Favourite Guitar Manufacturers and Why

Fender too! I played a lot of different brands but now, I finally found my Fender Strat and I've never played a neck so comfortable (for me) and the clean sound is fantastic!

Just in case you're looking at buying an acoustic, here's something I just learned. As Gibson has bought up Garrison guitars, they've also voided all existing warranties on the brand. It seems that because they are made of composites, they don't handle changes in temperature / humidity / i.e. any climate change. The guitar tech at a local music shop tells me that if , for example, you live in a relatively cold & humid climate such as Newfoundland Canada, it is not a good idea to bring a Garrison acoustic with you to say a drier climate like the midwest U.S. . The various composites used in its' construction will expand & contract at different rates. Mind you, if you know you're home to stay, they are still a great buy. Just keep it in mind if you 're a bit nomadic. 

Anaon wrote: Fender too! I played a lot of different brands but now, I finally found my Fender Strat and I've never played a neck so comfortable (for me) and the clean sound is fantastic!

my first REAL electric guitar was a westbury standard. it was a solid body electric, with two dimarzio humbuckers. it had a gibson les paul special type of feel to it. i played it for many years.

one day, i was turned on to more of a "fender-type" guitar. i got a peavey impact firenza. it was seafoam green, tremolo, one buck on the bridge and two single coils in neck and mid positions. and bolt on neck.

i liked the feel of the peavey better. and the twang of the combination of the trem, single coils and bolt on neck grew on me.

i have also owned a couple of cheap harmony (or similar, with no name on headstock!) guitars, and a dannelectro, which i really liked! it just came to the place where i was not playing it anymore, so i sold it.

a year ago, i bought my first REAL strat! a reverse headstock, 60s style strat. it is made in mexico, which i was told bad things about. but, i LOVE it! it plays so good, it almost plays itself! i pick it up, and it feels like the guitar i should have had all along!

HughesJB4 wrote: I tend to not really like MIM strats, but some of the MIA strats are pretty nice.

I have a MIM Strat and I've played a couple of MIM Teles, all of which were great guitars for the price. What is it you don't like about MIM Strats?

HughesJB4 wrote: A B Negative wrote: HughesJB4 wrote: I tend to not really like MIM strats, but some of the MIA strats are pretty nice. I have a MIM Strat and I've played a couple of MIM Teles, all of which were great guitars for the price. What is it you don't like about MIM Strats?   It's not so much they are particularly bad guitars, but for the money, I can get a better playing, sounding Japanese or Korean guitar guitar. For example, for the same price as a H-S-S MIM strat, I could get a Jackson DK2, which comes with far nicer pickups in H-S-S (mind you the single coils are noiseless), nicer finish, plays way way better, and is very versatile (more so than most people imagine a Jackson is capable of) and nothing stays in tune like a floyd, and if you don't like it floating, you can always block the trem, have an essentially fixed bridge and still get the benefits of the tuning stability of a double locked system.

^I have to agree, MIJ guitars are generally very well built. A lot of people gave Ibanez flack for changing the S Series production from MIJ to MIK a few years back, and when they finally starting making a new MIJ S series for 08, it was much applauded, so go figure on the MIJ quality, not only one how it's actually built, but how we generally perceive how well MIJ guitars will feel to us.