How did you choose your guitar?

[PFDarkside]

Gilmour and Hendrix played Strats, Jimmy Page and Slash played Les Pauls. I got an Epiphone Les Paul and Deluxe Strat Plus to have both. Over the years I have just grown accustomed to the Fender ergonomics and necks. The majority of my guitars are Strat based, from RI up to modern Charvel style, lots of different pickup options. They all have that familiar feel so that Gibson acoustics and electrics are always “different” to me, especially the neck. I’m thinking of doing a Warmoth Les Paul, it’ll be bolt-on but the rest of the specs should be pretty Gibsonish.

 

[Ascension]

Have been playing mostly Carvin Kiesel guitars since the early 1990's if for no other reason because of their reliability on the road. Was playing Ibanez , Fender and Gibson but would fight them with neck adjustments exc way to often playing out here in the south. Traded a WRC Gibson for my 1989 DC 200 at a local shop back around 1990 and over the 20 + years I owned that guitar never dressed the frets and adjusted that neck maybe twice. Came out of the case night after night in tune with no drama. Sold me on those guitars and have owned over 50 over the years. Sold that one a few years ago because it was solid rock maple and weighed a little over 10 lbs. Still played like butter and looked almost new. Have 6 now same thing they play great and are just super stable. Nothing else I have ever owned comes close in reliability. My 91 X220C is a prime example have had this one for 20 + years and after I set it up the way I wanted it I can never remember touching it to do anything but tune and string it. Been played out often weighs just under 7LBS balances perfectly on a strap plays like a dream and absolutely screams! This is one guitar I will never sell.

 

[ErikH]

My first was a Kay acoustic. That's what I learned on and played for over a year. My first electric was a cheap Strat copy, a Martin Stinger. Plywood body, pickups top mounted to the wood, 21-fret maple neck, all black. I took it apart not long after getting it and put it back together. That was my start with the love of modding my guitars (from reading all the stories of Eddie doing his own and all that). My dad was not too happy to see it apart in my room like that but I got it working. That lasted me a good 5 years or more, it had to, until I bought a white Jackson copy (Series 10 or Pro Player) from a college friend. I played that a few more years until I built my first Frankenstrat in California with a buddy and mentor. It was my first really good electric and I still have it. It's almost 30 years old now. See, that EVH influence besides playing paid off.

I've had various others but the Strat shape feels like home to me. My old Kramer Baretta that I picked up in 1995 feels great too. That was a guitar I always wanted when I started playing but couldn't afford. I remember seeing a wall of them in a music shop on Grand Island, NY when my dad and I went to pick up a Boss Digital Metalizer. Man, I so wanted one of those Barettas. Though I got mine some years later, it's a keeper.

I like Les Pauls and SGs too; have had a LP Studio, Epi LP Standard, Gibson SG Junior (early 90's reissue), SG Classic (I miss that one), still have my SG Junior kit and recently paid a buddy for a Les Paul Trad Pro. There's something about the Strat shape though. It just fits. Hence why I ended up parting out an Esquire build and building another Warmoth Strat. I've had my share of Tele's and know they don't suit me or feel good on me. I love my Strats and I think the shape seemed to pick me.

 

[NegativeEase]

%100 Neck profile feel and playability from the geometry of the body, fretboard and taper.

-any other factor can be tinkered with later

 

[Top-L]

Some people choose their guitars because their heroes played them. Some people forge their own path. Some people start by copying their heroes, then figure out what they like and veer off on their own. There is no right answer here, just hopefully interesting stories.

For me, I started with a Strat. While I grew up liking Sabbath, Deep Purple and Led Zep, only Blackmore played a Strat, but mine didn't sound like his (and his Strat sound wasn't my favorite- it was his ES 335 that got me). My evolution in instrument choice started with a Strat, then evolved into ergonomic shapes and electronics that got me closer to the sound I heard in my head.

Personally, I never modeled what I liked or did after my heroes, but plenty of my guitarist friends did. I am curious how you got where you are.

My first guitar was a Charvel Model 3 with a Khaler. Honestly it was a decent guitar and it was on sale for $450 which was the best one I could get. I didnt know anything about guitars but EVH played something that looked like it.

A few years later I upgraded to an Ibanez with an Edge trem and the tuning stability was godly compared to the Charvel. Ibanez had all the best endorsments back then.

