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Chapter 14: Shop Till You Drop: Buying the Right Guitar for You
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could be a hard decision if you have no idea what you want in a guitar. Then
all the different makes and models and price ranges create a confusing, noisy
blur. However, if you know exactly what you want — down to the color of the
finish and whether you want black matte or gold hardware, the decision is
easy. You just then have to shop for the best price.
Most people don’t have it so hard or as easy as the preceding scenarios
describe. Certainly if you have no idea what you want, you should do more
research — read articles in magazines and online, visit discussion boards,
and gaze at the guitars on the wall in the music shops. But even if you think
you know the exact specs of your desired guitar, you’ll find that living in the
real world forces you to adjust your expectations on some aspect — unless
you’re willing to wait until you find exactly what you want and money is no
object. Most experienced guitar shoppers learn to accept substitutions and
variations when they occur.
The more you know about guitars, the more accommodating you become to
the many variations and different forms guitars appear in.
Evaluating a Guitar
This section helps to show you what to look for after you’ve narrowed down
your choice to a particular make and model — or the best deal between a
couple of different types. It may not change your mind about the guitar
you’ve set your sights on, but you can gain perspective into how two similar
guitars (except for, perhaps, the color) can be so different with respect to
materials, workmanship, and options.
You don’t have to have the eye of a jeweler (and sport one of those weird
loupe thingies around your neck) to be a good judge of quality. If you have a
little experience, you can tell just about all you need to know by playing a
guitar for a while. A quality guitar looks good, plays in tune, frets easily, and
holds up under abuse (the musical kind, anyway). What you’re actually
responding to — if a guitar stands up to this scrutiny — are the following four
categories in quality:
Construction: The design and physical components of the system
Materials: The type of wood, hardware, pickups, electronics, and other
substances used
Workmanship: The execution or quality of the building and construction
Appointments: The non-functional parts that add to the look of the guitar,
such as the fretboard inlay, binding (edging around the body and neck of
the guitar), and decorative elements on the knobs and tuning keys
Each category is explored in more detail in the following sections.
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