To me, the best thing about boutique builders isn't just good wood and high build quality. It's consistency: every guitar that goes out the door is a good one, or they never leave the shop. Every Suhr I ever tried was great enough to be considered very special by normal standards. James Tyler makes some exceptional S-types too. Amazing live feel, and super necks. Been a fan of PRSs ever since I got my first back in the 80s. Have never played a Silver Sky but I'd love to try one out someday.
Been a fan of PRSs ever since I got my first back in the 80s. Have never played a Silver Sky but I'd love to try one out someday. To me, the cool thing about smaller boutique builders isn't just good wood & high build quality. It's consistency: every guitar that goes out the door is a good one, or they never leave the shop. Every Suhr I ever tried was great enough to be considered very special by normal standards. James Tyler makes some exceptional S-types too. Amazing live feel, and super necks.
Been a fan of PRSs ever since I got my first back in the 80s. Have never played a Silver Sky but I'd love to try one out someday. To me, the cool thing about smaller boutique builders isn't just good wood & high build quality. It's consistency: every guitar that goes out the door is a good one, or they never leave the shop. Every Suhr I ever tried was great enough to be considered very special by normal standards. James Tyler makes some exceptional S-types too. Amazing live feel, and super necks.
suhr has the best build quality and specs for my taste, but they are very expensive. a close match for a third/half of the price is Warmoth (knowing I had to put it together) . I am really satisfied with their cost/benefit ratio Another option I've been wanting is Ibanez AZ, but they never released a 22 fret version for lefties, which is a bummer.
I like Fender. I like Squier. But I also like G&L or Music Man. I don't currently have a G&L, and my EBMM guitars are the St. Vincent models, but I like the Cutlass.
New Suhrs start at $4700 here in Australia, about double the price of a decent Fender (I'm assuming the Am Pro II counts as decent). Clearly the Australian distributor operates on a very low volume, very high margin pricing model. The inflated price aside, it's the lack of originality that would prevent me from buying one. Classic S, Classic T, Classic JM ... seriously, what a safe, boring strategy. Fender copies. No doubt executed beautifully (except the ugly headstock) but at nearly $5K you would expect that. At least PRS, Reverend and others took a gamble, followed their hearts and designed their own guitars.
In the UK Suhrs start around the £2.5k mark, which is the same as a low-end Fender Custom Shop model, or about a grand more than a USA Pro - so yes, it would appear you Aussies are paying a premium! When I was looking for a high-end strat, I tried many, many Fender Custom shops, the Silver Sky, and many Suhrs. Both the Silver Sky and the Suhrs were streets ahead of the Fender models (even the masterbuilt stupidly expensive ones), both in terms of fit, finish, feel and sound. Interestingly when playing the Silver Sky felt more like a Fender than the Suhrs - there are some very subtle things going on with Suhr neck shapes, neck joints and carves that make quite a difference when you actually play them. BTW I don't actually own a Suhr - I ended up saving my money because the difference between all those high end guitars and my long-developed partscaster was too small to justify the cost. I just know that if I had cash to burn that's what I'd go for.
I got my Suhr for $1300 LESS than the Fender CS GT11 I had bought a couple of months before, and it is a superior guitar IMHO, and make no mistake - the CSGT11 is a KILLER guitar. The Suhr comes standard with stainless steel frets, silent system for the single coils, proprietary 18:1 locking tuners that are soother than anything I can think of, and a build quality that can only be matched not surpassed. Sucks to want high end gear Down Under, you folks get hosed from everything I have heard. Also, I happen to like the beak headstock.
Admin Post Harley Benton. Yup. ST-62DLX. I've never owned a better guitar. Go ahead and roll your eyes,that's your prerogative.
No rolling eyes from me. I've had a couple HB's, still have one and think they're a great buy and a great build. I see you put some strap locks on. I guess it's a keeper for you. At least for a while.
