Favourite non Fender , non Gibson Fender and Gibson style guitars

DrCornelius · February 2018

Like a few of us on here, my continued lust for the next forever guitar means I am continually selling my previous forever guitar. I've noticed recently though that I've started buying guitars that I've had before , I'm starting to finally realise what I like and am putting together a collection rather than guitars to try then move on.

Since I sold my PRS custom 24 about 10 years back it's been mainly Teles, Strats and Les Pauls really with the odd SG, Gretsch and PRS thrown in as a bit of a sorbet to clean the pallete before the next Tele comes along.

I've come to realise that of the 'big 3' designs I tend to favour guitars from other brands despite enjoying many a Fender and Gibson over the years.

Curently for me it's

Strat - K Line Springfield
Tele - K Line Truxton
LP - Feline Lion

I wanted to pick some brains here to see if there were any non Fender Strat and Teles and non Gibson LPs I should be trying before I settle down with the current trio. I've had Suhrs, Orvilles and Tokais for example but never tried a Nash Tele or a Maybach LP but heard good things ?

Can I ask (please) - of the big 3 designs , who do you tend to prefer ?

stimpsonslostson · February 2018

Strat/Tele- partscasters. You get the spec you build.

LP- the Edwards I had was great, but I'm happier with my Tele deluxe partscaster.

Rocker · February 2018

Anderson. Problem solved. Permanently.

DrCornelius · February 2018

Rocker said:

Anderson. Problem solved. Permanently.

Hmmmmmm, never tried one. Interesting and will do some Google perving later. Thanks

Funkfingers · February 2018

Hamer USA, arguably, made better Gibson-style guitars than Gibson sometimes manages.

DrCornelius · February 2018

Funkfingers said:

Hamer USA, arguably, made better Gibson-style guitars than Gibson sometimes manages.

Yes I seem to remember Dominic having one of those for sale once , looked great but I was skint at the time

Jonathanthomas83 · February 2018

I like my Suhr strat, despite cheating on it recently. We've made up now. I really liked my old Epiphone Les Paul.

ICBM · February 2018

Aria RS and PE series.

Funkfingers · February 2018

Ssh! You'll push the prices up.

Collings · February 2018

I'm using a Collings City Limits for my LP needs - Currently trying some high end Gibson's with a view to getting one but non come have close to the Collings as of yet.

I've got a couple of Collings 290's as well and they also beat their Gibson equivalents and can be picked up for a good price as well.

Philly_Q · February 2018

LPs, if you're prepared to spend big, I think there are lots of attractive options. The aforementioned Feline for a start, and I've recently been liking the look of Knaggs, Patrick James Eggle and (pricier again) Nik Huber.

Strats and Teles... I'm afraid I suffer from "Epiphone headstock syndrome". I'm sure the likes of Suhr, Anderson and the more trad K-Line, LSL and Xotic are all excellent but I really don't like their headstocks.

And of course lots of options at lower price points from the likes of ESP and (to some extent) Ibanez.

Whitecat · February 2018

Love my Knaggs stuff. Top-notch examples of everything, really. The Severns are particularly good.

The one thing they don’t do are offsets though - not that you’re asking about those, but I like Novo and BilT in that space.

BGG · February 2018

In love with my Duesenberg Starplayer TV Outlaw and my PRS DGT's.

simonk · February 2018

Suhr’s for me. Gig ready instruments without the foibles and ‘to do’ list of upgrades.

DrCornelius · February 2018

I tried a Knaggs once in Vintage and Rare in Bath. I ended up buying an old Tokai Es100 instead which was sublime but the Knaggs was very nicely put together, had a bit of a PRS feel to it which makes sense I suppose.