Posts Tagged ‘new guitars’
Buying a New Guitar – Tips
Guitars – handmade and custom guitars are still being built. This video shows a man who makes custom guitars, and it tells some interesting history of the guitars he’s made. Most of us aren’t in the market for a handmade guitar. Us “regular” folks can still find good guitars at affordable prices from those manufactured by the top guitar makers.
Whether you are a beginner guitar player or an experienced guitarist…
Maybe you need to buy your first guitar, or you possibly want to buy a better guitar than the one you are using. You may be buying an additional guitar (because you need another style of guitar or are staring a collection).
Either way, it’s a good idea to do some research before buying a guitar. The best places to do this research is in guitar shops, guitar magazines and, of course, check what is available online. With these three ways to research you can find out more about guitars’ current prices and the variety of brands and styles. 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. Hold the guitar out straight and look down the fretboard to make sure it is not warped or bowed.
Play it first before you buy a guitar!
When you try out a guitar that you might want to buy, when you strum there should not be a buzzing sound. Be sure that the distance of the strings from the fretboard is not too high (which makes the guitar much harder to play).
On an electric guitar, plug it into an amp and check all the electronic parts, such as the volume and tone controls. Check the pickups and the tone and volume controls. Most music stores have a salesperson that can play a guitar – have them play something on a few guitars. Better yet, bring along a friend who is a guitar player for them to give you a second opinion.
When you have a better idea about the current new guitar prices, you’ll be able to know how much to budget for your guitar purchase. Before negotiating on prices with a store sales clerk, you need to know the current information and prices about several guitar brands. It’s their job to persuade you to spend money – and they are usually very skilled at making you spend more than you planned to.
If this is your first guitar, you probably should not consider buying your instrument in an online auction.The reason I can’t recommend buying through an auction is because you really should play a guitar before you buy it. How a guitar feels to hold and play is a very personal thing. You’ll be far happier with your new guitar if you do your research, try out guitars, stick to your budget and find a guitar that feels and sounds right.