Tips for Buying a New Guitar
April 30th, 2009 by ama
Guitars - custom guitars are still made today. This video shows a man who makes custom guitars, and it tells some interesting history of the guitars he’s made. Most guitar players won’t need to buy a custom or handmade guitar (and most can’t afford to). There are good guitars that are made by the top manufacturers that are sold at reasonable prices.
Whether you are a beginner guitar player or an experienced guitarist…
Maybe this is going to be your first guitar, or you are buying a better guitar (upgrading). You may be buying an additional guitar (because you need another style of guitar or are staring a collection).
No matter your reason for buying a new guitar, do your research and homework first. This research can be done by searching for information you can find on the internet, in guitar magazines, or by visiting guitar stores. Through these three sources, you can compare prices and styles of guitars. You can also read many online blogs with great information about guitars and guitar lessons.
Read manufacturers information about their guitars, read musician’s guitar reviews, and ask friends about which guitars they like. If there are local music stores in your town, visit those stores and test out their guitars. When you try out different guitars, don’t worry about your playing (you don’t have to be a great guitar player); just focus on how the guitars sound. Look carefully at the neck and body and make sure the guitar is not warped (especially check the neck to see that it is straight, not bowed in any way).
Play it first before you buy a guitar!
There should not be any buzzing sound when you test play a guitar you are interested in buying. Make sure the strings are not too high up from the fretboard - this makes the guitar much harder to play.
For electric guitars, check the volume by having the guitar plugged into an amplifier when you test it. Check the pickups and the tone and volume controls. Music store salespeople may be able to play guitar - ask them to test some of the guitars for you. If you can bring a guitar playing friend along to the store, they can be a resource to test guitars and give you an objective opinion.
Once you have an idea of the range of prices for new guitars, figure out what your budget will be and stick to it when you actually go out to make the purchase. You need to know the current prices and information about guitar brands before you try to negotiate with the guitar store salesperson. They are there to convice you to spend money - and they could possibly persuade you to spend more than you planned to spend.
If this is your first guitar, you probably should not consider buying your instrument in an online auction. And in most cases, an auction in which you can’t actually play the guitar is not a good way to buy. A guitar should feel good to hold and play - get the right size and style that suits you and the kind of music you play. Your goal is to find a guitar (within your budget) that feels and sounds right to you.