The most metal "looking" guitar?

[StratFreak]

Re: The most metal "looking" guitar?

My vote is for these two brutal takes on the classic Explorer/V designs:

...and yes, it has to be black. Nothing's more metal than black.

I knew someone was with me on the razorback thing

 

[Grindspine]

Re: The most metal "looking" guitar?

V, Z, and X shaped guitars are pretty much awesome as "metal guitars."

V easily covers King V, Rhoads, Demmolition, SV, etc. I think Jackson and Randy Rhoads pretty much elevated the Flying V from non-traditional to extreme.

Z covers the many Explorer variants pretty well. The Jackson Kelly, B.C. Rich Mockingbird, and ESP Snakebite come to mind.

X really covers so many pointy guitar variants though; the "pointier than an ML" Razorback, the Warlock and Warbeast, Ironbird, Stealth, Xyphos, and Warrior all derive from modified X shapes.

barring some of Bernie Rico Jr's designs, I still have seen almost nothing near the shape of B.C. Rich Ignitors, Waves or Virgins though.

 

[Dr. Vegetable]

Re: The most metal "looking" guitar?

And for the folks posting Les Pauls and Teles and Gibson Vs, ...

...That is what defines whether a guitar is "Metal".

 

[guitarrob]

Re: The most metal "looking" guitar?

A metal guitar cannot have PAF's or a natural burst finish.

According to who?

^ Guys stills sticking stock Les Pauls, Explorers and Sg's in with the real dedicated metal machines. You guys just don't get it, and I guess you never will.
A dedicated modern metal machine not only has to have a Floyd, and a 16 inch radius, but it has to look the part. Not like something Foghat played in '69 for eff's sake.
I'm sure someones gonna say stock Tele next..Pshhhh

I agree with you to some extent but LP's have been used in metal for a long time.
The Floyd is a preference not a requiste there are many metal axes out there without trem bridges.

 

[guitarrob]

Re: The most metal "looking" guitar?

I reject the idea that V's and Explorers all look metal I think the look of the guy playing the instrument has as big
an impact as the guitar when you are talking many instruments. Yeah stupid looking guitars like the overly angular
seen in this thread instruments look metal but the classic 50's weird shapes do not unless the guy playing it is wearing
his best every day is halloween garb.

I think it depends on how they are painted and styled, take any of those guitars you posted and put a different color on them and they will suddenly look more metal. Take that explorer, paint it glass black, as some SD and it will look more the part.
Those guitars you posted have a more 50's-60's styling so they do not look very modern or scream metal!!!
Some go crazy with the angles though as you said.

 

[Rich_T]

Re: The most metal "looking" guitar?

^ Guys stills sticking stock Les Pauls, Explorers and Sg's in with the real dedicated metal machines. You guys just don't get it, and I guess you never will.
A dedicated modern metal machine not only has to have a Floyd, and a 16 inch radius, but it has to look the part. Not like something Foghat played in '69 for eff's sake.
I'm sure someones gonna say stock Tele next..Pshhhh

I'm pretty certain all of the decent metal kicking around right now has nothing to do with "looking the part".

 

[MetalManiac]

Re: The most metal "looking" guitar?

I'm pretty certain all of the decent metal kicking around right now has nothing to do with "looking the part".

( and ya know I'm jokin' witcha man.)

The topic really is , the MOST metal looking guitar. That means the one that the MOST metal bands , playing the MOSt metal music would use. I'm sorry but a natural wood les Paul with P-90's isnt gonna fly for Speedmetal, grindcore, death, Black or Norwegian and extreme hardcore thrash stuff.

Guys who are older just dont know what that is in general, so they can't understand what I'm saying...so they post a pic of some foagies out of the 70's with a P-90 les Paul best suited for blues and classic rock, and heavy metal.
Gee Whilikers man, if you gotta use a Paul, then make it a black one, & paint a satanic symbol on it or somthing ..sheesh.
Stuff like Ibanez Jems arent really hardcore either..more shred and neo.

By the way, its okay to disagree with me. Naturally we all have our opinions, and I think I'm right like everybody else.

 

[FretFire]

Re: The most metal "looking" guitar?

When I think metal, I think Les Pauls and Superstrats. But, I don't care what the guitars look like when I pop the CD in and crank it up.

 

[kramer.geetar]

Re: The most metal "looking" guitar?

 

[Dr. Vegetable]

Re: The most metal "looking" guitar?

 

[DrNewcenstein]

Re: The most metal "looking" guitar?

"Metal" is not limited to 'core and black and death and grunting, so the Satanic symbols and "must be black" just doesn't fly.

And no, Spinal Tap were a spoof band, so they can pose with that mannequin-of-a-12-year-old-girl "guitar" and it would still not look any more "Metal" than a P90'd LP.


Didn't Rick Derringer use a BC Rich Stealth back in the day with Edgar Winter?
"Rock-n-roll hootchie-koo" just doesn't sound like a "Metal" track to me.

 

[Dr. Vegetable]

Re: The most metal "looking" guitar?

And no, Spinal Tap were a spoof band, so they can pose with that mannequin-of-a-12-year-old-girl "guitar" and it would still not look any more "Metal" than a P90'd LP.

Say it ain't so! :smack:

I think it takes big brass ones to go out on stage dressed like that. How much more metal could they be?

