Favorite Guitar Specs

[marnold***]

I thought of this as a parallel to Jimi's thread. I wondered what specs everyone looks for in a guitar. If there is one that you absolutely MUST have, make it bold.

Body
Shape: Superstrat
Wood: I've mainly had basswood or alder. I probably slightly prefer alder just because really light basswood bodies can make the guitar neck-heavy. Basswood is also much softer.
Finish: Don't care
Favorite color: red

Hardware
Bridge: Floyd Rose or Strat-style hardtail
Nut: Locking or graphite
Tuners: good ones Not as relevant with the locking nut. obviously
Strap buttons: Schaller strap locks

Neck
Wood: Maple
Fretboard wood: Maple or Bird's Eye Maple
Finish: Satin
Frets: Jumbo
Radius: Flat, > 12" I especially like my Jackson's 12"-16" compound radius
Neck shape: Thin C-shape, shredder style
Number of frets: At least 22, prefer 24
Inlays: Doesn't matter
Headstock: Pointy!

Electronics
Pickups: Humbuckers
Pickup combo: HH
Active/Passive: Passive, mainly because I don't want to deal with batteries
Controls: Standard Volume/Tone
Favorite Electronics Mod: Treble bleed cap, Neck-on mod for three pickup guitars, Series/parallel switch for humbuckers

Anything else that I missed?

Going through this exercise showed me that most of my must-haves have to do with the neck. That's probably not that surprising. I have a "thing" with 21 fret guitars. Makes me feel like I'm missing a finger. I'm not sure what that is.

[Jimi75]

That would be my current custom order:

Body
Shape: 70s Style Strat shape, if possible 1 piece
Wood: Swamp Ash or Ash
Finish: Nitro or natural oiled
Favorite color: Silver Mist Blue or maybe Aztec Gold

Hardware
Bridge: Vintage Fender
Nut: Bone....what else?!
Tuners: Locking Tuners, but with vintage optics
Strap buttons: Secure ones

Neck
Wood: 1 piece Maple
Fretboard wood: Brazilian Rosewood or Maple
Finish: Stripped
Frets: Dunlop 6105
Radius: 12", but I could also live with 7.2"
Neck shape: V-shape, like Clapton or J. Vaughan Strat
Number of frets: 21
Inlays: Mother Of Pearl Dots
Headstock: 6 in a row, Fender 62 Headstockstyle or 70s headstockstyle
Electronics
Pickups: Sheptones
Pickup combo: S/S/S maybe H/S/S
Active/Passive: Passive
Controls: Standard Volume/Tone/Tone
Favorite Electronics Mod: Vintage Strat Kit

[deeaa*]

Hard to say. I can't put things down with such accuracy.

Here:

- Kinda strat-ish shape, super light wood, a bit dinky size
- Maple gloss neck/fretboard with good not superjumbo but anyway strong frets; like a strat but don't mind them slightly longet like 24 frets and slightly flatter and wider than trad. strat.
- EMG 85 bridge pickup, PA-2 or afterburner, only volume...and a 60 or 85 or 89 on neck; gibson style switch somewhere upper arm
- Headstock: smallish, don't care what shape
- usually like white finishes

But, I don't know if I really care that much, as long as it plays well, is light and not too big and has super strong or rather active output, I'll hit it.

[Eric***]

Nice idea. I'm really only to list the things with which I have first-hand experience. For example, I might like SS frets if I had played them, but I haven't, so I won't list them.

Body
Shape: Whatever doesn't look like a Strat
Wood: Something light, which is weird, since I like mahogany
Finish: Not matte -- shiny all the way!
Color: I'm pretty open here, but I've always thought green or blue would be cool
Bling: I must admit, I kind of like binding on certain guitars

Hardware
Bridge: TOM, either string-thru or stop tail
Nut: Don't care -- something that doesn't bind
Tuners: Don't care -- locking tuners, Grovers, whatever, as long as they work
Strap buttons: strap locks, either Schaller or Marvel

Neck
Wood: Mahogany? I don't mind maple, but I tend to like Mahogany better.
Fretboard wood: Rosewood or ebony
Finish: Don't care
Frets: Don't care too much, but I think I like medium-jumbo best
Radius: >12", probably closer to 14"
Neck shape: Uh...I wish I knew. I think I like it a little thicker
Number of frets: At least 22, prefer 24
Inlays: As understated as possible, but I do like some markers somewhere
Headstock: Something that doesn't look stupid or draw attention to itself. For example, I fricking hate the headstock on something like a Dean Razorback. Way too over-the-top.
Attachment: Bolt-on can be quite alright, but I'm pretty sure I prefer set neck, and my guess is that I wouldn't mind neck-through either.

Electronics
Pickups: Humbuckers
Pickup combo: HH
Active/Passive: Passive
Controls: 2 vol, 2 tone

[Tibernius]

I think I've already posted most of this in the other thread.

