I've had a banjo guitar for 30 years - it's been out of tune for 30 years.

*puts away 12 string banjitar with a Floyd rose

When I worked at a guitar store a decade ago, a guy called and said he had some cool vintage tele, I can't remember the exact year, but let's say it was a 67'. I was stoked, and excited for him to bring it in for a setup. I did a bunch of research while waiting for him (slow store, lots of free time). I discovered that of all the models from this year, green was the rarest color it came in. A few hours later, he shows up. He opens the case and inside is a natural finished 67' tele, which this guitar was never manufactured in. I ask him about the finish, and he says, "Oh yeah, it used to be green but I sanded off the finish." 😨

My dad always told me the story of the "Smellocaster" which made the rounds in the area when he was in a band. Apparently it was a telecaster that played amazingly, but something had happened to it to make it absolutely reek. It kept getting sold over and over again because nobody could get the smell out, and it was bad enough that it had to be passed on.

"i hope i never see one again" ... Fender 2019: Acoustasonic!

I always wanted to learn the guitar But the beginning seemed so slow and frustrating

This man is a combination of every person I’ve ever met that works at Guitar Center.

Remember, this man has a reverse Flying V

12 string acoustic with Floyd rose and Gibson robot tuners and only works with the jellyfish guitar pick

My guitar teacher always told me the story of an 12-year-old student that used his dad's guitar to learn to play. At the time, my teacher had a small show choir with her students that would travel around and play local gigs. They had an older van with those giant removable seats that they would empty to carry around the gear. The 12-year-old's dad happened to have a 60s era black Gibson Les Paul. My teacher said the thing played like a dream and sounded amazing. It was terrifying to see a 12-year-old, who didn't take guitar even remotely seriously, walking around with it. The kid had a habit of holding this Les Paul by the strap, without strap locks. I'm sure you think you can see where this is going. He also had a bad habit of swinging said guitar by said lockless guitar strap. One day, while the adults were loading the van and the kids were just goofing off. He was swinging his guitar in a way that he had been told no less than 100s of times not to do, when the strap came off and the guitar went flying into the giant heavy seats of the van sitting near the door. The momentum of the swing meeting an immovable object was too much physics for the neck of that guitar so it promptly snapped in half. The kid immediately started crying. When the dad came to pick up the kid and saw his beloved Gibson in pieces, he just told his son to get in the car and was never seen by my teacher again. That silent disappointed rage. I still partially believe that kid was killed that night.

That story about installing a Floyd rose on a Black beauty broke my damn heart. I use a Floyd Rose on my Ibanez RG and I have a lot of fun with it, but the idea of someone carving out a cavity on such a gorgeous and valuable guitar kills me on the inside

Before the reveal of what happened to the Les Paul, all I was thinking was "please don't say he put a Floyd rose in it"

I have never heard someone say, "I upgraded to a squire" 😂😂😂

The reverse flying v might as well be the reverse mullet of guitars.

I love that Gretsch acoustic - it’s just so wrong, it makes me happy somehow.

I can really relate to the crappy beginner guitar. Recently one of my friends decided to pick up guitar again and started playing on the cheapo Epiphone they got from their parents like 6 years ago. They thought playing guitar was just extremely hard, untill I dropped by and let them borrow my well set up strat. Their playing immediately improved a lot and having a really nice guitar just sitting there also turned out to be really motivating for them, not fighting the guitar all the time made playing much more fun as well. So if one of your friends wants to learn and you've got a nice spare axe, by all means just let them learn on your nice guitar!

In Brazil we have (or had back in the 80s) a brand called Tonante. Some people say that if you tune a Tonante properly, it will never go out of tune again. No one was good enough to test that legend, tho

My stomach literally turned when you described the Floyd Rose in the Les Paul.

Honestly, I should've heeded your word and skipped the piece where the guy installed a Floyd Rose on the Les Paul...

The "weird bevel behind the neck" is called a volute, meant to strengthen the neck and keep the headstock from breaking.

Dude the 57 les Paul with the Floyd story is a nightmare and then some

Lmao!! That black beauty story made me make audible noises of discomfort. Also shocked I didn't hear you diss the Gibson Modern Flying V lol. Even though I'm the crazy guy that thinks they look awesome.

Solid list! I feel you on your selections, especially the 12 string w/ trem. My nightmare is always a guitar that won't stay in tune, and a 12 string w/ trem is most certainly an extreme of example of such nightmare... 3:19 One thing though: the "bevel" on the back of that Les Paul headstock is called a volute, and is supposed to make it less susceptible to breaks.

The weird bevel on the back of the headstock is called a volute.

You should never hate a guitar someone loaned you, because it is always better than the guitar you didn’t have before you borrowed it.

