Hi !
Often i am asked what Guitar to buy? how to check the quality of the Guitar, what to do while going for a new purchase, so i compiled this info package, which i am hoping will be of some help to anyone in need. Please do read it till the end and share it further, may be someone somewhere will find it resourceful.
1. Budget
Before you plan to buy any Musical instrument always be sure about your Budget, over the years, many manufacturers have distinguished and separated selected qualities in different price ranges, So if you are visiting a store to buy an Acoustic Guitar with a budget of Rs 3,000 you will figure out how you can get a better deal if you increase your budget to Rs 3500 or Rs 4,000. and so it goes...
Its always better to keep some amount in reserve and wait for the perfect deal from the store and then disclose the reserve amount. In an Ideal Situation and to have a Standard Acoustic Guitar Purchase affair start with Rs 3,500 and go above as your budget allows.
2. Guitar Types
Mainly there are three variants in an Acoustic Guitar
1. Thin Body
2. Medium Size
3. Full Body Hollow or Jumbo
It is very much recommended to go for a full size jumbo acoustic guitar in order to reach out for the best possible resonance and vibe of an Acoustic Guitar. The Hollow of the Guitar would be the main reason how your Guitar sounds and adding to it the smoothness and fixture of the fret board, the Strings on it, The tuning Board and the Bridge. If a Big Sized Guitar is uncomfortable for you ask for a medium Sized Guitar and check by sitting on a chair or stool and holding the Guitar in your arms, in any situation avoid going for a thin body Guitar because that wouldn't be an ideal choice when you start learning how to play. Please look into the fact that the style or colour of the Guitar doesn't matter if you are serious about playing, its the TONE and COMFORT of the instrument that matters.
1. Thin Body
2. Medium Size
3. Full Body Hollow or Jumbo
It is very much recommended to go for a full size jumbo acoustic guitar in order to reach out for the best possible resonance and vibe of an Acoustic Guitar. The Hollow of the Guitar would be the main reason how your Guitar sounds and adding to it the smoothness and fixture of the fret board, the Strings on it, The tuning Board and the Bridge. If a Big Sized Guitar is uncomfortable for you ask for a medium Sized Guitar and check by sitting on a chair or stool and holding the Guitar in your arms, in any situation avoid going for a thin body Guitar because that wouldn't be an ideal choice when you start learning how to play. Please look into the fact that the style or colour of the Guitar doesn't matter if you are serious about playing, its the TONE and COMFORT of the instrument that matters.
3. Check for Deformities, Cracks, Damage
Once you start checking the guitar inspect the guitar from the head stock to the very bottom of the base, check the front and back areas, sideways, full fret board, body, bridge, tuning pegs and neck of the Guitar. Do not buy the Guitar if you even find a mild crack or slight damage on the piece. Stores often claim that little damage occurs as they shift the instruments in their warehouse or showroom and to cover up the damage, they will give discount as compensation. DO NOT BUY, i repeat, in any case do not buy such piece and bail out from the store. If you do not find a good clean instrument in the same store even after checking more than 5 pieces, its better to check at another store. Pretty much honestly Its just another selling deal for the store but for YOU its your most precious cherished Guitar, your hard earned money, you can never afford to buy a brand new instrument with a damage on it.
Sometimes certain stores cover up cracks and damage with paint, polish etc, be very much vigilant when you inspect the Guitar.
Once you start checking the guitar inspect the guitar from the head stock to the very bottom of the base, check the front and back areas, sideways, full fret board, body, bridge, tuning pegs and neck of the Guitar. Do not buy the Guitar if you even find a mild crack or slight damage on the piece. Stores often claim that little damage occurs as they shift the instruments in their warehouse or showroom and to cover up the damage, they will give discount as compensation. DO NOT BUY, i repeat, in any case do not buy such piece and bail out from the store. If you do not find a good clean instrument in the same store even after checking more than 5 pieces, its better to check at another store. Pretty much honestly Its just another selling deal for the store but for YOU its your most precious cherished Guitar, your hard earned money, you can never afford to buy a brand new instrument with a damage on it.
Sometimes certain stores cover up cracks and damage with paint, polish etc, be very much vigilant when you inspect the Guitar.
