Looking for humbucker guitar with double cutaway

Hi all,

I am looking for a guitar eqiupped with HB pickups, double cutaway if possible (not a deal breaker if it is a single cut) and most importantly, a fast playing neck.

Also needs to be versatile, since I want to play rock, blues.

Now I am playing a strat SSS, neck is 12" radius, nut width 42mm, finish satin polyurethane (not so easy to slide it is a bit "sticky"), C shape (feels a bit big), scale standard 25.5", neck and fingerboard material maple.

so far, I have read about those potential candidates :

Prs se custom 24 / 780$

Ibanez RG550 / 1000$

Guild Starfire V / 1700$

too expensive options :

Gibson ES-335 / 4150$

Prs McCarty 594 / 4200$

I would be curious to know what you think of those, other options you would recommend.

active vs passive pickups?

what makes a comfortable neck, ideal shape (c, d, v, ...), ideal finish, ideal width, ...

thanks a lot in advance for helping me finding my new baby ;)

What makes a comfortable neck is one of those how long is a piece of string questions IMV.

What build structure, ecto, meso, endo, and how big/small are your hands and finger length/shapes.

String spacing, nut width, neck profile and finish, compound or std radius, radius et al.

What do you want to do with this guitar? Do you want shred at home or play rhythm in a band?

Preferences are such a very personal thing. i.e. I'm a 5' 9", athletic build but endo with proportionate hands and fingers on the smallish side for guitar. Hence I take my inspiration of what can be achieved from Warleyson Almeida and Jack Thammarat.

For instance, currently I prefer a slim, shallow D, tapered, satin, neck profile. A narrow 42mm nut, compound flattish radius fingerboard e.g. 13.5" or > and string spacing of 10.5 - 11mm. I also prefer standard scale, but not too heavy in terms of weight, a comfortable body shape, which also has a good neck/body balance in a guitar.

One of the many reasons I like Yamaha Pacificas is that they are about an inch shorter overall than Fender Strats. My favourite guitar at present is my Cort Manson Classic TC. I truly love everything about playing it. If I was in your position and wanted to play metal, classic rock and blues with a single guitar, I'd also be considering a Cort Manson M-Jet or Cort Manson MBC-1 Matt Bellamy Signature on my shortlist.

No metal requirement for me here though. Classic rock and blues.

Ibanez RG550 looks interesting if it's what you want? A fast wizard satin neck and a flat radius fingerboard. Hopefully Ibanez supply them with sunglasses included.

Hey

thanks for your input

the cort MB signature has a single coil neck pickup, otherwise it would have been on my list, I have heard good reviews about it.

Did you listen to it demo'd in that vid? Manson pickups are voiced really really well.

PS. Later. Had to rush away. Meant to mention that the MBC-1 is twin humbucker HH. The Bellamy Signature has the HS. That single dual combo is versatile. Just sayin'.

Originally Posted by: manXcat

Did you listen to it demo'd in that vid? Manson pickups are voiced really really well.

PS. Later. Had to rush away. Meant to mention that the MBC-1 is twin humbucker HH. The Bellamy Signature has the HS. That single dual combo is versatile. Just sayin'.

I will give it a try, thanks!

If someone makes a search about this subject and sees this topic, might be interested in what I ended up buying:

So I have tried a loooot of guitars Fender, PRS, Gibson, Epiphone, Ibanez, Schecter, Jackson, ESP. I didn't try Charvel (apparently the Joe DUplantier signature is really good), Musicman (jp6 seems to be really nice too)...

Here are my conclusions, but you should definitely try for yourself : I didn't want a whammy bar with floating bridge (it is too much of a hassle), I have been taking in consideration playability of the neck, quality of clean and distorted tones, comfort of the bridge

Ibanez neck is fast but the 4 guitars I have tried (RG and S) all felt cheap, cheap knobs, cheap selector, ... Clean tones were not great --> GIVE IT 2*

Jackson was amongst my prefered guitars in terms of neck, it is super fast, even faster than Ibanez. Their guitars are really affordable and don't feel cheap at all. Even the JS entry level are super fun to play. Clean tones are not great. --> GIVE 2.25* to JS and 2.5* to soloist models

Epiphone Les Paul and SG + Gibson SG I didn't really like the neck and I couldn't play easily. Really didn't like the bridge on the Gibson SG

Schecter Hellraiser C-1 was really nice! try it --> GIVE IT 2*

Schecter omen 6 felt entry level, not a bad entry levelbuitar though --> GIVE IT 1.5*

ESP LTD deluxe ec-1000 had a nice sound, but I didn't like the bridge --> 1*

PRS SE CUSTOM 24 and PRS CUSTOM 24 bothfelt amazing, the neck finish definitely felt better to me on the custom 24, pickups sounded great on both, clean tones are amazing, lots of harmonics. Great finish, top quality. I almost got one of those 2. GIVE 2.75* to se custom 24 and 3* to custom 24

Gibson Les Paul Classic... It is the last guitar I tried and man, all of a sudden it all played perfectly. The pickups are just amazing, the whole body and neck vibrate when you strum, the intonation by default is perfect, the neck even though it is not a wizard super thin is the most comfortable of all, the fret work is just amazing, you slide without even thinking about it. Also, it is a beauty and holding such an instrument, you know it has been part of history... After playing this guitar, I tried again the PRS and it suddenly felt way less comfortable, but the pickups still sounded amazing. --> GIVE IT 3.25*

Fender well I already own a strat single coil pickups, so I wanted to have something completely different. The Strat Deluxe I have is excellent --> GIVE IT 2.5*

You might look at Spinditty website there are some interesting articles :

according to voters (several thousands) on his website:

BEST SHREDDING GUITARS

Ibanez 38% vote for RG and 12% for S

Jackson 14% for soloist + 8% for dinky

Fender 11%

Charvel (so cal style 1) 9%

Carvin 7%

Evh 1%

BEST METAL GUITARS

esp ltd ec-1000 20%

schecter hellraiser c-1 19%

ibanez RG 15% and S 3%

Gibson LP 14%

jackson king V 14%

dean ML 6%

charvel pro mod so cal or san dimas 4%

B.C. Rickh Warlock 4%

BEST COUNTRY GUITARS

fender tele 70%

gibson lp 13%

fender strat 10%

BEST BLUES/ROCK GUITARS

fender strat 39%

gibson es-335 25%[br]gibson LP 22%

fender telecaster single coil 9%

fender telecaster hb 5%

BEST HOLLOW-BODY JAZZ GUITARS

gretsch gs420t electromatic 26%

godin 5th avenuecw kingpin II 21%

epiphone broadway 19%

ibanez artcore af75 19%

washburn jazz series j600k 16%

SUPER-STRAT GUITARS (no votes for this category)[br]evh wolfgang

esp ltd ec-1000

kiesel carvin dc

schecter hellraiser

strat HSS

ibanez RG and S

jackson JS32 dinky or Adrian Smith SDX or Soloist models

charvel pro mod so cal 1 HH