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The Secrets To Buying A New Acoustic Guitar

By: Mike Hargreaves

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Knowing how to decide on the right guitar and the way to identify a bad one, will save you from many headaches, not to mention finger aches.

Acoustic guitar bodies come in basically the same hourglass shape, with a number of variations, save for they do vary in size, color, wood-kind, style, and further features. You may even purchase an acoustic guitar so little that fits into a hiking pack.

Guitars come in a very big selection of prices, but in terms of instruments, in general, you get what you pay for, especially whenever you buy new. There’s a real difference between getting a bargain and buying cheap.

But whether you buy new or used may also be determined by a lot of personal factors including your budget, and each has their own pros and cons.

Purchasing new, gives you a warranty and, hopefully, a return period, if for some reason you’re not totally happy with your purchase, or something goes wrong.

Under ‘usual' conditions, a second user guitar may ordinarily be purchased cheaper and has before now gone through its “break-in” period.

Commercially created guitars are typically mass manufactured. “Custom-made” guitars are exactly that. They are custom built and tailored to your specifications by a greatly skilled guitar maker.

Prices for any custom-built guitar vary significantly, dependant upon the skill level of the craftsperson you contract the job to, but, most of the time, they are typically quite beyond a commercially built guitar of “similar” quality. Each custom built guitar is exclusive and therefore hard to compare in price to a commercially built guitar.

FOR THE "TECHIES"

BODY: This is the part with the sound hole in the front. It's where the strumming is done, and it can vary in size. The specific size, shape, sort of wood, coating, and general build of the body also affects how the guitar will “sound”, whether it’s a rich and warm sound, or a thin and ‘twangy’ sound. {The body tends to be the part that also gets scratched, damaged, and mostly banged-up the most.

NECK: This is the long piece extending from the body and ends at the ‘head’ of the guitar where the ‘Tuning Heads’ are, also generally known as ‘machine heads’. The strings travel over the ‘Bridge’ on the body, across the sound hole, over the ‘Fret Board’, that is attached to the front-side of the neck, and at last arriving at the tuning heads where they're wrapped around tuning posts. The tuning heads are then turned by hand, which then turns the posts, making the strings tighter or looser, thus affecting their ‘tuning’. Necks tend to warp and twist if not looked after, or if the guitar is left propped alongside a heat source.

BRIDGE: The Bridge is generally located on the front of the body by sound hole, and on the side of the hole opposite to the neck. The strings are typically fed through the bridge first before they cross the hole and travel up the neck to the tuning heads. The bridge is similar to an anchor-point for the strings. Metal bridges are best, however on most acoustics they're either tough plastic or wood. Bridges tend to crack and split over a long period of time.

FRET BOARD: The fret board is glued to the front of the neck. This is the portion you push the strings onto to assemble chords or play individual notes. Since it’s glued on separately, a fret board is crafted from a wood that’s different from the neck.

When a newbie plays a guitar, in the beginning their fingertips are extremely soft and need to get hardened. A guitar with the strings too far above the fret board, also often called having a ‘high action’, will cause the player’s fingers to hurt so much that they're prone to put the guitar away in despair and perhaps stop playing altogether.

THE PRE-PURCHASE CHECKLIST

- Before you purchase a second hand guitar, cost-compare against the price of a brand new one, unless the guitar is quite old. You may also contrast its used price to other used prices by going to a web based auction and either looking for the exact same or a similar guitar.
- Check the overall condition of the wood for cracks, scratches, splits, dents, chips, etc.
- Also check the lacquer finish for cracks and splits.
- Check the neck/fret board for warping and twisting. You may do this by holding the guitar flat on its back, with the sound hole facing upward. Bring the guitar up to eye-level, with the neck running away from you and the edge of the body almost touching your face. Let your eyesight fly across the front of the body and down the fret board. You have to be able to recognise if the neck is twisted or bowing.
- Tune the guitar, or have the seller tune it for you.
- If you know the way to play about five or six chords then play them. In case you don’t understand how to play, ask the vendor to play them for you. This check ensures the neck of the guitar is not warped, even though the fact that you couldn’t physically spot it. If the neck is warped, and the guitar is properly tuned, then several of the chords will sound good, but others will sound as though the fact that} the guitar is not tuned. If this happens, confirm the tuning again. If it persists, then don’t buy the guitar.
- Check the bridge of the guitar. If it’s made out of wood or plastic, make sure it’s not cracked or splitting. The bridge must be rock-solid, as a lot of pressure is exerted on the bridge by the strings.
- Check the tuning heads. Do they turn easily, or are they incredibly stiff and hard to turn. Even considering the high tension of the strings, a top quality guitar has tuning heads that are fairly straightforward to turn.
- Check the ‘action’ of the guitar. Are the strings a good distance over the fret board? Are they easy or hard to press down at different points on the fret board?
- If you are buying the guitar for yourself, and you know how to play, even when you’re a beginner, then play the guitar.
- How does it feel?
- Is it simple or hard to play?
- May you fit your hand around the neck/fret board comfortably to play chords?
- Is the guitar a comfortable size and shape for the body? Is it easy to carry?
- If you propose to play standing up, request a guitar strap.
- Do you like the sound, the color, etc?
- If you don’t play, have someone else play it for you so you could make up your mind what it sounds like.

WHERE TO BUY

Purchasing a guitar from a physical retail music store means that you can ‘test drive’ the guitar and ask more questions up front. Buying on the net or from a catalog may also bring you more cash savings.

Article Source: http://depositarticles.com/

Please take a look at my blog for information, videos and assesments on purchasing and playing electric and acoustic guitars with a colossal section of questions and answers on starter guitars

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