I have $100. What Guitar Should I Buy?

[Thylacine 9]

Guys I need some help, here. As one half of the fake band Thylacine 9, I have decided to purchase my first guitar. And I am very poor; just a working stiff who loves music. I have around a hundred bucks to spend and am considering purchasing an acoustic cheapie from Amazon.com. It's all I can afford right now.

However I know absolutely nothing about guitars. It seems most guitars are listed as being 38" ; is this a standard guitar size for a grown man? I don't want to be cradling one o' them baby guitars in my huge manhands as I try to play "Stairway to Heaven" whilst squinting at my "Guitar for Dummies" book ...

Thanks for any help.

[Thylacine 9]

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/de ... 8&v=glance

Something like this, maybe.

[jack]

if you only have a hundred bucks to spend, go to a pawn shop and buy a guitar. or a yard sale. or ebay. but if you buy a new guitar for a hundred bucks, you get what you pay for. a crappy sounding guitar.

[Thylacine 9]

Right -- I'm not expecting the world's greatest guitar. Just something to noodle with while I learn to play that's cheap and can be had quickly. What about the 38" neck?

[UnDesirable]

I agree with Jack, check out the pawnshops. There are alot of people you want to learn a musical instrument, spend alot of money buying nice equipment and then finding out 6 months later that they don't have the patience or attention span to learn the instrument. Alot of this equipment then ends up in pawnshops in almost new condition. I don't know how you got the 38" neck, I suggest going on a diet.

[Kamakura]

Before you do anything I'd go and ask for advice from a guitar shop. Most people who work in them will be only to glad to help out, and give you good advice. Perhaps you could pay for it bit by bit.
Fender do a cheap range of accoustics.

[tonetripper]

I absolutely agree with Jack and UnD. The deal with pawn shops is that if you look around hard enough you'll find a sweet guitar for a relatively cheap price. But be wary as some of these jokers will read your naivety about guitars and over charge you. Just be prepared to haggle. Once you turn your back to them over a price and start walking wait for the calling voice of the pawn person asking you how much you want to pay and then go in for the kill.

To be honest there are some decent guitars to be bought for cheap brand new, but why, when you can recycle some beauty that's been loved and played. All my axes are vintage instruments and I wouldn't trade a single one for two new ones. Especially my 71 Fender P Bass. So much character and cool a sound.

The other option is to check out a buy and sell. In Canada there are these magazines that you can buy that list a bunch of people selling whatever. I have a couple of friends who scored great stuff from these things. Sometimes there is this old lady who has had a Gibson Les Paul in the basement for the last 20 years and doesn't know what it is cuz her husband, who was a jazzer, died of a heroin overdose on the road. She has moved on with her life and is about to redo the basement and doesn't know the true value of it. This is when you are gonna score large. Takes a bit of work calling and stuff but I believe honestly in the concept that spending a few more dollars, and time, in terms of instrument buying will make the difference between playing kinda alright to playing great. I don't ascribe to the philosophy that buying cheap to know what you want is going to further that understanding and that if you are patient about it the right deal will come up that will give you more leverage in tuning and intonation which are at the backbone of learning an instrument to the best of your capabilities. You won't lose buying cheaply if you don't have something already, but after a while you'll be wanting something better. Go big or go home. My two pennies in.

[jb]

The dangers with a cheap guitar-- with any cheap instrument-- are these:

1. It will probably be hard to play. Cheap guitars aren't adjusted properly. The "action" of the strings (how far above the fretboard they rest, and how far you have to press down to make a note) is often either too high or too low. If it's too high, your fingers will hurt very quickly, especially as a novice since you don't have callusses from playing yet. If the action is too low, the strings will buzz, and possibly some notes won't sound at all. Plus it will come with strings on it, and they'll be cheap. You'll want to replace them with something decent that won't grind your fingers into hamburger and which has a chance of sounding ok, because--

2. A cheap guitar will probably sound bad. Cheap guitars are made of inferior wood. This can cause them to have an inferior sound. Hollow and boxy, not round and sweet. Plus, their construction will be cheap, meaning that everything hasn't been adjusted to provide for the most resonant sound. Plus shoddy construction often leads to things falling apart. In addition, shoddy construction means poor attention to detail-- which on a guitar can be deadly. For one thing, if the frets aren't aligned properly the notes you play won't be in tune, no matter what you do. If the mechanisms that let you tune the strings are cheap, they'll slip, making it impossible to even keep the strings in tune if the frets are OK.

