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This is the first part of my Good & Bad Heavy Metal Guitars series. After buying, selling and fixing tons of guitars for more than 20 years, I discuss what I consider to be good and bad heavy metal guitars.

I play and talk about the qualities/flaws of the following good guitars (I use a Line 6 Spider III amp for all my tests):

1. Jackson King V KV2 (made in the USA) with Seymour Duncan pickups and original Floyd Rose tremolo

2. Carvin V220 (made in the USA) with original Floyd Rose & Carvin C22 pickups

2. ESP MII (made in Japan) with original Floyd Rose tremolo and EMG 81 pickups

3. B.C. Rich Wartribe Warlock (made in Korea) with Kahler Hybrid Tremolo and EMG pickups

4. Ibanez Roadstar (made in Japan) with Edge tremolo and Ibanez pickups

5. Charvel Model 4 (made in Japan) with Kahler 2300 tremolo and Jackson pickups

6. ESP Horizon (made in Japan) with Seymour Duncan pickups

I talk about four poorly crafted guitars I briefly owned:

1. Gibson Explorer 84 Reissue (made in the USA) with Tune-o-matic bridge and EMG pickups

2. B.C. Rich Mockingbird ST (made in Korea) with Rockfield pickups and Floyd Rose tremolo

3. Gibson Shred-X Explorer (made in the USA) with Kahler tremolo and EMG pickups

4. Moser SRiT (made in Korea) with licensed Floyd Rose tremolo and generic pickups

Then I discuss the following topics among others:

1. Some standard Dean guitars come with only one brand name pickup (Seymour Duncan bridge) and a licensed Floyd Rose tremolo (not the original). For a lower price, you can get a Schecter Hellraiser with two active EMGs and an original Floyd. For about the same price of a Dean Razorback, you can also get a custom Carvin made in the USA with your own specs such as color, wood, body, frets and much more. Alternately, for just a bit more than some standard Deans, you can get a top-notch Ibanez S2170SE. It comes with the superior ZR tremolo and three DiMarzio pickups.

2. Another drawback I see with these Dimebag Deans (and even my Kerry King B.C. Rich) is the signature model concept. Unless you just record or play at home like me, I don't recommend any signature model as you might be seen as a copycat of someone. I don't mean to say I'm against all signature guitars. I just prefer the ones that look more generic. For example, the LTD JH-600 version without Slayer's eagle inlays looks more generic although it's still Jeff Hanneman's model.

3. The Fender Stratocaster is an excellent guitar for blues, jazz and soft rock but most models are not good for heavy metal. The single-coil pickups don't have enough output for a crunchy metal sound, and the non-locking tremolo system has horrendous tuning stability.

4. Contrary to popular belief, a guitar made in the USA is NOT ALWAYS BETTER than a guitar made in Korea or Japan.

5. Price MAY NOT indicate quality. A few months after buying my ESP, I played the LTD JH-600, and it was BETTER than my ESP. This Korean version of the ESP had a smoother neck, less fret buzz and amazing sound all for less than half the price.

6. Don't buy an average guitar to install expensive pickups later because: (1) It may not be cost-effective; (2) The pickup may not retrofit the cavity; (3) A guitar sound is DEEPLY AFFECTED by the wood and bridge's metal type. You have no guarantee the guitar will sound good. For example, a new set of active EMGs plus professional installation cost almost half the price of, let's say, a new Jackson Dinky with active EMGs and a fixed bridge. Passive pickups cost less and are easier to install. Either way, along with cost, any extra routing or drilling may be irreversible in terms of rematching certain guitar finishes.

7. If you don't care about tremolos, DON'T BUY a tremolo-equipped guitar. Many things can go wrong with tremolos. Sometimes, because of the vibration created by the strings, springs and other small parts, a tremolo guitar may not sound as clean as a fixed bridge guitar. My Active EMGs vs. Passive Seymour Duncans video explains this well.

8. If you want a tremolo, stick with the original Floyd Rose made by Schaller or Ibanez's ZR and Edge Pro tremolos. These three systems have unbeatable tuning stability. Kahler is also a good option but it goes out of tune with bends.

9. Alder is my favorite wood for heavy metal. It's light in weight and sounds extremely powerful.

I conclude my video series with these recommendations:

. B.C. Rich Deluxe Jr. V with original Floyd Rose and active EMG pickups

. Music Man Axis SuperSport HH with fixed bridge and DiMarzio pickups

. Charvel San Dimas Style 1 2H wih original Floyd Rose and Seymour Duncan pickups (less info)