Top 3 'MUST HAVES' in a guitar!

We all know that owning and playing a guitar is a personal experience and one size truly doesn't fit all. But, if you are going to approach the guitar from your own perspective, what are three things a guitar must have before you could even consider playing it?

**Hopefully, we can avoid the snarky responses like, "Strings,...". We're gonna assume all of the necessary things are already in place. But, what you can do is be specific about those things if those really are important to you. :)

The Top 3 things I've gotta have for me to really feel good about playing are (in order of importance):

1. Bright Body - What I mean by that is there must be a brightening agent on the body - whether it be the wood itself or a particulary bright-sounding bridge. I like cutting tones and bodies that are dull-sounding by comparison really kill my brain and I become less inspired to play. Maple has been my favorite option so far to achieve the desired result.

2. Short Scale - I've switched over (perhaps permanently) to short scale (aka Gibson scale) guitars after years of playing long scale (aka "Fender" scale) guitars. I prefer playing fatter strings and guitars with this scale accept a starting string gauge of 10's in standard tuning better than long scale axes do IME. Plus, when going into a bright amplifier using a short scale guitar, the top end of it isn't harsh typically and that allows you to be able to use more treble at the amp for more cut and bite.

3. "Pointy" - The way a guitar looks is just as important to me as the actual things that make the guitar a guitar. So-called "pointy" axes look very cool to me and for me to feel whole as a player, my guitars have to look (and sometimes be) dangerous.
 
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Re: Top 3 'MUST HAVES' in a guitar!

Three must haves:

A) I prefer hard tail bridges, better sustain I feel than a tremolo or similar vibrato bridge. I would consider a Bigsby style trem though so I have an exception to my rule.
B) Few controls. I like single pickup guitars with a single volume or at the most a vol and a tone, simplicity rules!
C) I'm a fan of the lines of Strats and SLO's (Strat Like Objects) so a strat body is my preferred style.
I know you said 3 but it also should be relatively easy to mod, yet another reason why Fender style solidbodies are my cup o' tea...
 
Re: Top 3 'MUST HAVES' in a guitar!

comfy body

bright, articulate, loud acoustic tone

well setup
 
Re: Top 3 'MUST HAVES' in a guitar!

1) A Screamin' Demon as the bridge pickup. :D
Seriously, I love this pickup. Articulate, cleans real good, and sounds brutal with distortion.
If not, a JB will do. I'm used to both of them.

2) Has to look interesting. As much as I like Strats, they're the most boring guitar to look at.
If I had to rebuild, I'd stay away from them.

3) No floating bridges! And no gimmicky features. Don't like Floyd Roses or having 10 push/pulls.

My least favorite guitar in the world is Steve Morse's Ernie Ball.
It has everything: Floyd Rose, impossible switching system and it looks goofy. Damn fine guitar I'm sure of, but not for me.

EDIT: My list's pretty shallow, isn't it? I left out things that are so obvious that I can't even think not owning a guitar with them,
like comfort and tuning stability.
Les Pauls are perpetually uncomfortable for me so I don't think of them as an alternative. Love their sound though.
 
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Re: Top 3 'MUST HAVES' in a guitar!

These are my TOP 3:

1- It must tune well. I mean, it can be the best sounding and most comfortable guitar ever made, but if it goes out of tune or it's poorly set up, I would reject it inmediatly.
2- No buzzing and/or excessive hum.
3- Thin U neck and low action.
 
Re: Top 3 'MUST HAVES' in a guitar!

1) Stable neck

2) 22-24 frets welcomed

3) able to be set with high action (and I do mean high) without intonation problems.

I do have other preferences: D, C or V shaped necks; standard scale; floating bridge and a neck pickup, but I can live without those.
 
Re: Top 3 'MUST HAVES' in a guitar!

1. a guitar must have a neck. A neck is a long, glorious piece of wood with a definite shape and purpose.

2. a guitar must have stuffs attached to the glorious piece of wood mentioned in #1. Other glorious tree fragments, animal fragments, metal bits and pieces, magnets, screws, strings, lacquer and glue count as "stuff".

3. 1+2=4. The neck and the stuffs must work together in synergy for a memorable, addictive, spine tingling tone experience.
 
Re: Top 3 'MUST HAVES' in a guitar!

* must hold tune (i do not want to tune after every 5 songs)
* must not neck dive
* must not have a skinny neck
 
Re: Top 3 'MUST HAVES' in a guitar!

1. Great Action
2. Great Intonation
3. Great Tonewood

Perhaps it shouldn't be my top priority but mentally I judge a guitar by how it plays before it is plugged in. I get all of my guitars setup to play like butter. Intonation is also very important. I've passed on guitars that had great action and tone but the intonation was off. Nothing is more annoying that not being able to play the same note in tune up and down the neck.

Tonewood that is alive and resonant is crucial. I can change the pickups and the amp/processor to get certain types of tone–but if the wood is dead and doesn't reasonate then my amps/processors are not able to sound the best...IMO.
 
Re: Top 3 'MUST HAVES' in a guitar!

1. Stay in tune
2. Playable action
3. Good tone

I play everything. Les Pauls, Strats, SG's, PRS, Ibanez, Jackson... Love 'em all.
 
Re: Top 3 'MUST HAVES' in a guitar!

Great quality wood with a good timbre to the knock of the wood sound. 22 fret short scale seems to be most of my guitars. Quality hardware. Everything else is cosmetics and subject to whim.
 
Re: Top 3 'MUST HAVES' in a guitar!

1) Play-ability: neck that feels good, sustain, clarity, stays in tune.
2) Controls in the right place: one Volume that I can keep my pinky on, a selector switch that's not in the way, and not much more.
3) NO 80's locking bridges: no floyds, no kahlers, no locking nuts.
 
Re: Top 3 'MUST HAVES' in a guitar!

1. Humbucker in the bridge. it can have one in the neck or a single coil, P90 or even nothing, but it HAS to have a high output bridge bucker
2. TOM or string through
3. No overly funky body shape... strat, tele, LP, explorer, V, all good...anything too "BC Rich" or "Moser" ill pass
 
Re: Top 3 'MUST HAVES' in a guitar!

I like this thread.

I'm having a hard time deciding because my list keeps ending up like GuitarDoc's. I think, beyond the obvious things like "neck shape I can use", "reasonable weight", "not painted in magenta flake" my current non-obvious must haves are

1) Scatterwound, or even just hand wound pickups. I've always fought with the overdriven character of pickups, this fixes it all. I wish I'd figured this out years ago. Still hunting a humbucker that gives me satisfaction.

2) Perfectly even, well polished frets. Having the exact same little bite of fret clang on every note no matter where you fret it makes you sound good.

3) Must work well live with a band. I have no idea how to find this any way other than gigging with the guitar. I've always been a fan of picking guitars that have a pleasant, lively unplugged sound, this apparently means nothing. I've given up.
 
Re: Top 3 'MUST HAVES' in a guitar!

No specific order:
1. Thin-to-thin(ish) 22+ fret neck
2. Really dark/brutal low end when distorted in E Standard
3. Sustain… no sustain, no sale.
Sometimes I break #2 when I plan to use the guitar for mostly cleans
In that case the rule becomes:
2. Cleans that shimmer without overly bright highs.
All those rules said, I still try every guitar I can.
 
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