreciate that, thanks for presenting it to us. On another note, I've been meaning to ask you, the strap buttons on your PRS are off because of some mysterious reason? Hehe, take care and thanks again for the great video!

[@KellyDeanAllenGuitar]

Thanks Pedro! Always nice to hear from you. Strap locks are off the PRS because I bought it like that. Don't care. Never play standing up these days anyway.

[@christian-van-e]

Just discovered this video: the red RG Ibanez; looks like the one Vai plays on the Crossroads movie! ;-)

[@artforrockstars5264]

NIce

[@stuemany]

I like your modest choices. Very talented. Good job.

[@BenRobsonMusic]

Out of curiosity, is your selector switch issue on the RG570 related to the pickup wires shorting out? I bought a similar 90s RG a few months back and I love it, but for whatever reason, the selector switch is giving me fits.

[@KellyDeanAllenGuitar]

I'm not certain. I replaced it and it started working properly. Not sure what the initial problem was.

[@feldwebel7734]

well....i enjoyed the hell outa that.....

[@buckbryant8599]

I had a prs 245 and sold it unfortunately but now I have a prs se MaCarty and love it so if you ever run across one of those you may like it. If you are still looking for a Les Paul without spending a ton of money on a real Gibson

[@artforrockstars5264]

You should voice over work.

[@meatjuice9081]

I know you mentioned in another video that you sold all the gear you had in the 80s, but do you still remember what the guitar you have in your profile picture was? Always thought it looked really cool

[@KellyDeanAllenGuitar]

That was a Kramer Baretta. Loved that guitar.

[@kenrafferty2347]

I know u said you don’t like acoustic guitars, and you seem to like shredding, try learning some bluegrass. It changed everything for me.

[@LegitBobsYourUncle]

Interesting guitar collection you have there. Have you ever considered getting a nice acoustic guitar or picking up a vintage piece?

[@KellyDeanAllenGuitar]

To be totally honest, I don't like playing acoustic guitar. Just not my thing.

[@LegitBobsYourUncle]

@@KellyDeanAllenGuitar Why don't you get a vintage jackson or schecter then?

[@kennymurray1558]

What string gauge and pick gauge do you prefer ?

[@KellyDeanAllenGuitar]

Ernie Ball 10's and 1mm picks.

[@freedomwatchdog2495]

Wth is my Vantage !?!?! 🙄It's ability to stay in tune was legend ...

[@slicksalmon6948]

Interesting that you tore the electronics out of a MIM Strat. People usually change the hardware but leave the pickups alone.

[@spqr701]

Hi Kelly. Do I detect a slight Canadian accent?

[@KellyDeanAllenGuitar]

Yes you do! East coast in Halifax.

[@martinmcevoy4376]

I find I binge on different guitars I have. You too?

[@KellyDeanAllenGuitar]

Oh absolutely! My poor Strat hasn't seen any love in about eight months.

[@sdriza]

just get the Les Paul

[@vngames179]

I don't get it. You can afford 4 guitars worth 1k but you can't afford 1 4k guitar. It is the same money

[@sdriza]

what's up with the disparaging remarks about pigs? pigs have feelings (yeah, I don't really care either)