I’ve been thinking about what I would get if I were going to spec a custom electric guitar (although an off the shelf guitar that met all these would be an instant must-buy). Here’s what I’m coming up with:
24" (610mm) scale length
Thin C neck
Rosewood fingerboard on Maple neck
Medium-Jumbo stainless steel frets (no larger than that)
Bone Nut (1.650"/42mm width)
Alder, Ash, or Mahogany body (in order of preference, but really any of these would be fine).
Probably a more traditional shape: single or double-cut. Thinner would be nice, as would belly/arm contours for comfort. If it’s a heavy body, some weight relief would be good.
Hard-tail Bridge (i.e., no trem), preferably string through body (like a Tele)
Single coil neck pickup (either a regular single coil or a P-90). As an alternative I’d be okay with a humbucker with coil split option, but I’d prefer a real single coil at the neck position.
Humbucker bridge pickup with coil split option
3-way switch
Volume and Tone knobs
Locking tuners
Strap locks
Scale length, thin neck profile, and nut width are all about playability. I’ve found my 24" scale length Fender Mustang 90 is a joy to play. I don’t have huge hands, and while I can play 25.5" scale length guitars with no problems playing the slightly smaller scale Mustang feels better.
Medium Jumbo frets because I find that jumbo, x-jumbo, or narrow tall frets can cause me to go sharp if there’s a lot of energy/adrenaline flowing. Medium jumbo is fine. Medium is fine, too. Stainless steel because they last.
Pickup choice as HS because if I go to the neck I’m usually looking for a single coil sound, and if I go to the bridge I want something hotter. Coil split at the bridge to give me an option. Just two pickups because it’s a bit simpler and does the job for me.
The rest of it is just pure preference, and is more negotiable. Although I might stick to my guns for the rosewood fingerboard. I just really like those. Nut material isn’t super critical since that is easily replaced, if necessary. Least critical are locking tuners and strap locks since those are easily added.
(Anybody know of an off-the-shelf guitar that fits all – or most – of that?)
How about you? What would your custom spec-of-choice look like?
Nice thread! Sorry I didn’t come across any guitar like you describe!
I had been thinking about my dream guitar also and am going to have to build my own.
Mostly because I prefer a wider neck and that’s very very rare in electrics.
61cm scale length - perfect for me too! (sth. like 63cm is still nice)
Neck width: 45mm
I also prefer not so high frets, I’d like 1mm height (is that medium?)
I feel the same about Jumbo frets, especially at the shorter scale length! I put a wound G string on my even shorter scale (57,5cm) electric and a bit thicker strings, so it’s not as bad as it was when I got it.
Oh - really important: lightweight, like 2.75kg at max.
And versatile pickups/electronics, possibly even an additional piezo, so I can have (nearly) all the sounds in one guitar!
When I said “medium” I believe I was thinking of “medium vintage,” but I don’t see that listed in their article. (Of course other companies have different terminology.)
I think my dream electric guitar will be something built for playing metal. I don’t have a precise idea of what I want but this is where I’d start…
Probably an Explorer shaped guitar (but could be talked into a V or something X-shaped)
Black. As many components as possible black.
Hard tail
Locking tuners
Wood this thing is for playing high distortion stuff, as long as it’s not chipboard / MDF it doesn’t matter
EMGs
I’m not good / experienced enough to sweat over the other details at this stage
I may be in the minority in that I can’t recall any of the measurements / specs of my 5 guitars other than the number of strings and the type of pickups (on the electric ones, that is). If a guitar is comfortable to play and sounds nice to my ears, I couldn’t care less if it was made of mahogany or a baobab tree and what sort of material the fretboard was made of. I’d like to think that I would be able to adapt to a new guitar with whatever measurements the way I adapted to my 1st guitar and all the others.
Certainly a Hetfield signature guitar would be the dream but I don’t think I can justify it to myself. I’m a VERY BEGINNER metal player and as much as I say to people that beginners shouldn’t restrict themselves to budget guitars, people might expect me to play more than a few simple power chords if I was wielding a Hetfield guitar!
The HB definitely ticks the boxes and when they’re next in stock there’s a fair chance I’ll get one.
Other options include Solar guitars who also make a number of all black metal machines
I have a second custom in the making,
same guy who built Lucy (24" jag style),
This new project is called “Sinistra” and it will be my lethanded equivalent to a F1 car.
Some combintations from Schecter specs.
