So, I'm done with Suhr guitars

[vgalo7]

A couple of years ago I decided to give a try to Suhr guitars, specifically the Classic Antique line. I love strat type guitars. This guitars receive praises all over the web so I thought It would be a nice addition to my collection.

Well the first one was very well built, resonant, every tiny detail was very well crafted, average weight and the lacquer finish was good, not amazing but ok. It was fitted with V60 pickups.

The thing is I just couldn't bond with that guitar. Playability was great, but I don't know, It was soulless, zero mojo . The pickups sounded a bit tubey specially the neck position. So I thought maybe I got a wrong one. So went ahead and a year later bought a new one with the ML pickups and SSCII system. Again great build quality but OMG how I hated that ML pickups, they were so dark, unarticulated, lacking definition, the only way I got some life to those pickups was disconnecting the tone pots. For more than a year I've been trying to bond with her but no way, It's like been with a beautiful girl but no click. The build quality was the thing that kept me from selling the guitars thinking that they worth the value and maybe replacing the pickups would make them better for me. The total wake up was when I built a partcaster my self with some custom parts I ordered from USACG. The guitar I built had the same if not better quality that Suhr; the playability was amazing and the finish superb. The total knock off was when last year I got my Legacy Special custom ordered. It just feel so right, lots of mojo, all the sounds I wanted, solid, maybe not the same attention to detail as Suhr but It was love since the first moment. Before the LS I had already in my collection a '81 F-100 and a Legacy from '94 both great guitars, the F-100 neck is like built for my hands.

So now I am thinking of selling my Suhr's and replace them with a Legacy and ASAT. My friends tell me I am crazy because Suhr is a couple of levels over G&L but for me what matters is what I like the most.

What's up with you guys? Any of you had a similar experience with high end guitars that didn't make it for you?

[trem]

I love Suhr guitars. I've only played one that I thought was meh. I don't like the V60s, the ML's sound good to me, but not as good as Bareknuckle or Fralins. Maybe you don't like thinner necks? What are you running them through?

[vgalo7]

The truth is like the profile that comes stock with my Suhr, the Even C Medium is great, the fret job is great too.


My number one amp is a Mesa Boogie Express Plus 5:25 mostly in clean channel, I run overdrive by pedals, usually a POT and BB Preamp and delay, just that.


As I said, the guitar is very well built, but I just can't bond with it.

[trem]

Good rig.

I feel you. I'm just starting to bond with my US Legacy, but it's taken over 1000 hours behind the axe. In particular, I think it's the 9.5 radius on this guitar. I'm going to bring it to at least a 12" when I have time, and I think it will be just right.

As for immediate first loves, Duesenberg Starplayer DTV for me. Hideous looking for my tastes, but absolute perfection in every other way, and I'm not a 335 type player; full archtop or s-styles for me, but wow the sound, ease and consistency of that axe.

[Fumble fingers]

One of the guy's that used to come here had a Few Suhr's ..... he said the biggest difference between G&L and Suhr was shielded electronics on the Suhr , but for the price difference he would rather just shield his G&L's and save the money over a Suhr .... never played one myself

[vgalo7]

People say that frustration comes by high expectations.
One of the things I hated from those Suhr was that I was expecting a vintage strat sound. And why not, the guitar is a Strat type guitar, with reliced nitro finish so It feels old and modern at the same time. It was just matter of listen the guitar thru the amp. OMG those V60LP pickups sound nothing like what I have in my mind as a vintage sound. They are supposed to do the sound of 60's single coil but taming the ear piercing high end. But no, they are thick, bold, tubey, almost dull in the neck position.

The next guitar with those ML pickups that a lot of people like were worst!! Dark sounding, supercharged in the mids freq. I hated them. I think those pickups were intended for a fat sound almost in the way of a HB.

A lot of manufacturers claim that they got the sound of a vintage pickup from certain era. There are a lot for example 60's pickups, the CS69, Klein 69, TE 60, Suhr V60, Fralins woodstock, etc., and they doesn't sound alike each other. I had the chance to play a 67 strat and the sound was all about mid scoop, clarity, nothing like those Suhrs.

I found other people like me that felt the same over Suhr guitars and the reason was the same: lack of soul, feel or mojo? So I think It could be a different expectation of what that guitar can do.

[trem]

One of the guy's that used to come here had a Few Suhr's ..... he said the biggest difference between G&L and Suhr was shielded electronics on the Suhr , but for the price difference he would rather just shield his G&L's and save the money over a Suhr .... never played one myself

For the money, there simply is no better guitar than a USA G&L (I've seen new Legacy's for as little as $1000), but it's not a Suhr without shielding. I could go down the list, but on this board it possibly could be misconstrued as I'm bad mouthing G&L - I'm not. I like my G&L, and I've successfully swayed a few people looking for USA Fenders toward G&L (and they've been very happy with their G&L's), but I view a guitar as nothing more than a tool, so I have no bias toward any one particular brand, and so I'll be taking a drill to the body of my ~6 month old G&L soon to change the output jack location.

[vgalo7]

Hmmm.
I don't feel that Suhr is another level in quality. I think they are both great guitars, just different. Yes one difference is Suhr shield control cavity and pickguard, the solder technique of electronics is very clean, the components are "better quality", the neck has rolled edges... nice details but don't make It worth double the tag price of a G&L.

[trem]

My G&L was $1600 once I bought locking tuners, and I have a few hundred (at least) left to put into it before I reradius the neck (but that's on me for sticking with the 9.5). Modern Classic Pro was $2000, but I knew I'd have to replace the pickups in it for at least $300, so I went with G&L because it sounds more stratty than the Suhr does out of the box, and I could live with the differences in the fret work and having to deal with a hard shell case (bleh) by saving $700. It cost me less than $10 to shield the G&L, so that wasn't ever a concern, but when I'm done it will cost more than the Suhr would have with new pickups. Oh well.

[vgalo7]

I think you are comparing two different price states. My Suhr was new near $3,000 and my Legacy Special custom ordered from a dealer was $1,300. What you bought sounds like a new G&L with extra appointments and a used market entry level Suhr.

[trem]

I think you are comparing two different price states. My Suhr was new near $3,000 and my Legacy Special custom ordered from a dealer was $1,300. What you bought sounds like a new G&L with extra appointments and a used market entry level Suhr.

Brand new Suhr Classic Pro: $1995 everywhere online. My Legacy was new with the only "extra appointments" being swamp ash rather than alder, and I spent $100 on aftermarket locking tuners.

Had my G&L come stock with the less expensive alder body, but with stainless steel frets, quartersawn maple neck, steel trem block with stainless steel saddles, and locking tuners, all available as G&L upgrades (though I think they've discontinued the steel block trem altogether), it would be getting much closer to the price of the Suhr (as it should be), which has all of those stock on all strat models.

There are other smaller things, but as I said, I like my G&L and so it gets played 50+ hours a week; if I didn't I'd pitch it in the closet and use something else, but there are several differences stock between the two and it's not just a "Suhr minus the shielding" as someone else mentioned.

For some people these differences aren't significant enough to warrant their expense (either through Suhr or G&L), and so it would make the best sense to get a USA G&L with no upgrades.