20 Best Guitars For Hard Rock (2023 Updated)

The research I did on trying to learn more about this instrument via general internet, YouTube, assorted standard Music Company’s like Sam Ash; Sweetwater; Guitar Center; Alamo; and other assorted Music Guitar critics provided a good array of opinions and product test results that produced a positive majority with impressive perspectives for the instrument I purchased.

The Fender American Acoustasonic Stratocaster Acoustic-Electric Guitar Cocobolo I purchased from Sam Ash was not a disappointment. Aside from the 10 different options of Guitar unique sounds it provides from Acoustic and Electric mixes.

The one-of-a-kind Cocobolo wood identifies a further fingerprint in supporting its own private one-of-a-kind signature sound with relationship to the Cocobolo wood unique to it alone. That just blows me away with how special the sound of specialty signature sound it produces with the ten different built in technical sounds the Fender Guitar company developed with this special edition.

I feel overwhelmed in learning to continue how to play this guitar. It allows me so many more possibilities with playing soft country to hard rock a really strong guitar enjoyment experience.

I had been dreaming about this guitar for a while before I finally was able to buy it. I wanted my very own “Gilmour strat. ” I went to the GC closest to me where they had one in stock, and spent about an hour playing the one they had and having the tech adjust it.

There were multiple buzzing problems on that one, and I finally gave up and didn’t buy it. I then went to a GC about an hour away where they had the same strat, and the floor model had issues too. I played one out of the box which was better, but since I bought it (about 2 months ago) I’ve noticed buzzing frets.

Not fret buzz, but the strings buzzed on certain frets. I’ve had multiple techs from multiple guitar stores look at it, and they can’t hear a thing but I know what I hear. GC workers are very belittling, they think I don’t know what I’m talking about.

In summary, I haven’t had it worked on in a while, but I do like the tone and feel. It’s a good guitar overall, should be better for the money, but the buzzing bugs me. Because of that I find myself playing my Squire Classic 50s Vibe Tele more often but I do not regret purchasing it.

This summer I am moving to Nashville, so hopefully there will be better guitar techs in Music City who will actually help me.

I started learning the guitar after retiring in March 2020. I began with a nice Acoustic guitar (also purchased at Guitar Center). After a while, I decided that I also wanted to learn how to play the electric guitar.

I bought a Squier Telecaster and then a Squier Stratocaster (Guitar Center). After upgrading the pickups, these guitars sounded fine to me (especially the Telecaster). During a later visit to Guitar Center, I picked up and played a Fender Player Stratocaster.

Even a beginner like myself immediately saw, felt, and heard the vast quality gap between the Fender Player and the Squier Strat. Fortunately it was on sale so I bought it. I am extremely happy with this guitar.

It even makes my 12 beginner strumming songs sound great and professional. My next step is to buy a Fender Player Telecaster when they go on sale. I know I probably don’t need all of these guitars, but they seem to be motivating me to practice at least an hour, every day.

That makes all of them worthwhile to me. A long-time guitar playing friend of mine said, “When it comes to buying too many guitars, there is no support group, only enablers. ” Everyone needs a vice and I’m happy with mine.

Ha Ha Ha.

I play it in b standard, sometimes drop A, but it holds tuning pretty well with the stock LTD tuners. Upgraded to hipshot grip-locking tuners for added stability. But the pickups are great for what they are.

I like the simplicity of just one volume and one tone pot, with a push/pull coil tap. The second voicing on the neck pickup is rich and lovely for more jazzy clean parts. But most people who buy this will be keeping it on the bridge, and putting the gain to ten- and for these folks- youll be very happy with the price to performance ratio of this beast.

27 scale length means it will solidly go down to A standard/drop Gwithout issue, and im sure you can go lower than that if thats your bag. Also, as someone whos 66 tall, most guitars feel small, and i dont dig on being a bass player.

This guitar is right in the goldilocks zone for me.

