Guide To Buying A Guitar

The single most important piece of advice I can give is PLAY MANY guitars before you buy. Go hang out at Guitar Center, or Sam Ash for an hour or two and test drive the entire shop. Compare the guitars you have played and select the guitar that feels best to play for you and sounds best to you at a price you can afford. Guitars are very subjective – if it works for you then it is good. Play a variety of songs and in a variety of styles. Strum with your fingers; play with a pick; finger pick; try with a capo and so on. If you are a complete beginner, then you may want to take a friend who is a more accomplished player. One caveat is that the display models are sometimes a bit beat up and not necessarily well setup, so they may not show their true potential. It does not matter how cool a guitar looks, or great it sounds – if it is not comfortable to play, you will be discouraged from playing and practicing, so playability is essential.

Generally, you get what you pay for. Shop around for the best price for a particular model and be sure you are paying for the features that you want and need.

If you are new to guitar playing you may want to buy a cheaper guitar to begin with and then upgrade at a later date. Guitars generally sell well second hand, so you can always resell your first guitar when upgrading.

Guitar Types:

Nylon String Classical: Essential to play classical style music, flamenco etc, but you can play anything on them, however if you are more of a rock/folk musician, you'd be better off with a steel string acoustic guitar or electric. Generally classical models have smaller bodies and flat, wide fingerboards and sound significantly different from steel string acoustics, more ....erm....classical. Note: never put steel strings on a guitar designed for nylon strings – the guitar will not be able to sustain the increased stress.

Steel String Acoustic: Dreadnought (shallow waist) and Double "O" (narrower waist) are the most common shape. The shape influences the tone and projection. Steel string acoustics are all-round guitars and the most common type used by students at NYCGS. Some have an electronic pickup ready installed so that they can be played through an amp. If you never intend to play through an amplifier, you may want to skip the electronic pickup models as the tone can be adversely affected by the pickup (when fitted under the saddle which is very common). The pickups also add to the price. Pickups can be added by a guitar tech after you have bought the guitar. Some Acoustic guitars (especially those with pickups) have a cutaway on the bottom of the body which makes it easier to play the higher frets (above the 12^th fret). This is useful if you intend to play lead, or use the upper frets a lot. The cutaway does however adversely affect the tone and projection of the guitar when played without an amp *. Cutaways also add to the expense of a guitar.

Solid Body Electric Guitars: Since they are solid body and electric, you need an amplifier before they can be heard well, although you can still play them unplugged. Jimmy Hendrix used to practice for hours on his Strat unplugged in the bathroom because he liked the sound (I'm sure this made him popular with his room mates). This can be a nuisance if you like to play at camp fires, or travel a lot with your guitar as you have to lug and amplifier around with you. There are however many miniature practice amplifiers available. You can play anything on a solid body electrics just as you can an acoustic guitar, however it is much easier to play lead guitar on them as the strings are easier to bend and the finger boards lend themselves to fast lead playing. The electric sound also lends itself to playing crunchy rock music.

Semi-hollow body: Generally they need an amplifier, but are certainly louder than solid body electrics when played unplugged. Tonally they fall somewhere between acoustic guitars and solid body electrics, which makes them very versatile instruments.

Archtops: Similar to Semi Hollow body guitars. The archtop affects the tone and the price! (Did anyone say Gibson?). Popular amongst Jazz musicians and Rockabilly, although you can play anything on them.

Buying New:

Advantages:

• Come with manufacturer's guarantee, so you have a come back if they turn out to be defective, or go wrong.

• They are in shiny, new, mint condition.

• There are many to choose from and compare in one place.

• Guitars are said to grow with their owners. How you handle your guitar and the way you play will affect it's character over time. When you buy a guitar new, the guitar will become all yours. Of course, you can buy a second hand guitar with a desirable character that you may adopt and influence over time. Rita, a long time student at NYCGS, buys only second hand guitars with “good souls”. Never buy a guitar from an asshole.

Disadvantages:

• Unless you are into vintage used guitars, a new guitar will be more expensive and depreciate in value as soon as you walk out of the store.

• Guitars, especially acoustic instruments, improve in tone the older they get and the more they are played.

• New Guitars often need to be setup as they arrive from the manufacturer with conservatively high actions, or poor overall setups. Often, even high end guitars will require a setup to play at their best. Be a little wary of dealers and stores that offer free after sales setups – the work may not be of the highest standard if the store is not making money on it. Of course a second hand guitar may also be in need of a setup.

Buying Second Hand:

You can deduce this from the New Guitar Guide above, but to summarize; more guitar for less money and more risk.

