Method
How we test
Fretline exists to answer one question honestly: which of these instruments should you actually buy? Here is exactly how we go about answering it, including the parts we get wrong or cannot do.
Where the specifications come from
Every specification on this site is traced to a source, and the sources are ranked. The manufacturer’s own published specification comes first. Where that is silent, we use the manufacturer’s manual or documentation, then the Amazon listing, then authorised specialist dealers, then published specialist reviews. Every product page lists the sources used.
This ranking matters more than it sounds. Amazon listings are frequently wrong about details: while building this catalogue we found a guitar listed with the wrong pickup configuration and another listed with the wrong bridge entirely. In both cases the manufacturer’s specification is what we published.
We also do not mix generations or finishes. If a model changed its fingerboard wood between production runs, we publish the current specification and say so. If two finishes of one model have different specifications, they are two separate records with two separate links.
When a figure does not exist, we leave the field out. An absent row on a spec table means the manufacturer does not publish that number, not that we forgot to look.
How the scores work
Each instrument is scored 1-10 on six axes. Four are shared across every instrument; the fifth differs between guitars and basses because the thing worth judging differs.
Guitar axes
- Build
- Tone
- Versatility
- Comfort
- Hardware
- Value
Bass axes
- Build
- Tone
- Versatility
- Comfort
- Electronics
- Value
The scores are judgements, not measurements. They express what a specification delivers for a player at that price: a compound-radius fingerboard genuinely does make high bends easier, a double-locking tremolo genuinely does hold pitch, a laminated top genuinely will not open up over time. Value is scored against the instrument’s own price bracket, which is why a $250 guitar and a $1,600 guitar can both score highly on it.
Scores are Fretline editorial ratings on a 1-10 scale. They are our own assessment and are not supplied or endorsed by Amazon or by any manufacturer.
What we will not do
We do not invent specifications. If we cannot source a number, the field is absent.
We do not invent reviews. The owner-feedback section on a product page summarises recurring themes across published reviews and owner comments, with the sources listed. We never write a testimonial, never attribute a quote to a person, and where a product has too little feedback to summarise, we say so and leave the section empty.
We do not publish prices or discounts we cannot verify. See the deals page for the full explanation.
We do not change affiliate links. Each instrument carries exactly one outbound link, and it is used verbatim on every button that points at that product.
How we make money
As an Amazon Associate we may earn a commission from qualifying purchases made through our links, at no additional cost to you.
A commission does not change a score. The scores are set from the specification and the price bracket before any link is added, and several instruments on this site carry criticisms in the same paragraph as a buy button — including the ones we rate most highly.
Have we got something wrong?
Manufacturers revise specifications quietly and often. If a figure here does not match what you have in your hands, we would rather know — corrections are made against the manufacturer’s current published specification.