Dealbreakers. What are yours?

[TheBloodstained]

Headless guitars... I HATE how they look.

Besides that I don't have too many hangups. Just preferences.

 

[arasys]

heavily relic'd guitars, especially Murphy lab stuff - why F up such beautiful tops with all the shit and try to sell it for $12K?! A lot of it doesn't even look realistic like bindings are perfectly intact yet somebody shit on the guitar and let it sit there under the sun for years.

 

[Open Lane]

Floyd.

 

[Voodoo Marshall]

Volume control too close to the bridge pickup. Certain strat like guitars, no problem going to one knob and plastic plug the old position as knobs set in pick guard (usually). Certain guitars that have a recess built into the body or the knob overlays a beautiful figured top.

 

[keithhagel]

Artist Inlay/logos. I'm fine if just your signature is on the back of the headstock, but I don't want your gaudy logo all over my guitar.
Fretboards with streaks. I want my fretboards a consistent color. I don't want a rosewood board that has all different shades of brown, and I hate ebony boards that aren't completely black.
Any sort of skulls on the guitar. Just my opinion. It just makes it look tacky. I don't want it as paint on the guitar, as hardware, as an inlay. I thihk they look dumb.

Anything else is fixable. I can replace a wraparound bridge with one that will intonate, and I can change out hardware to a different color if I want. I'm not a big fan of locking tremolos, but I wouldn't mind having one on the right guitar like an Alexi or something.

 

[Dekay82]

MADE IN CHINA.
There, I said it. Not a quality qualm, its an issue of labor/manufacturing costs in relation to msrp. Best example is the PRS SE Piezo (I think?). $1,500, getdafugouddaheeyah.

I may be a hypocrite. Full disclosure- I have a few of Indo guitars, three of which I got used for under $500. They're all quality and I play them regularly. The 4th is the Epi Brent Hinds I got new for like $900. Normally I wouldn't but I HAD to have that one.

 

[Crungy]

Anything else is fixable. I can replace a wraparound bridge with one that will intonate...

True, and it's easier than ever now to do that. I think I'd have to play something with a wraparound that I really liked to even go that far. Otherwise, I know I like most other bridges and can buy online with minimal risk.

 

[KR250]

Anything that hinders upper fret access
Anything with a blocky heel (bad ergonomics)
Tone knobs
Any knob placed too close to the bridge pickup
Non angled headstocks, or anything with a string tree
Non spoke wheel truss rods (anything that requires an access plate on the headstock)
Non SS frets
Anything without straight string pull from the nut to the tuners
Crappy hardware/electronics
Any sort of signature model that includes an artist logo/branding
Anything with exposed fret tangs on the fretboard (not undercut)
Huge block inlays
Non locking tuners
Gloss necks
Really thick neck profiles

I can think of more, but that mostly covers it.

 

[TedintheShed]

Something I recently discovered: Fret markers.

It must have fret markers. I just like the aestic. I bought a Vola and its a great guitar, but for some reason it just bugs me...

 

[Sir_Shreddington]

I really don’t like the ESP logo on the 12th fret.

I also hate headless guitars.

I’m pretty easy going and not demanding so most stuff I can work with, but I HATE those two things I mentioned. With a passion.

 

[Isolationist]

Sustainiac. All those guts and switches for something I’m likely never going to use because the harmonic uses just annoy the shit out of me.

 

[madrigal77]

Abalone and Floyds. Also any kid of relic.

 

[MFB]

I really don’t like the ESP logo on the 12th fret.

you've been reading too many of narad's NGD posts then

 

[Danukenator]

Depending on the configuration of the guitar (and the weight, etc.), a neck angle can feel really "off". My Charvel has a neck angle and I quite like it' but on some other guitars I've played it just feels a bit strange to me.

I've also gotten a bit pickier about scale lengths over time. I love the sound of longer scale lengths but they often cause my tendonitis to flair up.

 

[KentBrockman]

Pickup rings.

Overtly pointy shapes. The RG is the sweet spot.

 

[yuri_1973]

Musts for me:
9" or bigger radius
SS frets
Tone control

Dealbreakers (big no):
V shaped necks
N/S frets (unless for cheap/beater guitar)
Too long headstocks (i.e. skervesen raptor, ormsby,...)
Heavy axes (>3.7kg)

 

[SJShinn]

Direct mount pickups, not a total dealbreaker, but I hate the look and hate trying to swap them. Ash/Swamp Ash bodies, again, just hate the look. Reverse headstocks ain't my jam. Burl finishes are an immediate no. Superstrats with less than 24 frets, Meh. LP's/Singlecuts with more than 22 frets, Nope. I know, I'm weird 😂

 

[X784]

Recent discussions of age-old topics such as pickups, SS frets, 22 vs 24 fret guitars or Original Floyd Rose vs FR-1000 tremolos made me curious about what things people consider as a total dealbreaker when purchasing an instrument. Something that can be completely trivial to one person can be unbearable to others. To me the most offending stuff are things that I can't change no matter what.

I'll start. There's only one thing that makes me discard a guitar instantly, and that's a TOM bridge. Since I rest my forearm on the guitar when playing, they're just uncomfortable. And the worst part is that they add an angle to the neck towards your body, which is also awful for ergonomics.

Bolt-on guitars with huge square heel joints would be a close second. I can work with those at least, but would be restricted to only one of my bands (as I play less solos and most of the don't go up high), and I'm sure they'll get less playtime at home as well.

Shoot!

Scale length less than 28”. More than 6 strings. Anything other than solid body. Anything other than electric. Pickups with less than 13k ohms. Any pickup that’s not a humbucker. Slanted pickups that aren’t still rectangular (don’t wanna make or get customs). Any shape that’s not a superstrat or x. Any neck that’s thicker than an Ibanez rg. Has a pick guard. Is neck heavy or is in any way unbalanced. Is over $1.2k. Any multiscale with a sweep over 1” (from experience, ormsby 25.5 to 27.5 makes 1st fret a nightmare)

Looks like an Ibanez but isn’t an Ibanez. (Jackson,LTD,etc,)
Exception is Solar.

Lol.
Basically I’m only gonna buy Agiles from now on.

 

[nightflameauto]

My only must is it can intonate correctly. That's it. I've played everything (string-wise) from violin to the double-bass to acoustic guitar to whatever. So six, seven, eight, nine strings, 24.75, 25.5, 28, 29, 30, 34, 35, 38, whatever. Not to say I can play everything on every scale, but I'm not gonna toss an instrument just because of whatever qualifier. If it can be played, I'll fuck with it. I think I even got a 24" shorty Jackson around here somewhere. I just dig guitars, and if I had money pouring out my wallet I'd probably be like Kirk Hamster and buy one everywhere I went just because.

 

[AndiKravljaca]

I have a serious problem with unbound fretboards and headstocks. Which is as immutable as it is unfortunate because it keeps me from enjoying stuff like Suhr, Anderson, Music Man, Kiesel, PRS... But I just hate - viscerally, physically, touching velvet type hate - the look of frets coming out of a fretboard like that. It's like when some people can't stand looking at beehives. I can't stand the frets visibly anchored in the wood.

So it's bound fretboard or play Parkers.