Help me decide: Strat-style - Suhr or Anderson

ToneLabRat said:
Full disclosure, the Suhr is my favorite guitar ever.

On the neck carves, what was most important to me was, 12th fret and below they were pretty close, up higher the Suhr seemed to have a little more room on the board for me and was easier to play. It could have been other factors too, like the medium SS frets on the Suhr that I really like, where the Schecter had Jumbos, or the maple board on the Suhr is easier for me to see these days :)

Another notable was the Schecter trem, it was fantastic. Held tuning better than any non-locking trem I have ever had, including the Gotoh 510 on the Suhr.

On tone, the Suhr has the SSH+ and ML single coils. It just seems to be able to nail such a wide variety of tones. And the single coils get this great mix of saturation and fluidity very quickly with some distortion. The Schecter was a bit darker, very full sounding, but harder for me to dial in what I was going for. Still sounded great though. But in comparison to that Suhr, the bar is very high.
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Thanks for the detailed reply!

Interesting info on the trem - I need to get more details on what exactly it is.

I think that the pickups on the Schecter are specific to Nick Johnston and his preferred sounds, which probably accounts for the darker tone.
 
I bought a second-hand Tom Anderson Icon Classic. I thought I'd wait to buy after the first of the year, but found one in the finish and pickup configuration I wanted. So, pulled the trigger. The guitar will arrive on Thursday. Taking a chance buying a guitar I hadn't played first, but my hopes are high.
 

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Having had both (still have my Anderson Pro Am). I would go for the Anderson! I just never “clicked” with the Suhrs. However, this one Suhr I had was freaking beautiful, man!

I can't explain it. Sorry!

They are both well-made, so you can't go wrong.
 
CONGRATS! The Icon is an amazing guitar. Even though the one you purchased is used, I think you can still return it to Anderson for a setup if it needs it. They set mine up 3 years ago and it has withstood the wild swings of NJ climate with almost nothing needed in all that time.
 
Cave Man said:
Having had both (still have my Anderson Pro Am). I would go for the Anderson! I just never “clicked” with the Suhrs. However, this one Suhr I had was freaking beautiful, man!

I can't explain it. Sorry!

They are both well-made, so you can't go wrong.
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Hey, Caveman

I did decide on an Anderson - more on that soon. I think I'm going to really like it!

I've had 5 Suhrs over the last few years and 2 were disappointing. I picked up the other 3 Suhrs more recently and they're all really good.

As good as those 3 Suhrs are, I've decided to let 2 of them go. But, I'm having a really tough time deciding which 2 to part with!
 
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Admin M@ said:
CONGRATS! The Icon is an amazing guitar. Even though the one you purchased is used, I think you can still return it to Anderson for a setup if it needs it. They set mine up 3 years ago and it has withstood the wild swings of NJ climate with almost nothing needed in all that time.
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Thanks!

The new (to me) TA Icon Classic arrived a day early, so I got to spend a little time with it last night.

It's REALLY good! This one is a 2019 in Desert Sunset with SSS, two SC1s and an SC2 in the bridge.

The frets are SS medium-jumbo, rosewood fretboard, and caramel maple neck. The neck profile is V-Large. Once upon a time I wouldn't have liked that neck profile but thinl I'll grow to like it a lot (not an easy thing to change!).

It's got heavy strings on it, 11-52. I think that's what I have on my Taylor acoustic! However, although the strings feel thick, it's not at all hard to play.

The wiring is non-standard. The 5-way switch is in reverse and the positions of the two tone controls are swapped. That's how it was ordered from Anderson. I'm pretty sure I'll change that back to normal.

I hadn't thought of sending the guitar to Anderson for a setup, but I'll give that some thought. Thanks for that tip!
 
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JohnFX said:
Why do Anderson’s have 2 strap buttons,
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Tom Anderson started doing that when he was working at Schecter in the 80's. Since then, some Schecter USA Production are still using 2 strap buttons

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secondwindow said:
Thanks!

The new (to me) TA Icon Classic arrived a day early, so I got to spend a little time with it last night.

It's REALLY good! This one is a 2019 in Desert Sunset with SSS, two SC1s and an SC2 in the bridge.

The frets are SS medium-jumbo, rosewood fretboard, and caramel maple neck. The neck profile is V-Large. Once upon a time I wouldn't have liked that neck profile but thinl I'll grow to like it a lot (not an easy thing to change!).

It's got heavy strings on it, 11-52. I think that's what I have on my Taylor acoustic! However, although the strings feel thick, it's not at all hard to play.

The wiring is non-standard. The 5-way switch is in reverse and the positions of the two tone controls are swapped. That's how it was ordered from Anderson. I'm pretty sure I'll change that back to normal.

I hadn't thought of sending the guitar to Anderson for a setup, but I'll give that some thought. Thanks for that tip!
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Update: I'm so impressed with this Tom Anderson Icon Classic that I've decided to sell it!

The guitar is wonderful, but there are a couple of things that I think would suit me better - mostly the neck profile, which isn't easy to change.

I received my brand-new Tom Anderson Drop Top a few days ago and I'm thrilled. It has a koa top over a hollow alder body with rosewood fretboard. The frets are heavy stainless steel on a compound radius fretboard (12-14 inch). The guitar weighs 6.4 lbs.

I currently have three very nice Suhrs and will keep only one. I'm having trouble deciding which one to keep. I may just list all three for sale and close a listing after the first two sell.
 

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State of Epicicity said:
How is the tone and the trem tuning stability? That looks incredible, and I’ve wanted an Anderson for a long time. Congratulations!
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The guitar feels "lively". So far, I'm not hearing any emphasis in any particular frequency ranges - it's not bass-y, etc.

The trem holds tuning well, but I haven't used it much yet. When I do use the trem, it's just to add mild vibrato, not diving. The guitar came with the bridge flush with the body and I'll keep it that way for now.

I've wanted to get an Anderson for about 20 years, I think. I finally went for it!
 
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