Guitars of the Year 2025: All Categories

How has 2025 fared in terms of guitars? I feel like it’s time to find out. It’s been a busy and colourful year in this neck of the woods, with plenty of new instruments to commend and celebrate. It’s not easy to select guitars and then label them as being ‘better’ than others  because there’s not really such a thing as ‘better’ guitars - it’s really about ‘best for you.’ With that in mind, I can point out the ones that have scored highly for me and my colleagues, and you can take those as personal recommendations, if not definitive ‘best’ guitars.

Sound fair?

To help achieve this, I’ve put together some categories, and assembled a stable full of excellent guitars that meet the criteria of those categories. There’s one guitar per category, and each should hopefully direct you towards what you need in a useful way. If not, see what’s available next to it in a given range, and you might find your answers there. Have a look at what I’ve chosen and see how many of your own favourite releases of 2025 have landed in my guitars of the year…

Should I have put this one at the end of the blog? We may as well start our journey with the guitar that I believe is the most impressive and most useful to the largest number of people.

Tyler Guitars - as you’ll doubtless already know - are highly impressive, absolute top-tier Los Angeles-built instruments that, realistically, only a small number of players can afford. They are hugely distinctive, with finishes that provoke a LOT of online theorising. Their Studio Elite model remains one of the most lusted-after Superstrats on the market, thanks to a reputation for build quality, feel and a palette of tones that are assisted by an onboard mid boost circuit.

The Japanese Tyler-branded guitars that came around a few years ago cost less than the US ones but are still comparable with boutique brand pricing, which is fair since they are incredible guitars.

However, it all changed this year with the release of JTG guitars! This is a big step towards Tyler guitars such as the Studio Elite being finally within the grasp of a larger number of guitarists. Again, these are not at all what I would describe as budget or even mid-priced guitars, but are at least coming in at comparable prices to good Fenders, for example. 

Ok, but what are we looking at here? The JTG MK-1 is - to call a spade a spade - a Chinese made Tyler Studio Elite. It has the shape, the headstock, the mad finishes (somewhat less wild looking than the USA Shmears and Burning Waters but they have to hold something back, don’t they?) and the famous mid-boost, plus they are made to very impressive quality control levels. They play beautifully and sound excellent: nuanced and rich, with plenty of versatility.

Basically, if you love the Tyler vibe but can’t stretch to owning one, then hurry up and try one of these out because things have changed. I’ve played a bunch of Tylers over the years - both US and Japanese - and these JTG MK-1 models are impressive guitars. 

In terms of bang-for-buck, this Epiphone Inspired by Gibson Banner J-45 is a doozy. This feels - and, more to the point, sounds - appreciably close to its American-made namesake. It’s not the same, let’s not kid on - but that gap between the USA guitar and the Chinese replica just got a lot closer, let me put it that way!

The J-45 is famously one of the most recorded acoustic guitars in musical history. It just delivers plenty of what you need, and very little of what you don’t. That characteristic GIbson upper-midrange spike is here in this Epiphone, and the build quality is seriously impressive. These are not inexpensive guitars by anybody’s standards, but what they deliver, for me, displays great value. 

EastCoast’s line of guitars is one of the best places for beginners to start your guitar journey. They are inexpensive but built to last and perform well for the student player. Now, there’s a new model that costs a little bit more but ups its game substantially. The EastCoast EG1-GW looks to those cool modified hard rock Strat-types that you see top bands playing for its inspiration. It has two rail humbuckers (single coil-sized pickups with humbucker tone and power) for a punchy rock sound, and a middle position single coil for glassier, twangier tones.

That’s not all. These are some serious upgrades on here, not least the locking tuners, 2-point tremolo and, rather fantastically, stainless steel frets! Stainless steel frets virtually never wear out (we’re talking about decades upon decades of wear) and are normally only seen on top-priced guitars. EastCoast have brought this all together for a pretty amazing price, so I’d recommend that those beginning their guitar journey consider the slightly higher spend for a huge jump in quality.

I was super-impressed last year with the whammy bar version of this guitar, and in all honesty, nothing below £500 has come close to competing in terms of feel, sound, versatility and value. I can’t pick it again because it’s not a 2025 release, but thankfully PRS have issued a stoptail model and it’s every bit as good. In fact, I might be inclined to say that the PRS SE CE24 Standard Satin Stoptail is even better, only because slight tuning issues (which affect ALL whammy bars) were the only tiny downside to the initial model.

This is a bolt-necked, mahogany bodied PRS that just happens to be made in Indonesia. I don’t know how long they’ll be able to sustain making these at this price, so when they inevitably do increase in cost, I hope you’ll have been smart enough to have already bought yours. These guitars punch so highly above their weight, and it’s no hyperbole to say that they are the equal of instruments that cost three times the price, and the rest. Try one for yourself and see why there is no realistic competition at this part of the market: PRS have fully slammed the gauntlet down.

It’s great to see new Suhr guitars arriving over here, particularly so when they are of a brand new design! The Suhr Oso is a sleek and stylish single cut that may remind you of a few classic axes, but it very much has its own identity.

I’m a big fan of the contoured mahogany body with its comfort cuts on either side and the figured maple on the top. There’s a predictably comfy Suhr neck profile and a great set of pickups that are made in-house, like much of what is on this stunner of an instrument.

To play a Suhr is to play one of the best boutique electric guitars available anywhere, and this fresh new design revitalises and inspires in equal measure.