This Viper model is really some hex grinding axe made for remorseless metal riffage. The pickups sound flawlessly and the electronics isolation is done neatly. The baritone neck/body weight balance is ideal and it feels comfortable to play both in sitting and standing positions.

The frets are flat and even, no polishing is required. And the guitar’s factory setup is close to being perfect – no buzz, the strings hold drop B and F#-F#-B-E-G#-C# tunings very well and the action feels great with just a minor truss rod adjustment.

The scale length is also extremely comfortable. The sitting of domed knobs on the body isn’t very sturdy and the knobs get rotated a little too easily, though the pots seem to work well. The finish of the guitar is simply beautiful – it tells by all its look that this instrument is a venomous death machine, ready to bite its enemies.

All in all, this guitar definitely brings a great value, especially for its price. And it’s been definitely taken care of nicely by manufacturers. I’m giving it a strong A and recommend every low tuning and aggressive sound loving metalhead guitarist to not hesitate and try it out.

Sound: I am relatively new to playing lefty, having injured my left hand so I had to switch so I could play normal chords. Switching has been tough, but this guitar has been really excellent for the most part.

I had to adjust the action because it was way too low, and changed the strings, but it sounds really good and it’s comfortable. For the price, I can’t imagine finding anything better. It also looks better than the pictures.

Features: The strings it comes with are bad, but that’s no big deal. The guitar has a ton of versatility thanks to the pickup configuration. I paired it with my Blackstar HT20 amp head and 2×12 cabinet and I have no complaints on the tone at all.

Especially for 250 dollars. The value of this guitar is incredible. It holds it’s tune pretty well and the tremolo is a nice touch. Ease of Use: It’s got a 5 way switch with 3 pickups and each switch gives you a distinct tone.

I have had much more expensive guitars with less versatility. I can’t really speak to playability too much, but as I said. out of the box the action made the guitar pretty much unplayable but that’s an easy fix and probably not the same for every guitar.

The neck feels good and I have been improving on it very quickly. Quality: The quality seems ok. The flamed maple top is clearly not actually a flamed maple top but it still looks good. It’s darker than the pictures, which I am actually thankful for.

Seems solid. Value: This is the best beginner guitar I could recommend for a lefty. The price to value ratio is unmatched. It’s even possible to upgrade the pickups later for a more customized sound which makes this guitar infinitely playable and it will be a staple in my collection going forward.

Manufacturer Support: Have not had to talk to Ibanez. Overall: You can’t beat this guitar on value.

Overall: I had been wanting a direct drive pedal for a while as my playing has surpassed the limits of a chain drive pedal. I initially was going to get an axis pedal because I had played them before and knew they would do the trick.

However being a loyal Tama customer, and that I love the Iron cobra double pedal I was using sine 2004, I decided to give these a try. I was NOT DISAPPOINTED! With so many adjustment options, Tama did thier homework, and addressed alot of the short comings of other direct drive pedals.

As with anything Tama makes, I expect to play these pedals until Thier next pedal advancement is released. DISCLAIMER: Direct drive pedals have a different feel than traditional chain drive pedals. They have an unmatched response and rebound which takes some getting used to.

I suggest trying one out BEFORE you buy one.

Overall: I received mg SG yesterday, intiatially I was going to wait awhile to write this review until I’ve really had a chance to bond with it but it’s already happened. I chose the Heritage Cherry, and I’m really glad that I did because it just shows off how aesthetically beautiful that this instrument really is.

I could not find a flaw at all on it anywhere. It literally is perfect, the hardware was also snug and everything well aligned. I’ve been hesitant to buy anything new from Gibson because of the horror stories that I’ve heard about their past issues.

Definitely not the case with this one at all. Setup right out of the box was low and is exactly where I would’ve want it set at anyways. From the pickups to the action everywhere on the neck it is absolutely flawless and is the easiest playing guitar I have by far.

