A Guide for New Guitarist.

[JTC111]

Hello JTC111,

I speak the truth only to help my new friends here. No one discusses dimensions and construction details when talking about guitars. It is very important to know these things.

Yours,
The Big Red Hot Dog

Big Red Happy Hot Dog Boy,
Let me lay a little truth on ya... a beginner guitarist doesn't need to know about dimensions or construction detail if he's buying an inexpensive guitar. The important things that the beginner needs to focus on is how the instrument sounds, playability, and whether that guitar will inspire him to pick it up every day.

So let me ask... why are you posting here? You've demonstrated that you're not very knowledgeable on a variety of subjects. You say you want to "speak the truth to help [your] new friends here" but you seem to be making a lot of that "truth" up as you go along. So really, why are you here?

 

[thebigredhotdog]

Hello JTC111,

A beginner guitar player should know about these things because they determine how well a guitar plays, sounds, and and to some degree, how long it will last. The beginner guitar player has no previous frame of reference to make a good decision when buying a guitar. The beginner only knows shape and color unless an experienced guitar player explains it to him. Even if the beginner knows these things, he will not be proficient enough at playing the guitar to recognize these things by playing. You will understand better as your playing improves.



Deeply,

The Big Red Hot Dog

 

[TelePaul]

Hello JTC111,

A beginner guitar player should know about these things because they determine how well a guitar plays, sounds, and and to some degree, how long it will last. The beginner guitar player has no previous frame of reference to make a good decision when buying a guitar. The beginner only knows shape and color unless an experienced guitar player explains it to him. Even if the beginner knows these things, he will not be proficient enough at playing the guitar to recognize these things by playing. You will understand better as your playing improves.



Deeply,

The Big Red Hot Dog

Did you sort your reverb problem yet dude?

 

[muttley600]

I won't go too deeply into these differences in this post but i would like to touch on them.

Please do! There is so much utter rubbish in the rest of your original post it would save me a lot of effort when it comes to putting you right if I could do it in one reply.

A bit of advice to beginners from some one who does know....

Completely disregard this thread and all of the so called advice in it.

 

[thebigredhotdog]

Hello muttley600,

I would be very pleased if you would like to point out my mistakes. I am only here to share and learn.



Yours,

The Big Red Hot Dog

 

[Thurgood]

failed to send post, oh damn I thought had valuable psot. I hope it got through. If not, be nice give good advice and leave the BS at home.

 

[thebigredhotdog]

Hello Thurgood,

I think that is good advice. There seems to be a lot of arguing here at HomeRecording. I don't know what good it does anyone. Everyone seems to want to be the top dog but I am The Big Red Hot Dog.



Truly,

The Big Red Hot Dog

 

[muttley600]

Hello Thurgood,

I think that is good advice. There seems to be a lot of arguing here at HomeRecording. I don't know what good it does anyone. Everyone seems to want to be the top dog but I am The Big Red Hot Dog.



Truly,

The Big Red Hot Dog

It would suit us all if we had some correct dogs here.

 

[muttley600]

Ok I'll point out what in your post is absolute utter nonsense.

Hello friends,

I would like to share my experiences with guitars. The majority of cheap guitars do not play as good as the expensive guitars. There are many reasons for this. Most of these differences are in the dimensions. I believe that these differences are created on purpose by the manufacturers. Why would the manufacturer give you a cheap guitar that plays as well as their expensive guitar? If the manufacturer made both a guitar from cheap materials and a guitar expensive materials with the exact same dimensions, I think you would be hard pressed to tell them apart in a blind test, playability wise. That will never happen. If the manufacturer did this, you could easily upgrade your cheap guitar with better electronics and have a guitar that plays as well and sounds close to the expensive guitar. The manufacturer wants you to buy a whole new guitar when you decide to upgrade.

Cheap guitars tend to have a narrower neck. 1/8" makes a big difference. The standard width at the nut for an expensive guitar is 1 11/16" +. Most cheap guitars fall short here. The narrow neck on cheap guitars creates a problem when trying to play open chords cleanly because the fingers have no room.