I thought you can't hate anything you're the only positive person I've found on internet who has an explanation for li'll wayne solo

the way your lip started to kinda curl when you were describing the floyd rose that guy put into your buddy phil’s guitar was priceless

floyd rose + les paul = probably my biggest fear

I have a valid totally rational hatred for your reverse Flying V.

1:28 why do people torture themselves like this? Just block it, set it up like a hardtail, and then tighten the spring claw screws until the block falls out. Then finish tuning it with the fine tuner.

As a bassist I have a love/ hate relationship w/ 2 of the most iconic basses in existence; The Fender Precision & the Rickenbacker 4001. I love the sound of them, but I despise their necks. The P bass is like playing a baseball bat, & the Rick is like a hockey stick. I imagine I'd have a similar reaction as the Rick w/ a Hofner, but I've only ever held one & the action was so high (no lie, it was @ least 3/4" @ the highest fret) I didn't even bother trying to play it after an initial look over.

"Some say it's still detuning to this day"...with that straight face of yours...I cry-laughed, bro!!!

Here’s a story on par with the Black Beauty. I was talking with the tech at my local guitar shop and he told me the story of his worst customer. He was a guitarist for the praise band at the local mega church and had really high thoughts of his playing and tech abilities. One day, he brought in a guitar that the tech for the shop still can’t fully believe existed. This guy had taken a Les Paul body, cut out the neck, and bolted on a Fender Stratocaster neck. He was looking to get it set up and was turned away. The guy from the story said that it was about ten years ago and he still has nightmares about it. For the record, I never saw this guitar, but it sounds awful.

i have a deep hatred for headless guitars

As a kid who loved AC/DC and Judas Priest-both bands that prominently played Gibson guitars, I was pretty primed to want one, but when I was old enough and far enough passed the beginner stage by the late 80s/early 90s whenever I tried in in a store they all felt like half-assed baseball bats with huge necks, no balance and fought every note you played, I never even came close to liking one that I tried. Maybe it was just that era. I mostly play my Jackson Soloist with a Floyd these days, but yes my soul wept at the fate of that black beauty. Ya got one fresh from the factory? Go nuts, but to carve up such a classic 😢

Being a not big or even that great guitar player, this will sound cheesy coming from me but here we go. About 10 years ago my brother ordered an Esteban guitar from the commercials/short segments you would see on TV. I was too small to really remember but he loved that $500 guitar (or what I believe he said it was). A few years ago, 13 year old me wanted to start learning guitar and he didn’t mind me using it. I genuinely thought professional players were gods. My fingers blistered so bad just by playing what any beginner would play; the opening to Whiskey Lullaby, Smoke On The Water (classic). I hardly knew what fret was so you can understand just how much I didn’t know. The only knowledge I had prior to this was ukulele being taught in elementary. Fast forward to my 14th birthday. By this time, I really just didn’t mess with the guitar much. Something seemed off about it being so hard so I gave it up. We visit family and lie and behold, they have two acoustics as soon as you walk into the house. My eyes are on this pretty, black dreadnought. My parents start talking about how I wanted to learn guitar and ya da ya da. They say go ahead and I swear it felt like heaven. The action was low and hardly any effort was used to hold down a string. Present day I now have that guitar that they gave to me as a present. She’s an Ibanez, no wonder this guitar felt good, it was decent! The poor Esteban ended up with cracked neck. I’ve never played a guitar with such a high action before. And that’s why looks can be deceiving. I liked the body since it was the black with stars but it wasn’t worth $500. I’m 16 now and still pretty mediocre when it comes to playing but I wouldn’t give that guitar away for $1,000,000.

I had a friend that had a stratacoustic. He eventually removed the neck and put that on his squire strat. Then he put the squire neck on the stratacoustic and put it away. Probably for good.

I have good memories with the telecoustic guitars. My sister had a telecoustic. It fell apart, and needed new pegs and stuff. When she went to college, I was allowed to mess with it. I took the four strings that were left and I turned it to ukulele tuning and used that to learn ukulele before getting an actual one

The Black Beauty bit crushed me like a slow garbage compacter. I literally had my feet up on the seat and was huggin my legs by the end of it.

I had a stratacoustic stolen from me, and now in hindsight part of me thanks the thief for forcing me to find a better acoustic. I later found out who took it and that they only got $75 for it and it was in as good a shape as stratacoustic could be in.

Lol, acoustic Tele is back

At my local guitar store, there was a Travelcaster in the “Used” section. I already don’t like those travelcasters (I’d played one before that was falling apart before it had even been on the shelf), but this one was criminal. It was bright pink camouflage, it felt horrible to play, and the Floyd Rose on it made the bridge (which to me always looked like it was about to fall off) look even uglier

The quality control problems with Gibsons in the 80s are rightfully the stuff of legend. I bought an SG Standard in '87, which was a dream to play, sounded great, and sported a beautiful tobacco burst finish. The guitar store owner showed me a Les Paul Standard that had arrived from the factory at the same time as my beloved SG. Its headstock was twisted 20 degrees off the plane of the fretboard. Another had arrived with a loose nut. Unreal.

