Must have

What is your must have bit of gear? What would you get if $ Funds $ were not a prob?

I'm not sure I have a "must have" piece of gear. I working to take the advice of several instructors here that much of a guitarist's tone come from the way he/she plays.

Having said that, I think that a Gibson Les Paul is at the top of my wish list. A traditional Les Paul with binding and good heft. Something like Tommy Shaw of Styx would have played back in the '70's when he and Styx rocked the Houston Summit. Not that I'm nostalgic or anything.

Too much to choose from. I need (want) a lot of stuff.

Too much to choose from as well, so here's the list:

Gibson Less Paul (Gold Top/60's Slim Taper)
PRS McCarty 24 (Stop Tail Piece)
Gibson Firebird (Reverse)
Fender Telecaster (American Standard)
Martin OMCLJ
National Steel Round Neck

...to name a few. I've got a few nice guitars so it's not like I am suffering but, if money is no object...well..........

A 2nd Axe-Fx II is the next thing on my list.

AXE FX II - Its worth the wait and the money. The Owner of the company is a bit of a Tool but the product is unbelievable. Once you get your hands on one it's kinda game over for everything else. This is coming from a dude with a storage unit full of vintage tube Amps. Notice i said they are in STORAGE.
The Truth is we all think we need tons of Gear. We really don't anymore. A Quality Guitar, The Axe FX, a good set of In Ear Monitors and I can play ANY GIG ANYWHERE. And if your not running direct into the board, Just get yourself something like a Yamaha DXR12 powered Speaker. Run the Axe FX into that and your golden.

Would go for a Black Strat (AKA Gilmour strat). The NOS version of the custom shop would be the one....

I always thought the ebony Les Paul with a cream colored pickguard was bad ass! Al DiMeola used to play one. A friend of mine in high school had one with P90 pick ups that were cream colored too. It weighed a ton though! Would love to have one of them, but with humbuckers.

In the mean time, my faded Les Paul studio in cherry with a black pickguard is serving me very well! Love that guitar, and it doesn't weigh a ton!

I too would like a Les Paul in the future. However, they seem over-priced. I've read that the "rosewood fretboard" is actually not a solid piece, but laminated. Not sure how that would hold up over time. I think I'll eventually pickup Stymon's "Blue Sky" reverb pedal and their Timeline delay looks like a keeper too.