Best Guitar To Buy (2024 Update)

As attested to by all the reviews on the Capri Orange MX Player Tele, it is a great playing guitar in its original factory form. However, I chose this guitar as the platform for Sweetwater to custom mod. In collusion with friend and Sales Engineer Jeff Jent, we determined the component upgrades of choice for the project. The oem wiring harness was replaced with the Emerson 4way switch Tele wiring harness. The additional switch position allows for the pups to play in series. The oem pups were replaced with Fender Custom Shop Twisted Tele pups. All this modification under the hood was covered up by a Fender black pearloid moto pickguard. The oem string guide was replaced with the Fender American Standard string guide. The oem control plate and knobs were kept as was the oem bridge with box saddles. I prefer the 6 box saddles bridge to the 3 saddles bridge – just a personal choice. Upon receipt of the Tele, from my personal parts box I installed Fender all short post locking tuners and Fender locking strap buttons. Since the MX Player Tele doesn't come with either a case or gig bag, I had the guitar shipped in a new Fender Elite hard case. I provided Jeff with my preferred set-up specs by the numbers and he forwarded those to the guitar technician for the final modified product set-up. Guitar technician Brandon Harper did exemplary work in putting the mod guitar together and tech supervisor Marty Flaley verified the completed modifications "nailed" by Brandon. If you desire modifications on a new guitar, don't be hesitant to turn the Sweetwater guitar technicians loose on your vision project. The techs know their trade. But in full disclosure, modified guitars are non returnable so be sure of the modifications you desire. The standard Sweetwater warranty is in place though. All of these details can be gone over with your Sales Engineer to be certain, just in case I have misspoken the rules of engagement. Thanks to Brandon for his tech expertise and Marty for the oversight (prior to his promotion, Marty was my tech of choice for set-ups on new guitar purchases). Can't say enough about my excellent relationship with my Sales Engineer Jeff Jent. He knows his gear! If you don't have an assigned Sales Engineer, call Sweetwater and ask for Jeff. If you are ever on the Sweetwater campus, ask to personally meet your Sales Engineer and guitar tech. I've had that pleasure and glad to call them friends. OH, and what about the orange Tele? It feels, handles and plays great. It is on par with my Elite and Ultra Teles (except slightly less expensive) as a fine crafted guitar. If you have ever wanted to do a mod guitar, pick any platform and turn the guitar techs loose. My new Tele is a Sweetwater Custom Mod!

This is a really great deal. Unless you get lucky on Reverb or whatever you won't find a deal like this anywhere else. And let's face it–you need a Telecaster! It's as basic as a Stratocaster. Even more so. It's so versatile and has a bright (but not too bright) sound. It's HIGHLY customizable. The shape of the neck is very comfortable for both rhythm and lead play. I'd even go so far as to tell you to make this your kids' (or YOUR) first guitar. For one thing, it's a Fender. The build quality is rock solid. It's really designed to be a lifetime instrument. Cons–really just the shade of the neck itself. It's a little pale. But that's just me. Not only that, but later on you can purchase another Fender neck and just replace it. (It's easy.) Don't let this absolute steal for a real Fender Tele get away from you. You'll thank me.

As attested to by all the reviews on the Capri Orange MX Player Tele, it is a great playing guitar in its original factory form. However, I chose this guitar as the platform for Sweetwater to custom mod. In collusion with friend and Sales Engineer Jeff Jent, we determined the component upgrades of choice for the project. The oem wiring harness was replaced with the Emerson 4way switch Tele wiring harness. The additional switch position allows for the pups to play in series. The oem pups were replaced with Fender Custom Shop Twisted Tele pups. All this modification under the hood was covered up by a Fender black pearloid moto pickguard. The oem string guide was replaced with the Fender American Standard string guide. The oem control plate and knobs were kept as was the oem bridge with box saddles. I prefer the 6 box saddles bridge to the 3 saddles bridge – just a personal choice. Upon receipt of the Tele, from my personal parts box I installed Fender all short post locking tuners and Fender locking strap buttons. Since the MX Player Tele doesn't come with either a case or gig bag, I had the guitar shipped in a new Fender Elite hard case. I provided Jeff with my preferred set-up specs by the numbers and he forwarded those to the guitar technician for the final modified product set-up. Guitar technician Brandon Harper did exemplary work in putting the mod guitar together and tech supervisor Marty Flaley verified the completed modifications "nailed" by Brandon. If you desire modifications on a new guitar, don't be hesitant to turn the Sweetwater guitar technicians loose on your vision project. The techs know their trade. But in full disclosure, modified guitars are non returnable so be sure of the modifications you desire. The standard Sweetwater warranty is in place though. All of these details can be gone over with your Sales Engineer to be certain, just in case I have misspoken the rules of engagement. Thanks to Brandon for his tech expertise and Marty for the oversight (prior to his promotion, Marty was my tech of choice for set-ups on new guitar purchases). Can't say enough about my excellent relationship with my Sales Engineer Jeff Jent. He knows his gear! If you don't have an assigned Sales Engineer, call Sweetwater and ask for Jeff. If you are ever on the Sweetwater campus, ask to personally meet your Sales Engineer and guitar tech. I've had that pleasure and glad to call them friends. OH, and what about the orange Tele? It feels, handles and plays great. It is on par with my Elite and Ultra Teles (except slightly less expensive) as a fine crafted guitar. If you have ever wanted to do a mod guitar, pick any platform and turn the guitar techs loose. My new Tele is a Sweetwater Custom Mod!

