Help me decide: Strat-style - Suhr or Anderson

Silvertree said:
I have both Suhr and Anderson guitars. For an S style I would go with the Anderson, mostly because I prefer the neck joint on it compared to the Suhr S. But I don't think you could go wrong either way. They are both high quality guitars. If you are buying new you could look for a dealer that carries both, tell them you are trying to choose between them, have them send both out, and ship back the one you don't want to keep.

I had questions before buying two of my Andersons. Both times I called the factory to ask for some information. The kind lady that answered the phone transferred me to Tom Anderson himself. Tom spent 10-20 minutes answering all the questions I had and then pulled up the inventory in stores/in production to help me find something the guitar I wanted. It was a fantastic experience both times.
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Good suggestion. Of course, that might mean I have to have enough funds to buy two contenders while trying them out. But, I may try that.

Thanks for sharing your experience with Anderson. Great service is definitely a selling point.
 
fcs101 said:
If I were in the market for a strat-style guitar, it'd be difficult to ignore the Silver Sky. There's a whole lot more good said about them than negative. They weigh in around 7.5 lbs.
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I've thought about the Silver Sky, the weight would be fine.

However, I think the fretboard radius is 7.25. I think I'd want something much flatter, even as much as 16 inch.
 
I have had 4 Andersons, 6 Suhrs, a Tuttle & a Melacon. Now I have 3 Andersons (I only sold 1 because it was a near duplicate to the main Anderson I play) 2 Suhrs (will likely sell both before too long) & the Tuttle & the Melancon. The Andersons are clearly superior in every way, tone, playability, responsiveness, sustain & tuning stability. The Tuttle is a close second but with a much more vintage vibe. I have never had an issue with the bridges on Andersons at all. The Suhrs have been a disappointment, I can't get as good of action without the low E rattling a lot unless set high, the high E chokes out on upper register string bends unless set fairly high. These are with setups done by me, Suhr & competent luthiers. No matter who did the set up, same results. A couple of them were just over all thin & flat sounding with mediocre sustain. I highly recommend Anderson & Tuttle & would be really interested to know where Andy gets his info that the Anderson bridges are OEM Korean. Even if they are, there is NO issue with them that I have ever seen.
 
Anderson. They are amazing in all ways.
My 7 lb. Angel sounds bigger and smoother than my 70s Les Pauls.
It's probably the best playing and sounding guitar I've ever touched. I have 40 guitars in my house right now....lots of vintage Gibsons. The Anderson makes me wonder how one guitar can play so nice.... well it turns out it's not that special. My second Anderson Drop Top plays just as amazingly and sounds crushing. The two best guitars I own.
 
secondwindow said:
I have a Fender American Ultra Luxe Stratocaster that I'm thinking about replacing with a strat-style from Suhr or Anderson, probably with SSS.

My Fender is on the heavy side and the noiseless pickups aren't bad, but not too inspiring. The playability is fine and craftsmanship is OK.

I have a Suhr Modern Custom with dual humbuckers that I really like - sounds, looks, weight, playability, etc.

I've never owned an Anderson, but have thought about owning one someday.

I don't live near a Suhr or Anderson dealer, so I'll be taking my chances with buying online. Not an issue, so long as I can return it if it's just not for me.

The Suhr Classic S and Anderson Icon Classic are two models I've been comparing.

I'd appreciate any ideas you have to help me decide to keep what I have or get a Suhr, Anderson, or something else.

Thanks in advance!
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I am in a similar situation as you as I was looking to buy a Suhr or Anderson and no guitar store near me are dealers. I was leaning towards a Suhr since it seems most people I follow on Youtube use them. I was in Chicago recently for Thanksgiving and went to Chicago Music Exchange as they are a Suhr dealer. I am one to pickup a guitar and play it unplugged first to get a feel for the neck and to be honest I was expecting to be blown away by the Suhrs but I did not get that "magic" feeling. I tried about 6 different ones - moderns/tele style/ classics and the one that did feel the best to me was a Suhr Classic. I am now thinking I need to try to find an Anderson dealer - unfortunately it seems harder to find those guitars than the Suhrs to try out. I can only suggest locate a Suhr dealer near somewhere you may be visiting and check them out in person or make sure you can return the guitar from an online dealer if you do not like. Would suck spending that kind of $ on something you don't bond with.
 
notalemming said:
I have had 4 Andersons, 6 Suhrs, a Tuttle & a Melacon. Now I have 3 Andersons (I only sold 1 because it was a near duplicate to the main Anderson I play) 2 Suhrs (will likely sell both before too long) & the Tuttle & the Melancon. The Andersons are clearly superior in every way, tone, playability, responsiveness, sustain & tuning stability. The Tuttle is a close second but with a much more vintage vibe. I have never had an issue with the bridges on Andersons at all. The Suhrs have been a disappointment, I can't get as good of action without the low E rattling a lot unless set high, the high E chokes out on upper register string bends unless set fairly high. These are with setups done by me, Suhr & competent luthiers. No matter who did the set up, same results. A couple of them were just over all thin & flat sounding with mediocre sustain. I highly recommend Anderson & Tuttle & would be really interested to know where Andy gets his info that the Anderson bridges are OEM Korean. Even if they are, there is NO issue with them that I have ever seen.
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Thanks for the info. I've had two Suhr Moderns in the past that I didn't gel with and waited too long to return for refund, so lost a lot on resale. The Suhr I have now is a keeper, no issues at all with it.

