Best V-Shape Guitar for Metal in 2024

Best V-Shape Guitar for Metal Reviewed

Metal is a genre that requires you to be extremely flashy and flamboyant, and as a metal artist, you need to attract the crowd naturally. A guitar that’s used on metal must have a powerful tone output and must have a clean base signal to withstand high-gain effects, and as a bonus, a flashy guitar shape is sure to take the heads of your audiences, the Flying V commonly known as the V shape guitar has proven itself to be one of the coolest guitar shapes. Today we’re listing the best V-Shape Guitars for Metal.

Jackson guitars have always been a brand that has always been focused on making quality and performance-ready guitars at a low price. The Jackson JS32T Randy Rhoads packs decent electronics and an amazing pickup in a package that is still affordable but still more expensive than the standard Jackson guitars since this one is a special edition. To start things off, the build material on this guitar is not perfect but it’ll do the job.

In terms of material, the body of this guitar is made out of Basswood, which I don’t prefer if you’re playing metal since I would instantly choose a Mahogany body, as Basswood is lighter in weight and tone. One thing to remember is heavier wood has a heavier tone. But still, Basswood is decent for this guitar.

The neck is made out of a maple speed neck, which has a smooth matte finish which is useful for fast riffs and solos. The pickups on this guitar are high-output ceramic-pickups which is surprisingly good considering it reproduces guitar tones accurately even in high-gain with a bit of distortion.

This guitar may not be for everyone considering that some people are picky in terms of the initial playability of a beginner guitar, but then a setup from a luthier will transform the Jackson J32T Rhoads into a reliable performing machine, and that makes it one of the best V Shape guitar for metal.

The ESP brand has been well known as over-engineered and quality crafted guitars, but they’re a bit too expensive for most people, to help reach more people with their guitars, ESP launched the LTD brand which offers cheaper counterparts of ESP guitars with the same build quality, the only difference is that LTDs have cheaper components and a more free quality control.

The LTD Arrow-401 is mainly focused for the lead guitarist of a metal band, why? Other than having an aggressive design that will keep the eyes of the crowd focused on you, this guitar has a Floyd Rose floating bridge which is useful for screeching dive bombs and other tricks. This also has a small cut out on the body to accommodate the guitarists’ hand offering extra comfort and ease at playing fast and high notes. 

The body of this guitar is made out of Mahogany, which is perfect for metal as it brings warm and heavy tones, and the neck of this guitar is made out of 3 piece maple that has a pau ferro fretboard, the neck has a glossy finish, which may be a hassle if your hands get sweaty while playing.

Lastly, giving life to this guitar is a combination of EMG 81/85 active pickups, which is a famous choice for metal and hard rock that even guitarists from Metallica, Megadeth, and so much more bands prefer this to support their music, but, these EMGs needs good effects to grasp their full tone potential. Overall, I still recommend this guitar to be used by lead guitarists as they would fully utilize this guitar’s capabilities.

The Dean V Dave Mustaine Signature Guitar is one signature guitar that comes close to the tone of Dave Mustaine’s personal performing guitar, but is this guitar a good canvas for a metal guitarist to find their tone?

To start, the body of this guitar is made out of Mahogany, which as I said many times, is a great wood to be used for metal. This has a satin neck finished neck which provides comfort with playing fast notes, and the fingerboard on this guitar is made out of ebony, which is rare to see at the price point of this guitar.

Providing the additional tone quality and tuning stability is the Tone Pros bridge and the Grover tuning machines, and with a string through body design, maintaining this guitar has never been easier. Pair that with the bolt-on neck and this guitar is as reliable and serviceable as it gets.

The thing that surprised me with this guitar are its pickups, this has the Dean standard humbucker pickups, instead of the Seymour Duncan Livewire active pickups, but the Dean pickups sound surprisingly well, it has a good sounding high output signal with clear and clean guitar sounds. Although, since this is a passive pickup, high-gains will tend to make this hum a bit. Overall this is a good playing guitar, and extremely worth it for the price-point this guitar is in, and that’s why this is one of the best V shape guitar for metal.

Summing up

These are the best V shape guitars for metal, be sure to check them out for more details and I recommend to feel these guitars before buying one, as the best guitar for you is the one you’re comfortable with. You should get the LTD Arrow-401 if you’re a lead guitarist and maybe a good learning opportunity if you’re new at using a Floyd Rose bridge. And if you’re finding a general metal guitar, then everything listed on this article is truly capable of being used for metal music, the rest is up to you.