What do you look for when shopping for a high end guitar?

“Let’s design a high end guitar that looks so bad no one will want to steal it at the end of a gig”

That framus looks like epiphone les paul special lol

What makes this guitar worth 3000$? Those woods better be from an endangered species of trees.

tyler... seriously.... this is EXACTLY THE VIDEO I NEEDED you to make right now. THANK YOU SO MUCH

Crazy good guitarist that plays a cheap guitar here on KZfaq is The Doooo. Dude can play anything on request, its insane!

"I clear my mind of all brands ..." Eh, you can't. Unless you shop blindfolded, your subconscious mind will still know about the brands.

I buy my guitars based off of their weight. I need to be able to smash them into my Mesa after a face melting solo without throwing my back out.

I get that this guitar is built extremely well but how can they justify 3k for it? It looks like a les paul special. For that much I'd expect nice inlays, neck thru, and a fancy top with a nice finish just to name a few.

They want 2,699 USD for this?! Seriously?! It's a bolt-on,with a fixed bridge,no fancy flame/quilt/burl-maple top,no fancy finish,just a boring matte black paintjob and no special electronics,like a sustainiac,booster or Piezo etc. just a Tele-style control layout with 2 humbuckers. How,in the name of Zeus' thunder farting arse,does this cost almost 3 grand in USD?! You can get an EBMM Petrucci,which has a Piezo and a shitload of other cool features for that money or custom build a Kiesel,with some super fancy top,stainless steel frets or get an Aristides,Mayones or Strandberg.

Ugly as sin. But sounds nice! That is some cheap looking rosewood. Looks faaarr from a $3000 guitar.

Maybe you ment 300$ guitar... Lol it looks cheap af

That's cheap looking guitar

I went to my local guitar shop and they had a 1966 framus hollowbody. it was pretty cool

A handmade, german, amazing sounding Epiphone les paul special.

Growls with clarity. The frets look glassy and slick. fretboard is gorgeous . Sounds very resonant and woody . If it stays in tune , and you like its balance and feel buy it . A bolt on by the way is not a negative people . Some of the longest, and most gloriously sustained notes you’ve ever heard were done on Strats and Teles . There is no semi -hardened goo, glue in between the neck and body on a bolt on to inhibit vibration transfer

no offense but that guitar looks a cheap Ltd ec-50 or something

The sustain and acoustic sound of this guitar seems unreal, a real player's tool. This is very surprising, because the neck joint is some kind of (improved, admittedly) bolt-on.

2699 for a opaque painted, flat top and a overdone design? no thanks

Before you shell out over two grand on a guitar take the current guitar you enjoy the most and take it with you to the shop. Test it out with the expensive guitar to make sure they're tuned the same and make sure you're getting more than just a name.

Man, you always get what you pay for. I always try getting mahogany/alder neck-thru stuff for the studio. You gotta spend a bit of money sometimes for the best sound possible. The road is another story. There's no shame in getting Asian-made bolt-on guitars with Floyd Rose Specials. If they get the job done, they get the job done. 👍

Framus promo butchered in the comments section 😂

Intonation is perfect. It's the only way to go. I like action as low as possible with minimal to no buzz and Intonation spot on.

Damn, that's one ugly ass guitar.

This Friday I’m ordering my first “high end” guitar, a shecter apocalypse c1 fr-s and I can’t wait

I don’t wanna be rude bc they lended that guitar to you but I would’ve never guessed it was worth $3000

Just bought a Dean USA StradiVMNT Dave Mustaine Serial 50/50 Signature. Its beautiful and its well worth the price

That’s a beautiful guitar no doubt about it could you play metal on that guy i’m sure you probably could

1. Feel 2. Quality 3. Features 4. Looks

looks like a $200 travel guitar. aside from the looks... it doesn't sound like half of its price either.

I’m working on just building the perfect Strat for me. I’ve been modifying it one mod at a time, eventually going to have a Strat absolutely perfect where no other guitar can compete. 🎸 So far I’ve replaced the pickups from those super hot Duncan Designed pickups that came in it to boutique pickups that sound incredible. I originally wanted a Clapton mid boost (so I bought Zexcoils), but the set had a Tele-esque bridge, so I decided I would instead get a blender pot. After that, I’ll probably replace the master tone with a two way tone (cut bass or treble instead of just treble). That’ll be a great instrument (not that the replaced pickups aren’t that already). I love how single coils never get muddy.

