The best electric guitars for metal – our top-rated Jacksons, Gibsons, Strandbergs & more
Metal is a musical multiverse, made up of wildly diverse sounds and sub-genres. Any two metal guitarists might want very different sounds out of their guitars – from doom-laden chugging and speedy sweep-picking to atmospheric arpeggios and emotive lead playing.
When choosing a metal guitar, think about your playing style first. Do you need the lower lows of an extended range guitar with seven or eight strings, or a baritone model? Is a six-stringer with excellent all-round capabilities better suited to your genre-blurring stylings? Are you partial to a spot of shredding?
To help find the best metal guitar for you, we’ve unleashed our resident metalheads on some of the best-loved instruments in the genre. You can read short summaries of their reviews below, or click the links for more detail on each guitar.
At a glance:
Our Pick: Jackson Lee Malia LM-87
For modern metal: Jackson Diamond Rowe Monarkh
Best headless guitar: Strandberg Boden Essential 6
Best seven-string guitar: Jackson Pro Series Signature Jeff Loomis Soloist SL7
Best eight string guitar: Cort KX508MS
Best thrash guitar: Gibson Dave Mustaine Flying V EX
Best guitar for doom and stoner metal: Yamaha Revstar RSS02T
Best shred guitar: Jackson Pro Plus Series Dinky DKA
Best guitar for downtuning: Rivolta Mondata Baritone VII
Best hardtail S-type for metal: Charvel Pro-Mod San Dimas Style 1 HSS HT E Sassafras
Best affordable guitar for metal: Guild Polara
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Our Pick: Jackson Lee Malia LM-87
Jackson Lee Malia LM-87 guitar. Image: Press
This sleek-looking Jackson may be a signature for Bring Me The Horizon’s Lee Malia, but it’s far from a one-trick pony. Thanks to Lee’s healthy appreciation for the vintage and the strange, his new Jackson signature covers a lot of sonic ground – there’s a slim neck and awesome weight and balance to the thing, perfect for long sets of extremely speedy riffs. The bridge humbucker is also voiced from grunt, and will provide all the beef you could ask for when smashing out down-tuned aggression.
But it also has a restrained P90-style single coil in the neck position, meaning you can get some much more restrained sounds out of it, and you can split the bridge to turn the whole guitar into something a lot more bright and articulate. Plus, its vibey offset shape and cool, thin finish helps it blend in no matter what style of metal you’re playing. At $899, too, it’s a pretty affordable guitar given the specs. A set neck, great frets and an open-pore finish for this kind of money shouldn’t be sniffed at!
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Need more? Read our review of the Jackson Lee Malia LM-87.
The best guitar for modern metal: Jackson Diamond Rowe Monarkh
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Tetrach guitarist Diamond Rowe’s signature Monarkh is an extremely cool metal-focused single-cut. With a shred-friendly cutaway and a tried-and-tested set of EMG humbuckers, it sticks to the things that work – while still having tons of its own personality. The finish is an awesome fiery burl, and the new headstock design is a little more “classic” while still being sharp and aggressive.
Being one of two Jackson signature metal guitars we reviewed relatively close together, there’s a temptation here to compare it to the Lee Malia signature – and in that respect, it takes quite a different tack. While Lee Malia’s guitar harkens back to the vintage and strange, Diamond Rowe’s offers a tighter focus on thrashy, heavy sounds.
Lee also spec’d his guitar to be light for extended stadium sets, whereas Diamond has opted for a more Les Paul-like experience – meaning this guitar is a good deal heavier, with a bit of a thicker neck.
Need more? Read our review of the Jackson Diamond Rowe Signature Monarkh.
Best headless to buy for metal: Strandberg Boden Essential 6
The Strandberg Boden Essential 6 in Elemental Blue
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Heads, you lose. Prog and tech metal stalwart Strandberg has been making high-spec headless guitars since the mid-noughties – and with the advent of the Boden Essential 6, you can now grab one of the brand’s convention-defying instruments for well under a grand.
Not only is this guitar a relative bargain; it’s a superb entry point into the uncanny world of headless guitars. Our reviewer rated the Essential Boden 6 highly for its lightweight, ergonomically contoured body, shred-friendly triangular neck profile and resonant tone. With a metal nut in place of conventional headstock hardware, open string notes meld imperceptibly with fretted playing.
Need more? Read our Strandberg Boden Essential 6 review.
Best seven-string guitar: Jackson Pro Series Signature Jeff Loomis Soloist SL7
We’re not usually the sorts to call a guitar an ‘axe’ – but in this case, the term seems apt. The SL7 is a masterfully realised metal archetype, geared for fast playing and all-round aggression – a la Nevermore’s Jeff Loomis.
As you’d expect, our reviewers get to grips with a lot of guitars. Even so, the SL7 has one of the skinniest necks and one of the lowest actions we’ve flung our fingers around in years – not to mention one of the gloomiest aesthetics, thanks to that satin-black basswood body. This guitar is no-frills, low-friction and metal to the bone.
Need more? Read our Jackson Pro Series Signature Jeff Loomis Soloist SL7 review.
Best eight string guitar: Cort KX508MS
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Making a great extended range guitar is pretty much rocket science – minus the E.T.. Cort has nailed the mission with its KX508MS eight-stringer, which combines an alien-looking sassafras body with down-to-earth playability.