I own an 1988 Les Paul Custom, 1972 Fender Strat, 2011 Fender Telecaster and a 2020 PRS Custom 24. Speaking of well playing, this guitar is resonant AF not even plugged in. Was worried it’d be rather lifeless due to the low weight of the guitar but I was wrong.

Plugged in, she is a beast. Loud and articulate. Sounds fantastic and the controls are so responsive. All in all, I am so happy with this buy and can’t wait to get another Gibson in the future hoping I have the same luck.

Only thing I am not happy with is getting a gig bag for such a high end instrument. I mean, it’s useable but it should definitely come with the SG hard case. Buy this guitar!.

Yes, this guitar is 100% worth it. I wanted to wait a full year of owning the guitar to write this so that I’d be certain. There’s too much good to write about this SG to be honest so to summarize I can’t even call this guitar a rock and machine id call it a musical weapon.

It sounds absolutely phenomenal which for me was the most important part. I’m used to strats which id been playing the last 18 or so in terms of playability, it def plays different but it plays really nicely.

It has a lot more pop and feels stiffer. The finishing and everything else is top quality as well. Guitar is beautiful. Not only does the guitar sound awesome with literally any type of gain, but the cleans are extremely nice sounding as well.

This guitar is the real deal, I waited a long time to pull the trigger on this thing and it was 1000% the right decision.

Overall: I ordered this guitar not fully knowing what to expect. Especially knowing the history of Gibson in recent years with all their quality issues. I am pleasantly surprised that these reviews I’ve been seeing are legit.

This is a great guitar that is so easy to play with great speed. The neck is what you expect from a slim tapered neck and the fret work is flawless. I’ve always had to condition the neck and do a basic setup on everything with the exception of Fender.

They seem to always get it right. The condition of this rosewood is spot on. The finish is flawless. I can’t find a thing wrong with this guitar. Way to go Gibson. You finally hit a home run. As usual, zZounds service was right up there at the top as well.

I actually received this guitar before it was scheduled to be here. Top shelf company for sure.

I ordered this beautiful axe in the beginning of May and received it in a week. The delivery was made a week before the expected date. The packaging was amazing, and it came with a gig bag. Would have preferred a hard case in this price range, but the gig bag is fine.

This guitar was built in Indonesia. The quality is a bit low compared to their products from the Korean factory. FEATURES ——————— CONSTRUCTION: Bolt-on BODY: Mahogany NECK: Canadian Hard Maple BINDING: N/A FRETBOARD: Rosewood, 12″ Radius(305mm) FRETS: 22 / Large (2.

7mm) SCALE: 24 3/4″ (629mm) INLAY: White Dot TUNERS: Die cast BRIDGE: T. O. M Bridge and Stop Tailpiece PICKUPS: Powersound PSLP-1F & PSLP-1R (H-H) ELECTRONICS: 2 volume, 2 tone, 3-way toggle HARDWARE: NI (Nickel) STRINGS: D’addario EXL110(046-010) CONS ———- – Once the product was delivered, i found that the action was a bit too high compared to what is the default factory setting.

– The fret ends are a bit rough, but a bit of filing can fix that. – There is no binding on the guitar, and comes with dot inlays, which makes i look less premium than other guitars in this price range.

– The pickup selector toggle switch is a bit vobbly and the tone knobs a bit hard. – This guitar is not exactly cheap. For such a price, you could expect a set in neck, instead of bolt on. – The treble pickup sounds bright, but the neck pick up doesn’t really sound as as LP-ish as you hoped it would.

PROS ———- – Looks like a total beauty – It is an arch top, so sounds good. – Mahagony body, which is in my opinion, the best kind of wood. – Sounds the best in this range. – Total value for money.

Great tone and sustain,no huming sound in the amp,good accessiblity even on 22nd and 23rd frets,very good overall finish of the body,a little heavy but that is what gives the sustain. Recommend for any guitarist who play Slash,Jimmy page solos.

