What is the consensus on Kiesel Guitars? And just general help on selecting a guitar.

Kiesel shouldn’t even be mention in the same sentence as suhr, Anderson or luxxtone(except for what I just wrote). I’ve owned a few and they are nice but out of the 5 I have owned, none was inspiring at all.
Agree with mystixbol. Nice looking instruments, but there is something lacking in the mojo department…. Kinda like a pretty girl but not much else going on… Own one, and I’ll never own a second.
 
Never owned a kiesel or a headless guitar until this morning. This osiris plays great. It's nearly effortless to fret and play. The trem stays in tune well, and it's a lot of fun to play. Haven't run it through the big boys yet but into the axe fx it sounds great too. I'll chalk all the kiesel hate up to the "customer exprerience" and the idea that "they can't all be zingers" but this one seems to be a keeper...
 
Haven't had Kiesel, but have had a couple of Carvins, and played several more.
My main guitar in the mid 90s was a V220. It was ok.
Picked up this Carvin CT, 5 years ago. It looked good, was built well and played great. Sounded meh compared to all my other guitars.
 
For me all the djent and math rock zoomers have made them look like toys and apparently that's what they actually are.
 
From what I gathered the owner and maker of Kiesel guitars doesn’t play guitar. So he is a custom guitar builder that doesn’t play. Hmm. No doubt he has passionate for his business but a custom guitar that plays flat, that’s in the Kiesel DNA. But they do look nice. That being said I’d stick with Chub or Luxxtone. Heard good things about Sully though I haven’t played one. But that is just MHO, I could be wrong.
 
From what I gathered the owner and maker of Kiesel guitars doesn’t play guitar. So he is a custom guitar builder that doesn’t play. Hmm. No doubt he has passionate for his business but a custom guitar that plays flat, that’s in the Kiesel DNA. But they do look nice. That being said I’d stick with Chub or Luxxtone. Heard good things about Sully though I haven’t played one. But that is just MHO, I could be wrong.
I was surprised to find that a lot of great guitars makers or makers of other gear too often either don't play or are just not good players at all. If they have a good ear for tone and know what they're doing then it seems to be fine. I also know some great players who make gear (whether it be amps, guitars or pedals) that I've not been crazy about
 
It’s funny to see the comments. Kiesel is several notches better than the old Carvins.
Eddie used a thrown together frankenstrat and it sounded awesome. It’s in the hands. Yngwie could make a 200.00 squire rip. If it lacks soul it’s because your playing sucks. 😂



 
It’s funny to see the comments. Kiesel is several notches better than the old Carvins.
Eddie used a thrown together frankenstrat and it sounded awesome. It’s in the hands. Yngwie could make a 200.00 squire rip. If it lacks soul it’s because your playing sucks. 😂



 
It’s funny to see the comments. Kiesel is several notches better than the old Carvins.
Eddie used a thrown together frankenstrat and it sounded awesome. It’s in the hands. Yngwie could make a 200.00 squire rip. If it lacks soul it’s because your playing sucks. 😂

I think you're misunderstanding what people mean when they say it "lacks soul." Judging from the lion's share of the responses, they mean no matter what pickups/etc are in the guitar, they sound "sterile." And alot of these players who've commented on this are RTers who I KNOW don't suck at guitar.

And if that's their main complaint, you certainly aren't going to change minds with that Protest the Hero clip. Which is certainly monster playing, but actually adds credence to their argument about Kiesel guitars sterility, tone-wise. That incredibly dry, robotic type tone combined with the ultra quantized modern metal is exactly what these commenters are talking about.

FWIW, I've played good Carvin/Kiesels and bad ones. It's not really an issue for me, because I don't play ultra modern headless multiscale 4d underwater backgammon slap/tapping youtube guitar. I'm not the target demo for Kiesel. But I think you may have actually worked against the point you were trying to make.
 
They are a Czech company that a buddy of mine has several of.

Think they're in Poland.
They make really nice stuff. Europe's equivalent to Suhr/Anderson imo.
The ex-guitarist in Riverside (RIP) was the first guy I saw using one.

