what was the best guitar you ever played?

[FenderGuy1]

For me, a 1943 Hofnet archtop guitar a friend has, omfg the tone is just GREAT

[AXE®]

[AXE®]

[AXE®]

[davidl]

My 1960 Re-issue and my Suhr Pro series.

2 completely different animals but THE best of each style I've ever played.

 

Dave

[Steven Tari]

Yeah Axe Me To.

Nice collection of Guitars Axe.

[T Bone]

1960 Stratocaster. Couldn't afford to buy it at the time unfortunately (and it was a bargain, under $3000). I did manage to buy a really nice 1962 Stratocaster a couple years later, very nice, arguably the best guitar I ever owned. Wish I still had it.

[Mark]

 

Love that Firebird

 

For me a 69 335 a friend had.

[FenderGuy1]

i want a 1960s Strat for some reason, Maybe late 60s, Olympic White like Hendrix's woodstock strat, 1969 too, i'd just use it for tribute to him

[Searcy]

Best neck and smoothest sound I have ever played.

 

[buliwyf]

So AXE great looking guitars but which one is your favorite from your collection?

As for me I've been playing and buying/selling for over 35 years so I have played a hell of a lot of guitars and the hands down winner was my 2002 Peavey Wolfgang hardtail,If I had enough cash I would buy another one in a second.

As great as it played and felt the top was amazing looking a lot better than the picture shows.

[AXE®]

I don't have a favorite.

[L5Larry]

I would say the first guitar I ever layed my mitts on that made me say "WOW" was a bandmates 1975 ES-335. The guitar practically played itself. After a couple of years of hounding him to sell it to me, he finally did.

 

 

That 335 became my "everyday" guitar for the next twenty years. After hundreds of gigs, I literally wore it out.

 

For what I do now, my L-5CES is absolutely PERFECT. I've spent many hours "tweaking" this guitar (about the only thing left untouched from the Gibson factory is the finish and the frets), it plays like butter, and sounds like silk.

 

 

So, as to the original question, the best guitar(s) I've ever played, I've been lucky enough to own.

[duane v]

My JL Rev Epi Casino..... If it had better upper fret access, it would be the only guitar I would play

[RS1976]

this one

[Notes_Norton]

Without hesitation or even a doubt - Parker DF

 

• light weight but still considerable sustain
  
• well balanced - no neck dive
  
• contoured and extremely comfortable - no pressure points on my arm
  
• hardened stainless steel frets and ebony fretboard make bending strings like a hot knife through warm butter
  
• straight string path from nut to bridge, graph-tech nut, and locking tuners make for incredible tuning stability
  
• 2 Duncan SC pickups, one Duncan SC/HB, and a Fishman under the bridge make for a huge variety of great sounds
  

 

Owning this guitar cured my GAS for anything else for over a hear and a half now.

 

 

Wanna buy my Gibson?

[kidblast]

this one...

 

[kidblast]

to L5Larry

 

I LOVE that L5 of yours..

[L5Larry]

to L5Larry

 

I LOVE that L5 of yours..

 

Thanks. It's a "Historic Series" built in the Nashville Custom Shop (signed by James Hutchens) in 1990. It's hard for me to believe that the guitar is already 22 years old.

[Searcy]

Without hesitation or even a doubt - Parker DF

 

• light weight but still considerable sustain
  
• well balanced - no neck dive
  
• contoured and extremely comfortable - no pressure points on my arm
  
• hardened stainless steel frets and ebony fretboard make bending strings like a hot knife through warm butter
  
• straight string path from nut to bridge, graph-tech nut, and locking tuners make for incredible tuning stability
  
• 2 Duncan SC pickups, one Duncan SC/HB, and a Fishman under the bridge make for a huge variety of great sounds
  

 

Owning this guitar cured my GAS for anything else for over a hear and a half now.

 

 

 

 

 

The second best guitar I have ever played. I will have one of my own some day.

 

 

Wanna buy my Gibson?

[Rabs]

My Classic 1960 reissue.. Even when I went and played the Slash version (the plaintop model) I prefferd mine

 

 

And I tried a 336 in the shop a short while ago and was ultra impressed.. Once I get work again I think that will have to be my next purchase.. It may surpass my Classic (if I can find one).. It was just the smoothest and best shaped neck ive ever played (plus im missing a hollow body for my collection :))

[pippy]

I can't believe anyone is in any doubt as to my favourite - I must have posted this same shot 50 times - but here it is again anyhow.

 

'Marmalade'.

 

1995 Historic Division 1960 re-issue. One of the so-called 'Ginger Burst' guitars.

 

 

Before I got back into Les Pauls this was my #1 for 24 years and is easily the best Strat I've ever played. Jan 1964. L 16783.

 

This is me in about Spring '85;

 

P.

[kidblast]

Thanks. It's a "Historic Series" built in the Nashville Custom Shop (signed by James Hutchens) in 1990. It's hard for me to believe that the guitar is already 22 years old.

 

I hear ya! Good news here is they just get better in time!!

 

yours looks awesome,

 

I love L-5s but don't know how I could ever justify the expense.

[milod]

I think we have one "problem" here in that every guitar discussed is an electric. <grin> In terms of tone, that means to me that they're at minimum two-part instruments.

 

Playability? That's a different game.

 

I note that as I was reading the first comments, my head was working on a "playability" comment and then Larry really hit pretty much a point I think is the major one regardless of type of guitar. Yup, "playability."

 

For what I personally tend mostly to do, my "best" is that old 175 from the 1970s. Oddly I thought it a pretty, but kinda crappy thing in terms of playability back then. I don't really know why I kept it across more than 20 years until I messed with it a bit and put on very light strings and suddenly had an instrument that virtually played itself for what I do.

 

Ditto other guitars I've had around for a while, including one I super lucked into back in the 1970s and still absolutely love, my Guild S100c. I stupidly dumped a quite nice classical guitar circa 1972 or 3 when some lifestyle changes brought a swap for an electric. Etc., etc.

 

RE: Larry's L5 comment... that instrument is not an L5, it's "Larry's L5." That's the difference.

 

m

[Markini]

I too have played and owned many guitars over the years. The best acoustic guitar I have ever played is a 2003 Gibson HummingBird. It has all thee major points IMO: Tone, Playability and Looks. I still own it.

 

Best Hollow Body electric I have ever played is a special order: 2010 PRS SC/HB II, Sweet tone across the frequency spectrum, playability off the charts, and stunning looks. I still own it.

 

Best electric I ever played and still own: Upgraded 1989 MIJ Strat. Out of my collection this is my number 1 guitar. It also was very inexpensive.

 

 

I alwaya go for tone first as my criteria for purchasing guitars. Playability 2nd and looks 3rd. The Strat has the first two attributes in abundance. As far as looks it is the standard sunburst, very common look.