A Beginner's Guide to Getting an Acoustic Starter Guitar

You want to pick out a first-class acoustic starter guitar if you are just a newbie as a terrible one will hold you back for years

Acoustic guitar bodies come in essentially a similar hourglass shape, with several variations, however they do vary in size, color, wood-kind, style, and additional features. You can even purchase an acoustic guitar so small that fits right into a hiking pack.

Guitars come in a incredibly wide range of prices, except in terms of instruments, in general, you get what you pay for, especially when you buy new. There’s a real difference between getting a bargain and buying cheap.

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

Buying new, provides you with a guaranty and, with any luck, a return period, if for some reason you’re not totally satisfied with your acquisition, or something goes wrong.

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

Commercially constructed guitars are usually mass manufactured. “Custom-made” guitars are just that. They're custom built and tailored to your specs by a very skilled guitar maker.

Prices for any custom-built guitar vary considerably, dependant upon the skill level of the craftsperson you contract the job to, however, most of the time, they're ordinarily quite beyond a commercially built guitar of “similar” quality. Each custom built guitar is unique and therefore hard to match in price to a commercially built guitar.

FOR THE "TECHIES"

Understanding some of the parts of a guitar will definitely assist you in relation to the Pre-Purchase Checklist.

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 actual size, shape, variety of wood, coating, and general build of the body also affects how a 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 too 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 known as ‘machine heads’. The strings travel from the ‘Bridge’ on the body, across the sound hole, over the ‘Fret Board’, that's attached to the front-side of the neck, and finally arriving in the tuning heads where they're wrapped about 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 ever the guitar is left propped touching 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 usually fed through the bridge first before they cross the hole and travel up the neck towards the tuning heads. The bridge is similar to an anchor-point for the strings. Metal bridges are best, save for on most acoustics they're either inflexible plastic or wood. Bridges generally 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 part you push the strings onto to construct chords or play individual notes. Because it’s glued on separately, a fret board is made of a wood that’s different from the neck.

The strings move over the fret board and the gap they're above the fret board makes a difference to the playability of the guitar. If the strings are too far above the fret board, then they are tricky to press down, making the guitar hard to play.

Every time a starter plays a guitar, in the beginning her or his fingertips are extremely soft and need to become hardened. A guitar with the strings too far above the fret board, also 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 disappointment and perhaps stop playing totally.

STRINGS: Acoustic guitar strings, are available in a large variety of ‘flavors’. They can be} created out of nylon, brass, steel, or a fusion. Nylon strings are mostly just found on Classical guitars and Student guitars, because they’re easygoing on the fingertips. They've a rich, lukewarm sound to them.

Strings sets come in numerous ‘weights’, or sizes. Strings that come from a package marked ‘Heavy’ are usually quite thick in size and sound “beefy”. Strings which are light, or extra light, are incredibly thin and typically possess a brighter sound to them, save for are also quieter sounding than heavy strings.

String choices are purely personal taste. Light strings are easier to press than heavy strings however also sound quite different. The more often strings are played, the dirtier they become. If a cloth isn’t run over and under them, now and again, the sound will become extremely dull

THE PRE-PURCHASE CHECKLIST

- Before you purchase a second user guitar, cost-compare against the purchase price of a new one, except the guitar is quite old. You could also contrast its used price to other used prices by going to a web-based auction and either looking for an identical or a similar guitar.
- Check the overall state of the wood for cracks, scratches, splits, dents, chips, etc.
- Too check the lacquer finish for cracks and splits.
- Check the neck/fret board for warping and twisting. You could 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 must be able to notice if the neck is twisted or bowing.
- Tune the guitar, or have the seller tune it for you.
- If you know how to play about five or six chords then play them. For those who don’t know how to play, ask the seller to play them for you. This check ensures that the neck of the guitar isn't warped, even though the fact that you couldn’t physically recognise it. If the neck is warped, and the guitar is properly tuned, then a quantity of of the chords will sound good, however others will sound as though the fact that} the guitar is not tuned. If this happens, verify the tuning again. If it persists, then don’t buy the guitar.
- Check the bridge of the guitar. If it’s made from 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 extremely stiff and hard to turn. Even considering the high tension of the strings, a quality guitar has tuning heads that are relatively straightforward to turn.
- Check the ‘action’ of the guitar. Are the strings a fair distance from the fret board? Are they easy or hard to press down at a mixture of points on the fret board?
- If you are getting 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 straightforward or hard to play?
- Could 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 hold?
- If you intend to play standing up, ask for a guitar strap.
- Do you like the sound, the colour, etc?
- If you don’t play, have another person play it for you so that you may decide what it sounds like.

WHERE TO BUY

Buying a guitar at a physical retail music store enables you to ‘test drive’ the guitar and ask more questions up front. Buying via internet or from a catalog may also bring you extra cash savings.

Despite where bought your guitar, when you know very well what to check out, and spend a small extra effort in your search for that ‘perfect’ guitar, not only will your fingers thank you, but too your ears, and all those that will come to join you across the campfire, including call on spot you in concert. Who knows?

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