Suhr Guitars Classic

I ordered this guitar in March of 1998 from Jeff Olson at the Music Box in Lodi, CA and it arrived in early June '98. I have been playing it regularly for almost a year weekend gigs and it has become my main guitar. The guitar is a lightweight (7 lbs.1oz.) Strat style solid swamp ash body with a super thin Mary Kaye transparent white finish and a white pearl pickguard. The neck shape is called a "60's Vintage taper .810-.930". The Strat scale length flat-sawn maple neck has a Madagascar rosewood fingerboard and 21 heavy frets with a 10" radius. The back of the neck has a very comfortable satin finish that feels like wood. I am very happy with the chrome hardware including Sperzel locking tuners and a Gotoh 1099 bridge (similar to an American Standard with two pivots) with a push in arm and solid saddles. The 3 passive pickups are John's in-house 50's style single coil pickups with a tall "D" string pole piece stagger. The guitar is wired to look like a stock Strat but the controls are as follows: master volume, master tone, and pickup blend which allows various combinations of neck or bridge pickup to be blended in. The guitar has a 5 way switch and a side mounted output jack which is convenient as it does not interfere with the vibrato arm. The guitar is built with the Buzz Feiten Tuning System which allows more accurate intonation across the fingerboard than traditional tempering methods. It is still easy to tune the guitar and the improvement in intonation is very noticeable.
John has included a "hand cut" to accommodate upper fingerboard access. It is very comfortable to play in all positions on the neck. The guitar comes equipped with large strap buttons that work, a nice touch.
A well thought out Stratocaster design that improves on ergonomics and playability.

I play in a country/rock/blues bar band and the guitar does a great job of covering these bases. I like being able to roll some of the highs off the bridge pickup. It gives a beautiful tone that is not harsh. By rolling on the blend knob I can blend in the neck pickup for a fuller tone. I play through a Matchless SC-30, Victoria 45410-T Bassman replica or a Fender Hot Rod Deluxe depending on the weather and location of the gig. The guitar sounds great through all the amps. Pedals include a Fulldrive II, Demeter Tremulator and Boss DD-5 and RV-3.
The guitar is very resonant and acoustically loud even with the trem floating. I use Teflon lube sparingly on the nut and saddles and can really use the bar hard and stay in tune. I change strings weekly and have yet to break a string on this guitar (I break many on my Fenders!).
The guitar is bright,sweet and ringy yet not harsh. I believe the Madagascar rosewood fingerboard compliments the ash body's tone. The pups are well balanced in volume and give a broad spectrum of Strat tones. The guitar sounds great clean and still has punch and definition at high gain settings. It is very flexible.

John Suhr's work is of the highest quality. There is no aspect of the guitar's construction or set up that has dissappointed me. The fit and finish are flawless. The action is quite low and buzz free and even along the length of the fingerboard.

I always bring two guitars to jobs but frequently play my Suhr all night. I've had the guitar for about a year and it looks great even though I don't pamper it. I expect it to hold up as well or better than any high quality bolt on neck guitar. It has been reliable at hot dusty outdoor gigs at the San Joaquin County Fair and under hot stage lights and cold rainy winter barn dances as well. The guitar really stays in tune, and the satin finish on the neck is comfortable. I plan to hand this guitar down to my 20 month old son some day.

I have spoken to John Suhr several times on the phone and he has been extremely friendly, helpful and patient with me. Tbe guitar has not needed any repairs. I am not aware of the warranty status but I trust that John stands behind his guitars.

I have been playing for about 30 years and enjoy playing great guitars and amps. I have really bonded with this guitar and feel a little guilty that it has taken my attention away from some other guitars at home. I like my Suhr Classic so much that I just ordered another one in lightweight alder with a V neck and John's V-60 pickups.

Suhr Guitars are built by John Suhr of Pensa-Suhr fame, in California. He was also the master builder at the Fender Custom Shop for a time. The Suhr Classic I purchased is a strat-style body made of alder. The neck is John's Even C Medium size satin finish maple with a Madagascar Rosewood fretboard featuring 22 heavy frets. The bridge is a Gotoh 1099T with push in vibrato arm. The guitar has Sperzel Locking tuning gears. My model has three of John's custom-wound JST V60's single coils, passive electronics, and a 5-way switch. Controls are volume, tone, and blend, which allows the user to blend tones from the bridge and neck pickups. A very nice plush black hardshell case was shipped with the guitar. All Suhr Guitars feature the Buzz Feiten Tuning System.