800px-Piotr_Grudzinski_(Riverside).jpg


Both guys in Pain of Salvation too at one point.
Had a black Setius for a while and it was top notch in every way.
 
Last edited:
Never owned a kiesel or a headless guitar until this morning. This osiris plays great. It's nearly effortless to fret and play. The trem stays in tune well, and it's a lot of fun to play. Haven't run it through the big boys yet but into the axe fx it sounds great too. I'll chalk all the kiesel hate up to the "customer exprerience" and the idea that "they can't all be zingers" but this one seems to be a keeper...
Now that ove had the becker osiris for a week. I'll say this. It's a lot of fun to play. As this was a gift from my wife and had multiple owners before I can't say if anyone did anything to help or improve the factory work but it plays extremely well and stays in tune well too. I've sold suhrs and Andersons before because the necks just felt too small in my hand and after a bit of playing I'd get hand fatigue. This neck feels like the smallest neck I've played on a full scale guitar but I haven't noticed any fatigue, I think it's the fact that although it is very thin I still has a 1-11/16 nut and spacing. I find it sounds good to my ears as well. I don't find this one sterile by any means. My only real gripe is that it's an hsh guitar with no coil tap or split for single coil tones. But that can be easily remedied...
 
I think you're misunderstanding what people mean when they say it "lacks soul." Judging from the lion's share of the responses, they mean no matter what pickups/etc are in the guitar, they sound "sterile." And alot of these players who've commented on this are RTers who I KNOW don't suck at guitar.

And if that's their main complaint, you certainly aren't going to change minds with that Protest the Hero clip. Which is certainly monster playing, but actually adds credence to their argument about Kiesel guitars sterility, tone-wise. That incredibly dry, robotic type tone combined with the ultra quantized modern metal is exactly what these commenters are talking about.

FWIW, I've played good Carvin/Kiesels and bad ones. It's not really an issue for me, because I don't play ultra modern headless multiscale 4d underwater backgammon slap/tapping youtube guitar. I'm not the target demo for Kiesel. But I think you may have actually worked against the point you were trying to make.
Dan FTW 🤘
 
It’s funny to see the comments. Kiesel is several notches better than the old Carvins.
Eddie used a thrown together frankenstrat and it sounded awesome. It’s in the hands. Yngwie could make a 200.00 squire rip. If it lacks soul it’s because your playing sucks. 😂




Both of those clips sound to me like this:

 
Think they're in Poland.
They make really nice stuff. Europe's equivalent to Suhr/Anderson imo.
The ex-guitarist in Riverside (RIP) was the first guy I saw using one.



Both guys in Pain of Salvation too at one point.
Had a black Setius for a while and it was top notch in every way.
Nope in Czech Republic. Mine is sitting in my town waiting on me to fill out some forms and pay customs. I'm dreading the customs fees.
 
Not all guitars are the same. Buddy had a fanned fret vader 7. It was beautiful. Birdseye. But I played it and it was meh on sound. Felt smooth though. I’ve played only 3, and all Aires and vader I played had this dead wood sound, with sustain lacking. But all were beautiful.
 
Haters will be haters. 😂😂😂

Alan Holdsworth
Greg Howe
Jason Becker
And lots more.

I own lots of different brands of guitars. It depends on what woods frets pickups are in your guitar. Some people love Kiesel pickups some don’t. You can send your own.

As for the soul thing. Please please post a different brand guitar video that has “soul”
And define that soul sound for me. 🤷‍♂️

 
Not all guitars are the same. Buddy had a fanned fret vader 7. It was beautiful. Birdseye. But I played it and it was meh on sound. Felt smooth though. I’ve played only 3, and all Aires and vader I played had this dead wood sound, with sustain lacking. But all were beautiful.
That has been my experience. Totally beautiful instruments and I have one. but you nailed it, deadwood sound. I have had buddies try it out and they say the same thing. It’s a shame because they make incredible looking guitars.
 
Back
Top