Gear of the Year 2017
solidbodies; prestige electrics; semi-acoustic electrics; acoustics; amp heads; amp combos; drive effects; delay, reverb and modulation; multi effects; innovation
Every year, we review hundreds of items of kit but only a handful instantly strike a powerful spark that ignites new musical inspirations. These days it’s pretty hard to buy poorly built guitars. That’s great, but the very uniformity of 21st-century manufacturing means that it’s also rarer for things to truly stand out. All the winners of our Gear of the Year awards first received either a Guitarist Choice or Gold award when initially reviewed. That was the price of admission to the shortlist. Then our writers got together to thrash out which of that already great list of guitars, amps and effects deserved the ultimate accolade. Here’s what we chose...