My tastes run from classic rock and blues to country and jazz (lots of music with great guitar tones). I prefer playing through Fender-style amps and a few choice pedals (overdrive, chorus, delay). I've played a half-dozen or so of John's guitars and am struck by their consistent tone and workmanship to date. This model is a straight-ahead no b.s. strat. While he offers some great models with almost any combination of pickups and necks (visit www.suhrguitars.com to see what I mean), I felt a standard 3 single coil strat-style fit my tastes better. You have to play this guitar to believe it! While every guitar sounds different in different hands, the balance and clarity in this guitar are inspirational. Suhr touts his V60's as the "ultimate 60's single coil with the greasy, fat, throaty tones you've been looking for [using] the correct Alnico 5 magnet." I compared these pickups to the DiMarzio Virtual Vintage pickups he also offers, and found the V60's to be more "alive" sounding with a very balanced and articulate tone across all frequencies. The bass frequencies are rich and full-bodied yet still "cut" very musically. The highs will give you as much Nashville twang you'd ever want without ever being piercing. These are great pickups and are surprisingly quiet. The DiMarzios sounded nice in the Suhrs I've played (it's hard to screw up a great guitar's tone) and were very quiet, but were more midrangy and "soft" sounding to these ears. I own quite a few guitars and use lots of different ones for different sounds in both studio and live settings. If I needed a classic strat single coil sound, I would use this guitar even before my Fenders. It is the quintessential sound, with a much more complex tone. I think the Buzz Feiten system really makes a difference in the intonation of chords and single notes over the entire range of the guitar neck. It's such a subtle, yet beautiful sound. Think of the classic strat tones that many people use as reference points (Knopfler, Clapton, Eric Johnson, Vaughans, etc...) as well as tele guys (Albert Lee, Danny Gatton, Brent Mason, etc...). While the tones are in their hands, if you have a feel for emulating these styles, this guitar is more than happy to oblige.

This is the area I'm amazed with. The set-ups on all Suhr guitars I've played are phenomenal. While this is an area of personal taste, I've found the action and intonation to be as rattle-free and in tune as can be expected. These guitars almost play themselves yet have enough resistance to make you feel like you're really playing. The pickups seem to be adjusted optimally. The bolt-on neck fits very tightly and the fretwork is impeccable. The quality of Suhr's finishes and the available choices are first class all the way. The only reason I'll refrain from giving this category a perfect 10, is because my guitar was shipped with a couple of very, very small depressions in the body. They are so small that most people might not notice them right away, but they do annoy me somewhat, given the price of this guitar and the fact that I special ordered it. I'm convinced that the dings were in the body before painting because the finish is flawless and smooth even over the areas in question. I know every guitar that gets used will get banged up, but I'd rather do the banging myself (unless it's a Fender Relic). One other interesting note, Suhr doesn't use necks with a high-degree of fancy quilting or birdseye maple because he feels a plain grain wood is more stable. I have numerous guitars with amazing cosmetics and the look of this neck is downright boring comparitively, but that's the way it should be. It feels and sounds so good! The satin finish feels perfect to me.

This guitar seems to be as well-made as you could hope to find. The strap buttons are over-sized and prevent straps from falling off. The attention to detail is so comprehensive that I think it will translate into years of reliability. I will not give this category a rating though, because I've only had the guitar for a few days.

John Suhr has been kind enough to discuss his products with me via e-mail and telephone. He strikes me as very knowlegeable and opinionated. He normally asks customers to allow 3-4 months delivery for special orders. Mine took 2 months and 1 day to receive. This may change as people become aware of his products. The true test of customer service, though, comes when you need help with the product you've already bought. Therefore, the jury is still out.

I am a big Fender fan, but feel that John Suhr's products have surpassed anything coming out of Fender's Custom Shop as of late. I think Fender has become such a big corporation that they don't take the time to pay attention to the important details that John does, such as lightweight and resonant woods with immaculate fretwork. The only reason I use Fender as a comparison here is because the Suhr Classic is patterned after the timeless strat design, with a few functional upgrades. I still love my newer Fender guitars and amps, but feel I have a piece of functional art with the Suhr. The tone and feel of this guitar make perfect sense. It just seems to be common sense that everybody interested in the craft of guitar making would build a guitar like this. I must admit the small dings in the body bother me, but I have been reluctant to pursue the matter because the guitar sounds and plays so nicely, and I guess that is what matters the most. I'm not sure that Suhr would be able to fix them anyway. I do feel that this is the exception rather than the rule because the other examples I've played have been flawless. I don't normally write equipment reviews, but feel that Suhr deserves some attention here. By all means, go to his website at www.suhrguitars.com for a better look at what he offers.