HSS Shootout: How do 5 boutique HSS S style guitars compare? 

Ernie Ball Music Man Cutlass sounds the best to my ears and has one of the most comfortable necks making playing a joy!

I did not expect such classic tones from that Cutlass. Great job Music Man👌

Suhr Antique for me 👍

2:33 trem fake out to trem tickle, classic move. Great playing as always. Id take the suhr but in the surf green color. Thanks for the vid

All of them are good but from my take on them. The Musicman and the Schecter both blend this vintage and modern thing together just target different areas. The Xotic is a vintage style with modern appointments. The LSL is a vintage style and the Suhr is a modern style.

I can just sit and listen to this guy jam. Seriously, I'll play these in my car when I can't(or shouldnt) be paying attention to what gear is played atm. Glad I saw this time though bc I got to see those fancy shoes! Lol.

As always, Jack delivers. Solid playing, mate. Really liked the xotic and the suhr- very responsive and resonant. Cheers

The LSL sounds gorgeous for clean F tones but the Xotic and their RV pickups sound truly larger than life - great playing as always!! Thanks for this!

To my ears, the Xotic was the one that stood out as the best sounding, and as others have written here, the LSL was the most vintage sounding. All of the guitars tested are excellent, but if money was no object, I’d definitely go with the Xotic.

In the States, Charvel is another alternative from a similar price point. I would suggest that once you try one, much of the competition is effectively eliminated. They began catering to the Hard Rock / Metal crowd, but have branched out, offering designs suitable to all styles . Some of the less expensive Cutlass models are every bit as nice as their expensive equivalents.Usually, it's just a few hardware details , and on a couple, pick ups that are a bit lacking( but not actually import bad).Can get them used for cheap.

Great playing. Disappointed you only matched your shoes to the Xotic model.

Surprised to say this, but the Schecter won by a landslide in my opinion. Amazing playing as always!

Xotic XSC-2 all the way. It just does it all better than everything else.

There's kinda something about those LSL's that hits the spot

Well, they're all top-shelf guitars. Tone is one thing, feel and playability is another one. From my experience, those who combine both, as well as a light weight, are LsL and Schecter. \m/

Great video,it would have been great to have had matching sneakers with each guitar you should do a promo with that idea😉,they’re all amazing guitars, I went in thinking The Xotic and Suhr would be my picks, but the Music Man and the Schecter ended up catching my ears unexpectedly, no maple fretboards huh ? Anyway stellar playing 👍

Drive tone of suhr neck pickup are so good

That video sold me a Xotic-Xsc 2. Can't wait to try it!

Each guitar has such a unique sound that there is enough for everyone's taste! Personally (and I am not a strat fan), the Xotic and the LSL sounded the best.

They all sound killer. Edit: And come to think of it, the Triple Crown deserves some serious credit.

The shot of the shows while playing the pink xotic...clever!!

Jack is an absolute beast of a player!! :O :O

I have the schekter and really like the feel of the neck and you can't beat the fret job either.

I want an xotic so bad. Sounds so good

Also, give this man a raise!!!

Thanks for the review! 🙂👍 I've only got to play an LSL out of this group, but it was one of the most comfortable guitars I have EVER played! I'm watching this review because I had never heard of LSL guitar, I just happened to play one in a store the other day, then I saw people online mentioning other boutique strats, but those aren't available in my town. Of everything I played in three guitar stores, I'm down to the choices of the LSL Saticoy HSS in satin gold *chef's kiss*, the Yamaha Revstar P90 Standard (Midrange Model), and I would like to try out a Reverend Double Agent OG. I like P90s, and the LSL has a great vintage sound, also. I was trying to get one guitar that could cover a lot of ground to combine with a Boss Katana Artist MKII amp that could cover a lot of ground so I can have one electric guitar to jam with my son who has been playing electric drums. I sold all of my electric guitars, amps, and accessories back in the day, and I've only had a few acoustic-electric guitars since, but jamming out on them is not quite the same. 😉🙂

All sound great…each little different. Great playing!

For me, definitely Xotic guitars are my favorite.

All cool guitars and I’m sure that they are amazing. I don’t know the average price point on this bevy of beauties, but you can put together an amazing S-style guitar with a little bit of grit and without compromise for way less than $2000. I built a Warmoth parts Strat. These are very quality parts. I picked out the body wood, weight, the neck shape, woods, frets, routing, etc. The fit and finish (frets) meant I didn’t need a big professional assembly. Some parts (pickups, the tuners I wanted, bridge) weren’t available through Warmoth, but I didn’t compromise any aspect of the guitar. I did the finish of the guitar myself to keep cost down and put it together by myself. $1200. If you add pre-finished body and neck, and a professional setup you would be looking at $1600-1800 dollars for an exact-to-your-spec super Strat. Very few brands hold their value...if you are not going the Fender route, why not build it your self?

schecter and music man are so great!!

