The very best...........

[Flaneur]

Please tell us the very best instrument you have ever played or (if you were lucky) owned.  It doesn't have to be a prestige name or stratospheric price tag- a little explanation might be helpful. Playability, build quality, finish, sound........  give us the story.

[scottyboy]

My Vigier (Excalibur Supra)...fairly hefty price tag probably because of the neck first and foremost, which is what everyone says about them. The woods (solid alder, maple + rosewood), tones and pickup config/balance/output (HSH, moderately low output) is pretty much as close to my ideal as possible. I also like the fact they've shaved a bit of weight off even a Strat (which suits my girly physique just as the slim neck suits my teensie hands) and that it's a relatively rare hard-tailed (super)strat. Further bonus is the ultra-stable neck, which is no end of help to a globe-trotting, screwdriver-phobic klutz such as I.

 

The only things I'd like different on my (main) guitar is a louder, more vintage neck single coil and a bridge PAF, and 22 frets; with the same neck, woods etc. But I'd still want a hotter HSH instrument like one described above... I need/want both If/when I do get another I'd be tempted to go for a cheaper custom (perhaps a small luthier, or one of the up-and-coming East-Central Europe companies) or partscaster, or perhaps just settle for a new neck for my regular strat.

[Old Gold]

Old Gold Senior has had one of these all my life, and I kinda view it as the epitome of guitar:

 

 

It's a late 70s Strat.  Not this exact one - my folks' have worse taste in carpeting.  Same colours though.  The stock pickups have a real chimey sound, and it's a surf machine through his similar era Silverface Twin.  I can sort of understand why he hasn't bothered buying a new solid body electric in over 30 years.

[HateEvent]

[Soda Jerk]

Best guitar I've ever owned was a G&L ASAT Deluxe. Had it from 06 to 08. Had to sell it when times got tough when I moved up north. Music gear is always the first to go when that happens. I regret it alot. When I bought it, I was close to buying an American Fender Telecaster, but everything about the G&L just felt better. I'm also a Geoff Farina fanboy, and he loves G&L over Fender. WWGFD?

[Teabags]

[Moon Moon]

mines has to be a 95 Korean squier loaded with Wilkinson pickups. i really regret selling it. this is the one guitar id give me soul for.  i paid well over the top for it. a Johnson delta rose, line 6 spider 30 watt and 2 berghringer multi fx

 

the action was really great with a smooth gloss rosewood neck, was a nice fat one too.  played really similar to my neighbors tokai. the build quality was phenomenal. i was surprised to find a squier that good. had a fender bridge. and a solid body (not sure on wood but was good quality) the tuners were great no namers but it never went out of tune. i really couldn't say if the pickups were standard or added but they sounded bright but were perfect for my type of music. it was an arctic white with some light relicing. i never had it for that long but its regretable what i done. i sold it to someone on here in trade for; a guvnor electric guitar (gone) line 6 ux1 with ableton (gone) unfortunately the person i sold it too tried to put active pups in it. wired it wrong and set it on fire 

[James Broonbreed]

wired it wrong and set it on fire 

 

That's a bit harsh. Just because they wired it wrong?

[Moon Moon]

That's a bit harsh. Just because they wired it wrong?

i never done it, the person who bought it done it.

[Lemonade]

i never done it, the person who bought it done it.

 

Sticking in at English, eh?

[Moon Moon]

nae for now min, eh

[Jaaakkkeee]

Best gear I used was when Avoid The Morning re-recorded a single with Nick Scholey. Blain from hounds was letting us borrow his custom amp.. Can't remember the make but I remember it being pretty expensive... And I borrowed Hounds' bassist's Musicman Stingray bass. That was so nice. Blain let me do it, he just took it from the bassist's room. Not sure the bassist even knew... He hadn't even finished paying it off so I was scared to hold it.

[neepheid]

Best.  Difficult to say.  The brain is odd, it distorts perception to suit the situation.  The instrument you just bought is the best, right?  The instrument you've just spent more than it's worth on modding is the best, right?  Because it has to be, right?

 

Every single instrument I've played has its flaws.  The one with the most intangible flaw was a Ritter bass (cheapest one I've seen in a quick web search is four grand.  They don't even put prices on the Ritter website, you have to ask for the price).  Don't get me wrong, it was beautiful, finish so deep and rich you'd think you could dive into it, it was flawless, it played exquisitely, it sounded lovely, but because it was so expensive, I was scared to breathe on it wrong.  How can you lose yourself in music whilst playing when you're constantly worried about something bad happening to the instrument?  No thank you.  But it was amazing.

 

Of basses I own or have owned?  On balance, the 1981 Gibson Victory Artist.  Some of you may recall that I rescued this bass from hideous modification (outright vandalism, I'd call it, but I digress).  It is now a beautiful, if slightly historically inaccurate understated gold beastie that sounds as amazing as it looks.  It has probably one of the cleverest bridges I've seen on a bass (the saddles do not adjust on grub screws like the majority of bridges, they adjust by opposing wedge shapes that move horizontally).  It's maple end to end so as you can imagine it's a heavy beast, but the truth of the matter is I enjoy playing it so much that I don't notice.  Sometimes notice afterwards though  It's got so much range on the EQ, it can do heavy, bassy old school thump, but you can have too much treble as well, so popped strings just leap out of the amp.  Lovely neck, neither too chunky or too slim (even though I suspect it's got a slight twist in it - oh well).  But basically, it's just lovely.  I remember when I got it, even though it was trashed, it still sounded authoritative through my old 30W practice amp.  When a bass can do that, you know you're onto a good thing.

