Your Favorite YouTube Guitar/Gear Reviewers

[Puddleglum]

I really enjoy Phil McKnight's KNOW YOUR GEAR and Darrell Braun's Guitar Channel. I watch a few others from time to time, but these are the ones I enjoy the most. I sometimes listen to the podcast version of KNOW YOUR GEAR and it can be great. Phil knows a lot about gear.

Have to admit, when I'm scrolling through and see all the goofy, attention-grabbing photos of open-mouthed people making shocked faces next to a guitar, and with some meant-to-shock caption written, I automatically don't click on those reviews. I know the result they are looking for, but it works the opposite way for this old-ish stick-in-the-mud.

[brencat]

My 2 favs are Shawn Brock with his 20 min bluegrass flatpicking demos of all sorts of boutique dreads that people send him to help sell, and Paul/Quinton at Music Villa who also do a great job with creative comparos.

[BlueBowman]

I don’t really watch any channel at the moment, but for me it’s all about authenticity. I agree with you that Phil McKnight seems to be at the top of that list. I don’t care if I disagree with their review, as long as they’re coming from an honest place. It can get a little hazy with some people.

There are several reviewers on YT who give nothing but positive reviews for every free guitar (or product) they are sent. I stay away from those.

[para_adams]

No words used, none needed, Carl Miner’s “reviews” speak for themselves. Perfection.

[Biosphere]

I follow the smartphone market quite a bit and there are reviewers who are paid by the smartphone companies or selling platforms who sponsor their channels to never say anything bad about the phones they review, and then there are the "honest" reviewers who buy the phones themselves and will point out all the flaws.

Unfortunately, pretty much all the guitar reviewers I see are too afraid of offending either the manufacturers lest it impact their future relationship with them or the stores they own or work for for obvious reasons and will never say a single bad word about the guitars. In fact, I'd say they go as far as making bad things seem like good things.

For those reviewers already mentioned - Music Villa, Shawn Brock, I'm not aware of the rest - quote me a single time they've ever said anything negative or pointed out shortcomings about any of the guitars they've reviewed. What they say in their reviews are not consistent with real world experience, where many people experience both pros and cons and have likes and dislikes about the guitars they own, and for some of the guitars we own, we even think they don't sound good so we move them on.

[abn556]

I like Ian Meadows no talking, all playing vids on guitars.

Music Villas videos are short and entertaining.

Bohlinger at Premier Guitar does some good guitar reviews.

I also watch those Billy Strings videos from Carter’s Vintage along with some of their other players.

[mcduffnw]

Originally Posted by para_adams

No words used, none needed, Carl Miner’s “reviews” speak for themselves. Perfection.

Yeppers...I agree 100%

And with Carl... NO OVER PLAYING!!!...no trying to show off his considerable chops, just keep it relatively simple, and melodic, and musical, and let the guitars voice speak clearly for itself.

We don't need to hear the player, we need to hear the guitar, and Carl clearly gets that.

And Carl could do that with ANY quality level of guitar, not just the higher end inventory he gets to show off. I would love to hear what he could do with a Yamaha FG-830, or a vintage FG-180.


duff
Be A Player...Not A Polisher

[Sir strumalot]

Originally Posted by abn556

I like Ian Meadows no talking, all playing vids on guitars.

...

I agree. I bought my Eastman after listening to his demo, and when I got the guitar, it sounded just as I expected from his video. I think he does a great job of capturing the sound of the instrument.

[cip]

Music Villa is great. As long as Chad is not in the video

[Ken Carr]

I'm putting in my plug for Walter Rodriguez Jr. He doesn't routinely do a lot of demo videos, but he has a few. His reviews seem very honest. He gives his pros and cons and seems sincere. Of course he could probably stretch some rubber bands across two paper plates and make beautiful music with it. I also enjoy some of the others already mentioned. What I dislike are people trying to review an acoustic guitar and they dampen the strings, trying to play rock-style like they are on a stratocaster. By all means let it ring out.

[llew]

The absolute best review I've seen is the Tony Polecastro from Music Villa some years back (pre Quinton) review of the Esteban Amber Ice guitar. In a gorilla suit no less...a classic!

[ssstewart]

J.P. Cormier reviews and string theory episodes...awesome

[doctone]

I like the Music Villa videos, like a chat with friends who get down to business, no trash talk and superb audio quality.
And Cooper from Alamo Music... great player and a cool cat!

[abn556]

Originally Posted by doctone

I like the Music Villa videos, like a chat with friends who get down to business, no trash talk and superb audio quality.
And Cooper from Alamo Music... great player and a cool cat!

Cooper is a great player. I wish they would let him play on all their reviews.

JP Cormier is a great player too, but he comes off as a blow hard. He pimps Far East guitars so hard and bad mouths all big US brands. Kinda tired of his act.

[Br1ck]

No matter of great recording technique can overcome the medium of YouTube processing. No possible comparison across channels can be done. The room can make or break the recording. Reviews are useless and valid for only the guy playing the guitar. And his opinion is more than likely in service of a sale. Like all sales, being likable to the buyer is high on the list.

Now there are a lot of very good guitars out there, which keeps the system working, because get a guitar delivered to your door is more than likely going to be fine. But the reviews should be thought of as entertainment. Some of the most ridiculous things are said, and clickbait is an art form. There is only one way to buy a guitar,IMHO, and that is to play it against guitars in a room full of worthy contenders.

Just to be clear, send me a D 18, a Bourgeois, a Collings, a Huss and Dalton, a higher end J 45, and any number of others. Alone on its own, I'll like each and every one. In context one would be a clear winner, or more to the point, maybe none. I'd likely have to repeat the process a dozen times. Doing so has had me buying few guitars I've owned for years. Mostly they were guitars I did not have my sights on