All Sounded Great. I prefer the knob placement on the G&L as I always have to Mod my Guitars ( move the Top Volume Knob down = too close to the pickups, interferes with my strumming ). I Preferred the Tremolo Arm on the Shur and the Schecter = Improvement over that Old Classic Flimsy, Thin Fender one. Great playing. I am currently shopping for a New HSS Strat ???

Nasty playing man! Love the videos 🤘🏻

The suhr sounded fantastic.

All great and surprisingly very distinctive from each other. All great choices honestly. I’d have to agree that the Xotic takes the cake for my taste, but would be extremely with any of them. As for Jack, well, he is a monster 👺!!

Nice demo. Suhr is so lovely.

you guys should do a shootout with HSH guitars!

First of all...what a player!!! We are not worthy lol. Secondly, for me they all sound fantastic and would be fantastic guitars for anyone to play and own. For me...1 Suhr (just) 2 Xotic 3 LSL 4 Musicman 5 Schecter. But damn it's close and they all sound great.

16:22 musicman 17:02 suhr

Musicman!

The Xotic is without doubt the most like a custom shop Fender Stratocaster. I own a Suhr like the one here only mine has regular Alder not roasted..

All of those are like $3000 USD except for the music man which is $2100. For the price I think music man is great. You can also get one without a roasted neck for like $1500 new. I would go with a cutlass. Maybe I’m biased tho because I own 2 lol I would however choose a 7 string baritone mayones over all of these guitars lol but hey, you can always buy them all 😎👍🏻

Xotic for me

I prefer the xotic , liked it both in cleans and with dirt

Absolutely fantastic guitar playing first and foremost! They all sound great but if I had to rate them I’d probably say; 1. Suhr 2. Xotic 3. LSL 4. Schecter 5. Musicman Thanks for sharing 🙏

great playing kid. fender has really been surpassed by these boutique builders that know what discerning guitar players (with disposable income) want. id take any of those over a fender custom shop strat.

Neck pickup lsl 👌🏼👌🏼

Schecter for me. Furthermore has the most modern neck shape...

Crazy good playing!

I would choose the xotic but in daphne blue or surf green.

Listened to Lukather? Anyway, the Suhr anytime. Recently bought a Modern Plus in Whaleblue Burst and this week I’m gonna get a Standard Plus in Trans Black.

Excellent playing! And all excellent guitars, with the LSL nailing the clean F-style sound best, but as a main gigging guitar I would be very happy with a Xotic, Suhr or Schecter. All three super sounding guitars with some different nuances. I think choice will be mainly influenced how the neck and the fretboard feels.

Can’t decide which I prefer out of LSL, Xotic or the Cutlass. Surprised as I actually expected the Suhr to slay it!

Great Player!

All sounded great and for the price they should be. Most surprising was the Schecter it won hands down based on price but also competed equally on tone. ....I can find a fender under 2K that sounds every bit as good if not better than most. Not a Fender homer just an honest opinion.

absolutely fabulous.

The LSL was the best by a margin ! great great tone ... the Xotic had no character to it.

Ive tried the cutless, I do not like the trem really. The Schecter sounded great middle and neck, but the bridge pickup wasn't all that great to my ears. They're all good guitars, but the Suhr wins for me. I'm biased and admit it. Love those guitars.

you miss Tom Anderson and James Tyler and Jackson SL But I still guess the XSC-2 will win

how is the Friedman vintage s compare?

They all excel in different areas. All things being equal the LSL seemed to be a little more 'musical' while still being gnarly. Winner... LSL...biggest Surprise...Schecter.

I would choose any however here in ozz you'd have to rob a bank to get one of these babies 🤘

The Exotic sounded sweetest to me

great vid. went from undeniably Xotic to Xotic and maybe LSL.

lsl definetly

Great playing and great comparison! My favorite of this bunch was without a doubt the Xotic strat! It sounds the most open, jangly and organic with enough compression and brightness. Second would be the Schecter which sounded great and unique with the Ebony board (less bright, less jangly and more papery sound of the ebony). Third would be the Musicman which sounded ok I guess but nothing special either, typical modern sounding strat but surely usable. Surprisingly I did not really like neither LsL nor Suhr, they both sounded overly compressed, muffled, dull and for the lack of better term "flat" sounding? It's like there is a limiter is on when playing those guitars, everything, every note was even and the tone is was overly sterile and lifeless in comparison to the others. Thanks!

