Basses

The best last minute Christmas gifts for guitarists: from straps and capos, to tools and collectibles

December 14, 2024

Let us start by extending our congratulations. As the friend or family member of a guitarist, you’ve realised that buying your beloved muso a guitar-related present is a surefire way to make them happy.
That’s pretty much true – but your choice of gift matters. While there are lots of great straps, picks, maintenance accessories, practice amps and guitar-themed gifts out there, there’s also a lot of tat designed to cash in on your generosity.
To help you cut through the noise and find a genuinely good gift for a guitarist, our guitar-loving team has compiled this collection of tried-and-tested guitar gifts, from coo-inducing stocking fillers to really generous prezzies that’ll crank your loved one’s gratitude dial up to 11.
At a glance:

Best guitar setup kit: Music Nomad Keep It Simple Setup Starter Kit
Best guitar cleaning set: Dunlop Maintainance Kit
Best tool for restringing guitars: Ernie Ball Power Peg string winder
Best guitar strap for design: Ernie Ball Classic Jacquard Guitar Strap
Best guitar strap for comfort: Levy’s Signature Legacy Series Guitar Strap
Best user-friendly capo: Kyser Quick Change Electric Guitar Capo
Best premium capo: G7th Nashville Capo
Best guitar pick multipack: Dunlop Tortex Standard Picks
Best guitar tuner: Peterson StroboClip HD
Best pocket-sized practice amp: Positive Grid Spark GO
Best gift for book-loving guitarists: Fender Strat Body Bookends
Best statement guitar stand: Gravity Guitar Glow Stand Neckhug
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Best guitar setup kit: Music Nomad Keep It Simple Setup Starter Kit
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A lot of guitarists like the idea of doing more of our own routine maintenance and setup work on their guitar – but not many have the right equipment to do it.
You could help out your well-meaning guitarist friend in a big way by gifting them this comprehensive setup tool set from MusicNomad. It isn’t cheap, but the kit gives you an excellent array of tools especially for guitars, including a screwdriver and wrench set, truss rod adjustment tools and a precision gauge set. Guitar setup isn’t for everyone, so it’d be best to subtly raise the topic with the recipient before you buy.
Best guitar cleaning set: Dunlop Maintainance Kit
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You might not be able to gift someone a brand new instrument, but you can affordably simulate that new guitar sheen by helping their existing guitar sparkle. This cleaning set from Dunlop contains oceans of lotions and potions that’ll make a guitar look good as new – except for the inevitable dents and dings that are beyond the powers of any polish.
There are five cleaning products in the box, including special treatments for strings and fretboards, plus a generic Carnauba wax, a polish and cleaning fluid, and two cleaning cloths to ensure the recipient can use the kit on their guitar straightaway.
Best tool for restringing guitars: Ernie Ball Power Peg string winder
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Here’s a lesser known guitar accessory that has the power to wow your guitar-playing pal. It looks a little like a power tool – and that’s basically what the Ernie Ball Power Peg string-winder is, for restringing your guitar.
Pop in some AA batteries and this motorised tool will turn the tuning pegs on your guitar or bass quickly and effortlessly, saving you time and faff whenever you restring the instrument. Its universal peg head is compatible with the vast majority of electric, acoustic and bass guitars, so it’ll get a lot of use if the recipient, like us, has hoarded an unhealthy quantity of instruments.
Best guitar strap for design: Ernie Ball Classic Jacquard Guitar Strap
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Off-the-shelf guitar straps don’t come any more beautiful than Ernie Ball’s Classic Jacquard range, which is made up of a detailed and colourful selection of woven designs. Take your pick between floral, geometric, traditional textile and themed patterns – there’s almost certainly a choice that’ll suit your guitar-playing loved one.
It’s not all about the pattern. These straps are also well-made and dependable, with good-quality leather ends, comfy polypropylene webbing and length adjustment between 41 and 72 inches.
Best guitar strap for comfort: Levy’s Signature Legacy Series Guitar Strap
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Treat a guitarist to one of the most comfortable guitar straps on the market. The Signature Legacy Series guitar strap is 3″ wide and made from premium black garment leather with 1/4″ foam padding for added comfort. It adjusts from 38″ to 52″ using a loop and ladder system.
This best-selling strap is handcrafted in Nova Scotia, Canada, featuring Levy’s iconic leather badge and a walnut veg-tan oval for enhanced style and durability. This strap features ladder-style length adjustment, which takes a little getting used to, but ultimately provides a nice, stable fit.
Best user-friendly capo: Kyser Quick Change Electric Guitar Capo
