Other favorite guitar makers besides J/C?

[markD]

Gibsons need to be hand picked.

this is the truth!! i just bought my first gibson and i played, probably, 20-25 of them before i found one that i liked. and, wow - what a guitar it is!!

[shredmonster]

Better check your facts, Shred. Cali's have always been 25.5 inch scale. Yeah, they have medium frets but that's to accommodate fingers in the confines of the 24th - 27th frets.

On Calis I didn't mean the scale length. I met the nut and the small frets. Necks are fairly tiny also - I owned one. I have played almost every Hamer style made - Artists, Duo Tones, Vectors, TLE's, Standard, Newport, Eclipse, Studio, Centaruras, Special, Monaco, Talladega, Chaps, Diablos, Phantoms, Steve Stevens, T51. Also have played the ones they made for the Miller promotion both 6 and 12 string. I have not played a Scarab, Virtuoso or custom ones made for artists. With most of them I have played 2 or 3 different ones for each model.

Calis have those extra frets but still fret wire is so small it is much harder to play than my Jacksons up there. See I find I can dig in much better with Jumbo frets on the upper registers. In fact I usually now get my frets 22 - 24 scalloped.

Their set neck Chaparals (earlier models) and their Steve Stevens had the shorter scales in terms of what you would call a shredder guitar.

Also Hamers are pretty much a C shape where I personally prefer a D shape neck and get all my guitars with them now.

[shredmonster]

this is the truth!! i just bought my first gibson and i played, probably, 20-25 of them before i found one that i liked. and, wow - what a guitar it is!!

Yep - friend of mine was a builder for the Gibson Pro Custom Shop. Not the Custom Shop - the PRO shop where you have to be an artist to get a guitar made for you.

Gibson is run like a corporation - so many pieces per day. Don't have the parts - then stick in what we have in stock. That is how it works there. That is why they don't have consistency and that is why you have to hand pick one out. I would rather have a Hamer.

[vector]

Calis have those extra frets but still fret wire is so small it is much harder to play than my Jacksons up there. See I find I can dig in much better with Jumbo frets on the upper registers. In fact I usually now get my frets 22 - 24 scalloped.

Their set neck Chaparals (earlier models) and their Steve Stevens had the shorter scales in terms of what you would call a shredder guitar.

Also Hamers are pretty much a C shape where I personally prefer a D shape neck and get all my guitars with them now.

I hear ya on the fret size, though, I don't seem to have any issue switching between my Charvel CS Star and the Cali's and back. Coincidentally, I just handed a Dan Lawrence painted Cali LE over to Greg Platzer @ BCR Music for a refret and I went with the jumbo frets on that neck. Should be interesting, playing one of my beloved Cali's with the jumbos.

[roodyrocker]

I don't know about the hand picking being necessary for Gibsons. I have several Les Pauls and most were bought from E-Bay as well as various forums without having the opportunity to play them first. So far no duds in the bunch.

[vector]

I don't know about the hand picking being necessary for Gibsons. I have several Les Pauls and most were bought from E-Bay as well as various forums without having the opportunity to play them first. So far no duds in the bunch.

I've bought two Gibbys sight unseen and had to tweak both of them. Issues with the p'ups, wiring & Floyds nearly caused me to flip both. I'm glad I held on to them and ironed out the kinks but I will not be buying another Gibby sight unseen.

[DonP]

I don't know about the hand picking being necessary for Gibsons. I have several Les Pauls and most were bought from E-Bay as well as various forums without having the opportunity to play them first. So far no duds in the bunch.

+1000.

When I bought my first Les Paul Historic in late 2004, I was out in LA visiting family. I played about 20 of the same model, and in the end I just got confused because they all sounded and played the same and ended up taking the first one I found in Cinci which had a beatiful dark coffee fretboard smooth as ebony.

I bought another historic in 2009 in store. That was love at first strum.

Online, I've bought a new 2002 Standard, a 1996 Classic Premium Plus, a 1977 Custom. All of them were great. None of them would I sell.

I have 9 Gibsons in all, and zero issues.

[shredmonster]

Well I will go with what my buddy says who actually worked at Gibson over any anecdotal situations just because so and so have not yet found a bad Gibby.

I tend to think someone who worked there especially in the pro shop would have utmost credibility.

[1994]

For a Jackson-esque guitar I really like the ESP Standard Series. The M and H models do what you would expect and they do it really well.

EBMM are a bit more quirky but the quality is great - the Axis is a superb guitar (not mad on the shape but the sound and playability is top quality). I also hear that the JP models are amazing.


If money was no object I would go for a Suhr

[jgcable]

Probably the best shredders I have ever played were Peavey USA Wolfgangs. Those guitars do everything great.
They are as ugly as a bag of assholes but they play and sound incredible.

[markD]

+ 1 they DO play great. i just couldn't get used to the weird size of the body...it was too little for me.

[Flatpicker]

On Calis I didn't mean the scale length. I met the nut and the small frets. Necks are fairly tiny also - I owned one. I have played almost every Hamer style made - Artists, Duo Tones, Vectors, TLE's, Standard, Newport, Eclipse, Studio, Centaruras, Special, Monaco, Talladega, Chaps, Diablos, Phantoms, Steve Stevens, T51. Also have played the ones they made for the Miller promotion both 6 and 12 string. I have not played a Scarab, Virtuoso or custom ones made for artists. With most of them I have played 2 or 3 different ones for each model.

Calis have those extra frets but still fret wire is so small it is much harder to play than my Jacksons up there. See I find I can dig in much better with Jumbo frets on the upper registers. In fact I usually now get my frets 22 - 24 scalloped.

Their set neck Chaparals (earlier models) and their Steve Stevens had the shorter scales in terms of what you would call a shredder guitar.

Also Hamers are pretty much a C shape where I personally prefer a D shape neck and get all my guitars with them now.

Sounds like you just don't like vintage sized nuts?
Both the Hamer and the EBMM are 1 5/8. That may be the thing that kills it for you.

Me, I'm short and the vintage sizes are perfect.

[wilkinsi]

There aren't any other favourite guitar brands as far as I'm concerned

[xenophobe]

There aren't any other favourite guitar brands as far as I'm concerned

I don't think I really have a favorite brand anymore. Jackson for sentimental reasons I guess. I just like guitars with high build quality.

[slowhand66]

For superstrats, it's GMW for me.