Choosing A Guitar

[240v]

Sooner or later, you will be in the market for a new guitar (including me right now)! Browsing around the internet, and this forum, I've seen a lot of questions regarding pickups, body, neck, tuners, brands etc. I thought it'd be nice to have this article to gather all these things together! Lets get started.

You need to know what you want to play with the new guitar. Simple. If you don't know what you want to sound like, you shouldn't be in the market at this time. You're not going to get a metal tone with a Strat and you won't get a clean jazz tone with a 8-string Ibanez. You have to specify if you're going to be playing jazz, blues, rock, metal, djent etc.

So lets get into the technical aspects of a guitar,

Brands
This is a very debatable topic, but in terms of quality of components, I don't think a brand matters. You really need to play the guitar and see how it fits you. If you limit yourself to one brand, you may be blocking out other great guitars just because they're not, for example, Fender. Famous brands don't always equal quality. There's a store nearby where I live, and they have their own brand of musical instruments, and they're great. However, when considering resale value, branded guitars definitely have an advantage.

Pickups
These are one of the most important parts of a guitar, they change the strings vibration into an electrical current so it can make sounds through the amp. There are several types of pickups, and I will try to explain them.

There are two main types of pickups; single coil and humbuckers. Depending on your style of music, what you want will differ. Single coils are known to have a very pure, high-end oriented sound, suitable for jazz, blues, and some rock. If you're going to be doing hard rock, metal, or anything above that, you'd want to get a humbucker, primarily because it doesn't have as much feedback and background noise as a single coil does.

There are several brands that are quality, such as Seymour Duncan, DiMarzio and Tesla. You can install these later down the track, or have them put in from the start. However, if you find a nice pickup that sounds great, don't worry that it's not the new Steve Vai Dimarzio pickup.

Body Wood
The wood that the body is made of will slightly change the sound of the guitar. The most common wood used in Strats is alder, and that is for a reason. It gives a nice bright sound, which is associated with Strats. However, if you're after heavier tones, you may want a different wood that gives a darker tone, such a basswood or mahogany. I won't list all the types of wood here, but here is a good resource for different body woods.

Neck/Fretboard Wood
Similar story here, there are woods that are commonly used in necks and fretboards. Among the most common fretboard woods are maple and rosewood, and these have slight tonal differences that you may want in your guitar. Maple is known to have a bright, sparkly tone, whereas rosewood has a relatively darker tone. Again, I won't list all of the woods here, but here is a great resource for different fretboard woods.

Tuners
Tuners are also important, and what you want may differ depending on the style of music you play. Locking tuners are popular among people who use tremolo and whammy bars, but you probably don't need them otherwise. Don't cheap out here, you want your guitar to stay in tune, don't you?

Bolt/Set/Thru Neck
This is a bit of a tricky one. For those who don't know the difference, I will explain.

A bolt neck is where the neck of the guitar is bolted onto the body of the guitar (think Fender). The advantages of this is easily being able to replace the neck in the future. However, the disadvantage is it probably will have less sustain than the other methods that I will explain. A set neck is where the neck in glued into the body itself, making the guitar more solid, and thus giving more sustain. These are generally used in Les Paul's, SG's, and other rock/metal guitars. However, replacing a neck will be harder. A thru neck is where the piece of wood used for the neck extends to the very bottom of the body. So called 'wings' are added to the side, making the guitar. These have the best sustain, but are the hardest to replace.

Depending on the style of music you're going to play, you want different types. If jazz or blues is your thing, then a bolt neck might be of interest. If you're going for rock, metal etc, you may want a set or thru neck. However, these aren't concrete rules and you really need to try them out yourself to see what fits you.

Bridge
There are two main types of bridges, a tremolo and a hard tail. A tremolo will allow you to use a whammy bar etc., but tuning may be more unstable. These are used a lost in Fender Stratocasters. The other, a hard tail doesn't allow this, with the advantage of stabler tuning (eg. Gibson). If you're going to be using whammy bars a lot, a tremolo bridge is a no-brainer, but if you're not, get a hard tail and appreciate the tuning stability.