All nice , but I prefer the Suhr , I’ve listened to John Suhr and He is the only one that uses Pickups made like Vintage Strat Pickups, the materials I’m speaking of , and of course the workmanship is great and the intonation is great, but it’s sad but Fender Custom Shop Strat are nice but inconsistent

Imo, Lsl has the best clean sound ..but damn, that distorted sound from Xotic so creamy!

Great work. In the future could you include the name of the amplifier you are doing the demos through. Good salmon all the guitars knowing the amplifier would be nice. Thank you

Jeez Schecter and Music Man allday for me, two brands i have never owned! i need to fix that!

The schecter custom shops are some of the best clips I've heard on yt. I'd love to hear their pickups in a fender american strat.

I'll take the Tom Anderson Classic. 😉

I dont hear a huge difference, just nuances. I just would pick what feels and looks the best to me.

They are all reasonably good sounding

Personal impression: they all sounded very good, especially in the clean department, while in OD some seemed to struggle a lil compared to the others. I second the general consensus, the Xotic sounded absolutely great, and possibly the most "vintage" of the bunch, loved its crispy attack and crunchy sounds. The MusicMan sounded a lil modern, maybe thin at times, but nice nontheless, and proly more suited for modern Rock. Liked how the Schecter didn't try hard to 100% reproduce the Stratocaster® character, but had its very personal thing going on, sort of suggested a different take on the good old recipe, and the result is a win. Suhr is a well known name when S-style guitars are implied, and though I didn't super love the Classic Antique as much as others, it's likely a youtube video thing. LSL was just super sweet sounding in single coil department, but didn't like the humbucker sound, sort of muffled imho. All amazing guitars there tho!

Sound wise I prefer Schecter

3:55 Show off the guitar matched sneakers?

Nice video! I enjoyed the Xotic, it seemed more alive and vibrant, especially in the highs.

Nice shoes

Xotic!

Beautiful tones and great playing. I like the classic tones of the Xotic and LsL best, but can't fathom why boutique guitars in 2019 (and only the Xotic and LsL really deserve the boutique denomination imho) still come with a heel joint the size of a brick. I (kind of) get why Fender still do ... (65 years later? uuuuh "tradition" blah blah blaaaah ....) so I would go for the Schecter, probably more a Nick Johnston sig model as I don't like the necks on Suhrs. And an Indonesian one as I would never pay +3,000€ for a factory guitar, so at that price I would instead get a custom build, and from a European luthier so as not to be incidentally crucified by customs.

Music man…uoooooh!!!!

What amp and what speaker cab are being used here please?

Best part - 3:54

What Amp are all the first comparisons play through?

8:25 1:38 9:16 2:01 10:07 2:37 10:25 2:48 10:37 2:57 11:00 3:18

Did u get that prs back that was stolen from your shop ,????

the cutlass is somewhat affordable, the others not so much

Musicman and Schecter. Didn't know Schecter made strats of this quality. What a sound!

Suhr Classic Antique Roasted #1 LsL White #2 Xotic XSC-2 #3

No Grosh, Tom Anderson or Fender Custom Shop HSS? Does Suhr even use nitro finish? They used to be all poly finish, which is not ideal.

I like Suhr , however they only have nitrocellulose on their ‘classic antique’ models which is a shame, to me anyhow.

Music man

Would have been nice if you told us what you felt

What amp and OD are you using?

Any affordable alternatives?

I hae currently or have had all of these guitars except the lsl. But I have played one of those as well. I love them all am would be trilled to have anyone of them as my one and only. I really love them all in there one way but me me and what I do we is just me and an amp and playing 80 Blues. If there was a fire and I could only grab one I would grab the xotic without thinking twice, Man I love that guitar I then the musicman is a little more well rounded, If I were in a top 40 band It's pretty hard to beat. The Suhr's are just awesome but in a strange way just a little to willing and compliant, More college educated. I more of a dive bar kind a guy

They all sound fantastic! But the Suhr wins for me. And that colour! Pure sex. Great playing as well!

HSS > SSS. Fight me. The only battle is HSH vs HSS.

Xotic is the beefiest sounding, Cutlass is the thinnest sounding typical of MM small bodies and short head stocks, Schecter sounded much better than I expected, LSL sounded the most vintage to me, and the Suhr absolutely screams.

LSL all day long