4. How to Check Fret Board Quality
Guitars may look Great but may not sound equally alike and lot of people who Buy an Acoustic Guitar in such situation regret about the fretting quality and ease of the Instrument once they start learning and performing. So here is a very simple and easy method to quickly check the fret quality of a Guitar -
1. Play the string "open" and then fret it on the 12th fret, it doesn't matter if the Guitar is tuned or not but by default and by all means and standard logic it should sound the SAME. The open string and the 12th fret are the same note its just that the octave on the open string will be lower than the octave on the 12th fret but in any case the note should always sound the same. Just do that for all the six strings and if the notes are even and same without any pitch difference then you surely have a Clean Piece with tune balance or proper Fret Shaping.
2. Play the string "Open" and fret it from the first fret till the last playable fret, it should give you a clear sound and a tone in shifting pitch, going upwards. If at any point of time a fret doesn't sound proper or has a muffled sound or two or more frets are giving the same sound, please understand its the indication that the Guitar has a fault and needs to be rectified, in most cases such faults can be corrected by adjusting the "Truss rod" inside the fret board using an Allen Key, but double check if the height of the strings from the fret board hasn't increased way too much.
5. Fret Board Alignment
Raise the guitar with both hands upto your head level and inspect the alignment of the strings on the fret board by looking at the fret board sideways (Horizontally) and from the bridge till the neck (Vertically) an ideal standard no fault guitar should have the strings perfectly straight on the fret board with a mild narrowness towards the neck and a slight broadness towards the bridge. if the Alignment is tilting towards any of the end, the Guitar is already experiencing a fault known as "Bending". Bending occurs when a Guitar is kept in a stationary position front facing without being played for a long time with strings tightened on the head stock. Certain stores keep Guitars for customers to play on, and seldom detune them after playing, resulting in mild bending, this bending can increase to such an extent where the Guitar can be rendered unplayable even after adjusting the truss rod or Bridge height. Final solution some stores do is to slice the top of the fret board and re paint it. To my utter Amusement i have seen people even buying such Guitars, so please be aware and Double check such things
6. Tonal Resonance
Tap the Guitar Gently with your Knuckle on the four sides in front of the body i.e bottom right and left to the bridge and upward region towards the fret board above and below the playing area. you should hear a common Woody thud sound with a light ting of string vibrations in it. if you hear it real close then you can figure out that all the four regions in the front area would give you the same resonance. Do the same at the back side of the guitar. Keep the velocity of the Thud very light and smooth and you can hear the volume increase a bit but the tone still the same. Apply the same methods on the sides and at the bottom, here the sounds will be bit sharper and trebelish but with similar tone. The reason why this needs to be checked is to find out any manufacturing defect in the constructing of the hollow of the guitar. As the Hollow is a combination of 4 pieces of carved wood joined together, fixed and solidified by adhesive, paint and lacquer. Different brands follow different methods to maintain the sonic Resonance and timbre balance of the guitar by applying technology and machine precision in the carving and constructing of the body. It is said that even machine made guitars can sometimes come out with a defect and Gibson, being a major Guitar Manufacturing Brand, since many decades, still prepare hand crafted Guitars with super high Precision and quality. no wonder their Guitars are also priced at such soaring amounts.
Just for your Interest Check the price range of Martin Guitars.
It is difficult to understand and figure out resonance of a Guitar if you are new to the understanding of Music, or wood based Instruments. But you can always ask anyone to play the instrument to hear the final sound and texture coming out from the Guitar. If the Tonal Resonance in the Wood is Perfect youl get a super Rich and authentic Acoustic Guitar Texture when the Guitar will be played.
7. Play the Guitar
Every Guitar sounds different while played by any player, its like the Guitar you pick should compliment your playing style and playing technique, its a complicated situation, if you are a newbie and doesn't know how to play, but would want a no compromise on your pick, Its always recommended to tag a friend who is a Guitar Player, a Guitar Trainer, a Band member, a Music Teacher, a person with a great ear and fine judgement with loads of patience, with decent knowledge and skills and can help you in a non biased way on how to pick your best selection withing the budget. Remember the pointers mentioned above and get the best out of the stock while experimenting and analyzing various things. Play the guitar or get it played by someone and then finally decide to buy.
8. Accessories
Since the demand of Guitars increased in the market over the years, many manufactures have come up with various lucrative ways to attract customers in one way or the other, in most common cases you may find a fixed on board tuner or a pickup on the side board of the Guitar
Tuner - a device which will let you know the pitch of the string being played
Pickup - A device to amplify the natural sound of the Guitar for external speakers
On a personal note its always better to go for a Guitar with a Pickup complete with a three band or 5 band equaliser
Equaliser - a device which allows you to tweak selectable frequencies within the frequency spectrum to customise the sound coming from the pick up.
