What are your favorite guitar options?

[jack26]

Just wondering what most people like....

Doing some quick research for a friend.

Whats your favorite:

scale length?
body color?
Body shape?
Fretboard wood?
number of frets?
Bound or not? if bound- frets over binding like most jacksons, or binding over fret ends like gibson?
blocks/dots/sharks/other?
guitar- 6 string? 7?
pups- 1 or 2 hums? Other than hums?
bass 4? 5?
jb/pb/musicman pup?

Doing some quick research for a friend.

Think- you're in a guitar shop... and you see something thats *perfect*- you HAVE TO HAVE IT!!!!

What features does it have?

Thanks!

[markD]

My favorite:

scale length? 25" but 25.5" is fine too
body color? anything flashy, white - NO REDS OR BLACK
Body shape? strat or tele derivative for the most part
Fretboard wood? depends on the guitar and what color it is
number of frets? i like 22 the most, but can live with 21 or 24
Bound or not? sure, for ebony or rosewood
blocks/dots/sharks/other? i prefer NO inlay, but that is rare....depends on the guitar - and the 12th fret dot spacing
guitar- 6 string? 7? 6 string
pups- 1 or 2 hums? Other than hums? i do a lot of session work, so if i find a guitar that could fit a recording niche and it is interesting, then any pick-up is fine. but for hums, i prefer 1
bass 4? 5? i like a simple, 4 string bass
jb/pb/musicman pup? in my basses, i like p+j pickups with separate volume/tone controls for each pickup

really, it just depends on what catches my fancy. i just bought an all white with a pearloid pickguard EBMM silhouette. NEVER have those guitars appealed to me, but that one just gave me GAS something fierce, so i had to get it. i tend to like sparkle finishes or obnoxious colors like hot pink and stuff because when i play live, i WANT to be noticed. now, most of my guitars are a good cross between classy and flashy....

[bombtek]

skill

Unfortunately, I didn't have enough cash at the time and could not get that option.

[jack26]

Mark,
If you like 25, but can deal with 25.5... is 24.75 ok? better or worse than 25.5?
12 fret dot spacing- you like narrow or wide? - I know you prefer clean boards, but between the 2...

Bomb... LOL!!!!!!!

Any answers are helpful. My friend has made some guitars and wants to turn out a few more and wants to know what the most popular options are. Sure a 10+ string bass gets some attention.... but not sold very often!!!!!

[lerxstcat]

Any scale length, though 24.75" is easiest on my fingers. Mostly Strat shapes, though I like Vs, LP and SG shapes too. Any inlay is fine, though if it's not dots it needs to be real MOP or at least look authentic Epiphone trapezoids don't cut it.

I prefer 24 frets, will deal with 22 but will NOT own a 21-fret guitar. I can't stand that,

Fretboards, all are okay as long as they are uniform in color. I don't like streaky rosewood.

RED is my favorite color but I am having a white phase right now. Only white one I have is a Squier Strat that I bought only because it was white. Pretty nice little 22-fret Affinity from the late 90s I'd guess. Most of my guitars are red or transparent cherry.

[Grandturk]

scale length - 25.5
body color - white or black
Body shape - strat
Fretboard wood - rosewood
number of frets - 21 or 22
Bound or not - not
guitar- 6 string
pups- 2 hum

[wilkinsi]

scale length? 25.5 or 24.75 - not bothered
body color? graphic or black
Body shape? Warrior
Fretboard wood? Ebony
number of frets? 24
Bound or not? if bound- frets over binding like most jacksons, or binding over fret ends like gibson? Bound, standard
blocks/dots/sharks/other? Sharkfins
guitar- 6 string? 7? 6
pups- 1 or 2 hums? Other than hums? 2 hum
bass 4? 5? n/a - don't play bass
jb/pb/musicman pup? none. Invader only.

[zeegler]

scale length? Comfortable with either 24.75 or 25.5, but I guess if I had to choose I'd say 25.5
body color? My favorite guitar is dragonburst, so I guess trans-green
Body shape? Les Paul or Explorer type shapes. For playing live, I'll say Explorer/variations
Fretboard wood? Ebony
number of frets? 24
Bound or not? unbound
blocks/dots/sharks/other? no preference
guitar- 6 string? 7? 6
pups- 1 or 2 hums? Other than hums? 1 hum

If I was to design my ideal stage guitar, it would be Explorer-ish, 25.5 scale, one hum, unbound ebony board, custom runic inlays, TOM bridge/string thru, 1 volume, 1 tone knob, killswitch, 3 piece maple neck thru, flame maple capped mahogany body wings, dragonburst finish, black hardware.