 

I mean, just look how happy I look:

 

 

 

I would endure great hardship not to have to sell this bass.

[KSJ81]

For me it's my circa 72 Les Paul Deluxe, always wanted an LP even before I took an interest in guitar mainly thanks to my cousins love of The Who and his poster of Pete Townsend on his knees playing one. As luck would have it R&B had one at the time my first student loan came in, and being of a young age with a bulging bank account I could think of nothing better to buy - books, travel and food weren't high on my list of priorities at the time as I was still living at home. 

 

The mini humbuckers are full of beans and the neck is an absolute treat. It still has all original parts bar output jack plate (it got lost on the road) the  the finish is still amazing for a near 40 year old guitar. It's starting to get a bit road worn but that only adds to the charm of it for me

 

I have traded, sold, and upgraded a ridiculous amount of gear since I started playing but this guitar will be the one thing in my collection that will stay with me till the bitter end.

 

[Steviepearce]

Best guitar I've owned and played was my Washburn N4 Nuno Bettencourt signature. Still to this day I cry that I sold it when going through hard times. Just wish I was paid enough to buy another one. I still have his signature acoustic but would give anything for another N4.

Edited August 31, 2013 by Steviepearce

[TR!ΔNGL€ T€€TH]

The best guitar that I've probably ever played was a 1971 Fender Stratocaster. It pretty much looked like this:

Myself and the missus went to a mom and pop guitar store in Austin last year, the sort of place that thinks nothing of hanging '65 Jaguars on the wall next to Squiers. Not like here, where a guitar that's more than 15 years old or over 2 grand is put into a glass case. We were actually looking for vintage effects, but I spied the Strat and fancied having a go, since Strats from that era are widely derided as poor examples of the model and I wondered how bad they could be. It played amazing and was so responsive, it was an immediate connection and felt like a guitar that I'd played for years.

 

I'm not one who goes for all this guitars were better made back in the day, so it's possible that this one was a one off, but whoever bought it got a fantastic instrument.

 

Saying that, if I'd had the cash and inclination to buy it, I'd have probably switched out most of the electronics and pickups to make it more like my own Strat, which is really the best guitar I've ever played. That's down to it being the guitar I've held on to for longest and played more than any other.

 

Oh, and here is a photo of it, but most people I am sure have seen it.

 

Edited September 3, 2013 by Jan

[Flights]

It's a very difficult question.

It's a disgusting answer but I just can't get enough of my chinese made Squier Strat at the moment. I got it off YoungA from the forum as part of a trade. It's been upgraded with tone rider pickups but apart from that it appears to be pretty much stock. Maybe a new scratchplate. It's seen better days but for some reason I just have some sort of connection with it. I used my purple strat at a gig on Saturday but I wish I took blackie along. It just chimes like a bell. A bell made out of glass. Definitely lends itself well to my style of playing and is a very versatile instrument. It's definitely not the best instrument ever but it's hearts in the right place.

 

I'm planning on getting it tidied up a bit in the next wee while. It's missing screws out the scratch plate and the pots are beginning to sound a wee bit crackly. New tuners are on the card as well although it holds not too bad. Maybe a new bridge too. Here's a couple of shots of it chilling next to his room mates and looking all loveless.

 

Edited September 4, 2013 by Flights

[amd]

The best guitar I have was actually a 40^th birthday present from my missus.

 

 

A couple of years ago I dragged her into the Guitar Guitar store in Glasgow for a look around. While there, I had a go of a 2008 Gibson Les Paul Standard and it pretty much blow my socks off. Unfortunately, it was priced well out of my budget so I left the store having bought only a T-Rex Fuel Tank for my pedalboard. I spent the drive home telling her that the LP would be my dream guitar if I could afford it.

 

Two months later, on my 40^th birthday, she gave me a guitar shaped present. Inside was a 2008 Les Paul Standard in a light burst finish:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Normally, I would have hated the idea of someone buying a guitar for me without having first played it to death in the store, but on this occasion she got it bang on: the look, feel, playability and tone I wanted is all there.

[Cabbage]

For me I think the very best guitar I've played was a Tokia Les Paul that I once played for in R&B.  Was an awesome feeling instrument, the action was perfect, probably being set at that magic point of as low as it could go without fret buzz.  The neck felt great with enough depth to feel really comfortable but not too wide a fret board and the finish on the back of the neck felt super silky smooth.  Being a new guitar the finish was immaculate and the pickups sounded great. 

 

Since then I've played guitars that have been as good in a number of aspects but not had the overall combination of awesome. 

[Flaneur]

[KEITHMITCHELLGUITAR]

The very best guitar I played was Dave Weiner from the Steve Vai bands 7 string custom PRS. I'm now wanting Paul to build me one!