Who’s Better? Who’s Best?

I recently wrote an article for BestCovery.com titled: Best Electric Guitar Overall. At first I begged my editor to take me off the case: “Best Electric Guitar?”… are you crazy?… I’m gonna get 100 pounds of hate mail!…”

My worry was that everyone and their third-cousin would  take issue with my recommendations.  I begged and pleaded, saying that it was just too lofty a concept to tackle in less than 20 sentences. Fortunately, my editor is a very bright guy, and highly persuasive. He convinced me to word my introduction so that folks would understand my motive; Overall the guitar has to provide as much functionality as possible to any guitarist. “Ok…” I said.. “I’ll do it…”

That said, I decided to write something here on HumbuckerSoup that explains why I chose each guitar. I guess I just want to be understood : – )

# 1 – Fender American Deluxe HSS Stratocaster

Fuhgeddaboudit. If you don’t love this guitar you are crazy. I always buckle at the knees when I know I can go from balls out Rock via a bridge humbucker, to silky smooth vibro-coolness via my neck pickup, and all points in-between. The killer here is the S-1 switching system. If you don’t know what that is, Google it, there is lots to love about it. But really really really, there is not a sound you can’t coax outta this whamma jamma….. buy it, love it, leave it to your kids in your will.

# 2 – Godin LGX-SA AA Flamed Maple Top

This may sound like a repeat of my post about the Godin Multiac Spectrum SA Cutaway Acoustic-Electric Guitar, but here these dudes go again, only in reverse; you get an electric, Acoustic transducer and a 13-pin synth controller. I mean, ‘com on! The on-board controls are friggin’ great and the guitar looks better than the furniture in the White House.  I dare anyone to argue me on this one.

# 3 – Parker NiteFly Mojo Guitar

There was a time when the Gibson Flying-V was considered down-right blasphemous. I know, it’s hard to imagine, but that guitar did not do well at all in the beginning because of it’s radical design. Well, I say give the folks at Parker a break. While some may find their guitars a bit too Orwellian, they are incredibly innovative and employ only world class design ideas. I love stainless steel frets, and I love dedicated stereo outputs and I love Fishman piezo pickups….. and thus, I love this guitar. You should too.

# 4 – Music Man Steve Morse Y2D

My question is: Do you want to play or do you want to mess around? If you wanna get down to business, this guitar is the shiznit. The gun-stock oil finish on the back is killer if you ask me… this is about economy of movement. Excellent pickup options and a well-balanced body make this one a perfect choice for any serious musician. Oh yeah, and you can adjust the truss rod without taking the neck off. Very cool.

# 5 – Ibanez RG3570Z Prestige

Ok, so this is really for the shredders out there. But if you are one of ‘em, then you are in good shape here.
You’ve got all the variables in-place for some serious streechin’ out. I wouldn’t recommend it for fun-strummin’ or the like, but for the next Paul Gilbert out there…. here you go.

Summary: There are tons of great guitars out there and everyone has an opinion on which one is best. But the challenge was put forth to me and I have laid it out on the line. Some may disagree with these picks, and that’s ok. But if any of this helps you with your next purchase or at least creates a few options in your mind that were not there before, then hopefully your time was well spent here.

Good Luck!