Here Today... Gone To Hell!

my favorite is washburn x-series

I feel for you man, I really do...

Best guiat brand?
I'd have to say Martin, because they basically created the modern acoustic guitar in (almost) every format it has, and they, unlike almost every other "guitar maker" (using the term loosely), never sold out.

Gibson and Epiphone ( the epi's need workd on them, but that's fun as well), Fender strats and tele, and all sorts of vintage guitars.

Definatly Gibsons.  I dont own any, but have played on some and they own.  My favs are the 1996 Slash Model, SG Standard, Les Paul Standard and the 2002 Joe Perry model.  They all rock

Slashisthebest

Gibson, Epiphone, ESP LTD, and Fender.

-EM88

hmmmm my favourite style of guitars are the les paul......so i guess you could say my favourite brand would be gibson.

But the guitar i own is my favourite guitar (30 yr old les paul copy) and its brand-less so um..............my favourite brand is "        ".

im a les paul man also... so my dream brand is Gibson...
but my brand that i really like and is happpy with and all that, is Epiphone! it dont cost your shirt... and their les paul's are way better than Morgan's Les Pauls!! :p

I own one Morgan Les Paul and one Epiphone Les Paul Black Beauty.
And one Aria Pro II bass and soon an Epiphone Thunderbird bass :D

Gibson les paul... I really love those guitars

Ibanez RG are great too... I have one and it rocks !

Les Paul, SG, Explorer, Telecaster, Stratocaster + the PRS that Dave Navarro plays and the Gretch that John Frusciante plays (Californication video), never played those two and don't remember the names, but they look and sound awesome! :yes:

ESP LTD?!?!?!??!?!?!? Are you insane?????????  

Carvin

Gibson. Hands down.

LTDs are pretty good man, and cheap.

-EM

LTD's are probably marginally better than Epiphones, but also cost more.  And ESP's are waaaay overpriced for what they are.  I mean they charge over ?3,000 for "Kirk Hammet's" guitar, just because they scratched some paint of and put a sticker on it.  I mean, the parts probaly cost about 400, and it's a fucking bolt on.  Rip-OFF

Gibson by far
I also luv fender telecasters great sound

So you're saying Epiphones are better than LTDS??

I have to say Gibson les paul and sg, fender strat, and maybiebc rith mocking bird, rocks!! :yes:

Whilst trying to be as superior sounding as possible; Can you even read?


Where did I say that?  I don't know, maybe somewhere along the line you lost the basic grasp of the English language or something.

Gibson.  : ok:

Well it depends on what you consider selling out, but Martin has basically gone the same way as Fender and Gibson, now selling overpriced models based on its name which Martin established many years ago when their axes were hand made. Their choice of tonewoods has DEFINATELY dropped off in recent years, and the amount of CNC work on those guitars are like 95%.

The only major guitar company that never sold out was Rickenbacker. Their CEO still answers your e-mails.

Well, yes, they're overpriced...but so is 99% of the market.  With the exception of a select few small time luthiers, who are building high end axes, but still selling them for a reasonable price, every guitar you can buy is priced waaay more than it's really worth.
And they may be, to an extent, relyiying on their name but it's a name that was thoroughly deserved.  They're not pushing the boundries of acoustic instruments anymore but they're still making top quality guitars.

And yes, they use CNC machines to make a lot of the guitar.  But you try and show me a person, or group of people that can built a guitar as precisely as a CNC machine...and a group of people who can build as many guitars as a CNC production line can.
It isn't possible.
I'm not saying guitars should all be built by machines...but lets be realistic...you could never, ever find a large enough, skilled enough team to produce handmade guitars on a large scale.

And don't compare Martin to Fender and Gibson, because you wouldn't go into a guitar shop, and pick up a Martin, and find a dodgy fret job, with uncrowned frets or something like that.  And you wouldn't find a Martin made from Poplar either... :rofl:

PRS started being 100% CNC since 1995. Pre 1994 PRS guitars are now the only ones considered worth a collector's time of day, and in the opinion of just about every PRS junky, they sound better. Precision isn't exactly the entire goal here. Handmade guitars means everything is picked and done according to experience. CNC machines often don't sand according to grain, sometimes scrape shotty binding etc... because they can only sense as much as humans allow them to.

I'd FAR rather have a person make me a guitar than 100% Precise thing with no feelings. Hate to sound corny, but the Gibson Les Pauls of the 50s and the early PRS guitars were made with a passion and love for guitar making. A machine can't feel a love for what they are doing.

Martin has long ago lost its position as being the most sought after instrument in the acoustic dept. The only reason people still use Gibson/Fender/Martin/Taylor etc... is because they write fat endorsement deals. The boutique people nowadays clean them OUT, which is why Ghostbuilding is so huge now.

But Martin's are hand sanded, and hand finished.  The sides, back, tops and necks etc.. are CNC cut, but the guitars are assembled and finished by luthiers.

The side's are bent by hand...and the binding and stuff like that is done by hand too...

I agree with you, I'd rather have a guitar made by hand if it is made by a highly skilled luthier, because they can tonally match the woods, like the early PRS's, and they can tailor build the guitar depending on the properties of the wood etc...

Martin is not like Fender and Gibson. Martin is still a guitar maker.  It's not a business.  Martin is owned by C.F. Martin IV.  Fender is not owned by Leo Fender and Gibson is not owned by Orville Gibson or any of his relations.

People who endorse Fender, Gibson and Taylor, do so because they're payed too and then get their own luthiers to build them a guitar.

People who play Martin's don't do it for the money...they do it becuase they are incredible guitars.

Go look at the signature guitars Martin make.  Those people are real guitarists.  They're not getting guitars ghostbuilt...they're players who bought Martin's in the 50's and stuck with them, because they're the best acoustic guitars.

Martin are still making top quality guitars, but because they haven't been played and aged, they're not as good as the older ones.  Also, because people bitched about how their soundboard rises, they changed the bracing pattern a few years ago...which wasn't good for the tone...but now they're using the original bracing pattern again...which was by the way copied by every single acoustic guitar maker since.

Yeah, there are boutique makers building guitars, and a lot of people choose them over Martin, but that has a lot to do with versatility.  I mean, you can go to a small output, high end builder and basically get anything you want...whereas thats not something you can do at the custom shop of a well known barnd...unless you have a lot of cash.


But the main point I made in my first post was that they inveneted the dreadnought, and the X bracing pattern, and Martin is basically the daddy of acoustic guitars...and like I said...they never sold out.

I have a Squire Strat.. Its a decent guitar...I dont really like it alot tho..

Id love to own the Epiphone Les Paul, I love to play the display models at the stores.....

My first guitar was a squire.  Now i have a Martin acoustic.

Gibson- les paul.
Ibanez...great sound