Why we like certain guitars and not others

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Dani Pace

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This isn't quite a poll, just a place to list the things which seperate our favorites and our least desireable guitars and the reasons why. For example; I like Ibanez Axe series guitars for their feel, small, light, thin neck. I'm a somewhat small person so this style "fits" both my body and hands better than larger bulky feeling guitars. I have never been able to get into strats, although I like the sound there is something about the body shape which is simply not comfortable to me. On the acoustic side I like Ovation for their feel (rounded back maybe) and almost hate playing anything with a jumbo body, I guess it is the having to reach out and over the body that makes them feel awkward to me.

Well guys, it's your turn, sound off on the things you like, dislike, would like or whatever, don't forget to include youe reason(s) why. We all have our preferances and I respect that, I'm just curoius as to why.
 
Floating bridges are my number one hate.
I have a new strat with one that I love, but I may well block it before long.
It just takes so much longer to change a whole set of strings (which I like to do regularly).

I also have a PRS copy that has a Floyd.
It hasn't been played for nearly ten years and I took it out of its case the other day.
It sounds surprisingly good - but setting it up is a *nightmare*. I spent hours playing with the Floyd, and will no doubt have to put many more hours into it before I get it into a playable condition :mad:

This is one reason why I love my LP Studio. It takes no time to change strings, set the intonation etc. The Tune-O-Matic kicks ass! So simple!

I like little extras like locking tuners and strap locks - they can make a difference.
Finished maple fingerboards feel too slippery to me - so I tend to go for rosewood and ebony.

I really like the Medium Jumbo frets on deluxe strats.

Les Paul style volume/tone controls are nice. I like the way you can mix the sounds of the two pickups on an LP and I like the nice even sweep you get on the volume pot.
My deluxe strat has a very subtle volume control until you get to 7, at which point there is a huge leap in volume from 6-10. This is slightly annoying.
 
Big fan of strats here. I like the shape and how light they are. Feels more like an extension of me than a lump of wood hanging around my neck. I guess cos I learned on a Squire strat copy and then moved onto the genuine article I have become accumstomed to it. I also find them to be pretty versatile guitars, and have never really had a problem finding a sound I am looking for. Must have a humbucker tho.
However if I want to go for a slightly tighter sound I will go for my Ibanez, which are guitars I also love, despite mine being a hell of a lot heavier than I expect everytime I strap it on for some reason. Nice thin neck tho.

I don't think anything could replace my strat tho.

As far as guitars I don't like too much tho, from my limited experience of Les Pauls (ie, playing my friends standard) I really don't get on with them. I found the sound I was getting for rhythm guitar was a bit too muddy for my liking with lots of distortion. However the clean to dirty tones I could get were beautiful I will admit. Also leads sound awesome.
Agree or not I would definitely opt for my Strat or Ibanez over a Les Paul for the sort of music I play (metal, basically).

But its all a matter of personal taste at the end of the day...
 
I like guitars that play themselves...

I used to think I was a LP guy...mostly I think from what I thought I wanted to be rather than who I really was. I played 80's pop metal for so long that I got used to the Kramer type fat strat looking gtrs, and used to have a Fernandes Revival that I truly believe was the best I've owned, and I've owned some great ones, but I did some great things to it like stripping the laquer off the maple neck. The sound and feel of playing raw is awesome.

I think the guitars I like depend on what I'm playign and the mood I have at the time. But there is NOTHING...and I mean NOTHING...that sounds like an A-chord from a Les Paul through a Marshall. That, to me, is the ultimate rock sound
 
I've always preferred strats due to their feel. Paul's never felt right for me, too heavy. They sound good though. I also really like Ibanez guitars 'cause they ROCK.
 
I have several guitars but always stick to my MIA Strat, which has 2 HB's, it's the most comfortable guitar I have, I would love an LP but always find them too heavy and have to put them down after a while. I also have a Samick which was given to me by a friend, I put Bill Lawrence HB's on it and filed the frets, magic action with heavy strings and beautiful sound but again too heavy on the shoulder.
Fender Amps do it for me, I like other people playing Marshall tho'.
 
Love strats because of Jimi Hendrix. Owned a strat but sold it, wsih I didn't.

I like dreadnought acoustic guitars. Not a big fan of gibson acoustics but like Martins and I own a Taylor 110. Played an Ibanez Performance for years. It was a nice dreadnought style cheap guitar.

I love nylon string guitars because of the tone they give. I used to have a little old nylon guitar that would buzz on the low e string and the g string. It was a great guitar for playing blues. So warm, so buzzy
 
I own 3 Strats, and I love them. However, my favorite guitar is my most recent purchase - a reissue Fender Mustang. I put a Hot Rails in t he lead and that guitar just sings. The neck is soooo comfortable to play on. It replaced my American Strat as my main guitar.

