The best electric guitar: an overview of popular models, manufacturers, descriptions and specifications

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

Do you want to buy an electric guitar, but don't know which instrument is right for you? In this article, we will tell you about the main brands and manufacturers of electric guitars, as well as help you choose your first instrument.

Electric guitar market today

At the moment, there are a huge variety of electric guitars of various shapes and styles. However, any professional guitarist will tell you that there is simply no better electric guitar. Each instrument has its own unique sound character. The guitar companies below are the world's leading manufacturers of the most famous guitars. If you've ever been to a rock concert, chances are the guitarists used these manufacturers' instruments on stage.

Gibson and Epiphone

And of course, you should start with the most famous brand of electric guitars - Gibson. Impeccable quality, long service life and breathtaking sound! The best electric guitars of the period 50-70s were created by Gibson, theyremain the standard in guitar production today. Auctions literally "fight" for every unique Gibson instrument because the company maintains a policy of assembling each guitar by hand, which, according to the founders of Gibson, is what makes these guitars unique.

But if you want to buy a Gibson, get ready to say goodbye to a few thousand dollars - you have to pay for excellent quality. But you can be sure that the guitar will fully justify itself.

For beginners, Gibson came up with a more economical line of Epiphone guitars, which later grew into a subsidiary brand. Epiphone guitars feature cheaper materials and fittings, which is why they become available on the market for novice guitarists. The quality of these guitars also suffers as they are not made in the USA like Gibson instruments, but Epiphone holds its own and is a great place to start your creative journey.

Fender and Squier

The second forefather of electric guitars is the equally well-known manufacturer Fender. Kurt Cobain, Jimi Hendrix and other virtuoso guitarists have used Fender guitars as their main guitars for their warm "glassy" sound. Unlike Gibson guitars, Fender instruments are more often used for non-heavy rock styles (grunge, blues, alternative rock, for example). Fender is a company with a very rich history, which has been producing top-class instruments for almost a century. The best electric guitar and Fender are synonymous in the understanding of many professionals.

For Fender availability alsocreated several lines of low price range electric guitars under the Squier brand. Squier instruments are great for beginners as well as advanced players.

It is worth noting that Fender currently leads the sales of its guitars, ahead of Gibson due to the demand for instruments with diverse sounds.

Ibanez

Japanese maker Ibanez came later than its predecessors and dominates the market for seven-string and eight-string electric guitars. In the early 2000s, the popularity embraced a heavier and lower sound. With the advent of rock bands such as Korn, Limp Bizkit, Slipknot, the fashion for a heavy nu metal sound began to grow exponentially. The skilled Japanese, who had previously produced guitars only for the domestic market, began to distribute their electric guitars as "instruments of the new generation" around the world. Today there is no difficulty in acquiring a fairly high-quality Ibanez electric guitar. Production moved to Indonesia and put on stream. In any record store, the salesperson will tell you that Ibanez are the best cheap electric guitars out there right now. The thing is that this company has a whole series of guitars in a very low price range, while in quality they are not much inferior to guitars of the highest echelon.

Ibanez pay special attention to the quality of materials for electric guitars: the best strings, pegs, frets. A beginner will not have to tune the instrument upon purchase, this is a serious plus for those who have never held a guitar in their hands.

Jackson

Another world-famous Japanese company is called Jackson.

Jackson has a very ambiguous history, and it is impossible to say that today it is a separate guitar manufacturer. Now the Jackson factories are under the influence of Fender - all shares are bought by the American brand. Be that as it may, the guitars of this brand are still produced under their true name, Fender owns and controls production, but does not change the technology. And for good reason.

After all, in the 90s, every metalhead dreamed of purchasing a Jackson brand guitar. Why is that? The thing is that Jacksons are known for their aggressive forms (the guitar in the photo above is made in the form of Randy Rhoads, all rights to use this form belong to Jackson), as well as attacking heavy sound. Almost all metal bands have ever used Jackson guitars. That's why Jackson is on the list of the best electric guitar brands in the world.

For a long time after the transfer of part of the production from America and Japan to India, there were rumors that Jackson would soon stop making musical instruments, but after the market situation improved in 2012, Jackson continues to please their customers with new guitars.

This is the best option for metalheads wondering which electric guitar is best for beginners. Love Cannibal Corpse or Napalm Death? Jackson is your choice!

PRS

PRS tools have always been of excellent quality and trouble-free fittings, this is an old American brand,known largely due to blues and jazz musicians. The best electric guitar solos ever recorded are mostly played on PRS guitars. Unfortunately, the guitars of this company cannot be advised to beginners - the price even for a used PRS varies from 600 to 1000 dollars, not to mention a new one.