[Grim]

scale length? 25.5 ", or 27" on a 7string
body color? Depends.
Body shape? Strat, SG, PRS Custom
Fretboard wood? Maple or Ebony
number of frets? 24
Bound or not? if bound- frets over binding like most jacksons, or binding over fret ends like gibson? On Ebony (Binding over Frets)
blocks/dots/sharks/other? Depends.
guitar- 6 string? 7? Depends.
pups- 1 or 2 hums? Other than hums? 2 H
bass 4? 5? 4
jb/pb/musicman pup? Bareknuckles (www.bareknucklepickups.co.uk)

[Twitch]

scale length? 25.5
body color? Black, Deep Blue Quilt Top, or Flame Graphic of Some Sort
Body shape? Arch Top Soloist/DK
Fretboard wood? Ebony or Maple
number of frets? 24
Bound or not? if bound- frets over binding like most jacksons, or binding over fret ends like gibson? If Ebony, a Nice Cream Binding
blocks/dots/sharks/other? None or Sharkies
guitar- 6 string? 7? 6
pups- 1 or 2 hums? Other than hums? Bridge Hum and Neck Single
bass 4? 5? N/A
jb/pb/musicman pup? N/A

[Misanthrope[ALWT]]

scale length: 25.5 "
body color: that's nearly impossible to say
Body shape: Death Warrior, Warrior, Les Paul, Superstrat (in that order). and archtops make everything better.
Fretboard wood: Ebony for metal, Maple for blues. Rosewood for everything else.
number of frets: 24 or 27
Bound or not: bound under frets
blocks/dots/sharks/other: if not sharkies, custom inlays have infinite potential (just depends on the inspiration for the guitar)
guitar strings: 6, but only because I haven't so far fallen in love with a 7 or 8
pups: for 24, H-H; for 27, H-S
bass: 6
pup: depends COMPLETELY on the purpose of the guitar.

[DonP]

scale length? No preference. I can deal with any. I have slightly smaller hands but 25.5" doesn't bother me.
body color? No preference. I like cool graphics on Jacksons, but flames on my LPs.
Body shape? Any.
Fretboard wood? Any.
number of frets? Any.
Bound or not? if bound- frets over binding like most jacksons, or binding over fret ends like gibson? BOUND for the most part. Leaving the nibs is nice,
blocks/dots/sharks/other? I prefer fancy stuff like sharkies, but dots work at times too.
guitar- 6 string? 7? 6 string only. I don't get 7. Fretboard gets too wide.
pups- 1 or 2 hums? Other than hums? One hum has a cool factor, but usually isn't practical. H-S is nice, I have plenty of these.
bass 4? 5? 4 is enough for me.
jb/pb/musicman pup? Any and all. I've never heard a pickup I really hated or really loved. I can work with any.

Doing some quick research for a friend.

Think- you're in a guitar shop... and you see something thats *perfect*- you HAVE TO HAVE IT!!!!

What features does it have? A killer value (i.e. a good deal). That's the feature I like best.

Thanks! No problem.

[mjtripper]

scale length? 24.75
body color? natural, let me see that wood!
Body shape? small bodied double cut with minimal to no heal (jackson soloist, hamer studio, carvin ct)
Fretboard wood? ebony
number of frets? 22
Bound or not? binding on neck and headstock with binding over fret ends, also on body if it's not contoured
blocks/dots/sharks/other? blocks of some sort - just not dots
guitar- 6 string? 7? 6
pups- 1 or 2 hums? Other than hums? 2 hums or hum sized p90s
bass 4? 5? 4
jb/pb/musicman pup? barts all the way

Doing some quick research for a friend.

Think- you're in a guitar shop... and you see something thats *perfect*- you HAVE TO HAVE IT!!!!

What features does it have? tone, playability, comfort in that order, get the first two right and I can forgive a lot of other sins

What about bridge options? I would think that to be an important factor as well, at least it is for me.

[Shawn Lutz]

it depends on the guitar but the base of what I go for are full sized strat shapes, dual hum, Floyd, fat neck profile, 1 volume and a 3-way. I like a lot of colors, not big on graphics and love binding and trans finishes.

[jack26]

My friend has made a number of guitars, and is about to start another run. Get a website up, maybe a booth at NAMM in 2012. He wants to do full custom orders, but to make stuff for show, and sell- thats why he wants to know what popular options to go with.

MJ- he can use any bridge, but this run of 8-10 will be mostly string thru toms- 1 or 2 floyds and a couple wilkinsons. Mainly to keep the costs down. Same with pups- 1 hum is half the price of 2.... and people want a specific model of hum which is an easy swap- Routing a second hum or single coil is easy enough if someone wanted that done after the guitar was built.

Most of these are going to be graphics. He found a local graphic artist that can hang with the best of them.

It's still a little up in the air... but He's thinking of-
24 frets or more- all heads/necks bound- some bodies may be bound- Most with ebony fretboards. most 25.5 maybe a few 24.75
throw in a 7 string or 2 for fun.
Black red white blue and green
1-2 demons
1-2 soloists
warrior
RR 24 +
kv
kv bass
kelly
that "star" shape they made for Dan "Fast" Fastuca- kind of a kelly/ RR mixed together

All will be neck thru- most mahogany necks-some fancy laminated wood necks- some mahog and some alder bodies.

I'm surprised at white and the number of strats/fullsize strats.