What is a must in a guitar?

[sonicsamurai]

tbf necks don't bother me especially, nice neck definately, but ur hand can get used to the different shapes quickly

[j2379]

feel then tone. if it feels like crap it doesnt matter how it sounds, both neck profile & frets & board, i much prefer flatter fingerboards. the vintage fender radious not for me, & bad fretwork i usually put those guitars down right away dont even give them a chance. i also play the guitars unplugged before buying them, i figure i can always change the electronics & pups. plus i think its much easier to hear dead spots on the neck that way.

[hippietim]

I've never heard an electric guitar that sounded good acoustically. At best you can judge what the sustain might be but beyond that I don't believe you can tell squat about how the guitar will sound without plugging it in. I've had far too many examples in my hands that conflict each and every theory on that.

Dead spots on a neck? My experience is that is more a matter of the amp than any particular wood properties or construction techniques.

[hippietim]

Neck is #1 - and for me that is the whole deal: radius, frets, width, thickness, etc. There are a lot of combos that work for me and a lot that don't.

After that it has to look kick ass!

Most guitars these days above a couple hundred bucks can be made to sound good.

So if it plays good and looks good, I'm sold!

[atomic charvel guy]

enjoyment

[Phantom Hawk]

For me, comfort is #1. If it doesn't feel right, I don't want it. #2 is tuning. If its a bitch to keep in tune <unless its a simple parts replacement>, it may as well be firewood.

[ABSOLUT CHARVEL]

if you are not attracted to a degree, chances are you wont even try to pick it up. even ones that are not that good looking to you, but they are screamers and feel great, chancers are you will get rid of it after a while. the ones that look hot may not perform as well, you will learn to adjust via electronics, constantly playing with it, etc...

this also applys to guitars too ....

[DonP]

I'll admit I'm a shallow hal - looks do matter. I want a Metal machine. No F'ing Danelectros, Teles, twangers....

Neck must be comfortable. I can't stand fat necks. All my LP's are thin necked, but they are still fatter than my Jacksons and I find the Jacksons more comfortable to play.

Tone is important but it won't trump looks. Back int 2003, there this great sounding LP R0 that I was in love with the tone, but the fretboard was ugly as hell. I still remember the serial number 0 2210. I sat in a GC about 6 months, then it was gone.

In December 2004 I found another one just like it, just as great sounding, but with a beautiful fretboard, very smooth and almost waxy and dark. I bought it the next day.

All in all, I guess I'm either not very picky about my guitars or I'm just lucky, because I love all 30+ I've only sold 1 guitar in the past 20 years and maybe 4 total, the most stupid being a 1972 LP Custom. I couldn't stand the fretless wonder BS (Gibson put super low frets on LP Customs until 1974). I regret selling it, yet when I go into a GC and try playing a fretless wonder, I get frustrated with it all over again.

I pretty much believe you can polish a tone turd by finding the right pickup and amp, but if you can't vibrato or bend because the frets are too low, what's the point?

The people who say tone can't be fixed are those on the LP forum who play blues or other lightly distorted stuff, and say you need an R9 Murphy to get the Allman Brothers tone. When playing metal, this doesn't matter much to me.

[Cygnus X1]

I've never heard an electric guitar that sounded good acoustically. At best you can judge what the sustain might be but beyond that I don't believe you can tell squat about how the guitar will sound without plugging it in. I've had far too many examples in my hands that conflict each and every theory on that.

Dead spots on a neck? My experience is that is more a matter of the amp than any particular wood properties or construction techniques.

It's a judgement call. A good electric sound unplugged isn't comparable to an acoustic, but you will get a very good idea of how the whole instrument resonates unplugged, rather than plugged in.
The best sounding guitars I've known have a certain tone, that resonates through the neck, unplugged.
My bich is one of the best, and plugged, it still sings better than any guitar
I have played.

[Jacksonchick]

Build quality. If its the best built, playing, and sounding guitar in word, I don't give a crap what it looks like. Appearance is very low on the list for me, and is simply a plus in a guitar, rather than anything near a deciding factor.

lol, that and PINK in color for me.

[zeegler]

It has to sound good first and foremost. If it plays great, but sounds like shit, it's gone.

Next comes comfort. Most people don't realize how important it is. The guitar has to feel right hanging on a strap. The neck angle is important, and so is the shape of the body. I'd say my KV1 is easily the most comfortable guitar I have. I barely know it's there most of the time, so I can concentrate on actually playing.

Next is the actually playability. I'm pretty adaptable when it comes to size/shape of neck, and fret size. I can play with high or low action too, so I don't have to be that picky.

Next, it's cosmetics. Sorry, but I couldn't play a pink stratocaster on stage. I also dont like the way RRs look on me weirdly enough. A guitar has to look cool, and look cool when you're playing it.

Last is the brand name. Ideally, one would think that respected brand names got that way for a reason. Well, made reliable products, good customer service, etc. I believe that's in the past though. I'm not going to pick on any particular manufacturer, who might have a reputation of building hit or miss, overpriced icons. Sometimes at my own risk, I find out for myself about a particular brand instead of listening to the good or bad hype.

[skorb]

The most important thing on ANY guitar is tuning and intonation stability. If you can't properly and accurately tune the fucking thing what's the point?

boom, that's it for me too.

[zeegler]

boom, that's it for me too.

That kinda goes without saying for me too.

[RobRR]

First is feel... if it feels like a cheap toy, no matter how many bells and whistles, its not for me. Second is looks. Its gotta not only be able to talk the talk, but walk the walk.

[QuantumRider]

The neck shape is the only thing that matters to me.

Everything else can be swapped out (I'm talking about bolt on guitars here)

The neck off my 1988 Jackson Dinky has been mounted on three separate bodies so far, with S-H, H-H, and 1H pickup configurations.