Top High-End Electric Guitars
See below for details on the top high-end electric guitars. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
Gibson ES-335
$3,500 (USD)
Check prices at: Amazon
At a glance
Typical review comments for the Gibson ES-335:
Sound:
- Extremely versatile.
- Fantastic cleans.
- Clarity across the board.
- Incredible sustain.
- The acoustic resonance is brilliant.
- The sound is awesome.
- Crystal clear.
- Hits that perfect, balanced sweet spot.
- Rich, full tone.
- The intonation is perfect.
- Clear and unique with all sorts of tone options.
- The Sustain and tone are amazing.
- Covers Country to Metal, especially good for Blues and Vintage Rock.
- The sound is incredibly clear.
Appearance:
- What a beauty!
- Gorgeous finish.
- It looks absolutely stunning.
- Makes me smile every time I open the case.
- Beautiful Guitar.
- I love the finish.
- Looks great. Heck, even the case is gorgeous.
- The finish on it is beautiful.
- Fantastic, beautiful instrument.
Build Quality:
- The workmanship is absolutely breathtaking.
- Flawless build quality.
- The workmanship is top notch.
- Simply perfect.
- Flawless from the finish to fret board to the bindings to the hardware.
- This is a work of art.
- Perfect construction, finish, feel, and sound.
- The build quality is fantastic.
- Never seen anything of this high quality.
Playability:
- This guitar plays like a dream – right out of the box.
- I just play better and sound better on this guitar.
- Hefty, but not fatiguing.
- Tuning stability and overall reliability are simply brilliant.
Plays like butter. - Comfortable and lighter than my Les Paul.
- Nice and comfy.
- No fret buzzing with the action very, very low.
- Unequaled playability.
- Just feels great.
Value:
- This guitar is worth every penny.
- As soon as you play it, you’ll see that the price isn’t so crazy.
- Totally worth the price.
Specs
BODY
- Body Style: ES
- Body Shape: 335
- Top: 3-ply Maple/Poplar/Maple
- Back: 3-ply Maple/Poplar/Maple
- Bracing: Spruce
- Centerblock: Maple
- Binding: Single-ply Cream
- Body Finish: Gloss Nitrocellulose Lacquer
NECK
- Profile: Rounded “C”
- Scale Length: 628.65 mm / 24.75 in
- Fingerboard Material: Rosewood
- Fingerboard Radius: 304.8 mm / 12 in
- Fret Count: 22
- Frets: Medium Jumbo
- Nut Material: Graph Tech
- Nut Width: 43.053 mm / 1.695 in
- End Of Board Width: 57.404 mm / 2.26 in
- Inlays: Acrylic Dots
HARDWARE
- Finish: Nickel
- Bridge: ABR-1 Tune-O-Matic
- Tailpiece: Aluminum Stop Bar
- Tuning Machines: Vintage Deluxe w/ Keystone Buttons
- Pickguard: Black 5-ply
- Control Knobs: Black Top Hats with Silver Reflector
- Switch Tip: Cream
ELECTRONICS
- Neck Pickup: Calibrated T-Type, Rhythm
- Bridge Pickup: Calibrated T-Type, Lead
- Controls: 2 volumes, 2 tones, 1 toggle switch, hand-wired with 500K potentiometers and orange drop capacitors
MISCELLANEOUS
- Strings Gauge: .010, .013, .017, .026, .036, .046
- Case: Hard Shell Case
- Accessories: Gibson Accessory Kit
Artists
- Chuck Berry
- B.B. King
- Larry Carlton
- Eric Clapton
- Alvin Lee
- Warren Haynes
- Dave Grohl
- Roy Orbison
- Chuck Leavell
- Noel Gallagher
Note: Some may have played older versions or variants of this model.
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PRS Custom 24
$6,390 (USD)
Check prices at: Amazon
At a glance
Typical review comments for the PRS Custom 24:
Sound:
- The tone and versatility is amazing.
- This is the best sounding guitar for ANY style of music I’ve ever played!
- The guitar is extremely versatile.
- The clearest full sized humbuckers I have ever heard.
- The tone is superb.
- Well balanced pickups and useful sound combinations work across genres.
- Cleans are rich and clear.