At the same time, PRS are hand-built like Gibson, but cheaper. There are many comparison videos where PRS guitars are compared to Gibson guitars, and, to be fair, the PRS is up to par in terms of sound and build quality. Also, PRS has an ongoing partnership with Ernie Ball, which produces the finest electric guitar strings, allowing PRS customers to enjoy playing the finest strings right after purchasing a new instrument.

Another important feature is that when ordering PRS from the official website, you are free to choose the pickups you need and implement them before purchase, thereby choosing the potential of the future instrument. The color of the PRS body is most often stylized as the usual lacquered wood without frills, which makes the guitar more representative and solid. According to many professional musicians, PRS are considered the most comfortable guitars. PRS is perfect for both new age bluesmen and progressive guitarists.

ESP and LTD

ESP is a Japanese musical instrument company. Founded in 1975 as a chain of music stores, it later began to produce instruments of its own production. Initially, only electric guitars were produced under the auspices of the Custom Shop - that is, serial guitars for the streamwas not delivered, soon ESP guitars began to be popular in Japan, and then throughout the world. The company began to produce several expensive, but serial instruments, enjoying increasing success. Today, ESP is also positioned as a company that produces mainly unique instruments for famous bands and guitarists. Most of the signature electric guitars of existing rock musicians are produced by this company.

For any other guitarists, a subsidiary Korean brand LTD was invented. And we must pay tribute, LTD is developing so fast that it has already flooded almost the entire world market of different price categories with sufficiently high-quality and combat instruments. What is the best electric guitar without a long and long history of development of the company?! LTD, for example!

Dean

Dean electric guitars are well known around the world thanks to the late metal guitarist Dimebag Darrell, who was the first to use the brand's instruments in his performances. Dean guitars make a huge impression with their appearance: sharp, rough body shapes, large headstocks engraved with angel wings. And the tight, punchy sound has won the hearts of many aspiring experimental guitarists. The best electric guitar of the Razorback series will not leave indifferent any fan of real metal, rest assured.

Despite the sophisticated shape, these guitars are, contrary to initial opinion, very comfortable to play - Dean technologists are constantly working to improve comfortable playing both instanding and sitting.

B. C. Rich

Relatively rare B. C. Rich is also well known to the public for its unusual body shapes. At the end of the 80s, the glam rock genre was widely popular in the USA and European countries, and every musician was obliged to have a pair of such non-standard guitars in his arsenal. However, B. C. Rich allow you to get a really high-quality instrument at a very reasonable price, thereby entering your creations into the list of the best cheap electric guitars at the moment. Still find a new B. C. Rich in Russia today is hard - electric guitars are not produced in very large quantities, because B. C. Rich is not as popular as Gibson or Fender for example.

Schecter

The Schecter company is the youngest of all presented, but therefore the brightest and most progressive at the moment. The appearance in Russia dates back to the beginning of 2012, but this company is striking in the number of released tools. Every year new lines of six-string, seven-string and eight-string electric guitars of the highest class are released at affordable prices. Designers delight with a wide variety of colors and shapes of new guitars, and the presented catalog includes several instruments for each of the playing styles - from blues to extreme metal.

Schecter shows promise for the future of guitar building by introducing a variety of innovations to its models, whether it's new pickups or fresh bridges. Newbie Shecter Yearlyrepresent very inexpensive series of guitars of various shapes and sound spectrums. For example, you can buy a brand new seven-string or eight-string Schecter for 12,000 rubles, which cannot but please musicians who are not averse to experimenting with the number of strings on their electric guitar. It is very possible that in the near future such companies will be able to claim the title of monopoly that produces the best electric guitars in the world.

Yamaha

It would be wrong not to mention Yamaha electric guitars. If you have ever had to choose an electric guitar to start your creative journey, then you were most likely offered to start with the Yamaha Pacifica 112. According to many, this instrument is the best electric guitar for beginners due to its price / quality ratio. However, other modern guitars are extremely low popularity among musicians. But Yamaha electric guitars of the 80s and 90s are very quickly bought at a variety of auctions. The fact is that at that time Yamaha produced their guitars in Japan, using the highest quality materials in the assembly. And today the policy of delirium has changed and Yamaha, unfortunately, is inferior to other guitar workshops. But the Yamaha Pacifica 112 is still produced and used in almost all music schools, because this electric guitar is essentially universal, perfect for learning.

Conclusion

Choosing an electric guitar is a complex process that requires care and diligence. Fortunately, the marketthere are a huge number of companies that allow you to choose a tool to your liking. Don't forget - no matter what instrument you buy and no matter how much money you spend, the sound is largely determined by your playing skills. A virtuoso guitarist can easily out-sound a multi-thousand dollar Gibson Les Paul Studio with any low-end electric guitar bought for a couple of hundred dollars. You must understand that the variety of sounding has long ceased to determine the wallet - a huge number of lines of a wide variety of guitars confirm this. Decide on the genre you want to start playing and find the right instrument in the music store. Create and enjoy playing this musical instrument! Good luck!