A piece of me died when I heard about the black beauty

“some people just wanna see the world burn” lol

Once i saw a guitar with 17 strings, imagine trying to change the strings to that thing, it haunts me to this day.

My most hated: in the late 80's My friend's Raven SG style guitar (made in Japan for Canadian exclusive market). It was horrible and almost unplayable, but later on in the summer we sacrificed it by plugging it in (outside) we lit it up with white gas and had a cool Jimi Hendrix moment.

"some say it's still detuning to this day"...djent players be like "OMG where can I buy this ?!" (jk, I love me some extended range guitars)

Inverted flying V's are just wrong

Alvarez beginners are great starter guitars. It's odd to hate on an entire brand because of things entirely the fault of the people who played the guitars rather than the people who made them.

“Some say it’s still detuning to this day” 😂

I'm sorry but a banjitar is more valid of an instrument than the reverse flying V.

For me it's Ovation. Damn things are like ticking time bombs. You never knew when it was going to slide off your lap.

I've noticed it's a popular thing to knock down the banjitar but for adding something to your setlist for just a song or two to add variety, it works well without having to learn a different instrument. Oh well, everybody is entitled to their opinion, this is just mine. I do enjoy your KZfaq clips and usually agree with your comments.

Banjitars and Tele/stratocoustics are near the top of my list, for all the reasons you mention and more. I work as a guitar tech at our local music store and I see all kinds of wild shit. The ones that bring me nearly to tears are the classical guitars that come in with steel strings on them, and the dipshit who brings it in gets mad at me when I tell him he ruined his guitar. One guy even did this after I specifically warned him not to, and the reason he gave was “yeah, but I’m too dumb to tie them strings like you showed me.”

3:18 that’s actually something Gibson stopped doing around the 80s for some reason. Gibsons necks tend to break very easily and this prevents that from happening

I remember when i first started playing bass i had a silver tone with wicked high string action. being a metal fan it was really difficult to learn faster more technical songs but damn it did my fingers get wicked strong.

- Flying V - Ovation - nearly anything from BC Rich - anything with a glitter finish and/or golden hardware - Ibanez Gio - 7 strings

I have a Telecoustic from the mid-2000’s. Got it for when my punk band wanted to have a softer moment. Years and genres later, I got it set up, and I still remember the look of surprise on the tech’s face at how sweet and mellow it sounded after being cared for. I love to use it capo’d high-has a nice baritone uke sound

I've never played one but I really hate upright basses. I mean, they always seem to miss two strings, you can't play them like a normal guitar and the pick that you get is a meter long and not to mention, made of horse hair and wood. Upright base must be the most impractical guitar in existence ;-)

“Some say it’s still detuning ‘till this day.” I am dying laughing.

My Dad used to say," opinions are like assholes, everyone has one, some just smell worse than others.

It's neat that my experience with the beginner alvarez guitars is different. Mine is a hand-me-down from my mother and has been lovingly cared for and it's how I learned the very basics of guitar. It has a very special place in my heart.

"It's probably still detuning to this day" hahahahaha

Canadian band - Nathan. It took me forever to figure out why there sound was so unique - Banjitar was one of many reasons. They used it well, and qualify as non-popular goodness in my books :)

2:28 he says this "character" with such spite in his voice

This isn't hatred. This is poetry.

My 1st "good" acoustic was an early 90's Alvarez Regent... (had to pawn it along with my '90 Telecaster to pay rent when I was 22)....years later... (this past January)...I had the supreme satisfaction of walking into a guitar store and buying a brand-new guitar with a nice hard-shell case right off the showroom floor... (all of my 15 guitars are used or built)....I bought a brand-new Alvarez CE cut-away...mostly for my Dad & I to share because the old man keeps saying he's gonna buy a brand-new Taylor.....but he's tighter than a '"frog's-ass" and I keep calling his bluff....so I bought it to keep him busy....I wouldn't be a guitarist if it wasn't for him.....

Puts away 12 string trem robotuner banjitar with Floyd rose*

Went to high school with a girl with a telecoustic, and she wrote some really nice jazzy songs on it. She made it sound great, but when I played it, it sounded awful, but I only knew metal riffs at the time hahaha

"My heart started beating." Phew. At least he didn't need to go to a hospital.