The neck profile is another problem with the cheap guitars. We are talking about the shape of the back of the neck where your fretting hand's thumb will rest. Expensive guitars have a comfortable neck profile. Some cheap guitars do too but it's not as common as with the expensive guitars.

Cheap guitars sometimes have a thick finish on the neck which can cause friction between your skin and the neck. This can slow you down.

Cheap guitars usually have ok to poor fret jobs. The width, height, profile (shape), and polish of the frets has a great effect on the playing comfort of a guitar. The level of frets in respect to each other also determines if the action (string height from fingerboard) can be set low for players who like it that way. If one fret is higher than another, the strings will rattle or buzz on the high fret.

The fingerboard radius affects the playability of a guitar too. If the radius is too curved, the guitar might not play well when bending strings. Maybe the strings will touch higher frets while bending. If it's too flat, the guitar might not play well when fretting barre chords. Your fingers naturally curve when barring chords.

The setup is another difference in the cheap and expensive guitar. Cheap guitars almost always have plastic nuts and saddles. These parts usually aren't given much detail during the cheap guitar setup, if any at all. The spacing of the strings slots, the depth of the slots, the angle of the slots, the height of the part, the width of the part, and the fit of these parts to the wood parts will affect how the guitar plays and how accurate the intonation is. Cheap guitars normally do not have a good setup from the manufacturer.

The neck angle will determine if the string action can be set properly. If the neck is angled back too much, toward the player, the strings can buzz when trying to achieve desired string action. If the neck is angled too far away from the player, the bridge might not be capable of being adjusted low enough for desired string action.

These are the most obvious differences in playability between cheap and expensive guitars. There are also differences in sound, stability, and cosmetics. I won't go too deeply into these differences in this post but i would like to touch on them. The construction tolerances of the guitar and it's hardware will determine how stable the guitar is. If the neck pocket and neck heel don't fit really well, the neck could shift enough to foul up a setup. This can also determine the clarity and sustain of the guitar. If the frets aren't properly seated, the strings could begin buzzing, seemingly out of nowhere. The quality of the pickups will determine how good your guitar sounds, assuming that the guitar is well constructed, and the setup is in order. If the hardware is constructed of cheap metals, these parts could be unreliable in the long run. Also, lighter woods won't sustain as much abuse as harder woods.



Deeply,

The Big Red Hot Dog

 

[Steve Henningsgard]

Alright guys, who votes we band together and create an actual, useful, and most importantly correct "How to buy guitars" article?

 

[thebigredhotdog]

Hello steve.h,

I think you have a very good idea. A nice thread with good information and no arguing would be good.



Truly,

The Big Red Hot Dog

 

[JTC111]

Alright guys, who votes we band together and create an actual, useful, and most importantly correct "How to buy guitars" article?

First rule: play a guitar before you buy it. And right there, bigredhappyhotdogboy's guide is shown to be worthless

 

[thebigredhotdog]

Hello JTC111,

I hope you find peace in your life. Of course you should play a guitar before you buy it. Do you think a beginner guitar player will know what makes a good guitar by playing it?



Truly,

The Big Red Hot Dog

 

[Steve Henningsgard]

Hello JTC111,

I hope you find peace in your life. Of course you should play a guitar before you buy it. Do you think a beginner guitar player will know what makes a good guitar by playing it?



Truly,

The Big Red Hot Dog

Could you do us all a favor and post, in plain English, that you are or are not the same person as the original poster? You speak very similarly, and it sounds like 'happyguy' just created a new account (made this month) to try to get some of his "so-called experts" to agree with some of the ludicrous information you're posting, in order to prove his point that "experts don't know anything" (which, by the way 'happyguy', would be the antithesis of the very definition of "expert").