This is a really great deal. Unless you get lucky on Reverb or whatever you won't find a deal like this anywhere else. And let's face it–you need a Telecaster! It's as basic as a Stratocaster. Even more so. It's so versatile and has a bright (but not too bright) sound. It's HIGHLY customizable. The shape of the neck is very comfortable for both rhythm and lead play. I'd even go so far as to tell you to make this your kids' (or YOUR) first guitar. For one thing, it's a Fender. The build quality is rock solid. It's really designed to be a lifetime instrument. Cons–really just the shade of the neck itself. It's a little pale. But that's just me. Not only that, but later on you can purchase another Fender neck and just replace it. (It's easy.) Don't let this absolute steal for a real Fender Tele get away from you. You'll thank me.

Overall: A couple of weeks ago, I was looking at buying the Gibson les Paul Standard 60's Bourbon Burst for $2,499.00, as I was doing my research checking out reviews when I came across a side by side review of the Gibson verses the Epiphone les Paul standard 60s. The similarities in quality and sound were eye opening, still skeptical I thought to myself, I owe to myself to at lest checkout the Epiphone les Paul standard 60s what's the worst that could happen, if I don't like it ill send it back and order the Gibson. Well I'm here to say I don't JUST like it, I ABSOLUTLY LOVE IT. Right out of the box I was super impressed with the look and feel of this guitar with the flamed maple top to the deep rich cherry back and sides, I sat down tuned it up plugged it into my amp. I went from being impressed to ka-ching I hit the jack pot. You know after I bought this guitar and before it arrived I had that feeling of buyers remorse, thinking that I somehow compromised and I should have bought the Gibson. Well the first few licks on this guitar and all that washed away instantly. This guitar has it all, value, quality, sound, playability and the flamed maple top…. just wow…!!!!! thank you zZounds and Epiphone for this fantastic les Paul.

I just received this guitar a few days ago. It's already my favorite. Love the slim taper neck, and the probucker pickups are great. The pickups are fine on clean tones, but where they really shine is when the gain is cranked up. Build quality is very good, and it's a beautiful instrument. I prefer a rosewood fretboard, but find the Indian laurel to be completely acceptable. Only 2 negatives: 1. No coil splitting option, 2. it's a heavy guitar. This doesn't matter much to me because as a hobbyist, I typically play sitting down. But I can see that if you play standing, this could get tiring after a while. But these are minor quibbles – overall I'm very pleased with my purchase. Finally,kudos to Dave Hoffman, who held my hand during the 3 month period it took to get a new shipment in.

Overall: All I can say is I am really glad I bought this guitar. I am not going to go into a three page novel reviewing it. I will say this is my second Taylor. My first is a 416ce-R….I purchased a couple of years ago which I love playing, and enjoy thoroughly. That being said I love this GS Mahogany Mini more. For a fraction of the cost you have an awesome guitar here that plays incredibly. Bought a SKB hard case to protect it. The case that came with it is nice, but not for air travel. I just can't stop playing this mini. Great sound, playability, quality and beautiful. Glad I bought this guitar. No regrets!

This guitar is warm and rich sounding. The playability is incredible and feels amazing in the hands. It looks like it is worth more than what it is. Taylor took the care and attention to this line of guitars as it does with its higher end models. I used to have a 614ce and this mini is on par with the way it feels. Obviously not as loud as the 614ce or as pretty, but the care in craftsmanship is the same. Not that the guitar is pretty though. I love this guitar and could not put it down. Sweetwater also did an excellent job on inspecting and packaging this guitar to make sure it sounds perfect when it arrives in my hands.