Honestly, this is one of the coolest things I’ve seen all year. It’s a little mini version of a Jackson RR, made up in Vintage White with pinstripes just like Randy Rhoads’ own guitar! If you are buying for a young person who wants to learn the guitar, you should know that this Jackson JS1X RR Minion is a very well put together instrument, with good quality hardware and decent pickups. It’s a full-on Jackson, after all, just a little smaller than normal.

Well, quite significantly smaller actually, so it should be great for all tiny rockers out there, and even for adult ones who want a fun-sized, travel-friendly axe. Loads of fun, and a serious guitar too.

The title is a bit of a mouthful, but in truth, this is probably Fender’s best take yet on the whole vintage-modern dichotomy. Most of us guitarists enjoy a vintage aesthetic, but find that actual guitars from the 50s come with compromises. Fret sizes, fingerboard radii, bridge saddle stability… there are a hundred tiny tweaks that the intervening 70 years of guitar production have solved and settled, and the Fender Ultra Luxe Vintage 50s Telecaster gets the balance just right.

Mainly, this feels like a very expensive guitar, with great (stainless steel) fretwork and that wonderful ‘Heirloom Lacquer’ that basically gives you a nice bit of natural relicing. There’s a whole range to enjoy, but I kept going back to the 50s Telecaster. It’s just an addictive guitar to pick up and blast around on, and the results are dynamic, expressive and very ‘Fender’.

Since I’ve already chosen the Strat-like JTG MK-1 for the Best Overall Guitar this year, it hardly makes sense to add it in here too, does it? After all, we’ve got a lot of lovely S-types to choose from. Here’s another excellent choice.

If you like your Strats retro then maybe this one won’t be for you (check out the Ultra Luxe Vintage Strat or the Vintera II in that case), but for any Fender fans looking to get the ultimate ‘now’ guitar, let me introduce you to the Fender American Ultra II Stratocaster HSS. I’ve chosen it here in Solar Flare - mainly because it’s so eye-grabbingly different from most Strat options - but there’s a whole rainbow of choice for you throughout the range.

I love this guitar because of how capable it is. It’s one of those instruments that can handle anything, and has a wonderful feel that allows the guitar itself to just melt away, leaving you and your ideas to get to work. It comes in a regular three-single-coil edition, but I feel that the HSS one is the appropriate selection for this future-forward, contemporary Stratocaster.

2025 was the year that saw Gibson building the Les Paul Custom in the standard USA lineup again. Rejoice! If we’re being honest with ourselves, we all know the Custom is the coolest of all Les Pauls, and this Gibson Les Paul 70s Custom delivers every micron of that coolness.

As it’s a loose 70s reissue (debate with yourself whether those original sandwich bodies will ever be missed), you get cool details like the Witch Hat control knobs and, significantly, a volute behind the nut. T-type pickups too, and a brace of finishes that do the model justice. I can personally testify that these things sound absolutely enormous, and have that deep, rich, throaty tone in spades.

Strandberg continue to innovate. The Swedish leaders of the headless revolution returned in 2025 with a new line of subtly redrawn guitars. The Strandberg N2 range (split into Original N2 and Standard N2 subranges) brings a carved top body, titanium in the neck, new pickups (Seymour Duncan or Fishman depending on model choice), a new bridge and stainless steel frets.

All of that is great, but the real reasons I picked this particular guitar - the Strandberg Boden Standard N2.8 - for inclusion today were these: it’s indecently fun to play, and; it takes some of the strangeness out of approaching an 8 string guitar. I’m not exactly sure why, but I think the ergonomics and the Endurneck just set you up to win as a player. It’s such a comfortable guitar that it seems to encourage you to be adventurous when playing. It’s also - to my sensibilities at least - a guitar with no preconceived notions as to how it’s meant to sound, and I find that refreshing.

Are you a Wilco fan? It doesn’t matter really, because this recent Martin 000-Jr Jeff Tweedy model is something you’re going to love regardless. Martin bestowed a spendy 00-DB model on Jeff too, but it’s this affordable Mexico-made guitar that I find myself coming back to again and again.

I do love a smaller bodied Martin - I feel like they encourage lots of interesting and inventive playing for some reason - and this one provides lots of that. Drop that low E to D and fetch your slide, and you can get some fantastic Mississippi ‘Sinners’-style acoustic blues going.

For fingerpickers of all styles, this is a treat, and a pretty affordable guitar too, particularly for a fully solid Martin with a pickup!

Early on in my time with guitarguitar, I was introduced to Sandberg basses. They impressed me then and they impress me now, for several reasons. Most of us musicians seem to want our instruments to be a mixture of classic design with a little modernity added to the recipe. It makes sense, because advances have been made since the 60s, right?

Sandberg, for me, are better than most at this. I’ve chosen the Sandberg California TM5, a quite lovely 5 string with a pickup set that really works. In the middle is a single coil and in the bridge is a punchy humbucker, both by Delano. There’s onboard EQ which is active or passive, and it has one of those lived-in neck feels that does not punish you for wanting an extra string. I love it, and I have a good feeling that you might, too.

So, those were my top picks for 2025. I have another overall ‘Gear of the Year 2025’ blog, but I wanted this one to hone in on particulars. I think we’ve collectively seen some excellent guitars this year - more than this blog’s format allows me to cover - but these are the ones that my colleagues and I have felt most strongly about this year. We see a lot of gear at guitarguitar of course, but that passion and excitement for new stuff still grabs us. We love it all, and I picked these choices today as a fellow guitar player and enthusiast, because I think there’s something in each of these that is worth further exploration.

I hope you do just that, and have loads of fun whilst you do so!