Suhr or Suhr-alike?

goldtop

Sure as eggs is eggs, I will get a lovely selection of "old-bloke stuff" this Christmas - socks, hankies, daily tablet organiser, etc. I'll smile and thank everyone, while secretly wishing Ms GT had noticed the frequent times I'd left my Macbook open at the Suhr Classic S page. If she noticed, she didn't take the hint. Can't think why.

So I'll have to cheer myself up in the New Year by buying one for myself. Most likely used. And an HSS with a proper finish (not that wafer-thin satin stuff), 22 stainless steel frets, 2-point trem (not FR) and ... not yet sure on neck/fingerboard.

Or should I be looking elsewhere? I'd like to stay fairly mainstream, so I've not paid much attention to smaller builders with unknown resale values. Ibanez AZ Prestige might be an option. Others?

axisus

My wife wouldn't buy me a guitar, and to be honest I wouldn't want her to. The guitar thing is entirely my domain, an empire that I rule in the barren wasteland that is my house. Putting that aside, we generally spend about £20 on each other ....

Suhr look cool, only you can say what you want though. Personally I would get an Anderson or a Charvel if I was looking at that type of guitar.

TTBZ

FGN or Schecter Nick Johnston? 

guitarmangler

Second hand Suhr’s seem to be good at maintaining-ish their prices. Careful that you get the specs that you want, tho. Suhr are basically a semi custom shop, so go and play a few and double check the spec ( or if the seller doesn’t have it, email Suhr support. They are incredibly nice).
If resale is your thing, buying a second hand fender custom shop would probably a good idea to look at, too. 

If resale doesn’t bother, then get a custom made one buy fender or Suhr.

imalrightjack

I love Suhr. Give my history of flipping and rolling, it says a lot that my scaleback and commitment to stop has seen Suhr occupy two of five slots. 

TTBZ

A mate of mine is really into his boutique strat types, he said he's tried everything and his Anderson was the best. Didn't seem to rate the Suhrs that highly in comparison. I've played the Anderson and it's a lovely guitar, great neck.

richardhomer

I’ve owned two Suhrs and honestly didn’t like either. It could just be me but I think the brand is over-rated.

grayn

I had an HSS Suhr and it was an awesome guitar, the only thing that bettered it was a Tom Anderson HSS.
I'm more LP than super strat these days but I always think the Anderson was probably the best guitar I have ever owned.

Blueingreen

I have two Suhrs and two Tom Andersons. All are great guitars. I don’t think there’s anything between them in terms of build quality, it comes down to which offers the specs that suit you best.

Nerine

Suhrs are the most performant guitars I’ve owned. My Classic Pro is insanely good and I’ll never part with it and my Alt T is sublime to the point where it walks the line between Tele and Les Paul. 

There’s one guitar I regret selling and it’s a Suhr Antique Modern. If I could have that back, I’d be happy. It was a stunning thing. 

I’ll not hear a bad word about Suhr in general. Their stuff is really second to none across the board. For my tastes, John really seems to nail it. 

If I could only play one brand of guitar, as much as I like my R8, it be Suhr with no hesitation. 

koss59

Suhr pickups are in another league to most other manufacturers in my opinion and the silent system is amazing. 

I’ve never played an Anderson that had the slightly vintage feel that the Antiques have but they’re great if you like modern feel.

PAL

I have a Suhr Standard H/S/S it's a really great guitar. 

drippycat

I have a hss Suhr as the OP described, along with a Charvel San Dimas & a Charvel made in Japan DK24.

The San Dimas is a nice guitar with a great neck profile, but the build quality isn't up there with the other 2. I couldn't call a difference in build quality between the mj Charvel and Suhr.

What I do know is that as I type this, the Charvel mj is sitting within hands reach of me, where it usually is. The Suhr is hanging on the wall and someday I will bite the bullet and scuff it up deliberately. That way it won't feel too perfect to play. But that's just me. Each to their own.

RichAC

My only experience with an Ibanez AZ Prestige was superb - I played one in a music shop and it just felt awesome to play. I started doing financial calculations in my head and sadly concluded that it was too rich for my blood. Close run thing though. 

goldtop

Thanks all - time I looked up Anderson. Never seen one in the flesh. If they're not custom order only, maybe Peach or Coda keep one or two. A quick Ebay search shows that they are probably a bit more spendy than the Suhr.

Charvel SD/MIJ and Schecter are also good shouts. More research...

Kebabkid

I've had quite a few high end superstrats including a couple of Suhrs and they're good workhorses but I wasn't wow'd by them and I'd definitely buy used as their prices fall (if that's important to you). The best Suhr I had was the Alt-T and it had more character and was very versatile and the Thornbuckers were great.

The Drop Top Tom Anderson I had was one of the best Superstrats I've ever had but as you say, they're quite pricey now but I would recommend them above Suhrs.

Schecter Custom Shop are good and I had one of those and a friend had an FGN Odyssey and that was excellent and will give you change out of £1K but all the quality and spec is there. The same friend has a K-Line Strat and that's a wonderful thing.

Tyler Japan Classics are very good, too, but I recently picked up a PRS Fiore and that's one of the best and most versatile Superstrats I've ever played and owned. Tele, Strat, combinations of those and hot-rodded Strat are all in there. Used prices are good but watch the weight of them as they can vary by as much as 1.5lbs and colours are little limited.

 My main squeeze is a Rob Williams Custom with Tyler pickups and Tom Anderson switcheroo/blower and series/parallel switching. That places it firmly in the Anderson/Tyler/Suhr camp and so if you can find one of those, they're great

duotone

Would you consider a HSH by PRS?

https://uk.prsguitars.com/electrics/model/se_swamp_ash_special_2024_2

duotone

duotone

Or a Fender Player Plus Stratocaster?

https://www.fender.com/en-US/player-plus-stratocaster-hss/0147322340.html

https://www.fmicassets.com/Damroot/ZoomJpg/10006/0147322340_fen_ins_frt_1_rr.jpg

StefB

drippycat said:

I have a hss Suhr as the OP described, along with a Charvel San Dimas & a Charvel made in Japan DK24.

The San Dimas is a nice guitar with a great neck profile, but the build quality isn't up there with the other 2. I couldn't call a difference in build quality between the mj Charvel and Suhr.

What I do know is that as I type this, the Charvel mj is sitting within hands reach of me, where it usually is. The Suhr is hanging on the wall and someday I will bite the bullet and scuff it up deliberately. That way it won't feel too perfect to play. But that's just me. Each to their own.

Without wanting to derail the thread, how heavy is your DK24 @drippycat?

I’ve had my eye on them for a while but they all seem on the heavy side for a SuperStrat, even despite the mahogany body. 

RichTone have just listed a 2nd hand example, and it’s 8lb 10oz. Coda have a new one in their sale and it’s a similar weight. 

DavusPG

Another Suhr fan here. Started with a Modern Satin around 7 years ago, then upgraded to a Modern.

Currently I have an Andy Wood HH, Pete Thorn HH and a Classic T that's been refinished by @lamf68 and the neck reshaped by @FelineGuitars to match the Pete Thorn.

Build quality and pickups are top notch and they feel very much like home to me. All but one of them were bought on the forum.

I've never played an Anderson, but I traded the Modern on the forum earlier this year for a PRS DGT. PRS were a brand that had never been on my radar, so much so that I'd never even touched one, so I wasn't holding out much hope, but wow, what a guitar. Definitely on par with my Suhrs, so I'm curious to try a Silver Sky at some point.... @goldtop ;maybe that should be on your list of potentials in addition to the Classic S?