I stayed with Ibanez until about ten years ago, now I prefer guitars with an OFR. Similar quality for less money, and I don't have to deal with the arm bushings any more.

I'm pretty simple. Bolt on or neck through with a floyd. What I care most about is the fret work and that it looks nice. I can play any thickness neck. A neck has an aesthetic feel/appearance that makes me want to play, but I dont have a preference I can pin point.

I'm brand agnostic and I don't anymore believe that certain guitars have far superior tone. There are absolutely differences, but I haven't noticed that good tone is correlated with more money.

 

[Guest]

Top-L

”There are absolutely differences, but I haven't noticed that good tone is correlated with more money"

I couldn't agree more. I've seen kids get shamed out of playing guitar because they didn't have x,y, or z brand. I'd even take what you've said one step further and say it applies to amps. Ever hear a Bugera Trirec compared to a Mesa Triple Rectifier? You don't have to spend thousands of dollars to get a good solid tone.

 

[DavidRavenMoon]

I pick guitars because I like the way they look and if the neck feels good to me. That’s it. I don’t care who plays what. I don’t try to sound like anyone else.


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[Aceman]

I chose my guitar because this...

 

[alex1fly]

Oh man. You picked the perfect question to get a bunch of guitarists talking.

Strat because David Gilmour. And because "a Strat can do anything". Fast forward 19 years and I finally realized that there are things a Strat won't do, so I've started from scratch on my tone quest.

Strats always seem to sound better in the hands of others than they do in mine.

 

[Lucius Paisley]

Ibanez because it was the only left handed guitar the pawn shop had. I might swap and sell, wavering between everything else, but I keep coming back to Ibanez.

 

[Demanic]

Most of the guitars that I have gotten I have found in pawn shops for substantially less money than they were worth. Some have been gifted to me. I got my V because it's neck through and the price was right.

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[LLL]

In Mother Russia, guitar chooses you.

 

[Condemned soul]

In Mother Russia, guitar chooses you.

https://reverb.com/news/guide-to-soviet-era-guitars

 

[GuitarStv]

https://reverb.com/news/guide-to-soviet-era-guitars

Jesus . . . those are nightmare guitars.

 

[Guest]

Jesus . . . those are nightmare guitars.

I wonder what kind of tone wood they used? Balsa, Oak, Willow? It's like a beauty pageant in Buffalo, not a looker in the bunch.

 

[Mr. B]

I bought them all and then kept a few....

 

[SlyFoxx]

My first "guitar" was an ANCIENT Stella acoustic. Pegs barely turned. Bridge just sat where I thought it should kinda go. Fret board was (I kid you not) CONCAVE! Imagine seeing a diagram of a full major barre chord and figuring out what your index finger is supposed to accomplish when the middle of the board is lower than the sides! So I just mostly doodled single notes by ear due to a crap neck with action more suited to bottle neck work. I can remember driving my family crazy doodling the chromatic line from Pink Floyd's "Biding My Time" The first real rockin' riff I ever figured out was "Son and Daughter" by Brian May.

A while later I got my Gibson LP Firebrand and a tiny 12" Peavey amp from a classmate for 250 bucks. Now we were going places! The amp was given to a friend circa 1992, the guitar is in the other room.

Around 1996 I started doing open mics and getting into playing with others. For acoustic I settled on Taylor 'cause my duo partner had one and they just worked so well for getting through four hour gigs with my fingers not giving up.

For electric I settled on PRS. One, I had known a few dudes that had sanded bodies for Paul in the late 80's and they were just impressed as hell with the operation and how solid the guitars were built and of course they played great and sounded great.

(I live in central Delaware and went to college near Baltimore so I've always been close to Annapolis and nearby Stevensville where PRS were/are based. In fact I used to have a regular gig in Annapolis in this cool old pub named Griffins that was not far from Paul's first shop. Of course nothing in Annapolis is too far from anything else in Annapolis 'cause the place just ain't that big!)

Anyhoo....