 

[JTC111]

Hello JTC111,
I hope you find peace in your life. Of course you should play a guitar before you buy it. Do you think a beginner guitar player will know what makes a good guitar by playing it?
Truly,
The Big Red Hot Dog

Sorry. I was assuming the beginner had working hands and ears. My mistake. I didn't realize we were talking about people whose intelligence was limited to a level less than your own. But I have to be honest, I've never seen a guitar that could be played by a newborn.

I'll ask again: why are you posting here? You must have something better to do. Isn't there any porn under your mattress?



And in case some of you missed these gems, here's a thread bigredhappyhotdogboy started in the Microphones section:

Hi. I'm new here. I introduced myself in the reverb area. I wish to find all the best microphones for my home recording. I have one of each instument and would like to record all of them during a single performance. Which microphones would be the best for me?
Thanks,
The Big Red Hot Dog

My favorite response was by yrdbrd who said, "i have one of each microphone, if i use them all to record one instument which instument would be best for me to record?"

The more posts I read by wienerboy, the more I'm convinced he's a troll who knows he's passing along bad information and is doing so deliberately. Anyone who is actually that stupid wouldn't have the skills necessary to turn on a computer much less figure out how to post a message to a bb.



And this was his introduction in The Dragon Cave:

Hello friends,
I'm very much interested in recording my future hit songs from my home. I want to find all the best equipment for my mission. I have many questions to ask all my new recording friends. I assume that the cave is the reverb area. Which is the best reverb I should get for my songs?
Your new friend,
The Big Red Hotdog

He later went on to say this:

Why is the reverb area so dangerous? I'm confused. I use all the reverbs and have not been in danger before.
Thanks,
The Big Red Hot Dog

He has ALL the instruments and ALL the reverbs.
Somewhere in this world, the front end of a horse must be running around.

 

[thebigredhotdog]

Hello steve.h,

I am not this guy. We do not share similar opinions on buying guitars. Cheap is almost always a compromise. I'm sure he was trying to be helpful and I think that he was harshly attacked for his opinion on buying guitars. I read the thread after posting my opinion of buying guitars. I see that my opinion agrees with many other opinions here. I don't know why I was attacked also. I think some people like to be the top dog rather than being helpful. If everyone shares in a constructive manner, everyone one wins.



Deeply,

The Big Red Hot Dog

 

[crazydoc]

Granted, there are cheap playable guitars out there, but it seems there is a Catch 44 type situation here (Catch 22 X 2), at least if you buy new.

To evaluate a guitar, you need to be able to play it:

1) Most cheap playable guitars are to be found online, and you can't play a guitar online, so you can't find a cheap playable guitar online.

2) And even if you can play it, knowledge and chops are needed to tell if a guitar is good - beginners have neither, so a beginner can't find a cheap playable guitar.

 

[Steve Henningsgard]

Fair enough. Second question: is English your native language? I'm not asking to be a dick, I simply would like to know where you're coming from, as some of your posts border on nonsensical.

 

[thebigredhotdog]

Hello friends,

Crazydoc, I agree with your opinion. I would like to add that beginners will not have much luck finding a gem from a bunch of guitars. A beginner does not have the experience to know what makes a good guitar. This goes for expensive and cheap guitars.

I am a human. Do some of you really believe that trolls exist? I am from the American continent and I speak English. Is my English not so good?



Deeply,

The Big Red Hot Dog

 

[JTC111]

I am not this guy. We do not share similar opinions on buying guitars.
Deeply,
The Big Red Hot Dog

The fact that you spewed similar conspiracy theorist nonsense in your post leaves me pretty certain that you're the same person.

Examples:

I would like to share my experiences with guitars. The majority of cheap guitars do not play as good as the expensive guitars. There are many reasons for this. Most of these differences are in the dimensions. I believe that these differences are created on purpose by the manufacturers.

Cheap guitars tend to have a narrower neck. 1/8" makes a big difference. The standard width at the nut for an expensive guitar is 1 11/16" +.

You're the OP. Those quotes and your similar Borat-like syntax convince me of it.