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Tuning
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Guitar Buyers Guide
Here are some things to be aware of
when buying your first guitar, particularly a used guitar.
- Inspect the guitar for any
real damage such as a cracked neck or body, especially when buying from an
individual; i.e. a rummage sale or from the newspaper. Minor wear and tear is
to be expected along with any dents and dings as long as they don’t interfere
with the playability of the guitar.
- Make sure you
actually play the guitar yourself. If buying an electric guitar be sure
to plug it in and make sure the pickups, volume and tone knobs, as well as the
pickup selector switch work. You don’t want to get it home and find that you
have to spend more money just to be able to play the thing. The same thing
goes for amplifiers. Also you will more than likely find, on a used guitar,
that the volume and tone knobs crackle. Most of the time that is just part of
buying a used guitar and you’ll be hard pressed to find a perfect noise-free
knob ;).
- Take a look at
the neck to see if it is severely bowed or warped. A lot of the time
adjustment of the truss rod can fix this but if you are a first time buyer
wait until you have a little more experience to assess whether you want to
tackle such things. The overall goal is to get a guitar you can be happy with
from the very beginning.
- Don’t overlook
the tuning keys. If they are a little loose (if they can be rocked back
and forth a little while holding on to the key) this is usually normal and
only means they need to be tightened up a bit which any one can do. However if
the gears inside of the whole mechanism seem to be slipping and letting the
string slip out of tune you’ll want to figure in this cost, usually under $10
USD a piece depending on the type.
- Check for how
worn the frets are. When playing if there seems to be 1 or more certain
spots that seem to be ‘dead’ or just won’t let the string ring out when you
get there, this usually means the frets are worn down. It can be a real bummer
while playing to hit or have to stay away from those dead spots. You may want
to hold out for something better. Otherwise you’ll have to consider replacing
the fret board.
- Watch out
for people who throw a bunch of guitar parts together and call it
whatever is on the headstock. I had recently visited a rummage sale and seen a
Washburn guitar case with a price tag on it that read “Washburn guitar and
Case”. They wanted $180…not bad. I open up the case and instantly see a
Washburn neck attached to a First Act body. Infact the body was the First Act
guitar they sell at my local Wal-Mart with the cheap “Flame Job” and all. You
could clearly see a lot of splintering in the gap (HUGE GAP in this case)
where the body meets the neck. I politely said I wasn’t interested and walked
away with out even picking the thing up. By the way I’m not knocking First Act
guitars; they aren’t all that bad for their price but you may be able to find
something a little better for the same price used.
- Most
importantly make sure you are happy with the way it feels in your hands
and the way it sounds in you ears. This goes for NEW or USED guitar shopping.
If you’re thinking about buying a guitar from a catalogue or from the web, if
at all possible go to your local Guitar Center or guitar shop and see if they
have the model you want to buy and take it for a test spin. Then, if it’s
cheaper thru the magazine or web site buy it there.
I can’t
cover everything, but the above list along with a little common sense will give
you a solid base to get a guitar that you can be proud to play.
-Happy hunting, - JM Brown
(instructor/admin)
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