PFDarkside
of the Forum
Talking about electric guitars, what makes a guitar great? Do you break it into sound and playability? How much is your preference vs something you can objectively point to? When I was picking up my amp after it was serviced I played a Fender Custom Shop to test it out and I was surprisingly unimpressed for the price. It sounded good but I didn’t feel any “magic”
for what that hang tag said.
Some things seems straightforward, I think.
This like well leveled, crowned, polished and rounded fret ends vs frets with wide flat spots that like out the end of the fretboard. A guitar that stays in tune when you play it, so it’s well intonated and doesn’t go out of tune with bends, etc. The ability to hold a setup, so the neck doesn’t move and change action.
Other things are more subjective like how the neck/nut width, neck thickness and profile, and radius feel compared to your preferences. Fret size and crowning profile. Weight and balance. How the finish feels on the neck and if the fretboard is finished or raw.
Sometimes it’s a sound thing, where the pickups balance the guitar’s tone and your preference. Being here we know what a huge impact all electronics can have, pickups, height, pot values, cap values, feel/quality of the parts like the speed/stiffness of the pots.
And sometimes it’s just familiarity. My #1 Strat is my number 1, and I play it so often it feels like home. I think objectively it could be better, but I know it so well.
What makes a great guitar for you? What are your must haves and what guitars surprised you?
for what that hang tag said.
Some things seems straightforward, I think.
This like well leveled, crowned, polished and rounded fret ends vs frets with wide flat spots that like out the end of the fretboard. A guitar that stays in tune when you play it, so it’s well intonated and doesn’t go out of tune with bends, etc. The ability to hold a setup, so the neck doesn’t move and change action.
Other things are more subjective like how the neck/nut width, neck thickness and profile, and radius feel compared to your preferences. Fret size and crowning profile. Weight and balance. How the finish feels on the neck and if the fretboard is finished or raw.
Sometimes it’s a sound thing, where the pickups balance the guitar’s tone and your preference. Being here we know what a huge impact all electronics can have, pickups, height, pot values, cap values, feel/quality of the parts like the speed/stiffness of the pots.
And sometimes it’s just familiarity. My #1 Strat is my number 1, and I play it so often it feels like home. I think objectively it could be better, but I know it so well.
What makes a great guitar for you? What are your must haves and what guitars surprised you?