25.5" scale length
ultrathin reinforced neck
narrow X-jumbo frets
Evertune system to keep tuning as stable as possible
Although I’m not into high frets, I played those Schecters with those specs and DAMN that neck played FAST. I had no issue with those frets. Probably because of the combination with the thin neck.
I simply haven’t played enough guitars to tell what specs I prefer. Nut width, scale length, neck profile, frets etc. No idea. I’ve played my dad’s Pacifica and it was not that different from my SG. You can adapt to everything.
With more experience I think I’ll have my preference, but now it’s all the same.
My two dream guitars are red ES-335 (45/55) and Les Paul. And it has nothing to do with specs, I just love how they look and these are the models that are so iconic and so heavily engrained into my brain, that I know that eventually I’ll get them.
Specs wise though it’d probably be some PRS.
24 frets, because why limit yourself?
Rosewood or maple fingerboard (DW CE 24, I’m looking at you) to match the look
3-way switch
Can be a tremolo, though I’m sure that 90% pf the time the arm will be unscrewed and I’ll be playing it like a hard-tail, but why not to make it even more versatile?
Humbuckers eith coil splitting for the same reason
Volume knobs for every pickup, tone can be one or two, doesn’t matter much
Double cut shape and very good higher fret access
And that’s pretty much all I can think of.
24" scale length, flat-ish fingerboard radius (12-16"), two humbuckers. Painted - not exposed grain. Fender-style neck. So a lot similar to your wants.
I have Jumbo frets on my tele and like them, but I haven’t played enough different guitars for long enough to really have a preference.
Fender’s mod shop only does single coils on their Jaguars though, and nobody else seems to do 24" scale length. The closest to what I would love is the Kurt Cobain signature Jag, but I’m not keen on the colour.
A lifetime playing electrics and acoustics with smaller frets. As @J.W.C says, there can be a tendency to press a bit hard in the moment and go sharp.
I only got my Stratocaster after I virtually stopped playing electric altogether. The amount of time I play electric these days is so proportionately small I have not developed the finesse to switch to it with ease. Perhaps if I spent many, many more hours playing my Strat I would come to adapt more readily and like it more. But I simply think it would be easier, and suit me more, to have an electric with smaller frets.
Two things pulled me away from electric guitar. My tendency to get sucked into the non-guitar side of electronic music (I want to play guitar not an amp, dang it!) and those dang skinny necks.
I may have small hands but I like a fuller neck profile, wide nut and ample string spacing. Anything less than a 46mm nut and I am out. Big Lou guitars make a 48mm and 50mm nut width electric, but I think 46mm would be ideal.
It’s the height of the fret over the fingerboard. I find it too easy to make the strings go sharp when fretting notes (especially when there’s energy/adrenaline flowing). I prefer a shorter fret where I don’t have that problem.
FWIW, I’m not as concerned with fret width; it’s mainly about the height. That’s why the “medium jumbo” frets work fine for me.
And I should note that all that is just preference. Some people prefer tall frets. There’s not a right or wrong answer.
I like Schecter neck profiles; I agree they feel good. I couldn’t find a Schecter that met my other criteria. You new build sounds awesome, though!
All that makes sense. I agree you can adapt; I move between guitars with different specs all the time, and it’s not a big deal. I don’t need to have a guitar with exactly such-and-such specifications. But I still have my favorites. It’s taken me a long time (and playing a lot of different guitars) to narrow down exactly what I like the best.
That sounds a lot like the Squire Contemporary Jaguar HH ST. I took a very hard look at it, but it has jumbo frets and I don’t want to compromise on that. If you don’t mind jumbo frets it sounds like exactly what you want: 24" scale, two humbuckers, 12" radius, Fender-style C neck, painted.
Hmm, I just found this guitar on Fender’s site. Meets my most important criteria, although frets are nickel instead of stainless and fingerboard is pau ferro instead of rosewood.
Wow, how had I not seen that before - considering how much time I’ve spent on Fender’s website. Looks like it’s not available on their Australian website, that’s why I hadn’t seen it . Aussie problems…
I played one of those Duo Sonics in a music shop the other day, albeit unplugged, so can’t comment on pickups. It felt great.
I bought a 2023 Player Duo-Sonic HS (ice blue metallic with a pau ferro board) off Reverb. Initial impression was that it played so-so, but I tweaked the neck relief and lowered the action and now it feels great (just as good as the Mustang that I like). I think I need to re-intonate it, though. I definitely am digging the pickup/switching arrangement. I think it’s an ideal companion to the Mustang and its dual P-90s.
this thing is for playing high distortion stuff, as long as it’s not chipboard / MDF it doesn’t matter
. Aussie problems…