Most expensive guitar I have is a PRS SE Standard 24. And I'm still paying for it.

thanks for wearing that shirt which reminded me of my first ever metallica show tonight here in stuttgart fucking germany. the weather's a blast too, i cant fucking wait

Specs are first. Pickups, neck through or not, quality of bridge, nut, tuners. Pretty much everything. On a cheap guitar mainly the neck and frets. On those you usually upgrade the electronics soon enough

I love what you said about clearing your head of all the brands and stuff. For one of my birthdays my dad took me to buy a guitar but he made me close my eyes and he handed me several different ones to choose based on the feel alone

Can you review a chapman ml1 pro? I played one recently for the first time, my main ax is PRS CE and I was very impressed by Chapman, want to know your opinion on it. Great vid btw

FINALLY... NOT ANOTHER PRS GUITAR!!!

I am a crappy intermediate player. I dont care what people think, if I want that special guitar that is going to drive me to play more and get more joy out of my guitar playing, it doesn´t matter if it costs 6K, if I can afford it, I am buying it. Everyone should get their favorite guitar, no matter what other people says. If it makes you happy buy it, beginner or pro, it doesn´t matter.

That sustain at 7:23 on that not is marvelous!!!!

I honesty just watched this one because you had the Metallica shirt on. Great advice though.

Not only that its ugly, it also looks super cheap.

The Doo still plays on a squire

I've had expensive guitars, nothing crazy but a new Les Paul Standard and I feel like you can learn to work on a cheaper guitar and make them play just as well. Lol I seriously just bought a squire Bullet made in Indonesia 15 mins ago because it plays great. Someone set it up very well. $129 at GC. All the other ones did not have this setup. Just lucked out on this one

This is exactly what I wanted to know. I’ve been playing a bit over three months though I’ve been a musician all my life on sax, so I know the value of actually trying out the instrument I’m going to buy, but on sax the differences between cheap and expensive are so glaring that I really could buy a pricey sax to replace a cheap one without trying it out and know it’s obviously better. But guitar, so many subtleties; if it weren’t, I would just change the pickups, bridge, and tuning keys. You really covered the necessary basics.

Hey I've really liked your "habits" of guitar videos. I know he's not talked about much but I'd love to see a habits of Buck Dharma of Blue Oyster Cult. His licks are some of my favorites.

rosewood fret board, "maple neck wood", tune-o-matic bridge, graph tech nut, and bolt-on neck for 3k

Thanks for the advice duuuude. I’m going for a Heritage H-150, which is a Les Paul style model made in the same factory that made 59’ Les Pauls and many more before Gibson’s move to TN in the 80s. I’ve been playing it at my local music shop for almost a year now, going out to Guitar Center and Sam Ash, other spots, playing Les Pauls, playing PRS Mark Tremontis, other things in that same single-cutaway style, and I always go back to A, The Heritage H-150, after A-B’ing many models. I been lusting over it like Wayne Campbell, ‘she will be mine, oh yes, she will be mine’. Very nice advice, and I did pay attention to many of the details that were never important to me when I first started playing guitar, but are now like ‘car backup cameras’, in that certain features are must haves for me, or that’s instant disqualification for a guitar to be. For me, must haves include rolled frets, where the binding and fret rolling are seamlessly done. Translucent (color, or natural) finish on the back of the guitar, so I can appreciate the wood grain for aesthetics, same scale 24.75 as Les Paul, no weight relief, just lighter wood choice, regular (not speed) knobs. Some practical, or playability requirements, some aesthetic. My tastes have evolved to what they are now, and I’m sure they’ll continue to evolve, but no tastes are wrong. If you lust over a Slash Signature Model Epiphone Les Paul, that’s great, it’s a beautiful guitar, plays great I’m sure, nothing wrong with that at all. In my view, it’s like choosing your bride 👰. You better be damn sure, same goes for a guitar. Finally made the layaway drop on it, now she WILL be mine in less than 90 days. Les Paul style, many of the same luthiers as Gibson’s golden era, Antique Sunburst finish. Already got a name for her, I’m gonna call her ‘Charlotte’ 😈🤘

I'm super lucky to have a really cool dealer where I live. They're good about returns / exchanges even on used gear. I took home a Gibson R8 but couldn't get on board with the neck. Ended up going with a PRS custom 24 Floyd which is still my number 1 guitar today.

I think it mainly depends on what style of music you play or your specific style. If you are a shredder, then go with Jackson, Ibanez, or ESP. If you're a bluesy player go with Fender. If you're riff guy into rock then Gibson would be the guitar for you. Also, pickups and tremolo are important because they determine the feel and tone of the guitar.

I met a guy playing a $400 Ibanez today who was amazing and I played a cheap Ibanez Axiom Iron Label $800 guitar that played like a dream.

