Your Top 3 Guitar Brands?

[theunholyguitarist]

Depends on the price range really. Entry level I don't really look at all too much but mid tier (especially older MIJ stuff) probably Jackson, Ibanez and ESP (E-II/older Edwards).

As far as the high tier it's a tough say, I've played a lot of great brands. Kiesel and Strandberg were up there for a long time, but after playing like really high-end stuff like LEF, Falbo, Mobius, Prophecy, Fransen (haven't played one yet but he's the homie), EQ Guitars and Aristides, it's a really tough choice.

 

[TheBolivianSniper]

1. BC Rich

Love the shapes and my 2 favorite guitars are prime examples. My 1982(?) Warlock is possibly the most comfortable and interesting guitar I own even though it needs a refret and is the greatest example of a straight upgrade on a guitar model (it's essentially a much better designed pointy Les Paul even down to the tones and neck). My stealth 7 has the most perfect neck I've played on and sounds great. Super reliable and made for my hands. All the other BC Rich guitars I've played have at least been comfortable and interesting, even the dud of a mockingbird 7 I owned ages ago.

2. Schecter

Always reliable and great specs for the price, plus you can get them stock with sustainiacs which I love. I'm a huge fan of the Avenger shape and I really like their necks since they're hyper thin but also can be comfortably narrow for my hands. They always sound and play great and that's all I care about.

3. Vintage Jackson/Charvel

My 90s fusion is just batshit insane. I love the unique tones that you can get out of vintage charvels and Jacksons with the weird built in circuits and boosts and such, and they're always the quintessential metal guitars. My charvel is what anyone could ask for out of a super strat: thin neck, steel floyd, sharkfins, pointy headstock, comfy neck joint, H/S, and my personal preference, short scale.

Honorable mentions are old school aria pro guitars, as I have 2 and they're great, ormsby, since I love mine and it's objectively the most perfect guitar I have, and ibanez on the bass side.

Not a huge ESP or modern jackson fan, I just think their stuff is kinda safe and boring. I like really odd guitars and I generally won't touch anything if it's not either modified or very eye catching.

 

[Heretick]

I'm a slut for three things: Strats, cheap guitars, and modding. So I have a pretty odd list

1. Fender- I've been playing guitar for over half my life and my HSS Player Strat is, no joke, the most expensive guitar I've ever owned. After some setup and modding, I struggle to see why I would ever, realistically, need anything else. It's exactly how I want a guitar to feel, other than perhaps having jumbo frets.

2. Harley Benton- I've owned 4 Harleys and still own 3. One heavily modded sss strat in shell pink, one heavily modded sss strat (with a single-coil sized hb in the bridge) in vintage white, and one of their 335 clones in lemon drop, lightly modded; all fantastic. The 335 was probably the best straight out of the box, but the strats are excellent. Necks feel fantastic, fit and finish is great. I'm not huge on the stock Roswell single coils in the strats (they sounded pretty good, just not my thing), and the hardware could be better on all of them, but I love them.

3. My various partscasters- I've owned a few other brands (Schecter, Jackson, Ibanez), but more that anything, the partscasters I've been building suit me more than anything I've tried other than Fender/ Fender clones. I particularly like my Persona 3 and 4 themed Guitarfetish XGP parts builds, and my most recent build from a repainted older Squier strat body and one of those cheap Chinese "roasted flame maple stainless steel fret" necks I took a gamble on. That build came out wonderfully, and is a fantastic guitar.

Honorable mention to Jackson/Charvel. Love a lot of their aesthetics and the sounds I've been able to get from many of them stock, but I don't know that their modern necks are for me. My late 00s/early 10s Jackson Warrior is fine, but my new Jackson JS32 is hurting my thumb/ weakening my fretting hand in the same way my Ibanez RG used to. I'm trying to adapt and figure out exactly what causes it, but I haven't made much headway. Standard C-shape necks in the Fender Modern thin vein don't cause any problems for me.

 

[Fenriswolf]

Gibson, Fender, and ESP. Those just happen to be the 3 brands I own, plus the not main brands, like Epiphone and Charvel. I like more vintagey feeling guitars, and it worked out those are the 3 who had what I wanted.

 

[G_3_3_k_]

Oni, and then whatever else I have in my hands that I connect with. I don't care much about brand. As long as it plays effortlessly, isn't too heavy, sounds good, and doesn't poke me with its pointiness, I'm into it.

 

[M3CHK1LLA]

...I particularly like my Persona 3 and 4 themed Guitarfetish XGP parts builds, and my most recent build from a repainted older Squier strat body and one of those cheap Chinese "roasted flame maple stainless steel fret" necks I took a gamble on. That build came out wonderfully, and is a fantastic guitar...

Pics please

 

[Celtic Frosted Flakes]

No particular order

Jackson
Fell in love with Jackson because of Megadeth and Anthrax, and Kirk Hammetts black Rhoads. Also remembering seeing an ad for an SL1 with a cherry sunburst finish in a guitar mag in the late 90s and thinking this was my dream guitar and if I saved my allowance for like 500 weeks I could afford one. Still haven't gotten me an SL1, but atm I have 4 US Jacksons (3 guitars and one bass). One day I will also get that cherry sunburst Soloist.

Gibson
Because I am a dad.

ESP
I love my ESP Alex Skolnick. Don't know if I ever have played a better guitar than this one. Also been GASing for a MX250 for 20 years now.