What to look for when buying (especially second hand):

Action: The action is the distance from the bottom of the strings to the tops of the frets. The higher the action, the harder you have to press to fret a note. There is no right and wrong action, it is very much a personal preference, but many players prefer a lower action because it is less stressful on the fingers to play. If the action is too low, the strings will buzz. Provided there is not and underlying problem with the guitar, the action can be adjusted with a setup. Note, that on acoustic instruments, it is easier and cheaper to lower an action that is high than raise an action that is low. On electric guitars with adjustable saddles, make sure the saddle can be both raised and lowered without maxing out before the action is where you want to be. If the action feels high and the saddles are as low as it will go, then there is potentially a serious problem (possibly rectifiable with truss rod adjustment).

Bridge: On acoustic guitars, the bridge (the piece of wood behind the sound hole where the strings are attached to the body) may be lifting from the body. Check the join between the back edge of the bridge and the guitar body. This can be repaired if for some reason you are buying second hand and are in love with the guitar, but it will cost you and is a medium risk repair. Otherwise walk away. The same is true of cracks in a bridge; this is a serious but repairable problem.

Frets: Look at the top surface of the frets. If they are deeply worn, or pitting (usually at the lower 5 frets and often 3^rd string 7^th fret), the frets will have to be filed level by an expert, or even replaced which could be expensive. If they are only a little worn it is of less concern, however you know that the lifetime of the frets is going to be shorter. Watch out for loose or high frets. Play every note on the guitar to check for buzzing, or dead notes (the note does not ring out fully). Buzzing can be caused by many things serious or minor, but is often an indicator of high, low, or loose frets.

Cracks: Examine the body looking for cracks caused by humidity, or trauma. They are usually repairable, but again this will cost money and is an indication the guitar has not been well cared for.

Neck: The neck is crucially important for desirable playability. Necks come in a variety of shapes and sizes. Make sure the neck is comfortable for you and that your hand can stretch around it adequately (that you can fret the low E with your thumb – no “bad style” comments please!)

Look down the the neck of the guitar from the tuners end with the side of the guitar pointing to the floor as if the guitar is a rifle. If the neck seems very curved the guitar may have a defective truss rod (very serious), or bad neck. It could also be that the truss rod just needs tightening (minor adjustment). Some curvature (slight) is normal and desirable. If the neck arches backwards, the truss rod may be too tight, or the neck defective. When you have “back bow”, the strings will very likely buzz when you play between the 5^th and 12th frets. Look for humps in the neck – humps with cause the guitar to buzz and play badly. Flip the guitar and compare the curvature of one side of the neck with the other. If they are uneven, then the neck is twisted – if this is the case, do not buy the guitar.

Now turn the guitar so the back is facing the floor. Look down the fret tops from the tuners to the bridge. The top of the frets should be even with the top edge of the bridge. If there is a significant deviation, the guitar may be difficult to play and setup. This can be corrected, but it is very expensive. Many lower end guitars are not perfect.

Check the joint between the neck and the guitar to see if the neck is coming away from the body. If so, this is a very expensive repair.

Electric guitars come with necks that are bolt on (Fender Strat), glued on (Gibson Les Paul) and through the body. Bolt on necks are cheaper to make and easier to repair, or replace. A neck that is glued on theoretically has improved tone and sustain, but I have seen many bolt on necks with excellent tone and sustain. Through the body necks (they continue for the length of the guitar body) are more rare and again may have improved tone and sustain, but are even more expensive to repair or replace.

Seams: Check body panels are not parting at the seams.

Headstock : Look for cracks in the headstock that may have occurred by the instrument being dropped, or slammed. These may already have been repaired.

Electronics: If the guitar is electric, plug it in and test to see if each component is working. Individual pickups, pickups together, switches, volume and tone. Electrical repairs are usually relatively inexpensive (unless the pickup needs to be replaced). On acoustic electric guitars, check for balance between the strings when the guitar is plugged in. This is true of a solid body electric as well, but the solid body guitars are easier to adjust.

Tuners: This is one area where low end guitars often cheap out. Tune the guitar then play it hard to see if it remains in tune. If it does not, there may be a problem with the tuners. Test the tuners to see if they are loose and wiggle – this could be an indication of worn parts (or just that they need to be tightened if they are of a type that can be adjusted). Turn the tuner a little. If it moves without making a difference to the tone of the string, the tuner may be worn. The axle on tuners also sometimes become bent if the guitar is dropped, or slammed. Tuners can be replaced fairly easily (at a cost of course).

Saddles: Check the saddle is not loose, or leaning. Watch out for cracks or chips. The saddle (I'm talking about acoustic instruments here) should be about 1/8^th of an inch high. If it is considerably lower or higher, there could be a problem with the guitar, especially if the action is poor. Saddles can be replaced relatively easily by an expert. On electric guitars where the intonation can be adjusted at the saddle, check that it is not adjusted all the way in order to make the guitar play in tune. This could mean further adjustments are not possible.

Nut: If the open strings buzz when plucked, the nut may be filed too low. Look out for cracked, chipped, or loose nuts. Nuts are fairly inexpensive to replace.