- Sustain is very good, as is chord clarity.
- A very thick and sweet sounding guitar that has excellent sustain and oozes harmonics.
- This guitar will do for anything from metal to jazz, and do it very well.
- The guitar has a quite warm sound.
- The best-sounding mass-produced guitar on the planet.
- The articulation of the pickups is nothing short of astounding.
- The sound is incredible.
- You can really get any sound out of this PRS!
- More tonally versatile than it’s contemporaries.
- Rich and punchy without a hint sounding “brittle”.
- The sound is absolutely perfect for everything I play.
- The thing sounds amazing.
- The sound is excellent when clean and distorted.
- It suits all styles of music.
- Sounds are really fabulous.
- The pickups are really powerful and precise all at once.
Appearance:
- It has to be the best looking Guitar I’ve ever seen!
- These guitars are works of art.
- When I opened the case, my jaw dropped.
- These are truly beautiful guitars.
- Beautiful woods.
- It looks amazing.
- The finish is beautiful.
- When I got this guitar, it was FLAWLESS.
- Such a beautiful piece of art…
- This is about as Spectacular as a guitar gets.
Build Quality:
- Best factory-made guitar in the world
- Simply put old American craftsmanship of heirloom quality.
- Perfect build quality.
- Stunning craftsmanship
- It actually inspires awe.
- This will withstand live playing for sure.
- Its quality is outstanding.
- The build quality is fantastic.
- All the parts are of highest quality.
- The quality of this instrument is incredible!
- The craftsmanship of the guitar is …flawless.
- This guitar would most definitely withstand live playing.
- The guitar came with no flaws whatsoever. Perfect.
- The finish is amazing no flaws, nothing.
- These guitars are some of the most beautifully constructed guitars in the world.
- The finish is exceptional.
Playability:
- Great feeling guitar, nice and lightweight, very comfortable neck.
- I love playing it, the action is perfect.
- It stays in tune.
- Bending notes is effortless.
- The feel is incredible.
- Modern playability and ergonomic design.
- It is easier to play than Candy Crush Revolution.
- The feel of the frets and neck is like butter.
- Very light; easy to carry.
- Feels as if it’s already been broken in.
- It’s got nice low action.
- The neck plays like a stick of butter!
- I was blown away by the feel of the neck.
Value:
- The guitar is actually great value for the materials and craftsmanship.
- Priced right where they should be.
- You get what you pay for!
- They’re worth every penny.
Specs
BODY
- Body Construction: Solidbody
- Top Wood: Maple
- Back Wood: Mahogany
- Top Carve: Violin
- Finish: High Gloss Nitro
NECK
- Number of Frets: 24
- Scale Length: 25″
- Neck Wood: Mahogany
- Neck Construction: One-Piece
- Truss Rod: PRS Double-Acting
- Neck Shape: Pattern Thin
- Neck Depth at the 1/2 Fret: 53/64″
- Neck Depth at the 12 1/2 Fret: 57/64″
- Neck Width at the Nut: 1 11/16″
- Neck Width at the Body: 2 1/4″
- Fretboard Wood: Rosewood
- Fretboard Radius: 10″
- Fretboard Inlay: Birds
- Headstock Logo: Signature, Inlaid
NECK/BODY ASSEMBLY
- Neck/Body Assembly Type: Set
HARDWARE
- Bridge: PRS Patented Tremolo, Gen III
- Tuners: PRS Phase III Locking
- Hardware Type: Nickel
- Nut: PRS
- Truss Rod Cover: “Custom”
ELECTRONICS
- Treble Pickup: 85/15
- Bass Pickup: 85/15
- Controls: Volume and Tone Control with 5-Way Blade Pickup Switch
ADDITIONAL INFO
- Strings: PRS Signature 10-46
- Tuning: Standard (6 String): E, A, D, G, B, E
- Case: Hardshell Case
- Options: 10 Top with Hybrid Hardware
Artists
- Carlos Santana
- Mark Tremonti
- John Mayer
- Dave Navarro
- Orianthi
- Tosin Abasi
- David Grissom
- Dweezil Zappa
- Myles Kennedy
- Gary Hooker
Note: Some may have played older versions or variants of this model.