The fanned fret layout is surprisingly intuitive, with excellent intonation across the ’board. Meanwhile, the KX508MS’s Fishman Fluence Modern pickups deliver a sculpted low-end that won’t compete for sonic space with your bassist.
As extended range guitars go, the KX508MS is affordably priced – although you’ll pay a little extra each time you need a fresh set of strings. Our reviewer reckoned this ‘entry level’ guitar could go toe-to-toe with pro models costing three times the price.
Need more? Read our Cort KX508MS review.
Best thrash guitar: Gibson Dave Mustaine Flying V EX
Thrash metal legend Dave Mustaine and Gibson sounds like a match made in Heaven (or should that be Hell?) The signature-edition Flying V EX proves it.
We loved the detailing on this toughened-up classic – especially the ebony fretboard and fang-shaped mother-of-pearl inlays. These innovations complement a classic V build, with the rounded wings, mahogany body and glued-in neck Gibson fanatics have come to expect. Tonally, we’re talking focused low end, moderate mids, and ultimately, a thrash-first sonic fingerprint.
Above all, the V EX looks like an authentic Flying V, and sounds like a legit Dave Mustaine signature guitar. Mid-century style meets hard metal substance in a symphony of destruction.
Need more? Read our Gibson Dave Mustaine Flying V EX review.
Best guitar for doom and stoner metal: Yamaha Revstar RSS02T
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This guitar oozes Matt Pike-style cool, and features two P90s that deliver some bona fide early Sabbath vibes.
Talk to any guitarist who was lucky enough to start out with a Pacifica, and they’ll tell you Yamaha guitars have a knack for outperforming their price point. The Revstar RSS02T is a higher-spec example, but the same rule applies.
When you’re done gawking at the RSS02T’s gorgeous sunburst finish and nostalgia-inflected silhouette, you’ll find it’s equally easy on the ear, with superb note articulation, rich cleans and some headily out-of-phase tones at positions two and four on the pickup selector.
Need more? Read our Yamaha Revstar RSS02T review.
Best shred guitar: Jackson Pro Plus Series Dinky DKA
Jackson Pro Plus Series Dinky DKA. Image: Adam Gasson
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If super-fast shredding is your obsession, look no further than the Pro Plus Series Dinky DKA. From the elegantly recessed control knobs to the super-slim neck, this guitar’s every detail seems honed for speed.
The Dinky DKA will get you where you’re going, fast, but it provides plenty of proverbial flowers to smell along the way. Our reviewer admired the arched top to the body, which acts as a comfortable armrest while your wrist runs riot, and the superlative Floyd Rose 1000 Series tremolo fitted as standard with this high-spec shredding machine. Meanwhile, the direct-mounted Seymour Duncan JB and ’59 humbuckers provide resonance, sustain and space for expression.
Need more? Read our Jackson Pro Plus Series Dinky DKA review.
Best guitar for downtuning: Rivolta Mondata Baritone VII
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We’ll come out and say it: more guitarists should play a baritone guitar, with heavier strings tuned to a range somewhere between a regular guitar and a bass. The Rivolta Mondata Baritone VII is a shining, brooding example of the often-overlooked species, offering up super-hefty sounds via its bridge pickup.
Chords, riffs and lead lines sound thrillingly thick and meaty with this guitar, especially when you run it through your best overdrive pedal. You can reassure the bassist or fellow guitarist in your band that you won’t be crowding them out of the mix, as the Mondata Baritone VII gives plenty of options to tweak your tone via the pickup selector and phase switch.
Need more? Read our Rivolta Mondata Baritone VII review.
Best hardtail S-type for metal: Charvel Pro-Mod San Dimas Style 1 HSS HT E Sassafras
Charvel Pro-Mod San Dimas Style 1 HSS HT E Sassafras
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Some metal musicians shy away from S-style guitars due to their sometimes-iffy bridge stability (or maybe because they’re more John Frusciante than John Matos).
If you do want the iconic shape and fluid playability of a Strat, but without those infamous tuning issues, check out the San Dimas Style 1 HSS HT E Sassafras from Charvel’s Pro-Mod series. This Stratalike incorporates a rock-solid, recessed Floyd Rose 1000 Series double-locking vibrato bridge that keeps your strings in-tune, even during virtuoso playing.
We should probably point out that this guitar sounds great, too. Its sassafras body adds depth beyond what you’d typically hear from alder or swamp ash, and that translates into some really meaty rock tone at the bridge pickup.
Need more? Read our Charvel Pro-Mod San Dimas Style 1 HSS HT E Sassafras review.
Best affordable guitar for metal: Guild Polara
Image: Adam Gasson for Guitar.com
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Hovering bumblebee-like around the £500 mark, the Guild Polara is an accessibly priced model that doesn’t skimp on tone and playability.
This might look a world away from your average Jackson or Strandberg, but the SG-inspired Polaris is primed for hard rock and classic metal. Its tone is absolutely monstrous (a good thing!), and the machine heads do a great job of holding tune during high-octane playing.
You’ll get on with the Guild Polara if you’re all about thrills, and not so bothered about frills. Its design cuts right to the chase, with a simplified control layout consisting of master volume and a tone knob to wrangle its twin-set of HB-2+ humbuckers.
Need more? Read our Guild Polara review.
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