A1 SERVICE AND INSTRUMENT SETUP DELIGHTED AS I BOUGHT 2 GUITARS CR100 ALSO

This guitar sounds very good with the dimebuckers, since they are pretty high output. The Floyd Rose Special is not bad, although I had to tighten the bar a lot for it to stop swinging around. I have played this guitar quite a bit and it still holds tune very well, even though I pretty regularly do squeals and dive bombs.

The only problem that I have is just a visual problem, and it doesn’t affect playability at all. I don’t know if it had to do with all of the weather changes, since guitars don’t have problems moving to harsh environments, but I notice that there were some visible cracks in the fretboard binding (not any problems with the fretboard itself).

There was also a crack in the finish by the neck joint, but it is very small and hard to see. They seem to be just cracked inside the binding and not on the outside, since I can’t feel the cracks. Other than those problems, I really don’t have anything bad to say about the guitar other than it feels absolutely amazing if you are a dimebag Darrell fan or love Pantera.

I really can’t recommend this guitar enough for metal heads that need an upgrade.

After playing religiously throughout adolescence and my teens, I fell off the practice wagon and piece by piece, my collection dwindled to nothing. After a nearly 7 years absence, I decided it was time to pick the instrument back up and this turned out to be perfect specimen to do so with.

THE GOOD – it’s a Gretsch – long had I dreamed of owning a Gretsch when I was younger, it seemed to meet the perfect amount of “cool” without being a typical gibson or fender option. – playability out of the box – this thing required very little work to get it into playing condition.

The action was near perfect for my preference and the pickup positions weren’t too hard to hone in to my desired tone. – the looks – this thing is a gorgeous piece of equipment. I went with the Bristol fog coloration and couldn’t be happier.

It has a unique mix of vintage yet new age appeal to it that fits my tastes exactly. THE BAD – fret buzz – as some others have said, yes there is a small amount of fret buzz out of the box. However it isn’t enough to be a real issue.

The buzz doesn’t even translate through to the amp. So you only really hear it when you’re playing unplugged. – the knobs – while i understand the desire to find a niche, the pickup volume knobs are just weird.

It doesn’t really make sense to me why I would want to have volume control instead of tonal control when I could just switch the pickup with the switch. It really only works in the middle position, and even then the effect isn’t really noticeable unless you have one turned all the way down.

Which At that point it makes more sense to just switch to the neck or the bridge instead of both.

Overall: My initial feelings about the guitar were ones of disappointment. The box had arrived smashed up from FedEx. I unboxed the guitar and inspected it carefully and couldn’t see any damage. However, the neck pickup was almost completely sunken into the body cavity.

The adjustment screws had almost completely backed themselves out of the guitar. In order to tighten and raise the treble side of the pickup I had to remove the pickguard. I want to remove the pick card I found a dime-sized blemish in the finish of the guitar.

This wasn’t a scratch or a ding, it was a flaw in the paint. I debated sending it back, but then I plugged the guitar in. This is where the disappointment ends. This guitar sounds amazing. From crystal clear cleans to grungy rhythm sounds this is a versatile guitar.

I really like the master volume setup I can adjust the neck and middle pickups to my liking and then raise and lower the overall volume without changing the balance between the pickups. Right now I can’t see any reason for swapping out the pickups.

The binding around the guitar is nice and neat, the mahogany back looks spectacular, nice deep color, beautiful grain and nicely matched. You really have to look hard to see where the individual pieces were joined.

The frets could use a bit of a polish but they were nicely beveled at the ends, no sharp or rough spots. The neck binding is flawless. The neck is a bit shallow, I prefer a chunkier neck, but that’s personal preference and I got used to it quickly.

The only other place that I think the guitar falls short is with the tuning pegs. I will swap them out for some locking tuners in the near future. But overall for its price this is a great guitar. When it arrived besides the loose pickup, the action was very low and the truss rod needed to be tweaked, I had a professionally set up and now it plays incredibly well.

Overall this is a fantastic guitar especially given the price.

