Guitar brands that everyone love?

LuttiS

Just wondering if there are any guitar brands that are genuinely universally loved? Most brands get stick for something or other, whether unfounded or not.. 

Gibson - Quality and pricing 
PRS - Dentists and Price
Fender - Price fixing & undercutting dealers
Gretsch - Inconstant quality
Cort - Labour issues
Chapman - Rob Chapman.
G&L ?
Rickenbacker ?
Ibanez ?
ESP ?
Jackson ?
Squier ?
Epiphone ?

Etc

Discuss / bitch about brands until there is a brand no one has anything bad to say about

Panama_Jack666

I've never heard a bad word about Feline! So them!

timhulio

EGC, Millimetric, Creston... basically the smaller and more niche you go, the happier everyone is paying a fortune for a guitar.

The real answer is Ibanez. Massive company, does very little wrong. That said, I don't own any of their guitars.

LuttiS

Panama_Jack666 said:

I've never heard a bad word about Feline! So them!

Haha we have a winner, guess we can close the thread now then

Modellista

I properly love Squier. The Affinitys are cheap as chips for learners, the midrange Indonesian stuff can be awesome - that Tele with P90s, the '51, even the Standards are totally giggable instruments. The CV and VM ranges are proven winners in ergonomics and sounds.

And then there's the back catalogue of random awesomeness, from the early Japanese stuff, through the Korean Stagemasters with Floyds and the brilliant ProTones, to totally bonkers stuff like the Katana and Venus.

A totally non-pretentious budget brand that has probably launched more guitarists' careers than anyone else. 

docbaker

what did you mean for PRS - dentists?

Winny_Pooh

I'll have a go:

Musicman
Ibanez 
Hamer
Tokai 
Gretsch (the modern company)
Guild

OilCityPickups

Danelectro: everyone knows they are cheaply built, quirky and weird ... but they always make me smile.
And I agree about Squier ... a genius stroke by fender all those years ago ... and I will always have a few Squires hanging about ... 

impmann

The Dentist thing with PRS is a bit tiresome, especially when you look at the flippin huge prices asked for Gibson CS stuff - and don't even get started about the vintage stuff. And Felines aren't exactly cheap, are they...?

Fender price fixing? I think you could (allegedly) put all of the names above into that category.

Cort's labour issues were some years ago. They haven't built in Korea for a long time.

Gibson quality - well, based on the recent R8-fest, is that justified? Everyone seems happy with their £2.5k vintage Les Paul copies... ;-)

Ibanez do LOTS wrong - they do quite a lot right but christ on a bike, some of their cheap stuff is 'adequate' at best and their pickups are terrible!!! Some of the mid to high end stuff is OK and sometimes good (usually with DiMarzios...) but refer to those thin bodied hollow body jazz things with 11k ceramic pickups, floating bridges, shonky fake bigsbys and dodgy finishes for a definition of "nope".

darthed1981

LuttiS said:

Squier ?
Epiphone ?

Snobbery, so much snobbery, associated with these brands.  Even saw a guy gigging with a Squier once who had taped over the name on the headstock!

I have a Classic Vibe Telecaster and I chose it over and above a Mexican one, it was a better guitar IMHO.

I have an Epiphone Les Paul that is great, and an Epiphone Dot that is great.

The only bad thing right now about these brands would be the price hikes in the last few years, but the pound in the doledrums doesn't help.

As I've said to @luttis in person, I tried a Chapman ML1 in Andertons last year and it was one of the best £400 guitars I've ever played.

digitalscream

Folk have always had positive things to say about Jaden's guitars, myself included

LuttiS

impmann said:

The Dentist thing with PRS is a bit tiresome, especially when you look at the flippin huge prices asked for Gibson CS stuff - and don't even get started about the vintage stuff. And Felines aren't exactly cheap, are they...?

Fender price fixing? I think you could (allegedly) put all of the names above into that category.

