Favorite Electric Guitar by Looks and/or by Sound?

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I love music but don't play any instruments. I owned a Peavey Bass that I played for a bit, but that's the extent of it for me. However, I had some friends who were musicians when I was young and I would spend many late nights watching them play guitar both electric and acoustic. Because of them and going to many shows when I was young I learned to identify the make and model of many kinds of guitars by their appearance and what they sounded like.

Even if you're not a guitar player, what are some of your favorite guitars by look and/or by sound? Some favorites for me:

Flying V. Will always remind me of Bob Mould during his Husker Du days:



J Mascis = Jazzmaster to me:


Paul Westerberg = Melody Maker to me:

i've never been a huge fan of the flying V shape. i like to sit down when (if?) i play so the shape isn't conducive to that. symmetrical, rounded guitars are always better in my opinion.


PRS makes some very beautiful finishes. strats and teles are inoffensive but kinda generic looking...i was looking at an epiphone wildkat with a wine red finish a while ago and it appealed to me very much.

Any Stratocaster-style guitar with a set of humbuckers. I'm especially a fan of the Schecter Hellraisers - they look really sweet.

I always thought Flying V looked cool, but like Kip said, I also play sitting down a lot, so that would be awkward for me.

I really like Fender guitars with maple fingerboards, but for a lot of models, that's a pretty rare option. Right now, all of my electric guitars have maple I have a FrankenStrat that's mostly 50s specs (plus switches for parallel or series wiring), my first electric, and my favorite. The neck is amazing, from a made-in-Korea Stratocaster II from the late 80s.

I bought a Squier Stratocaster Deluxe in daphne blue and swapped out the faceplate/electronics for a mint green set from a Fender Blacktop (so it's HH with s-switch). I honestly don't use it as much as I thought I would.

Looks very similar to this, but my neck isn't stained or glossy:


I've always wanted a Gibson SG (shouldn't be hard to guess why), I'd really like one in a natural, honeyburst, or worn brown finish with P90 pickups, but I already have so many guitars, and I haven't seen one in my price range yet.

I'm drooling right now:


When I bought my Deluxe, I was really tempted to get a Jaguar, or a Jazzmaster, or maybe a Telecaster, but I was having a tough time deciding...maple is super rare for Jags, so if I had seen one in my price range, I probably would've snatched it right up.

My friend had a Mustang for a while that was pretty nice, though it was a Squier and he had a lot of issues with the tremolo.


As for acoustics (that aren't busted up), I have a flamenco guitar from a thrift store that I really like. I can't get the hang of flamenco strumming yet, so I just use a thin nylon pick.


Basses, I have a parts Precision (with P/J pickups) with flatwound strings on it, another really nice MIK neck, and mostly custom hardware. I might swap out the pickups some day for something more vintage sounding.

I also have a Squier Vintage Modified 70s Jazz Bass (natural finish, heavy maple). I changed out the capacitor and the knobs, but otherwise it's all stock, with roundwound strings. It does sound really nice with Chromes on it, but I needed rounds for the last band I was in.

I wouldn't say they're generic looking, just that so many other companies have ripped off the look, you get used to seeing it everywhere.

I do think those big rockabilly semi-hollow bodies look pretty sweet, though. Especially with a Bigsby on it.

I'd say my perfect guitar would be a white American strat, noiseless pickups with a set-in maple neck. Since the necks are glued in, I guess it'd have to do.

I've never seen a Strat with a set-in neck before. I'm sure there's nothing stopping you from crafting your own, though =)

I like bolt-on necks, they're easy to repair or replace.

I would have to say my favorite is the Telecaster

I like the steinberger. The design is brilliant and imo looks beautiful and futuristic as well (so many people are gonna smack me for that but I don't care). It's also lightweight and perfect as a travel instrument (I had the bass, not the guitar but same principle).

For electric guitars - sound wise, whatever Issei Noro use, his signature custom guitars and Yamaha fretless whatever model that was, sounds absolutely magical and unique. Unlike the usual overused hard rock/metal guitar sound.

Nah, I can't argue with you.

My Precision actually has Steinberger P/J pickups in it. I don't know if it was the greatest choice, but I didn't have a lot of money at the time, and they were cheap.

Steinberger also makes electric guitar pickups that make your guitar sound just like an acoustic O_O I remember being quite impressed by them when I heard the demo video.

...actually, maybe they just had it so you could switch between humbuckers or a piezo. Still really cool, though.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y3aL7W0uP0U

Well I had the Spirit 4 string (in black) which is the newer model many people complained about lacking quality. I actually found it exceedingly well made (In Korea, not China mind you), but hey don't take my word for it because I haven't experienced more expensive instruments. I'm a pianist/keyboard player who dabbles in bass.

The original 80s models were said to be a thousand times better tho...

I like the shape of the Fender offset waist guitars (Jaguar, Jazzmaster, Mustang, etc), but I prefer the scale of Gibsons or even better, the Ibanez SZ and the neck profile of my Ibanez ORM.

Since no one has a Jagstang or similar (but sculpted) shaped body, with a tune-o-matic bridge, fairly large 'third bridge' area, 25" scale and super skinny but not overly flat neck with an EMG 81 at the bridge and an EMG 89 in the neck position no one has made my favourite guitar yet.

I'm not that picky, am I?

Doesn't sound like that would be very hard to build. I know in the past few years, Fender has been putting out "modern player" and "pawn shop" guitars that are Frankensteins like that, I'm fairly certain they have at least one offset short-scale with tune-o-matic (or at least sans tremolo). Throw in whatever pickups/electronics you like, that's the easiest part of guitar building.

Barring that, you could buy an unfinished body and set it up yourself.

If I was still into playing I probably could, after all I'm able to describe it like I'm placing an order or writing a spec sheet. Maybe some day.