 

[Heretick]

Pics please

Here's a wall shot of all three I mentioned. Tatsumi (left) is the Persona 3 guitar, Inaba (center) is the Persona 4 guitar, and "Babylon" (right) is the repainted Squier with the Chinese neck. I have plans to eventually make a Persona 5 guitar, just haven't gotten the time/ money yet. The Persona builds are all broad-stroke aesthetic based with sonic choices I feel fit best thematically. The P5 guitar is going to be candy apple red w/ a solid black pickguard, gold hardware, and dual wide-range humbuckers and would stay tuned to Eb.


Tatsumi is sonic blue w/ black hardware, black/white/black pickguard, and white active pickups in HSS configuration. Tuned to D Standard. Tried to mask off the plain parts of the fretboard and neck while dying the other parts black, led to the ink seeping through under the masking tape. Not great, but it's a learning process!


Inaba is graffiti yellow w/ chrome hardware, parchment pickguard, and two cream P90s. Tuned in standard.


Babylon w/ cinnamon painted body (which never photographs correctly) and a gold painted pickguard


The neck was definitely not as flamed as advertised, which, to be honest, I entirely expected. This is the visually nicest bit.


Here's the hemispherical ends of the SS frets. Pretty well done! The fretwork was actually pretty great, but the last fret was high. Nothing I couldn't take care of.

And a few bonuses:

Here's the two HB strats I mentioned


And my latest project, a fretless conversion and aesthetic/ electronic overhaul of an old First Act. It's fucking awesome, lmao

 

[M3CHK1LLA]

^ Very nice collection...

 

[Heretick]

^ Very nice collection...

Thanks, I appreciate it! I've sold more than a few "legitimate" guitars to fund building these little gremlins, and I don't regret it for a second!

 

[Metal-Box]

1. Ibanez
2. Fender
3. ESP

 

[Flappydoodle]

1. Caparison
2. ESP
3. Gibson

 

[slippityslaps]

Gibson, Fender, and ESP. Those just happen to be the 3 brands I own, plus the not main brands, like Epiphone and Charvel. I like more vintagey feeling guitars, and it worked out those are the 3 who had what I wanted.

Fender is up there for me as well. My US telecaster is my favorite guitar right now. The neck is comfortable. I think Fender fingerboards also just really suit me, I like a little less string spacing. My Ibanez Prestige is great but I always feel like the fingers need to move more than they should. A lot of Fenders are just consistent reissues but that gives the customer a lot of room for variety for basically 3 types of guitars. Their effects pedals can be pretty underrated too, and are very affordable. I'd like to see a little more innovation for their pickups, though.

 

[Fox Dieane]

I don't have a huge preference, but for a while at least I *really* liked Schecter. In fact I still do like them. I like chonky necks, so 50's Gibson's and old Schecters are right up my alley. At the same time, there's something about Ibanez necks that I love, even though they're pretty damn thin. That said, I own everything from cheap shit like Westcreek, all the way up to Gibson and Mayones.

Guitars is like moods for me. Some days I'm happy, some days I'm angry, some days I'm sad. Some days I want to play Gibson, some days I want to play Schecter, and sometimes I want to play the pretty purple westcreek explorer. I don't know what the rhyme or reason is beyond guitars is just fun.

It's not just these brands I own/play regardless of price bracket. Since guitars are 99% cnc these days, it almost doesn't matter what you pick up if you think it looks cool/has that mojo. Neck profile is probably the biggest deciding factor simply because it's something that a lot of brands have unique to them, something that can't be changed, and it's something that can affect just how much you want to actively play. (in my case, a lot of thin necks will make my hands cramp bad.)

 

[jahosy]

1) Jackson - 90% of the ones I've owned just works and plays fantastic; even their budget range. Can't keep them all, left with 4 atm.

2) Caparison - my favourite playing guitar is still the TAT 96 red sunset. But I've also come across some pretty meh ones. Thus 2nd place.

3) Gibson (les paul only) - always love how an LP sounded. But the teenage snob in me was always nit-picking about their poor worksmanship, finish checking and laughed at their headstock breakage. If you can look past those issues they definitely ooze class.

 

[M3CHK1LLA]

guys...feel free to post pics

 

[cwhitey2]

ESP/LTD, Ibanez and Jackson

 

[jahosy]

guys...feel free to post pics

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Bonus:

 

[Andromalia]

Like the title says what are the top 3 guitar brands you love and why?

Curious now that we have so many different and newer companies to choose from.

Also what brands would you like to try?

What brands are you avoiding?

Excluding Boutique stuff otherwise I'd just put Amfisound on top

EBMM
Gibson
ESP

For all the Gibson hate I read on the forums I never had any issue with them, even when bought new. I mostly like them because I enjoy Vs and Explorer shapes which are more comfortable for my right arm. Les Pauls, not so much.

 

[Choop]

Gibson
Fender
Ibanez

...because I'm basic as heck.

Actually I legitimately like Gibson guitars quite a bit -- I think they sound great and are comfy to play, especially with that 24.75" scale length. Favorites are the SG and the Flying V. I just love the iconic body shapes. They have design flaws (especially that headstock angle design) but I can overlook those for the reasons that I like them.

Sort of same for Fender -- classic designs, highly versatile, tend to play well, and quality tends to be overall good as far as I can tell with the USA models. They also make the P bass, which is my favorite bass design.

Ibanez because I just think they are neat. I've owned a bunch in the past, and I'm on a Vai & Satriani kick lately so Ibanez is on my mind. Good quality, especially for the price. Negatives are the brittle finishes on RGs, and the convoluted numbering schemes between product lines.

I'd really like to play a nice BC Rich someday because I like those body shapes also, and I feel like I'd gel with the ones having the 24.75" scale length. Kind of same thing for Caparison.