In
response to several requests from students, parents,
and friends, I've put together a brief list of recommendations
for purchasing a new acoustic or electric guitar, bass,
amplifier, and accessories.
| In
the following recommendations I've included links
to the Musicians
Friend website (owned by Guitar Center). |
 |
I still strongly recommend you hold, play, and listen
to any instrument you hope to purchase. The best scenario
is to have someone with you that understands the differences
in quality and craftmanship of the instrument you're
shopping for. That being said, the Musicans
Friend site is a great way to do research and
find the product and price range before you enter
a music store. I'd also advise you visit the site
for accessory items or those things that can be purchased
straight out of the box without fuss.
A
great start is to visit a local guitar store. My favorite
in Raleigh is Harry's
Guitar Shop downtown at Glenwood and
Peace Street. Their staff is very knowledgeable and
helpful, and they can determine the best fit for your
style and level of playing. Please be aware that they
are great about only carrying quality instruments,
so you will not find K-Mart/Walmart style pressboard
or "jammin' groovy gig pack" TOY guitars and amps
(and this is a very good thing). They also do some
of the best repair and guitar set-up work in the area.
 |
Harry's
Guitar Shop
616 Glenwood Ave
Raleigh, NC 27603
919-828-4888 |
I highly recommend you browse over to Gibson™
Guitars wonderful "How
To Buy An Electric Guitar: Common Sense Rules To An
Informed Purchase". Many of these common
sense rules apply to both electric and acoustic instruments.
This is a great way to educate yourself on the main
issues and concerns in purchasing a quality instrument.
I'm
a big fan of good quality starting instruments and
try to impress on my beginning students and parents
the strong need to buy the very best quality they
can afford the first time. Anything less will bring
regrets as skills and experience improve.
Please
avoid anything from Walmart or Target (these are TOYS
not instruments), or with "pack" in the
name (i.e. jam pack, gig pack, jamming groovy gig'n
and pick'n pack, whatever). These are usually bottom
of the barrel for the companies quality control standards,
and much much better instruments and amps can be pulled
off the rack for about the same amount of money. Talk
to your local guitar store staff!
Remember and try to avoid Rob's "New Instrument Aversion
Law" which states: If a parent can find a cheaper,
practically unplayable Guitar from their Aunt Flotilla,
Target, or Walmart, they will.
GUITAR
RECOMMENDATIONS:
Acoustic
- For beginning students - Start here at Musicians
Friend to explore new guitars in the $200
to $300 range. You really don't want to go below
that price if you can help it since you start
getting into the TOY guitar range with pressboard
or laminate parts (NOT good). Beginning Alvarez,
Epiphone, Yamaha, Fender, 'Baby' Taylors, 'Little'
Martins, are all good quality brands and great
first instruments. At this range you should
look for a spruce hardwood top - key to good
resonance in the instrument.
You
may want to consider gettting an acoustic/electric
highbred, basically an acoustic guitar with
a built in electric pick-up. Personally, if
I need to amplify my acoustic Guild I just slap
on a "sound hole" pick-up. These can
be purchased for about $50 (and up) in any music
store. |
 |
 |
Electric
- Anyone who has played with me, taken lessons,
or just talked guitars over beers knows I love
Stratocasters by Fender. Heck, Leo Fender invented
the electric guitar and I believe Fender makes
the quintessential rock, pop, folk, country,
alternative, funk, whatever guitar.
One
of the main reasons (again... my humble opinion)
is the sound versitility of the instrument.
With three pick-ups and separate tone knobs
you can get everything from classic twang to
round jazz tones. Add pedal effects and you've
got all you need for almost any music situation.
Fender
has three main price points: Asian made (unplayable
up to playable at about $250), Mexican made
($300 up to $800), and American made ($700 and
up). As you can imagine, each of these geographic
and economic jumps improve the quality, playability,
and durability of the instrument. |
A
good entry-level instrument is the Fender®/Squire®
Affinity ($150 - 200) series (Squire is a sub-company
of Fender). I have helped several students purchase
these as first instruments and we have not been disappointed
with the playability, sound, and general quality.