The C22 was pricey especially for me at the time but I knew I was going to be playing a lot honing my craft at twice a week rehearsal and gigs every weekend. I'm not guitar tech by any means so I chose a PRS more for its reliability/consistency then anything else to be honest. My first C22 got sold to pay for my Taylor but my second I ordered sight unseen from my local shop. I just told Dale, "get me the first 22 with a wiggle stick you can get your hands on and give me a call." He asked me what color I wanted. I told him, "I don't give a rip about the color, they all look great to me." I ended up with something sort of butter scotch yellowish. It's in my avatar. In 20 years it's never let me down. I had to adjust the truss rod once and that was only after an outdoor gig with a temperature of about 22F. Other than that the only thing I've ever done to it is a bit of lemon oil, polish the frets a few times, change the strings and rub it with a rag once or twice a year. Actually that's a lie. The day I got it I pulled off the wiggle bar cap with some channel locks, hack sawed off about two inches of the bar (much to the horror of Claude the bass player!) and put the cap back on. I can't get on well with the standard length bar al la Gilmour. The end cap still has the teeth marks left by the channel locks...aids in grip! People talk a lot of crap about how a PRS isn't this or that but nobody can argue that Paul builds them as good as anybody. I've stood 30 feet from Alex Lifeson more than once and he got on just fine with a PRS that might as well have been mine and they are the only brand I'd have the confidence to grab off the wall, pay for it, shove it in a case and take it to a gig and start a show without having played it until the downbeat. Heck, the thing would probably still be in tune from when it left the factory!

I have about 5 other guitars each a different version of the major food groups: Slick Tele, Hum sing sing Strat (Black, white pups and hacked off Gilmour approved wiggle stick. It's my "Black Strat" look-a-like), LP, Charvel Hum Hum super strat w/Floyd (when the 80's come 'a callin'), a nearly 40 year old 200 dollar beater Yamaha acoustic that has more battle scars than I can count and a nylon Yamaha.

But honestly I could get on fine forever with just the Taylor and the PRS. But sooner rather than later I'm going to commission Falbo to make me a killer dreadnought. The Taylor has served me VERY well for 20 years and deserves a comfy old age. Besides, I've always wanted a multi kilobuck acoustic and Frank knows his sh-- umm stuff.

 

[jeremy]

i think i was 13 and reeeaaly wanted an electric guitar. my dad had two acoustics, hofner 6 and guild 12, but hard to rawk on those. i scoped out the local music stores, no internet to speak of at that point, and found the squier II contemporary strat. it was $200 and i had no where near that so for christmas, my parents brought me down and i picked out a black one. hss with no pickguard and maple neck. i didnt have an amp until my birthday in march but i loved that damn guitar. im still a strat/fender fan and i still usually prefer a maple neck even if i have a bunch of different guitars. humbucker in the bridge for heavy tones, which is what magazines showed me was needed, and singles in the neck and middle for the pretty clean tones. was a really good guitar and shoulda kept it

 

[Ashurbanipal]

I started out on a nylon string, which remains a big part of my playing. For playing multiple parts, acoustic is unbeatable.

Like many, my game-changing moment was hearing Eddie for the first time, which meant I had to get some kind of Strat shaped object with a Floyd, which was a MIK RG. Really cut my teeth on that thing, and replaced many parts on the Floyd which would wear and break. Had to retire it eventually and began looking for a replacement. I did have a Jackson Dinky briefly, but there was a problem with the neck joint creaking when using the trem which couldn't be fixed, so back it went.

I had played the odd MIJ Ibanez over time but it was difficult to find anything that wasn't an RG and wanted something with a different neck profile, so I began to look further back in the literature at older, discontinued stuff. This led me to Prolines and Roadstars. I managed to find a Proline after a bit of looking and promptly bought it. As soon as I unpacked it and felt the neck, I knew I it was a winner, and why people rave about old Japanese stuff. At that point, I had no qualms about spending some more $$ to get it the way I wanted it. Still my main axe, does lots of sounds and the raw wood feel of the 35 year old neck is primo.

So, Ed began the Floyd/bridge hb in a strat thing, but it's gone in a slightly different direction since then.

 

[DKSEARS]

My first guitar was a cheap Epiphone Strat package from a local mall store. It didn't last long. I ended up trading it for an Ibanez bass at the old Thoroughbred Music store in Tampa while I was in college in Lakeland, FL. That lasted until I graduated and moved back to Cincinnati where a friend of mine found a used black 89 Jackson in a local shop and called me because he knew I was Def Leppard fan and this one reminded him of Phil Crackle Jack. So, I ended up trading the Ibanez bass and an old 9mm pistol for the Jackson, which I still have. That was probably around 92 - 93. My collection has grown considerably since then, of course.