Best Electric Guitar Parts
- Guitar tuners are a deceptively vital part of a quality instrument. The best tuners are finely machined from quality metals and have a high gear ratio for minutely accurate adjustment. Grover tuners were the standard of many high-end guitars, including the famous Gibson Les Paul, throughout the rock-n-roll era and beyond. They continue to offer excellent, innovative designs and quality materials. Gotoh stands with Grover as a common sight on vintage and reissue guitars. Well-regarded for quality of tuning, these machines also come in several classic styles. Schaller's locking tuners make good additions to a vibrato-equipped instrument.
- Quality strings last longer, sound better and affect playability. They are made of nickel- or bronze-wrapped steel. D'Addarrio is a classic choice in simple, quality string making, offering bright tone and long playing life. Ernie Ball is popular for its Slinky line. These strings are meant to be more flexible than others, making bends and vibrato easier. Elixir is popular for its long-lasting strings, which are coated to prevent corrosion. Elixir is more expensive than other types, and the coating itself eventually rubs off and dulls tone, but many players prefer them.
- The bridge and tail piece of a guitar influences its resonance and sustain. Brass is a common material, but many brands offer other designs to achieve different tones. Gotoh and Schaller offer several versions of stop and string-through-body tailpieces, as well as several vintage wrap-around and trapeze styles. TonePros offers many bridge upgrades that have become standard with several top-tier instrument makers.
- Vibrato or tremolo systems are seen on vintage and modern guitars alike. Because these units change string tension to achieve vibrato effects, tuning stability and string life are primary concerns. Floyd Rose systems became popular in the 1980s among hard rock guitarists. These units lock the string at both bridge and nut, achieving good tuning stability while allowing for potentially excessive vibrato effects. Wilkinson/Gotoh bridges are styled after vintage designs, but offer tuning- and tone-improving changes as knife edges and hardened pivot posts. The Bigsby vibrato was seen on many semi-hollow and archtop guitars throughout the late 20th century; it is still a good choice for vintage style and tone.
- Pickups are incredibly varied and subjective. Most players agree that pickups should have full but controllable output and be true to a guitar's wooden resonance. Seymour Duncan has several pickups, like the JB model, that have been used by historic players in many styles. Styles range from vintage to high-output heavy metal designs. DiMarzio has a similar record to Seymour Duncan; the two are often viewed as the best manufacturers of pickups. EMG has become common for its active range of pickups; active electronics boost the guitar signal via an on-board preamp, producing a greater usable signal.