They used to make extremely awesome Stratocaster copies called strato de luxe it’s amazing

This video is awesome, man. I just saw one from ZIMM that had comments that went straight against this. People strictly were talking about brands and resales and it was... sad.

Ive been looking into this Ibanez guitar i saw at my local Guitar center, but it is $600 so i kind of don't know what to do. I'll keep working on getting better before i try and get it. The guitar is the Ibanez RGAT62. The blue one. They gray one is nice but I'd like the blue one better lol. Im going to finish the video first too

I really like headless guitars like Kiesel Vader and Strandberg Boden as they are light, comfortable and easy to play sitting or standing and fit in small spaces on trains and airplanes yet look and sound amazing. My other favorites are Suhr and Vigier guitars and Les Paul Studio guitars look and sound great as well.

My dream guitar right now is the Devin Townsend Framus. Have them send you one

I bought a Yamaha a couple of months ago the guy i talked to was awesome he has owned and and owns many guitars and said there is a day when everyone wants that one guitar that cost an arm an a leg but the old Yamahas and other brands sound just as good like you said good people dont have to have expensive instruments to play well. I like to say expensive excessive anything doesnt make you better you just look cool while doing it.

I really like your method to test the intonation bro

I really want a Gibson flying v 1967 reissue but it's worth 4 grand. I want not because it "makes me better" but simply on how cool It looks

So - true - checking the intonation is a step I used to miss for many years - I only starting figuring that out over the past few years. I typically start with doing a little upfront research when buying any guitar. Look for any KZfaq vids in the genre I play in (rock/blues), see some reviews, and if there are any comparison vids that really show a traditional/low-end model v the higher end models. So much information out there. Then, I’ll look for a local shop that carries the gear. Good news is in my are between GC and independent music stores, I can find just about every flavor of guitar our there. Then I’ll find an amp like mine in the store - hook up, and start the test drive. I really focus on tone first. Playability comes second - only in the fact that I can setup my guitar pretty well - and if need be, I’ll throw $40 in to get it setup correctly. It’s a little dangerous as sometimes setup can affect tone - however, I’ve found many shops just don’t do setup - even with the higher end guitars. If it passes those tests, I take it home (and make sure the store I’m buying from has a good return policy). Then I’ll run it through many different things including several different type amps, DI into my DAW, etc. I have fun testing out new gear.

I really like this advice. I bought a PRS SE 24 last year but I felt like I got way in over my head with the pruchase. I should have taken it a little slower, however it has not let me down yet. well worth the money.

I played someone's PRS Mira yesterday, and then compared it to my epiphone les paul. I've had the L.P. set up by a luthier and nice exliers on it, and I can honestly say that I enjoyed the Epiy L.P. more. The sound was similar through a clean amp too.

I got my Epiphone les Paul for 250 at Sam Ash and I love it.

I played on an epiphone les Paul for a while and then wanted an upgrade and I found a 2008 white American standard strat with hot Jeff beck pickups for $750 on reverb.com. It was worth the money

I got that same shirt from target. Good quality for a good price.

Yo, Tyler, good shit bro! I dig your videos and especially your playing. Would you share with us mortals your signal chain in this video, especially in the beginning riff? I am curious if you are using an Overdrive pedal together with your amp gain to get that sweet fat American sound.

When I picked up my HD28 last year I sat at the guitar shop for 2 and a half hours in the acoustic room playing every Martin, Gibson, Taylor and what ever else I could play until I made the decision to get the Martin.

an LP shape with tele like electronics... I'm sold :)

I want to buy a Reverend Pete Anderson PA1 at some point. Played one at a store and couldn't get enough.

Great video. I think if you are a guitar player you should try out high end instruments wether you can afford them or not. You will discover a world you didn't know existed. You will also discover a new reference point of what is possible. This reference point will come in handy when you seek out something in your budget to help you get as close to that within your means. Surprisingly you can do quite well for a fraction of the price if you know what to look for. It's like buying a sailboat, those extra "feet" will cost you a bundle......

I always look for comfartabality if its not comfortable even though its the best sounding guitar in the world im not going to play it i will just go back to my strat or ibanez s series

Check out the KZfaqr *TheDooo* he plays on a Squier Strat. His playing is tops.

That’s framus doesn’t look all that special and just looks plain but boy does it sound good.

Sends Framus back, BUYS A MAJESTY :D

I've got a 1972 framus 5/197, and can confirm, it's ace.

I bought a Gibson les Paul Standard 2016 its a good Guitar but i think i May have bought it because of nostalgia that i Feel when i think of Gibson

Great presentation. The guitar sounds amazing. I want one.