Body
Shape: Double Cutaway Les Paul or Symmetrical Flying V
Wood: Mahogany with a Flame Maple cap
Finish: Gloss, either Purpleburst or Silverburst

Hardware
Bridge: Tonepros locking Tune-o-matic, through body stringing
Nut: Graphtech or Earvana Graphite
Tuners: Grover or Gotoh
Strap buttons: Dunlop Traditional or Flush-mount Straploks

Neck
Wood: Mahogany or Maple
Fretboard wood: Ebony
Finish: Gloss
Frets: Extra Jumbo or Jumbo
Radius: 12"-16" compound
Neck shape: Same as my Tempest (Slightly thinner than a Gibson LP, similar shape)
Number of frets: at least 22
Inlays: Block inlays
Headstock: 3+3, LP or Dean V style
Attachment: Set neck or Neck-Through-Body

Electronics
Pickups: 2 Humbuckers
Pickup combo: EMG 81x Bridge, EMG 60x Neck
Active/Passive: Active
Controls: 2 volume, 1 tone, LP style toggle
Favorite Electronics Mod: wired so that the toggle switch works as a killswitch with one of the volume controls all the way down.

[stingx]

Cool thread. Here's mine:

Body
Shape: Superstrat
Wood: N/A
Finish: Gloss
Favorite color: black

Hardware
Bridge: Original Floyd Rose
Nut: Locking Floyd Rose
Tuners: Sperzel
Strap buttons: Dunlop strap locks

Neck
Wood: Maple
Fretboard: Maple; quarter-sawn
Finish: Oil
Frets: Jumbo
Radius: 10"-16" compound radius
Neck shape: Soft "V"
Number of frets: 22
Inlays: Plain dots
Headstock: Fender Strat shaped

Electronics
Pickups: HH or SSH
Pickup combo: HH or SSH
Active/Passive: Passive
Controls: Standard Volume/Tone
Favorite Electronics Mod: Series/parallel switch for humbuckers

[MAXIFUNK]

For a Strat style axe

Body
Shape: 70s Style Strat shape, if possible 1 piece
Wood: Swamp Ash or Ash (No Pick Guard direct mounted pickups)
Finish: Nitro
Favorite color: black

Hardware
Bridge:Black Vintage Fender
Nut: LSR
Tuners: Black Locking Tuners
Strap buttons: Dunlap strap locks

Neck
Wood: 1 piece Maple
Fretboard wood: Ebony
Finish: Stain
Frets: Dunlop 6105 med jumbo or extra jumbo
Radius: 12", or composite 9.5 to 14
Neck shape: modern C shape
Number of frets: 22
Inlays: Mother Of Pearl Dots
Headstock: 6 in a row,70s headstockstyle
Electronics
Pickups: Lace Holy Grails
Pickup combo: S/S/S
Active/Passive: Passive
Controls: Grease bucket or delta tone black metal knobs 1 Volume 1 Tone
Favorite Electronics Mod: 3 pickup selector button like on the deluxe players strat


For an LP style axe

Body
Shape: 60's style LP
Wood:Mahogany
Finish: Nitro
Favorite color: Heritage Cherry Sunburst or Vintage Sunburst

Hardware
Bridge: Tune-O-Matic with stopbar tailpiece
Nut: Bone
Tuners: Grover Locking Tuners,
Strap buttons: Dunlap Strap Locks

Neck
Wood: Mahogany
Fretboard wood: Ebony
Finish: Standard Gibby
Frets: Dunlop 6105 Medium Jumbo
Radius: 12"
Neck shape: 60's Tapper
Number of frets: 22
Inlays: Trapezoid
Headstock: Standard 3 + 3 Gibby
Electronics
Pickups: Bridge pickup: potted BurstBucker 3 humbucker with push/pull coil splitting
Neck Pickup: '57 Classic with push/pull coil splitting
Pickup combo: H H
Active/Passive: Passive
Controls: Standard 2 Volume 2 Tone
Favorite Electronics Mod: plexed neck and coil splitting pups

[groverj3]

Body:
Shape - Soloist, but thinner.
Wood - Mahogany
Top - Quilted Maple
Finish - Transparent Blue

Neck:
Attachment - Through body
Shape: Not too thin, not too thick (very scientific there)
Wood - Maple, satin finished back
Fretboard - Ebony, with cream binding (also around headstock)
Inlays - 1 abalone sharkfin at 12th fret
Headstock - The one Caparison uses
Fretboard Radius - 12-16 compound
Fretwire - Jumbo
Nut: Locking

Pickups:
Bridge - Dimarzio Crunchlab
Neck - Dimarzio Liquifire

Hardware Switches etc (Chrome):
Bridge - Original Floyd
3 way pickup selector
1 volume control - MAKE SURE IT IS AWAY FROM THE BRDIGE PICKUP (pet peeve)

[marnold***]

1 volume control - MAKE SURE IT IS AWAY FROM THE BRDIGE PICKUP (pet peeve)

Agreed. I thought for sure that my Dinky's would drive me up the wall because the one on my Charvel Model 7 certainly did. Part of it is a better, less spastic, picking technique. Another part is the fact that the pot on my Charvel was very loose, so if I looked at it funny the volume would drop.