Conclusion
You can't find a guitar for you by watching videos on YouTube! You need to go to a music store and try different guitars out. Different guitars are better for different things (generally), and you need to know what you'll be doing primarily with the guitar. These aren't concrete rules, and should be taken as guidelines more than anything. If you want to have the guitar suit you really well, you could also opt to get it custom built. Carvin seems to have a fairly good reputation around this area, so if you're looking for a custom, definitely look at that

The most important thing is to not rush. Eventually you'll find a guitar that suits what you're playing, and you want that right? You want your guitar to be the guitar that you love. Browse around, play guitars, view review, hear what people have to say. Whatever you want, always assess the pros and cons and see if it's actually worth it. That's just my 2 cents

 

[Phrasemaker]

An interesting and informative article. I wonder how many people become a bit weak like me when buying guitars, I know my own faults and will certainly be blindfolded when I next purchase a guitar. Not to say I don't already own instruments which have turned out to be valued in respect of what they do, but it's damn easy to convince one's self that "I need this guitar". I think many of us narrow down what we're after i.e a fat pickup sound or single coil and whether a trem is required in terms of intended use. How many guitarists have a dozen guitars and would find in a moment of complete honesty that the one which reliably delivers play-ability and tone is not the one they'd get out of a case if trying to impress a visitor?

Yes, tuners and hardware/build quality all important, but it's a real bummer shelling out thousands on a LP made by the top brand only to be out in a bar and hear someone play the Epi version with its Grover tuners, ebony body and deliver a tonality to die for. So for me, complete honesty with myself is the biggest factor when selecting a new guitar. If buying a guitar, I'll ask "how many of these do you have in stock" if the answer is nine, I'll say "line em up" because there will be a couple which have something the others don't. If the best guitar in the store had "Cheapy Co" inlaid into the head-stock, would that make it sell more or less? Or eventually would reputation play a part? And would every one be as good?

Lots to think about

Tim

 

[240v]

An interesting and informative article. I wonder how many people become a bit weak like me when buying guitars, I know my own faults and will certainly be blindfolded when I next purchase a guitar. Not to say I don't already own instruments which have turned out to be valued in respect of what they do, but it's damn easy to convince one's self that "I need this guitar". I think many of us narrow down what we're after i.e a fat pickup sound or single coil and whether a trem is required in terms of intended use. How many guitarists have a dozen guitars and would find in a moment of complete honesty that the one which reliably delivers play-ability and tone is not the one they'd get out of a case if trying to impress a visitor?

Yes, tuners and hardware/build quality all important, but it's a real bummer shelling out thousands on a LP made by the top brand only to be out in a bar and hear someone play the Epi version with its Grover tuners, ebony body and deliver a tonality to die for. So for me, complete honesty with myself is the biggest factor when selecting a new guitar. If buying a guitar, I'll ask "how many of these do you have in stock" if the answer is nine, I'll say "line em up" because there will be a couple which have something the others don't. If the best guitar in the store had "Cheapy Co" inlaid into the head-stock, would that make it sell more or less? Or eventually would reputation play a part? And would every one be as good?

Lots to think about

Tim

Very true. A lot of people seem to make brand names synonymous with quality. While this may be true in some cases, if you look past the main 4 or 5 brand names in the guitar, or for that matter, any industry, you'll find many more opportunities etc.

 

[andrew_s]

Thanks for sharing common points in choosing the right guitar. It comes only from practice what aspects you want to get out of the guitar and what sound you need. For beginners I recommend watching Youtube, listening to the guitar that you like the most and getting the desired one.

 

[jonny deep]

thanks for sharing common points in choosing the right guitar. It comes only from practice what aspects you want to get out of the guitar and what sound you need. For beginners i recommend watching youtube, listening to the guitar that you like the most and getting the desired one.

wtf ?

 

[Greg_L]

Troll.......

 

[smof]

nice info

 

[Track Rat]

If I were going to have just one guitar, a considered approach like you've outlined would be a good one. However, I view my collection of guitars ( and any future purchases) as sonic colors. I don't want multiple guitars that sound the same or even similar to each other. Most of mine sound radically different from each other. The Fenders for that cleaner sound to the Gibson Humbuckers for that chunkier, darker tone to Hollow bodies for that rounder still tone. Then there's Soap bar pickups, Lipstick, etc and different scale lengths, etc. I want all the different colors.

 

[Telegram Sam]

Thanks for sharing common points in choosing the right guitar. It comes only from practice what aspects you want to get out of the guitar and what sound you need. For beginners I recommend watching Youtube, listening to the guitar that you like the most and getting the desired one.

wtf ?

Troll.......

Nah, language barrier methinks.

What he said was, regardless the guitar, the player is the one who gets the sounds out of it.
And after watching some youtube vids to learn about guitars, play them in person to decide which you like best.