Lacquer: On older higher end guitars the condition of the lacquer can depreciate over time. Dirt and moisture can form a soften patina with the lacquer. This will make it difficult to clean the body work and impossible to polish the lacquer. The result will be ugly dull patches. This will not affect the playability of the guitar, but it will affect the looks and value.

Be aware of finishes with a mosaic of small cracks. This can happen if a guitar is exposed to low temperature (freezing).

More about the features of a guitar:

Materials: Low end acoustic guitars are usually made of laminated wood (plywood!), or even cheaper press board. The guitar may still be described as “all wood” since technically it is. Laminated guitars do not sound as good as solid wood guitars. Often middle range acoustic guitars will have solid wood tops, but laminated sides and backs, or even formica sides and backs, or other man made materials. The solid wood top is a significant improvement on all laminate, and is a good compromise if you wallet will not stretch to all wood. All solid wood guitars have the best tone, but are expensive.

Finger boards on electric guitars can be made of rosewood, ebony, or maple (very light color), or other similar wood alternatives. Worth noting is that maple fingerboards are more difficult and expensive to repair, so the classic look comes with a cost.

Common tops on acoustic guitars are spruce – a very common and excellent tone wood, cherry and cedar. Each wood has it's own tonal properties. Cedar tends to produce a warmer sound and ages faster than spruce. Spruce is brighter and ages more over a longer period of time. Visually, cedar is darker in color with a fairly tight grain pattern. Spruce tends to be very blond with a slightly wider grain pattern.

Scale length: The scale length is the length of the strings from nut to bridge. Guitars with longer scale lengths have more distance between each fret, which mean that your fingers have to stretch a little further. Worth considering if you have small hands. The string tension on longer scale lengths is a little tighter, which means that you have to press slightly harder to fret and bend the string. Longer scale length does lead to more sustain and brighter tone, however there are many factors involved with sustain and tone. Fenders usually have a scale length of 25.5" whereas a shorter scale Gibson  has 24.75", although there are variations.

Pickups: There are two main groups of pickups for electric solid body guitars (and archtop/semi-hollow). There are single coil pickups and humbuckers. Single coil pickups (think standard stratocaster here) as you would imagine have one coil per pickup. Generally these pickups have higher, brighter tones. Due to the single coil, they have a greater tendency to hum (due to interference). Humbuckers, with two coils per pickup, hum less hence the name. The interference from one pickup is canceled by the other which is reverse wound. Humbucker tend to be darker and meatier in tone, although there are many variations.

The more pickups you have on a guitar, the more sound options you have. The sound provided by a pickup depends not only on the design of the pickup, but its positioning relative to the neck and bridge. Often guitarist only actually use a couple of options provided by multiple pickups, so you may well find that two pickups (or even one), work for you just fine. Also, the middle pickup on three pickup guitars can interfere with strumming and picking.

When you buy and electric acoustic guitar it usually comes with under the saddle Piezo pickups (see above), although there are many different kinds of pickups for acoustic instruments. If you own a non-electric guitar, a piezo can be added, or a pickup, or microphone positioned in the sound hole.

Finish: There are several finished used on guitars. Higher end guitars (including Gibson solid bodies) use nitrocellulose lacquer. This is a fairly durable finish with excellent tonal attributes. The tone improves with aging. Very old guitars and high end classical guitar can be finished with Shellac (French Polished). Shellac provides wonderful tone, but is fragile (especially when exposed to alcohol – “never drink and play guitar”). Low end acoustic guitars and many solid body guitars use polyurethane (Fender), or resin based finishes. This is very durable finish, but is often considered inferior to Nitrocellulose for tone. The finish has less influence on tone when it comes to solid body guitars.

Brands I like: (There are a lot of good guitars out there – this is a very narrow and totally incomplete list).

­ Low End $100-300: (with low end guitars quality can vary significantly with the same model)

Art & Lutherie  - impossible to match bangs for bucks - which is why I sell them!

Takamine

Ibanez

Yamaha (classical only – not steel string)

Middle End $300-500:

Seagull – (acoustic) impossible to match bangs for bucks and again I sell them (solid top)

Godin - (electric)

Higher End: $500 and up (way up!):

Martin - (Some low end Martins can have formica backs and sides, however they still sound good - I have one)

Guild

Taylor (Fragile)

Fender Electrics

Gibson Electrics

Godin

Any guitar built by me!

Prices

Check Dan's Guitar Site below for useful if a little dated Price Guide (No relation to Dan Emery!)

* Note: All comments about tone are my opinion – beauty is in the ear of the beholder.

   Dreadnought    Lots of volume and bottom end

Double "O"
Less bottom end and clearer mids

Classical Guitar
(Nylon String)

Dreadnaught with Cutaway

es175

Solid Body Electric (Stratocaster)

Archtop Gibson ES 175

Semi Hollow Ibanez AS83