How do you buy a guitar?

[Think293]

I've played for a while and have a lot of pretty decent gear, but I feel like I have no idea what I'm looking for when I look at new guitars. I'm going to spend the weekend looking at the new American Standards and I'm wanting some advice on what to look for so I get a "good one". I know a lot of people talk about the gap at the neck and I don't really care about that too much unless it's terrible. I also hear about bad finishing jobs and I guess I have either been very lucky or I'm just ignorant cause I've never seen a decent guitar with a bad finish. I just make sure the frets don't poke me and it sounds good.

What else do I really need to look for?

What is easy to miss in the store that will bother me later down the road?

Thanks guys.

[Teleblooz]

That's pretty much the meat of it.

Feels good? Sounds good? Looks good? - OK, we're done. Ring me up.

[PJ]

If you isolate a bunch of little things (although they might be important to the overall picture) it's easy to miss the forest
for the trees. I'd say plug it up to the type of amp you're most
likely to use, and get a feel for how all those small points come together - and how it feels and sounds. You're most likely to
find something that really fits your style and tonal targets really
well. Then, the purchase decision gets real easy.

[boris bubbanov]

Think, there's no substitute for putting in the time in the guitar stores, trying lots and lots of examples of a range of potential choices for guitars.

That, and hanging around here are listening for the acorns of wisdom
to fall; there's no shortcut.

If you have enough cash, just buy the first thing that sounds right and feels right, and then sell it and buy the right guitar once you've learned a bit more.


Oh, the original question!

If at all possible, I use my girlfriend's charge card.

[Guitar_Ninja]

Bear in mind that fret sprout is often due to nothing more than changing moisture conditions in the store which dry out the fretboard. The ends can usually be filed down nicely as part of a decent pro setup. I wouldn't necessarily pass on a guitar that sounds and plays great just because of it.

Personally I'm not too concerned with minor imperfections in a guitar's finish. If you also don't mind a few imperfections or dings pointing them out to the salesman can often get you an otherwise great sounding and playing guitar for sometimes considerably less than a mint one.

[XKnight]

The main thing for me is the feel of the neck in my hand. If the neck doesn't feel right I don't buy the guitar. I also play every note on the fretboard and make sure the notes ring out and there is no significant fret buzz. If I'm in a guitar shop and they haven't taken the time to properly set up the guitar so that it doesn't buzz then I usually won't buy that guitar.

[Dennis68]

Originally Posted by XKnight

The main thing for me is the feel of the neck in my hand. If the neck doesn't feel right I don't buy the guitar. I also play every note on the fretboard and make sure the notes ring out and there is no significant fret buzz. If I'm in a guitar shop and they haven't taken the time to properly set up the guitar so that it doesn't buzz then I usually won't buy that guitar.

+1. For me if the neck doesn't feel right, nothing else can matter after that to make it a guitar I would want.

[Stuco]

Usually with money :)

[Dennis68]

Originally Posted by Stuco

Usually with money :)

I've tried the good looks and charm angle, but no luck with that so far!

[Think293]

Everything you guys have said makes sense, but I get the feeling from reading around here that only like 2% of the guitars are even worth owning. When I go into a shop, as long as it's a decent model, I like probably 70% of the guitars I play. Am I just blissfully ignorant?

I know these questions might come across as facetious but I've been wanting an American Standard since 1998 and now that I have a real job and can afford one I just want to make sure that I get one that I'll be happy with.

[Robin Nahum]

Originally Posted by Think293

When I go into a shop, as long as it's a decent model, I like probably 70% of the guitars I play. Am I just blissfully ignorant?

I know these questions might come across as facetious but I've been wanting an American Standard since 1998 and now that I have a real job and can afford one I just want to make sure that I get one that I'll be happy with.

No. I would say that you are showing about the right amount of specificity (or fussiness ). Obsessiveness needs time to develop.

