Well, it takes deltaslim so long to answer. I cannot blame him because it is a really difficult question to answer specially for someone who changes tastes frequently. Funny, for someone who changes tastes so often he has a number of regrettable gear sold based on his thread, around 6 pieces of gear I think. As of today, I have no regrets over any of my gear sold in the past 20 years of my guitar playing.
I will attempt to answer the question of "What to look for in a good sounding guitar?" which is really nothing new. But before that, have you ever noticed how artist promote their new signature guitars?
Their promotion techniques (with my usual snide remarks):
1) Saying its sounds great e.g. timbre reference (Hey, that was the same thing that another artist said about the timbre of his guitar except that he was promoting another guitar company)
2) Features exclusive to the artist e.g. Musicman designed this trem for me, they profiled my frankenstein neck, they put in the same dings as my old 61 tele, etc (I wish your special feature made your signature guitar sound better when I tried it. It didn't and it just feels like you and I am not you.)
3) I have new pickups e.g. this is Evolution II, YJMs are for neck, FRED 2 etc. (Wait a minute, you got famous with specially wound Steve Blucher pickups and stock DiMarzio HS3s and PAFs. So are your record sales down and trying to promote your own pickups to make up for a short fall in record sales?)
4) Its a limited edition e.g. 200 pieces only (Somebody forget to mention why they decided to limit quantity so that they can raise the price)
5) Aesthetics e.g. It has 100 led lights in a see-thru acrylic body (Ok... I thought you had your led lights thing in your previous model's fingerboard? Gimmick not enough? Does it really sound better with more puke lights?)
6) Its like my orignal vintage strat with some personal tweaks (Which turns out to be one of best selling lines of well known Stratocaster Company, so I guess Mr. Guitar Player soon realized that his prize possession is too valuable in terms of sound and money to tour with because it took him 25 years to finally decide to have a signature with this well known compnay)
7) It took 100 tries for (Insert Guitar Company Name) and I thank them for not giving up (Somehow I don't know whether this means that he gave up first in frustration or the guitar company is really incapable)
Hey this is my best V ever (How about that good sounding Gibson Korina Flying V that you keep forgeting to mention? But you already had 2 other Vs from 2 other well known companies, how different can this be?)
9) This is the last Strat prototype that Mr. Pride and Joy approved before he died (Huh? That was a prototype. How come he got onto another Japanese company's endorsement add 5 years earlier with a Strat knock-off)
10) This is Mr. GNR approved signature (How come the guitar he uses on the instructional video has more flame and looks prettier than this one in the dealer's store?)
In contrast this is how local luthiers promote their guitars:
1) Its cheap and will rival Fill in the Blank Guitar company (Except when you ask them for a specific Blank Guitar Company to model, they have not actually physcially studied one in person)
2) It will be made out of local wood and its a great chance to promote local wood (When you compare it to other Asian made guitars with the traditional woods, it does not sound as good and it weighs a ton)
3) It will be one-off made by me for you (It becomes hard to sell after the honeymoon period and you realize that you want to go back to the traditional strat, tele, gibson or prs)
4) Look at the wood planks, you get to choose your grain (Which after a while starts to look all the same because everybody gets to look like furniture)
5) I will do a unique shape for you (Which later turns out to be unbalanced and uncomfortable)
6) I will put in a lot of inlays (Trying hard to look like an artpiece but without any artistic resale value)
7) Tweaked to all your specifications and requirements (And later on you realize that there was a better feature in some other well thought non-custom guitar that just makes your custom so wrong)
Your choice of finish (It turns out not the way you envisoned your finish)
9) May Guarantee (He is later on too busy to repair the problem because he has so many custom orders to fulfill)
10) I was an apprentice by so and so Master Luthier (It turns out that Master Luthier is never around to confirm if what his apprentice is doing is correct; whats worse Master Luthier is never around to certify that his apprentice can make a good guitar)
This is just me poking some fun but endorsing and making guitars is more serious than this and usually decisions are made with one factor that makes everything logical which is either the lack of money or the need for money.
What artists and luthiers often forget (albeit conveniently) to elaborate and guarantee is the sound character of a guitar...
As you may well know that I believe I have a guitar with one of the best sound character in the world. This is the list of people who have tried and enjoyed the Baker#55 other than myself. Arie, Lito, Steve, Mike, Gabi, Miks, Essie, Tinnie, Kakoi, Odie and PJ. The only person who did not like it was Atz. 13-1 ain't such a bad ratio. Now if you look carefully, this is a broad range of people with different styles, different degrees of proficiency (practice time) and I would initially say have nothing in common. In short KANYA KANYA. How is it possible at the minimum they say its a great sounding guitar and at the maximum cause them to do crazy things like sell their best sounding Gibson to buy a Baker? I will give you an answer hindi KANYA KANYA ang guitar character -- timbre, features and looks may differ but these factors are NOT what defines a really good sounding guitar.
So what does?
I will stick by the following criteria which I have posted before and in no means exhaustive but I believe if you get all 10, I can guarantee you a good sounding guitar that you will keep for a long time.
Here goes:
1) Rich sounding notes with overtones that reinforce the fundamental -- a three dimensional soundstage whether in clean or overdriven mode.
2) Pick attack defined versus the sustaining note.
3) When a string is bent, the note for a time drops in volume but suddenly increases in volume at the top of the bend. Even louder than the initial
pick attack volume. The bent note at the top of the bend is punchy and powerful not flat or weak.
4) Chordal volume does not drown the guitar when you suddenly switch to a lick or riff.
5) When you constantly bend and release a note, the guitar weeps and wails as if there was a subtle wah-wah effect.
6) Balanced volume across all strings.
7) So soft to play even with heavy gauges as if you were playing one gauge lighter. The guitar reacts to every playing nuance. It can be subtle
and mean when you want it to depending on your technique.
Can punch thru a band with a bass player, another rhythm guitar player and a keyboard player without having to compete on an amp volume basis.
9) Notes on the upper frets do not sound thin and choked.
10) Most importantly, the guitar magically surprises you everytime you play because it produces different sounds e.g. squeals, picking nuances,etc.
Guess what was Cliff's answer about Baker#55:
"It will do all those chores quite easily. It's designed and built for those tasks."
And as much as I want to prove him wrong, I cannot because number#55 delivers. If most of you feel that I am not an authority then I encourage you to ask these three people who have spent the most time with the guitar and who have admirable skill in music: Arie, Miks and Kakoi.
I wanted this to be a fun and educational discourse and not a venue to brag about #55 but rather to give people who do not have as much collective experience trying out guitars a rough guideline on how to choose and pick a good sounding guitar. When#41 arrives, it will be subjected to the same stringent criteria.