Next
up the line (but exponentially better in quality)
would be a Fender® Mexican made Stratocaster.
I believe they often refer to this one as the "Standard
Strat" ($350+). These are terrific instruments,
although I highly recommend having someone play the
guitar before you think of purchasing. Quality control
on these is usually great, but I have found some dogs
at chain music stores.
Last
is either a Paul
Reed Smith® ($3000) or the American
made Fender Strat ($1200+). I picked up an American
Deluxe V-neck strat with a custom aged maple v-neck
in a two-tone sunburst a few years back. "Addie" plays
like a dream and I can't put her down.
AMPLIFIER
RECOMMENDATIONS:
I'd advise looking at two basic "practice"
type amps. These are typically perfect for the beginning
student, with just enough umph to jam with friends,
but portable and not plaster peeling.
| Fender
put out the G-DEC
Guitar Digital Entertainment Center a few
years back that's just perfect for beginning guitarists.
This thing is a blast and I highly recommend it
for those of you just starting out. The price
may seem high for a simple practice amp, but this
is anything but simple. It includes: Selectable
drum beats, bass lines, and other instruments,
70 preset drum loops and metronome, 100 Performance
Presets (50 factory, 50 user), 17 amp models,
29 studio-quality effects. Basically it's a band
in a box that allows the player to solo with backing
tracks. This one runs about $250. |
|
Guitar
player magazine rated the Line
6 - Spider II 30™ ($240) as a great amp
for the price. Lots of fun features including sound
modeling and effects. Several of my students have
recently purchased these and they seem like a very
good bargain.
We
also have a few Fender
Frontman 25R™ ($140) for the studio and
it rocks! It's got a 12 inch Celestion speaker housed
in an extremely sturdy but portable cabinet. Highly
recommended. This one goes to 11.
ACCESSORY
RECOMMENDATIONS:
TUNERS:
| I
use and recommend the Intellitouch
PT1™ ($45) or PT2 ($35) Tuner for several
reasons. This tuner clamps onto the head stock
of either an acoustic or an electric guitar and
measures the vibration produced through the body
and neck |
|
of the guitar for each note. Most tuners will work
off a microphone or plug into the guitar. This one
simplifies the process. The result is a very accurate
measurement with a very easy to understand interface.
This
also means that you can tune in almost any environment
without worrying about other instruments or outside
noises. Very tasty!
The
PT1 has a backlight for dark (club gig) environments,
but the PT2 is fine for most students. Both of these
run on those funky flat lithium batteries that last
for about 30 or so hours. That's a lot of tuning.
Second
choice, and one I often purchase for my private beginning
students is the Korg
GA-30™ ($15). This has a small microphone
on the front that picks up the sound from an acoustic
guitar. Obviously this then needs to be used in a
pretty quite environment very close to the guitar
to work accurately.
 |
The
Korg also has an input for a cord from an electric
guitar. You'll need to have the cord handy to
use this in practice, but it's accurate with this
method. |
CABLES/CORDS:
I'd
go with established name brands here, OR; if you're
buying a house brand guitar cord (i.e. Sam Ash) be
sure they have a free replacement deal on it.
I
like Planet
Wave or Monster
Cables, although these can be pricey. You very
much get what you pay for with cables and tone is
everything with an electric or acoustic/electric guitars.
You risk broken plugs or loss of signal with cheap
cords.
STRINGS:
AGAIN!...
I'd go with established name brands here and avoid
the multipack store brands. You need quality strings
to make a quality sound.
ACOUSTIC
- Get Elixir, Martin, or D'Addario regular light strings.
These can be purchased for anywhere from $5 to $15
dollars per pack, so shop around and watch out for
rip-offs. Be sure you are getting an Acoustic string.
Electric
- Try Ernie Ball Regular or Super Slinky, Elixir,
or D"Addario light strings. Be sure you are getting
strings for an electric guitar.
Avoid
the medium or heavy guage strings since these are
harder to push down and make good tones with the beginning
student.
Please
remember that these recommendations are based on my
humble opinion. Your milage may vary. Driver on closed
course - do not attempt.
Good
luck! - Mr. Rob