Cort's labour issues were some years ago. They haven't built in Korea for a long time.

Gibson quality - well, based on the recent R8-fest, is that justified? Everyone seems happy with their £2.5k vintage Les Paul copies... ;-)

Ibanez do LOTS wrong - they do quite a lot right but christ on a bike, some of their cheap stuff is 'adequate' at best and their pickups are terrible!!! Some of the mid to high end stuff is OK and sometimes good (usually with DiMarzios...) but refer to those thin bodied hollow body jazz things with 11k ceramic pickups, floating bridges, shonky fake bigsbys and dodgy finishes for a definition of "nope".

Yep Dentist thing is tiresome - but - It's still a thing. Fender price fixing is fairly recent "big" news, so it's in peoples minds. I love Corts - but every time (not every every time) i mention that i have one,, i usually get a funny look and some slave labour comment.
Gibson have always had the quality thing floating around, i imagine it always will, but it's such a 'classic' that i doubt it will deter anyone, they might just try a few more before buying.
I've always liked ibanez, but as i said, i like Cort. Cort make most Ibanez, and they basically have the same own brand stuff that is better and cheaper. imo.

darthed1981 said:

LuttiS said:

Squier ?
Epiphone ?

Snobbery, so much snobbery, associated with these brands.  Even saw a guy gigging with a Squier once who had taped over the name on the headstock!

As I've said to @luttis in person, I tried a Chapman ML1 in Andertons last year and it was one of the best £400 guitars I've ever played.

Yep agree here - lots of snobbery involved, saying that though, in recent years, i've heard so much good stuff about Squier and Epiphone recently.. big names have Epiphone sig guitars. 

And Chapman guitars are great

LuttiS

And should say - this is a nitpicking thread based on stereotypes and rumour and perhaps finding the positives...

Everyone has opinions and preferences, which is fine, one persons golden guitar is another persons cow poo, which we all know. This thread is not about that. 


Also thinking more about big brands than the smaller luthiers

scrumhalf

Yamaha -some models may be a bit generic but they're spot-on. Never seen a bad one.

guitarfishbay

Dingwall are almost universally loved by people who want more clarity out of a bass, especially for B or lower tunings. The low string on the longer scale fans is fantastic IMO.

guitarfishbay

Almost always seen positive comments regarding Music Man instruments. The only complaint I ever see is that some Stingrays weigh a lot, otherwise quality is strong generally 

Modellista

scrumhalf said:

Yamaha -some models may be a bit generic but they're spot-on. Never seen a bad one.

I'd agree with this.  Yes there is a bit of generic stuff, but a lot of innovation too.  The RGX-A2 is a brilliant space-age thing unlike anything else.  The build quality is invariably excellent too, all the way down to the cheapest models.  Their Revstars are superb.

Modellista

darthed1981 said:

  Even saw a guy gigging with a Squier once who had taped over the name on the headstock!

How do you know it was a Squier?

darthed1981

Modellista said:

darthed1981 said:

  Even saw a guy gigging with a Squier once who had taped over the name on the headstock!

How do you know it was a Squier?

It looked like it was a bit smaller than a Fender strat which Squiers are, could have been another cheap brand of course, only used it for one song.

Small band called "Get Inuit", supporting Ash in Leicester, they were pretty good, singer mostly played a very cool Mustang, chatted to him a bit later, cool guy.  If anyone from that band are members they can confirm/deny...?

meltedbuzzbox

impmann said:

The Dentist thing with PRS is a bit tiresome, especially when you look at the flippin huge prices asked for Gibson CS stuff 

Bitch please, that's only because you own two of them.

impmann

meltedbuzzbox said:

impmann said:

The Dentist thing with PRS is a bit tiresome, especially when you look at the flippin huge prices asked for Gibson CS stuff 

Bitch please, that's only because you own two of them.

If I can afford two, then they are hardly in the realm of dentists!! ;-)