 

[El Dunco]

Re: The most metal "looking" guitar?

"The Boston gig's been canceled, but don't worry - it's not a big college town."

They did have a big drum sound though. Bonham wouldn't let those pesky engineers anywhere near his kit with close mics, so they never got that dying-suitcase, flat, dry Steely Dan drum sound. Back then, the producers insisted on everything being bone-dry and unusually clear to the point of being neutered to mix it "properly".

A lot of the heavier bands in the 70s never really got as big as a guitar sound as they deserved though, in some parts you can just imagine how awesome they would have sounded if you had been in the room with them while tracking.

That's why only a live concert would suffice to really hear their sound.

Ironically, now that we've got the recording techniques and technology to get the big sound, modern bands hardly use them!

 

[Grindspine]

Re: The most metal "looking" guitar?

 

[Dr. Vegetable]

Re: The most metal "looking" guitar?

They did have a big drum sound though. Bonham wouldn't let those pesky engineers anywhere near his kit with close mics, so they never got that dying-suitcase, flat, dry Steely Dan drum sound. Back then, the producers insisted on everything being bone-dry and unusually clear to the point of being neutered to mix it "properly".

A lot of the heavier bands in the 70s never really got as big as a guitar sound as they deserved though, in some parts you can just imagine how awesome they would have sounded if you had been in the room with them while tracking.

That's why only a live concert would suffice to really hear their sound.

Ironically, now that we've got the recording techniques and technology to get the big sound, modern bands hardly use them!

All kidding aside, I have to agree with you - to an extent. Of course Zeppelin had a huge guitar sound for their day. Page experimented with a lot of interesting techniques to get some great tones down. Some of the "biggest" tones he achieved were intentionally limited - it still blows me away to listen to some tracks and think "that's a tele?"

Of course many other players achieved a "bigger" sound, but those guys were weaned on Moby Dick, Since I've Been Lovin' You, Dazed and Confused, Achilies Last Stand, and The Lemon Song. If bands like Zeppelin hadn't pushed the envelope, we'd probably think James Taylor was as hard as rock gets. (On second thought, I suppose Jimi had already saved us from that fate...)

I sometimes wonder what Zep would sound like if they were a new band today. Would today's magic-in-a-box gear have crushed Page's need to experiment? Would digital mastering suck the soul out of the recordings? Would auto-pitch turn Plant's pipes into sewers? I'm pretty sure they would've dubbed Page's most lively performances into mediocre mush to "fix" his mistakes.

The player is what makes the guitar "metal." Randy Rhodes could have taken that Hello Kitty Squier to the moon, and we'd all have one in our collection.

 

[guitarrob]

Re: The most metal "looking" guitar?

I agree also. Zeppelin and a few other bands had to produce heavy sounds without real heavy distortion. I think Page had a fairly heavy sound for his day....

I think the player has something to do with the overall image...but I think some guitars just scream metal just from their look regardless if they are pictured with the player or not.

On a side note, I don't think one color really signifies metal. Just painting a guitar black doesn't suddenly make it metal...not to me anyway.

 

[kramer.geetar]

Re: The most metal "looking" guitar?

Yea the recording aren't that honest anymore. If you listen to the guitar tracks from EVH, you can hear mistakes, but it doesn't matter. It sounds authentic, its in your face and its live. He's not hiding behind anything, and it sounds amazing.

 

[El Dunco]

Re: The most metal "looking" guitar?

I wasn't actually putting down their guitar sound at all. Dazed and confused was really getting there by meticulous layering. Zepplin had the drum sound, Sababth had the guitar sound but even then you could almost imagine how big Iommi's sound would have been if you were there and not hearing the final product through speakers off the record.

All I was saying is that you can tell that the guitars were way bigger than they sounded and now that it's commonplace to get an upfront guitar sound, the majority tones are f*cking lame.

Motorhead had a recent album that was modern day clear and crisp but they didn't go so drastic that Lemmy was autotuned or any such nonsense, I think the right producer could make a modern Zepplin record sound absolutely slammin'. Iommi did a solo collab album and some of those tracks were just the monolith!

The irony of digital recording is that it should allow more dynamics than analogue and we manage to use it to it's least potential. We should have kick drums that are 12db outward from the body of music, not lopping them off just to make it louder on the disc!

Neil Pert's bass drum the first time it was on digital was hailed as finally being the bass drum heard around the world on the CD, then it died an ignoble death for Vapor Trails.

 

[Grindspine]

Re: The most metal "looking" guitar?

I agree also. Zeppelin and a few other bands had to produce heavy sounds without real heavy distortion. I think Page had a fairly heavy sound for his day....

I think the player has something to do with the overall image...but I think some guitars just scream metal just from their look regardless if they are pictured with the player or not.

On a side note, I don't think one color really signifies metal. Just painting a guitar black doesn't suddenly make it metal...not to me anyway.

....................

Hell, Massive Attack has some songs that have a really heavy rhythm, no guitar, no distortion.

But, that is not quite where we are aiming.

We're talking about a guitar (not the band, not the player) looking dangerous, pointy, MEHTAL! \m,/

For example, some Jackson custom shop guitars designed by Pablo Santana and most designs by Bernie Rico Jr. are just extreme looking. But, there is a fine line--they still look like guitars, just sharp guitars.

 

[Hot Octopus]

Re: The most metal "looking" guitar?