As far as other guitars, I really like a lot of them. I'm not too big on Les Pauls, though. I think they feel great on the neck, and the weight doesn't really bother me. I just don't like that super beefy tone they have about them. If I played a Gibson it'd be an SG. I really like the way Explorers look, but I can't say much about them considering I've never played one other than a cheap Epi they have at Guitar Center.
 
Mostly I look for a nice neck. I started on a Tele with a solid maple neck, still like those, when that neck warms up it feels like butter. But in my old age I prefer the shorter scale length of the Les Paul. I have a thin body Paul that isn't any heavier than a Fender, and doesn't have any of the fussy details like the pickguard, binding (body or fingerboard), large inlays, etc. I like ebony fingerboards, but I have rosewood.

Never used a whammy bar, I like humbuckers but I've been meaning to add coil tap switches to the Paul. I like a lot of tone variety, but not too many controls. Tough to meet both requirements :( I may change the tone controls to a master treble and bass.

I don't really like Strats. Double cuts don't do it for me. Teles have less routing too, so they seem more solid.
 
This question is all subjective...We all have sounds that we are trying to find with guitars that feel good and natural in our hands.

It is so many different factors....And, who really cares what others like--- or do not like? We each find our own guitars that feel right and sound right.
 
i don't like strats because you have to adjust them way to much (atleast my experience with them) same with all fenders. Im more of a gibson guy :)
 
gibsonguy09 said:
i don't like strats because you have to adjust them way to much (atleast my experience with them) same with all fenders. Im more of a gibson guy :)
Click to expand...

Really? I couldn't tell :p

I got myself a flattop LP Melody Maker, but I find myself more and more engrossed in Strats and Mustangs and Tele's to this day....
 
For me, guitars are like haircuts: I've never had one that I've been completely satisfied with. My first Martin (a late 60's D-18) always sounded worse than a friends plywood Yamaha. And my current acoustic (a Taylor 414) sounds a little on the thin side. As far as feel goes, they are all too narrow at the neck for my basketball-gripping "man-hands." The only exception was an old Guild 12 string that I used to play set up with six strings. Of course, while I like wider fretboards I still prefer a relatively small body. On the other hand, none of this really matters since age and arthritis are slowly catching up to me.
 
I love my 1987 American Standard Strat. I can leave it cased for 3-4 months, pull it out and it's still in tune. The action is just how I like it and the stock pickups sound just fine for me. I also love my 1992 Gibson Les Paul Classic. What a player, great action, great tone. In fact I don't have any guitars that I don't like. I suppose I buy them because I do like them and wouldn't buy one that I wasn't perfectly happy with.

rpe
 
-The feel of a tung oil finished maple neck with a rosewood fretboard.
-25.5" scale rather than 24.75"
-Good upper fret access like on Ibanez bolt-ons rather than the square heel on a Strat
-The Les Paul type controls. 2 vol, 2 tone
-A flatter fret board, the rolled edges on Fenders feel horrible to me
-A fixed bridge or a floyd rose, the other trems don't seem to be worth the lack of tuning stability for less functionality than a floyd rose
-dual humbuckers or a H-S-H pickup configuration
-A tone knob that can cut off a lot of the treble (although this is the easiest modification of any)
-Medium to large frets, not jumbo but not small either
-An upper arm and belly contour like on strats, so that it doesn't dig in to your rib cage like a telecaster
-A thin, wide neck, like on SGs

I've never found the perfect guitar for me, but I suppose it would be a mix between my SG and my Ibanez. Maple neck, rosewood fingerboard, mahogany body, H-S-H pickups, Hardtail Strat style bridge, no pickguard, binding on the fretboard only, 2 vol, 2 tone... I don't want to go in to all the details.
 
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My ideal is a 25" scale length, 10" radius with a beefy neck and low action. Which is why I like PRS guitars. My custom Thorn and Gretz guitars also have the same neck specs. That said, I still like my Strat and Tele for their tones...not so much for their playability, but just as no other guitar sounds exactly like a Les Paul, they also have a very distinctive voice. I've had a slew of Les Pauls, (and PRS Singlecuts) and finally came to the realization that I just am not a LP kind of guy :( I also have a great Martin OOO, a Taylor 12 string, and a neat Yamaha nylon string. I REALLY hope I'm done :o
 
Lp's just feel more natural for me to play. My friends first guitar as a fender tele nashville deluxe. Nice guitar but, it just didn't feel right when i played it. I haven't like a tele or strat ever since. I have chenged the pickups on my crappy crate strat so i like it better now than i did when i got it but of course when i got it i had no clue what i was doing :p
 
I gravitated towards Gibsons when I was starting out, so I got used to the big frets and baseball bat necks. I am very tall, so LP's and Strats always looked like belt buckles on me, so I was always playing Explorers, V's, Ibanez Iceman, Destroyers, BC Rich Warlocks (the older, bigger, nicer ones), Bitches, etc... Just about anything with a big body and a clunky neck were the guitars I really liked.
I had a bunch of Charvels, Jacksons, Kramers when it was cool to be playing them but I always went back to exploers and Icemans (icemen?)
 
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