First of all, sorry that this is in english but maybe somebody will still find it useful. I ordered two of this exact model. I sent the first one back due to a quality issue. The first guitar was well set up, played really well, sounded great, and looked beautiful but at the top of the neck there was a very small gap between the fretboard and the neck. It was about 0,5 mm in height and about 3 cm in width on both sides of the neck. It was small but you could feel it with your hand every time you played over it. Anybody would notice it upon inspection and I am quite surprised that it got past both the Gibson quality control and the Musicstore check. This is the reason for the lower score on “Verarbeitung”. Now, was it a showstopper? For me, it was, considering the price of the instrument. For others, it may not have been and to be honest I thought long and hard before sending it back because it was otherwise a really excellent instrument and I’m sure some people may have decided to keep it. Kudos go out to the Musicstore.de for making absolutely no fuss about taking it back. I will certainly consider buying from this store again in the future. Now, to the second guitar I received: What can I say? It is a wonderful instrument that has THE sound. I usually play a Telecaster but wanted something Gibson-ish for a more humbucker-type sound. This has that sound, so if you are looking for a classic Les Paul sound, you will not be disappointed. Unlike the first guitar which seemed set up quite well by the Musicstore, the second one was not. This is not a problem for me as I am familiar with setup work but if you are not, then you may need to take the guitar to a good luthier once you receive it in order to get the most out of it. So that is something to consider when buying. Mine was pretty off and didn’t seem like anyone spent more than 3 minutes setting it up which was a bit disappointing considering that I know (based on calls to the store) that the delivery was being held back for over a week because it was waiting to be checked and set up. The truss rod had been adjusted quite right but the intonation was way off, the action was “ok”. The pickups seemed untouched and the height was off leading to an imbalanced sound. These are all minor things and it didn’t bother me because I like to set up my own guitars anyways but it should be noted that there seems to be a diffrerence in attention to detail between whoever is doing the setups at the store. That said, once set up properly, this thing is a killer! It is a tone and sustain monster! As far as workmanship goes, I can’t find any noticeable flaws. The finish is beautiful and the binding is very well done. The fretboard was extremely dry and needed to be oiled right away. This is typical Gibson and a bit annoying but also not a real issue that can’t fixed with a few drops of lemon oil and 2 mins of work. One last thing to note, the guitar is heavy. The fist one weighed 4.6 Kg and the second one weighs 4.4 Kg. That is normal for a Les Paul but you should know that in advance in case that is important to you. Reading back what I wrote above may seem negative but it is only so others know what to expect. All in all, I’m very happy with the guitar and would buy it again but for the price, I would’ve expected a bit more attention to detail.

Been looking for a nice explorer for a while and once I saw this model some time ago, I fell in love with this amazing guitar. I was for a while very, very doubtful due to the complicated and demanding Floyd Rose bridge I never had before. A couple of good tutorials on the system were enough to take this fear away. After a thorough check, the guitar is a dream, works perfectly and love it so far. No scratches nor color changes on the mat neck and back, veneer looks pristine, and mechanics work just fine, lovely Gibson Pup sound with split coils and the fret-board looks great, 12th fret’s spaceship inlay aside which is also a very nice touch there. No challenges with neck profile, just a bit of a welcomed change to a thinner neck from my husky Les Paul ones I have. This is a really nice and balanced guitar! Ok, it's on the slightly heavier side but very manageable still. As mentioned earlier, It’s my first Floyd Rose guitar and surprisingly, I managed to adjust it to perfect balance and tuning on my first try in less than an hour with the help of some wood wedges to block back of the springs with, that I made during that estimated time, and of course a ton of online tutorials the weeks prior. Next step is changing to Paradigm Ernie Ball 11s half a step down and adjusting float again….but this will have to wait a bit and maybe a fourth spring will be in order, we will see. If doubting on Floyd Rose, trust me, I am really not a technical person but this was a piece of cake, once you understand the basics and foremost, make a nice wedge, rest is just a walk in the park. It also comes with a case which is always a plus for getting it home in the best possible condition though I would have preferred a hard case or actual guitar contour shaped foam on the included case, to make it extra safe. and not moving whist transporting For those Brendan small fans out there, it is even more of a desirable item. For those not following his work, still a really nice guitar and a steal for what you get. This guitar will make you happy no matter if you know artist or not Last but not least, there is a shop that actually checks guitars before shipping and that is Music Store….Big, big thanks for making sure I got the guitar I wanted and expected. Big thanks to the entire team!