Just try lots of guitars following the advice above and when the right one speaks to you, buy it in the full knowledge that there is a good chance in a little while you will develop a better (or different) idea of what you want and may well sell it - or buy a second one.

[scoots]

i can find something i like in the bulk of the guitars i mess around with in the guitar shops (i don't think you're blissfully ignorant). if you're hunting am. standards, keep hunting those. you'll know when you find it...

[alexpigment]

this may sound crazy to some here, but I actually like guitar center because they have the 30-day return policy. you're never going to get a feel for the instrument in the store. period. take it home, put it on a stand. let the week-long "i just bought this" feeling wear off. if you don't find yourself picking it up after that, take it back. there's some odd combination of a guitar that feels right and a guitar that looks so good you want to pick it up... between those two, you'll know whether the guitar was meant to be or not. also, you'll get to play it on your amp, with the sounds bouncing off YOUR walls. those little things just never come to you in a store. so try out GC, even though they are arguably ruining the industry. also, they often have 12 month no-interest promotions for purchases on their cards, which is why i've never paid a single dollar of interest in over $5000 worth of equipment from them. keep in mind though, the guitars won't usually be set up at all, so that'll be something you have to do first when you take it home

[Geoff738]

Well, you want a guitar that you want to play,

there's a lot of factors there, scale length, neck radius, thickness, etc. etc etc.

But at the end of the day, if you have a 59 Les Paul worth 300 grand (or whatever) and you don't like how it feels in your hands, You're not going to play it! And that is a perfectly valid response - lots of folks don't like the thickness of late 50s Gibsons, no matter what they're worth.


Which is just a longish way of saying what others here did succinctly - find something that feels comfortable in your hands first (that you'll enjoy playing), sounds great (second) and looks good/ is collectible is otherwise fantastic a distant third.

But, at the end of the day, you've got to go out and play some guitars (even if you think you know what you want - but especially if you don')

Cheers,
Geoff

[Brick]

Here's the usual buying progression:

15 to 20 years old: Buy the gear your favorite guitar god plays

20 to 30: Buy, sell, buy , sell, buy, sell.... after a while you actually hone in on exactly what feels right and sounds right to you.

30 to 40: Buy, buy, buy, buy.....and hope you don't have to firesale your collection to pay for your divorce or the kid's braces..... but of course something's going to happen.....

40 to 50: You have some real nice gear, but you spend a fortune on pickups and parts trying to get that perfect sound you've heard in your head.... and that sound is just the next PU swap away...

50+: you realize you should have found a real good teacher 30 years ago. Then you'd sound great on most any guitar you played on. You suggest this to your kid and he or she rolls his or her eyes and gives you the yeah, sure, look as yet another 100 watt half stack leaves Guitar Center.

[XKnight]

Originally Posted by alexpigment

this may sound crazy to some here, but I actually like guitar center because they have the 30-day return policy. you're never going to get a feel for the instrument in the store. period. take it home, put it on a stand. let the week-long "i just bought this" feeling wear off. if you don't find yourself picking it up after that, take it back. there's some odd combination of a guitar that feels right and a guitar that looks so good you want to pick it up... between those two, you'll know whether the guitar was meant to be or not. also, you'll get to play it on your amp, with the sounds bouncing off YOUR walls. those little things just never come to you in a store. so try out GC, even though they are arguably ruining the industry. also, they often have 12 month no-interest promotions for purchases on their cards, which is why i've never paid a single dollar of interest in over $5000 worth of equipment from them. keep in mind though, the guitars won't usually be set up at all, so that'll be something you have to do first when you take it home

Excellent advice. I have taken advantage of the 30 day return policy at GC. It's definitely a big plus. You're absolutely right about the set up or lack thereof at GC. I believe most GCs don't set up the guitars at all. I've personally witnessed them take new guitars out of the shipping boxes and place them on the sales floor as is. No inspection whatsoever. The good thing about finding a guitar at GC that already plays well is that it means it was set up well at the factory and the neck remained stable during transit which is a big plus in my book.