I lived in China for a few years, and needed a guitar so went to a local guitar shop and picked up a super cheap accoustic. It had a plastic saddle and bridge and looked like absolute crap. It was made by some unknown company with Chinese characters for a name. But holy shit it sounded good. These incredible rich tones. The only thing comparable is I have a carpenter freind who makes his own guitars with special unusual wood types with hollow necks. It sounded like them. I couldn't bring it back with me though and gave it to a student who couldn't afford a guitar to learn on. I still think about it and miss it. On the other hand I have a fender knock-off I bought in a flea market as my first ever guitar. It sounds like crap, the neck has a twist in it and the electronics only work half the time. But I love it and will keep it because of sentimental value...

That bump on the back of that shitty Les Paul was a volute, which strengthens the neck by adding mass. Gibson guitars can definitely use it.

You make great sense. Nicely done. I know this clip is about what's bad, but Mitchell acoustics are great for beginners for a steel-string acoustic. Also, the 6-sting banjo really is a crutch but it has a real place in the world. It's _free_ of the effort cost, and there are a _ton_ of things more important than learning the freakin' banjo (I own lots of guitars and one banjo, a 5-string that I never play but might if it was a 6-string, but that's just my 2 cents.)

Holy shit samurai! I remember back in the day when you used to have like 2500 views and this video is now over a million! it's awesome and infinetly inspiring to see you growing! like this

4:19 that guitar was born DJENT!

the word for the bevel on the back of the neck is volute

my monocle fell into my glass of chardonnay and my aunt fainted when he pulled out the reverse flying v

samuraiguitarist The Banjitar is chromatic, cause unlike a 5 String Banjo, you can play in every key without re-tuning & you can even use your Guitar capo too.

12 string floating trem *vomits and faints anticipating setup*

I hate headless guitars in general. They don't look right to me. I don't trust them.

The reverse V makes me sad in a deep and obscure kind of way.

An acoustic with a Tremolo is rather interesting

aw man, but with a 12 string with a vibrato, you can do that one beautiful sounding chord on The Killing Moon that comes right between the lyrics, "The killing time......unwillingly mine." It's worth owning one just to do that one thing.

Was really glad when you didn't musically knock the beginner Alvarez guitars, out of all starter guitars I think they are definitely some of the best sounding. But yeah that experience would turn me off them for good as well!

1) Pointy guitars in Day-Glo colors with a built-in handle 2) Pointy guitars in Day-Glo colors 3) Pointy guitars

You hate banjo-guitars? Then you probably never played a Deering banjo-guitar. They are REALLY sweet and extremely well made, and playing one just might change your mind.

Banjo guitar owner here. Sometimes it fits in the mix, rarely comes out but appreciate having it in my collection.

1:21 "moving on as a guitar"

Great vid! Mine is the squier mini strat. At my job, we sell these guitars at a discount to students, but in my opinion, there couldn't be a worse instrument for a kid just starting out. There's virtually no tuning stability between the neck's propensity for warping and the tuners being completely unstable, which only exacerbates fact that a beginner guitarist is going to have a hard time tuning their instrument anyway. To add to it, it's not unusual for me to see these instruments become unplayable after mere months of owning them when the neck bows to an extreme enough angle that the strings are no longer suspended over the frets, and are unable to make notes on account of touching the neck. Sure this can get fixed with a setup, but the setback is sometimes enough to make a kid just say "forget it" and stop practicing. There are much better cheap beginner guitars with shorter scale length you could go with.

True story: Back in the 70s I owned a Mosrite Ventures model candy apple red 12 string with a whammy bar. I used to bring it to gigs for my two guitar players to use (I was playing bass at the time) and they loved it. The amazing thing is that I would leave it perpetually in its case in the trunk of my car, even in the deep Toronto winters (I live in Arizona now) :), and that effing Mosrite would STAY PERFECTLY IN TUNE FOR WEEKS AT A TIME... No sh!t, true story; I wish I had kept that 12, it sounded amazing, was so easy to play, and it's probably worth a small fortune today.

4:10 looking for the perfect djent tuning

BC Rich Warlock was my first Bass. Looked interesting, but I can still feel the bite of the guitar strap in back of my neck trying to play that beast at my first gig. I may as well have been trying to play a chimney.

The one about the les paul actually made me cry

Perhaps the most umpopular opinion: I think Tosin Abasi 8 string guitars are ugly as hell.

I starting learning how to play guitar on a Kay acoustic guitar that my step dad bought at a yard sale for $15 .... I'm now in my mid fifties and can't imagine my life without being able to play music. Anyone else relate ???

"Some say it's still detuning to this day" with a straight face and no change in your voice. Rofl

a banjitar can be good if your trying to achieve a certain sound but if you know guitar playing a banjo isnt that much different obviously the right hand motion is different but that's what's fun learning something new

The Gretsch Acoustic with trem looks nice at least, but the story of the Les Paul your friend gave over to be Frankensteined with a Floy Rose is going to keep me up nights, mate. Thanks for that!

I always like hearing his opinions on things. He’s always insightful, and tells it like it is. Even when I disagree, I still respect him for the way he presents his opinions.