A very good guitar for affordable price. Nice finish well built. No buzzing or any unwanted noise. Kept in tune. I got it in excellent condition and it’s set up, ready to play. the only thing I dont like on it; the volume and tone knobs.

They can be replaced easily.

I would like to preface this review with something that I have been struggling with over the past 10 years with playing guitar. I have this really weird hand problem where if a guitar neck isn’t shaped a specific way, my hand experiences a lot of pain.

I originally stopped playing guitar for a while since there way no way I could play guitar without experiencing pain. I tried everything to help get rid of the pain, but nothing seemed to work. I decided one day recently to go to a guitar center to try out some guitars to see if any would help, but none helped.

As I was about to leave I spotted that they had strandbergs in stock and to try out. I have been a Strandberg fanboy ever since I came across them a few years back, before they were available to try out at a guitar center.

Immediately after I tried out the Strandberg, I was shocked at how small it was, but one thing stood out, I had no pain when playing it. The endurneck solved my problem and I can now play pain free. Immediately after getting home, I went online and purchased this guitar.

It has been amazing ever since. I was skeptical about the pickups, but they sound amazing for being an oem pickup. The neck plays amazingly and I haven’t had any pain since I started playing it. I don’t I can go back to another guitar after playing my standberg since I don’t want to experience that horrible pain in my hand again.

Thank you so much Ola for designing such an amazing guitar and I look forward to what I can accomplish now that I can play guitar pain free!.

I give this review 2 stars for fast shipping and the guitar does play extremely nice. Sooo, this is my second left handed Gibson SG Standard in 3 days. I placed an order through Guitar Center for my first one and when it arrived, it was full of imperfections from the factory like the fret binding was separating from the fret board.

like a big rough crack running down between the binding and fretboard. I returned that guitar the same day. So in hopes of finding another company who had an Gibson SG in stock, I found one on Musicians Friend.

Shipping was excellent with no damage to the shipping containers. At first look the guitar appeared to be perfect. Upon further examination, the headstock was full of scratches on the finish that obviously happened at the factory.

Defects from both guitars will be attached to this review. Needless to say, I have not had my second Gibson SG Standard for 24 hours and I have already RMA’ed it under warranty straight to Gibson to fix the scratches on the headstock.

So now, I will have to wait another 2-3 weeks to get the guitar back and part of me is nervous that they will manage to damage something else on the guitar and pawn it off to me. Not happy and this will be the last time I order a guitar online let alone buy another Gibson.

I only want to make this one work out since I have wanted one for a long time. NOT HAPPY!!!!.

Before ordering, I wondered if this was really worth the price above the Epiphone version (which is also a long scale). The answer is yes! The color is what caused me to pull the trigger. It’s long been my favorite finish, but I don’t have any blue basses.

Out of the box, the bass felt great after tuning it up. It doesn’t feel like a short scale bass, so my hands knew right where to go, unlike a Mustang, where I really have to pay attention because of the scale.

The feel was very comfortable overall. no sharp edges or anything. Sound is fantastic. It’s thick, but has some grunt to it. The bridge pickup on the Epi models is really weak, but this one pulls it’s weight adding punch and clarity.

Playing in a 6 piece band, fit in the mix is really important, and this bass nailed it. It’s got the low end that punches everything up, while also offering enough definition that the bass doesn’t sound like a blanket or mud.

It’s not going to get me a Peter Hook tone, but it works where I want it to. Very happy with the bass as well as the overall service from CME!.

CME is a very fast shipper and well packed. The bass arrived with a dried out fretboard. The truss rod nut was loose leaving neck with excess relief and rattling rod. The neck pickup rattled inside the cover.

Performed a complete set up including truss rod adjustment and fretboard oil. Additional foam added to the pick up cavity. I corrected all the issues. Further, personal preference replaced the factory bridge with a Hipshot.

The bass now plays and sounds great. Just waiting on some La Bella Flats. The lesson learned while a great bass, don’t expect it to be playable out of the box. Nothing like doing a great set up to cure the issues.