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A capo is a great gift for a singer-songwriter, or for a guitarist who likes to take their acoustic guitar along to open mic nights. These handy accessories can be fitted around any fret on the neck of the guitar, so you can change the key of open chords to suit your vocal range (or simply to get a sweeter, treblier sound).
If you’re looking for an effective capo that’s easy to use, the Kyser Quick Change Electric Guitar Capo would be a fine choice. Simply squeeze and move the capo up or down to switch from one key to another, and clip the capo to the head of your guitar when you don’t need it.
Best premium capo: G7th Nashville Capo
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The designers at G7th are renowned for their innovative, minimalistic capos. With the Nashville, the brand has given us something that’s a little more traditionally styled – and arguably easier to operate, thanks to its sprung clip mechanism.
It’s still clearly a G7th capo (the chunky metal construction and rubber fretboard grips are a dead giveaway), but the Nashville is going to be an ideal best-of-both-worlds option for guitarists who often need to change their capo quickly on dimly lit stages.
Best guitar pick multipack: Dunlop Tortex Standard Picks
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Nothing but picks, as far as the eye can see! We’re exaggerating slightly there, but this 72-pack really does get you an extraordinary quantity of Dunlop’s famous Tortex Standard plectrums at a very good price.
Named for the (unfortunately) genuine tortoiseshell picks they replaced about half a century ago, Tortex picks are made from resilient, flexible plastic that feels just right to many players. We’d recommend asking your guitarist friend which thickness of pick they think is best, because the five available gauges all feel quite different to use. Don’t be tempted just to choose the nicest colour
Best guitar tuner: Peterson StroboClip HD
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Give the gift of tunefulness. Clip-on tuners are super-handy devices that clip onto the head of a guitar and give you a clear read-out of the note you’re playing, allowing you to tune up the instrument. They work with both electric and acoustic guitars – although they’re especially useful for tuning acoustic guitars that can’t be plugged into a tuning pedal.
The StroboClip HD is a clip-on tuner offering true strobe accuracy with 0.1 cent precision. It features a high-definition backlit display that remains visible even in direct sunlight, making it suitable for a variety of instruments. With over 50 Sweetened Tunings and adjustable Hz calibration, it also includes drop tuning and capo settings. Its rubber-lined jaws ensure a secure grip without damaging your instrument’s finish.
Best pocket-sized practice amp: Positive Grid Spark GO
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It’s very much a ‘main present’, but if you really wanted to surprise your guitar-playing loved one, you could absolutely slip the Positive Grid Spark Go into a Christmas stocking.
Yes, the Spark Go is tiny, but this amp is genuinely powerful, sophisticated and packed with excellent sounds that can be controlled via smartphone app. Check out the AI-powered ‘Smart Jam’ feature, which creates a backing track for you to jam along to while you practice
Best gift for book-loving guitarists: Fender Strat Body Bookends
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Made by Fender from the very same materials that are used to make actual Stratocaster guitars, this pair of Strat bookends is an impossibly cool solution to prop up your books.
While you can obviously place these bookends anywhere on your shelves, they look their most Strat-like when positioned pretty close together – so you might want to use them to hold a few very special books in pride of place
Best statement guitar stand: Gravity Guitar Glow Stand Neckhug
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You’ll never see a more spectacular guitar stand than this Neckhug model from Gravity. It features an ambient backlight and front spotlight to show off a guitar or bass in all its shimmering, richly hued glory – and because the light colour and brightness are adjustable, you can tweak the settings to find the perfect presentation for either home display or on-stage.
Yes, it’s a little pricey, but this would be a perfect gift for that someone you love who loves their guitar.
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Every year, Guitar.com reviews a huge variety of new products – from the biggest launches to cool boutique effects – and our expert guitar reviewers have decades of collective experience, having played everything from Gibson ’59 Les Pauls to the cheapest Squiers.
That means that when you click on a Guitar.com buyer’s guide, you’re getting the benefit of all that experience to help you make the best buying decision for you. What’s more, every guide written on Guitar.com was put together by a guitar obsessive just like you. You can trust that every product recommended in those guides is something that we’d be happy to have in our own rigs.
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