I've looked at Tuttle and hear great things about them, but never played one or even seen one in person. I see what you mean about the vintage vibe on those. I'm looking for some modern-ish features like a flatter fretboard radius - 12-ish or more, compound radius would be fine, but isn't a must.

Your praise of Anderson - as well as from many others - has me feeling like I've narrowed my options.

If I go with Anderson, I'll have to decide between Icon Classic, Drop Top, Angel, etc.
 
BBN said:
Anderson. They are amazing in all ways.
My 7 lb. Angel sounds bigger and smoother than my 70s Les Pauls.
It's probably the best playing and sounding guitar I've ever touched. I have 40 guitars in my house right now....lots of vintage Gibsons. The Anderson makes me wonder how one guitar can play so nice.... well it turns out it's not that special. My second Anderson Drop Top plays just as amazingly and sounds crushing. The two best guitars I own.
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Good info! I'm seriously considering Anderson, but haven't ruled-out any brands yet, except for possibly Suhr.

The Angel looks great. That's basically the same as the Drop Top, but with 24 frets, right?

The Guardian Angel could be good for me. With a pickguard, it'd be easier to switch from HSS to SSS if I ever wanted to.
 
Anthony76 said:
Tyler.
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I've thought about Tyler, but I'm not sure I'd get used to the look of the headstock. I know I'm not alone in that, but have heard plenty of folks say that once you actually play one, you either forget about the headstock or welcome the conversation it starts.

Haven't ruled-out Tyler yet.
 
KenH said:
I am in a similar situation as you as I was looking to buy a Suhr or Anderson and no guitar store near me are dealers. I was leaning towards a Suhr since it seems most people I follow on Youtube use them. I was in Chicago recently for Thanksgiving and went to Chicago Music Exchange as they are a Suhr dealer. I am one to pickup a guitar and play it unplugged first to get a feel for the neck and to be honest I was expecting to be blown away by the Suhrs but I did not get that "magic" feeling. I tried about 6 different ones - moderns/tele style/ classics and the one that did feel the best to me was a Suhr Classic. I am now thinking I need to try to find an Anderson dealer - unfortunately it seems harder to find those guitars than the Suhrs to try out. I can only suggest locate a Suhr dealer near somewhere you may be visiting and check them out in person or make sure you can return the guitar from an online dealer if you do not like. Would suck spending that kind of $ on something you don't bond with.
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Good ideas! Ideally, I'd find a shop - or shops - that have several to try out. As you know, that's not so easy.

I also like to try electric guitars unplugged first. I always felt like if it's not clicking with me before plugging in, then there's no need to bother with finding an amp to try it with. And, I don't want the amp to be a distraction.

It's expensive to buy online, then return - about $150 each time (shipping both ways). I guess that would pay for a few tanks of gas if I wanted to drive to some bigger cities with better selection of good guitars.
 
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secondwindow said:
Good info! I'm seriously considering Anderson, but haven't ruled-out any brands yet, except for possibly Suhr.

The Angel looks great. That's basically the same as the Drop Top, but with 24 frets, right?

The Guardian Angel could be good for me. With a pickguard, it'd be easier to switch from HSS to SSS if I ever wanted to.
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I think the Guardian Angel also comes with the original (no fine tuner) Floyd Rose bridge?

Edit:

Checking Reverb finds a mix of the Anderson 2-point and the non-locking, no fine tuner Floyd
 
So, I made a decision ... but returned for refund.

I bought, online, a Suhr Classic S Paulownia. Based on what I'd read and the specs, I thought it would be just what I was looking for. But, I was wrong - at least with this one.

The fit and finish were great, but the sound before plugging in was thin and kinda bland. I plugged into my AxeFX III and had the same impression. It just didn't sound good to me - and I tried a lot of presets. I even tried out two other guitars to make sure it wasn't some technical issue or my own ears. The other guitars sounded just fine.

I don't know what the "issue" might be. The guitar arrived tuned high, up a full step to F# - kinda odd. I tuned to standard pitch. I'm assuming the strings were the usual gauge Suhr uses, but wondered later if someone had put on lighter gauge - like 008s, but I think I would have noticed that.

Anyhow, I returned the guitar and should get my refund tomorrow.

I've more or less ruled out Suhr at this point, not because they don't make great guitars, but because buying online just to try out gets expensive - about $150 each time for shipping to me plus return shipping.

I'm looking seriously at Anderson now, but not sure if I should go for the Icon Classic or one of the other models like the Drop Top or Angel.

Do any of you happen to know if the Anderson Icon Classic uses a standard Fender-compatible pickguard?
 
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unix-guy said:
I think the Guardian Angel also comes with the original (no fine tuner) Floyd Rose bridge?

Edit:

Checking Reverb finds a mix of the Anderson 2-point and the non-locking, no fine tuner Floyd
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Yes, I think the Guardian Angel is available with the two-point bridge. I think I'd prefer that over the Floyd for this next guitar.
 
secondwindow said:
Yes, I think the Guardian Angel is available with the two-point bridge. I think I'd prefer that over the Floyd for this next guitar.
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Figured I would mention it since @Andy Eagle talked about the quality of the Anderson bridge.

For my 2 Charvel DK-24 guitars with Gotoh 510 bridges, I replaced the saddles with Wilkinson locking saddles for much better tuning stability. For myself, I would definitely opt for the OFR since the strings are locked in the saddle...

Those guitars are definitely on my list!
 
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