Why i recommend a Pick up is because eventually you will learn how to play and a Pickup will give you a big boost when you get on stage to perform. You just need a 1/4 inch or quarter inch phono cable or simply an Instrument Lead wire and connect your Guitar via the pickup to any Mixer or Amplifier on stage and its a great tool indeed to maximize the quality of your live performance.
On the other hand you can always get a tuner for as cheap as Rs 300 from the store and use it at will by hooking it up on the headstock of the Guitar.
You can even use several apps on your phone which acts as tuners for Guitars Violins Ukuleles etc.
Next Buy a Good quality belt, a capo, a full string pack, extra loose strings, extra plectrums if you are not much satisfied by the ones offered by the store.
Plectrums come in various sizes and shapes and yes it is for a reason, thinner flexible plectrums are mainly for strumming the guitar while playing rhythms and thicker sharper plectrums are for playing notations or leads. Do ask for a three sided plectrum with variation in thickness, where one side can be used for lead, one for rhythm and one hybrid from both purpose simultaneously. If you are a careless person by nature i would recommend you to buy enough and stock it up so that you dont end up playing with coins, credit cards and plastic chips. It is recommended you keep few plectrums in your Guitar Bag, few in your wallet, few in some safe and secure location.
9. Guitar Bag/Case
Now let me tell you how important is the Bag/Case
Lots of musicians i personally know have brought bags even costlier than their previous instruments, the reason being, they know and exactly understand how critical it is to keep your instrument safe from all source of damaging elements like, water, heat, moisture, dust, temperature changes, Shocks, Falls, man handling etc. A Good quality BAG even though expensive at the moment would prove to be a very good investment for future. In simple words a good quality bag adds more life to your equipment.
10. Guitar Maintenance
Maintenance is highly important so
1. Detune when not playing, dont be LAZY! Learn to tune your Guitar, and after a round of practice or session detune your Guitar so that the wood of the Guitar can rest and regain its resonance.
2. Change strings after every 90 days, its actually 4 weeks but you wont do it, so atleast 90 days and then change. Don't worry if you break strings while playing or tuning...just keep extra string handy and try to put the strings on your own, trust me its a great learning experience. when finally you mess it up and give up get it your friend who will do it for you (Chuckle)
3. Wipe the fret board with a soft dry cloth after playing. Moisture is not good for the strings, so its better not to keep any trace of it on the guitar whatsoever.
4. Pack the Guitar back in the bag if you know you wont be playing it for a long time.
5. Avoid rash behavior with your instrument and try to keep it away from people who can be your friends who might want to just pose with it, use it as a prop for a FB display pic. Always Always Handle with care.
6. In case of any damage or any issue avoid experiments on your own and if your Guitar is under warranty take it straight to the store from where you have purchased it from without any delay.Doing this can actually save your Guitar and your money.
7. Remember more you play better the condition of your Guitar so keep the dedication and determination strong and maintain a routine to play your instrument without fail.
8. Join Music Classes and get training under a good teacher
FAQ - Which Brand of Guitar to buy?
Ans - Every store might have a varied selection and range of Guitars with them, and because of recent demand and surge in the market loads of new brands emerge every fortnight. If you have a Budget below 5,000 their is not much brand value available, its best to pick the Guitar which sounds best. If you have a Budget above 5,000 then loads of branded options are available. But remember even branded Guitars come with defects so Shop with an open Mind, Eye and Ear!
You can always check details about various brands from online stores and shops having their websites online. But because we are dealing with an Acoustic Instrument its always better to buy in person.
I hope this note would be of some help to you, Do write back to me if you need further assistance, help guidance etc
feel free to even contact me if more can be added to this post.
Most Welcome.
Regards
Jickson V George
Founder and Guitarist - Tantra Band
Founder and Guitar Faculty - Tantra Music School
Music Producer and Audio Engineer - Tantra Records
Former Western Music Teacher - Billabong High International School
Currently Undergoing Training in Audio Production at Swarnabhoomi Academy of Music (SAM)
jicksonvgeorge@gmail.com
tantramusicians@gmail.com
tantramusicschool@gmail.com