That stank bend face is how you know 1) the axe is excellent and 2) Tyler is enjoying the heck out of his bend

we have a problem in our country we don't have that many nice guitars only like cheap squiers and epiphones and starter kits in our shops so i buy guitars of their specs and sound of youtube and this is my big problem here anyway i ordered a Chapman Ml3 Pro Modren so wish me luck !

Could you please do the same video but for bass? I'm not sure what exactly to look for in bass guitars but would like to be educated on this topic. Thanks!

It lists 2400 on the framus site. 600$ is a big difference.

My first expensive guitar was a Schecter. Bad mistake because i wasnt really experinced. Then i bought a Chapman Ghostfret and its my absolute favorite. Sounds amazing and plays even better tho I destroyed the original nut because i put too heavy strings on it. :D And yes everything close to 1000€ is expensive to me.

Hi there! I think you can help me here! Let me explain: I’m a total newbie guitar guy. I play keyboards but I know almost nothing about guitars. Next month I’ll buy my first guitar, I really want to dedicate time to learn guitar playing (I’m 43 hehe kinda late). So I’ll go next month buy my very first guitar, and because of my age, and because I worked for it, I can buy an high end guitar. I actually was thinking PRS 594 single cut. The question here is: Can I do that or will it be losing money? Lots of people tells me that I have to buy some cheap Epiphone to start with and then go to the next level. But I feel like playing on a not so good one might demotivating me. Well... what you think about it? In my opinion I’d rather buy one guitar and stick with it the rest of my life! I know I can’t play yet but I’m musician so I know what are tones, feelings about instrument and so... well... that’s it! Hehe thanks for sharing videos like you do. Great content!

I shopped for an acoustic for 4 months I was dead set on an Ibanez I went to every store in town that sold instruments and played everyone in town when I finaly decided to stop limiting my search to just Ibanez I locked down a very beautiful Martin and I am so happy that I didn't settle

That guitar is maybe worth $800 max. Mahogany body maple neck light colored rosewood. Maybe locking tuners? Uncovered pickups, chrome Tele controls maybe a graphite nut? Uses a Gibson style bridge.. which is flawed in itself. Are the pickups branded? Sounded okay, but not $3000 and I’m sure the amp helped

I want a les paul telecaster hybrid like that.. Only it doesnt look cheap like that

When I saw the video thumb I thought you had a bargain basement epiphone. I think we've got way past the point now where a figured or burled top looks like something put on a cheaply made guitar to grab attention in a store. A nice guitar needs to sound right, play well and encourage me to play. And to get that sound it's got to be quality components throughout. My last build I spent pocket change on the wood but ended up with a high end bridge, sperzel locking tuners, a bone nut, and top quality electronics and every swap from parts bin components to top shelf made the tone a little better. If you're spending big money, there's no forgiving cheap pots or a flimsy switch. Everything has to be right. And the finish kind of comes last. On stage in a dim club nobody can see the fine finish.

I mostly play metal so you would expect i would go for an LTD or Jackson or something but honestly i sat down one day in a guitar store with the intention to buy a new guitar and did exactly what you said "clear your mind of brands" and i walked away with a bright yellow music man axis. totally the opposite of something that i was used to or looking for aesthetically but it played so well.

I have no doubt that this Guy is blessed too much, too calm and not to much arrogant. Just calm

You can look at it as the framus looking like an epiphone. Or maybe they're just making those epiphones so damn good. I'm just glad Tyler didn't use his PRS.

My biggest problem is that most high end guitars are not available to be tried, even at guitar center. I've ordered a few online but it's an expensive process.

nice blues solo in the intro btw

What does the "end"" in "high end" refer to? Is it the high end of the pricing spectrum? Or is it quality? Because my $399 Schecter does everything I need it to do, versatile enough for any gig, no noise so the sound guys love it, fit and finish are excellent, and they cut no corners when crafting the instrument. To me, my Schecter is high end! But to anyone buying an extremely expensive guitar, do not settle for anything less than the best! I see bassists buy brand new Fenders and Rickenbackers that have flaws, and they settle for keeping it just because it's Ric or Fender

But , old debate ,what adds the most colour ? The guitar or the amp .You need an high end amp to put it into .

I have the same t-shirt, yay

That sounds amazing with some gain and reverb on

each word is correct man....no one can afford a high end guitar in one night.....you have to work over it .....awsome

sounds good. but i'd be happier with a nice strat or a custom tele

That thing sounds killer

prs are expensivee but good. but high end les pauls are also expensive. r8 r9 .

holy hell tyler we wore the same shirt today keep on rocking! \m/