I Ranked All The Guitars I've Ever Owned

Gear
#1

So after quite a few years of playing, buying and selling guitars I decided it would be fun to take a look at them all and try to rank them.

There’s no set criteria per se, so I did my best to place them in the appropriate spot. Some are maybe lower on the list than they kind of deserve just because I never got to use it much, for example, and some of them I sold 10+ years ago… So it’s kind of a case by case thing based on different factors. Maybe there’s a bit of recency bias to the ones I have played more recently too… who knows, but it’s all just for fun!

I did the rankings in the classic tier list format and I created the following tiers:

Holy Grail
Very Good
Good
Meh
A bit s**t
Absolute Ass

(Pardon my humor)

Here are my rankings:

HOLY GRAIL TIER:
1: Ibanez Pia
2: Charvel Guthrie Govan Signature
3: Charvel DK24 HSS
4: Ibanez RG8570Z RBS J Custom

VERY GOOD TIER:
5: Ibanez PM-120
6: Jackson Pro Jeff Loomis Signature Kelly
7: Ibanez RG1XXV 25th Anniversary
8: Charvel DK22 SSS
9: Ibanez RG5320 Prestige Cosmic Shadow
10: Ibanez Prestige RGR5221
11: Suhr Modern Satin
12: Kiesel Johnny Hiland Signature Solo
13: Ibanez RG5170G Prestige, Silver Flat
14: Vigier Excalibur Bumblefoot Signature
15: Vigier Excalibur Shawn Lane Signature
16: Fender American Professional II Stratocaster
17: Vigier Surfreter Supra Fretless
18: Ibanez PGM100
19: Ibanez RG6PCMLTD Premium, Blue Reef Gradation
20: Kiesel Tim Miller Signature

GOOD TIER:
21: Ibanez Q54 Seafoam Green
22: Ibanez AZ47P1QM
23: Jackson Pro Plus Soloist SLA3Q
24: Carvin DC800
25: Music Man Axis
26: Ibanez 550XH
27: Gibson SG (1991)
28: Ibanez EHB1505MS
29: Fender American 50th Anniversary Stratocaster
30: Fender American Deluxe Stratocaster HSS
31: Godin Multiac Grand Concert Duet Ambience Nylon String
32: Ibanez JSM100 John Scofield Signature Guitar
33: Charvel Limited Edition Pro-Mod Plus Dinky DK24-7
34: Ibanez TQM1
35: Ibanez RG550 Genesis
36: Taylor 214ce-FLTD Fall Limited Edition
37: Kiesel PB5
38: Strandberg Boden Standard NX 6
39: Yamaha PAC1611MS - Mike Stern Sginature guitar
40 & 41: Fender American Professional Telecaster II
42: Ibanez Iron Label RGIX6DLB
43: Ibanez JEM7V
44: Ibanez THHb10 Tim Henson Signature
45: Ibanez LM1
46: Mayones Regius 6
47: Ibanez PGM333
48: Fender Eric Johnson Stratocaster (HSS, 2nd one)
49: Charvel Wild Card #4
50: Jackson Rhoads V (Not sure about exact model)
51: Schecter 80’s Tele
52: Ibanez Talman TM303M
53: Ibanez Premium RG721RW

MEH TIER:
54: Squier Bass VI
55: Ibanez RG550 Genesis
56: Steinberger Spirit
57: Ibanez Roadstar II
58: Strandberg Sälen Deluxe
59: G&L Legacy USA
60: B.C. Rich Warlock NJ Neck-Thru
61: Fender Precision Bass
62: PRS USA S2 Vela Semi Hollow
63: Mayones Duvell Elite 7
64: Warwick Corvette Pro Series 5 Fretless Bass
65: Music Man Cutlass SSS
66: Line 6 Variax Bass
67: Jivestone Bass
68: Strandberg Boden Standard 7
69: Ibanez TAM10
70: Jivestone Acoustic Guitar

A bit s**t TIER:
71: Jackson JS32-8 Dinky DKA SBK AH
72: Fender Eric Johnson Stratocaster (SSS, 1st one)
73: G&L USA ASAT Hollow Deluxe
74: Danelectro Baritone Guitar
75: Danelectro DC-59 Psychedelic Eric Clapton
76: Replica Of Music Man Axis
77: Seagull C6+ CW

ABSOLUTE ASS TIER:
78: Partscaster Thing
79: TERRIBLE unknown acoustic

There’s a few that could be seen as controversial, but then it may come down to my specific experience with that guitar and not so much the quality. Maybe it just needed a setup and I was too lazy to do it before selling it or something like that. In the video version of the ranking I tried to justify each placement a bit more.

Soooo, now it’s time for you to post YOUR rankings! I realize if you have had many guitars it might be a lot of work, but I think it would be fun to see how other people would rank the stuff they’ve had!

2 Likes
#2

Wow you put a ton of work into this! I haven’t owned anywhere near this many guitars over the years and I’ve parted ways with very few of them. Also I tend to only get ones that I enjoy pretty decently so I may not hit all your categories. I’ll think about it and see what I come up with.

1 Like
#3

have to say it makes me feel better about what I THOUGHT was the silly number of guitars I have

edit: I’m refusing to allow myself to get rage-baited into arguing about that ranking but there’s at least one that made my eyes pop out

1 Like
#4

To be fair, I’ve parted ways with most of these too! I try to filter out the stuff that I don’t use that much. And most of my purchases are on the used market, without trying them first, so I just have to wait for good deals and gamble that I will enjoy them. If I don’t like them that much, or they just don’t exceed what I currently have, they’re likely to get sold, even if they’re pretty good. On the used market, you can usually get your money back, or even make a profit if you are patient.

I also have some extra fun making videos with the guitars.

Would be cool to see your list! It’s all just for fun!

1 Like
#5

Well, I only have a handful of these right now. I would never own anywhere close to this many at the same time. It’s a revolving door with something always on the way out and something else coming in.

Some of the rankings may be a bit controversial, but that’s certainly not the intent. It’s based on a case by case thing of how much I personally enjoyed them or just my opinion of them. So some of them may be VERY good, but it’s just not my preference. Or maybe there was something that was very nice, but the setup wasn’t good, and I never got around to setting it up better before I exchanged it for something else, and thus my experience with that guitar wasn’t too amazing. So there’s no set criteria and it’s not meant to be taken as a end-all-be-all list of what is better. The video is more detailed in the explanation for each guitar, but it’s all mostly just a fun experiment to try to rank them.

1 Like