By buying a cheap guitar to learn on, you're not setting yourself up for success. You'll need to have an enormous work ethic or desire to learn in order to persevere, because your fingers are going to hurt very badly, and you'll be going through that pain to create a sound that isn't pleasant.

"Student" instruments are notorious for these failings. It's awful to show a kid how to make a beautiful sound only to have him or her be sabotaged by their crappy plywood instrument with the too-high strings that won't stay in tune.

I'm not saying you'll never find a cheap guitar that's worthwhile. I think I heard that Willie Nelson's guitar was in a pawnshop or something like that. But remember the old saying that out of cheap, easy, and good, you can have any two. In the case of shopping for guitars, "easy" means "easy to find". You're gonna have to hunt and try lots of guitars and get opinions, or get really lucky with you stab-in-the-dark purchase.

Try a lot of guitars. Especially try some Taylors and Martins, so that you know when a cheap guitar is approximating the good ones in playability and sound-- if you should be so lucky. If you've never experienced a good guitar, you don't know what you're aiming at with your purchase, and you don't know what you're missing. In the case of buying a musical instrument, if you don't know what you're missing, you're probably going to end up selling your cheap instrument and wondering for the rest of your life how people get such lovely sounds out of those things.

[tonetripper]

I bought a 69 Yamaha acoustic from a music store that specializes in used instruments, last summer, and got it for about 300 bucks Canadian. I've been recording with it for a while and while there are some issues with it in terms of action the thing just sounds sooooo great. If you do the conversion that would be about 170 American. Nothing I've seen rivals it new for that price. Something about aged hand made guitars, before machines took away some of that art away from the Luthiers. Nothing wrong with well made machine made guitars, but it doesn't compare to a hand made one. Luthiers know that for sure.

[roymond]

I had a Fender acoustic I bought as a beach guitar. I found one that played rather well after trying dozens. But I believe it cost $150 in 1990. I recommend asking the best guitarist friend you know to help, and go to a store and find the one that plays and sounds well. Mail order will not work for this.

[ken]

Rondo Music has cheap acoustics.

http://www.rondomusic.net/acoustics.html

You are probably going to get a better value buying something used, or asking your parents to loan you more money to buy something better.

Ken

[Thylacine 9]

Okay, thanks for the advice. I will check out my local pawn shops before making a final decision and just keep my eyes and ears open. I can wait a couple of weeks to try to get the best guitar possible.

[jack]

another thing to think about is that learning on a nylon string guitar will be easier on your fingertips, which could extend that learning curve beyond the point of despair and pain, and they are usually less expensive (although nice classical, nylon string guitars can be VERY expensive). also, learning on a classical is a bit easier as the necks are generally wider so it's easier for beginners to form chords, transitions them, etc.

fender, epiphone, yamaha all make decent, quality, inexpensive acoustics.

i learned on a cheap classical that probably wouldn't fetch $50 at a yardsale. my friend still has it and i told her that she can never get rid of it, she has to give it to me first. i'll always love that guitar and the pain i endured learning how to play it. but first chance i had, i spent the money and got a nice sigma acoustic for about $300 new that is still to this day my primary acoustic guitar. and i have a $900 guild acoustic/electric that doesn't get as much playing time as the sigma.

[Sober]

As a music store employee, I often have to deal with customers with a $100 ceiling.

Quick aside: Parents often are amazed at how 'expensive' guitars can be. But look at a saxophone or a violin - a shitty one will run you around a grand new. Whereas that same thousand dollars will get you a badass Gibson, Fender, or Martin.

Anyways, if you absolutely cannot go over $100:

Do not buy online, unless you're ebay-ing a really hard-to-find guitar. Just don't do it.

A good general word of advice is to stay away from package deals - everything inside is usually crap. However, Ibanez does make a packaged acoustic that honestly isn't that bad. It comes with picks and a bunch of other crap, and the gig bag it comes with has backpack straps, which is cool. You can check it out at my work's website here. The guitar itself is reasonable.

Now, usually I sell the Squier acoustic pack to customers because it makes me an extra two dollars. Do not buy this guitar under any circumstances. The back and sides are painted black for a reason.

If you don't need a package deal, go with Ibanez or Yamaha. Ibanez's are reasonably decent, and a Yamaha guitar will last you forever, no matter how cheap.

JB mentioned cheap guitars having action problems: Action can be adjusted on any and every guitar, with the exception of guitars without truss rods (i.e. toys). The neck can be tweaked, the saddle and nut can be sanded, etc. But yeah, it can be a real hassle. And as far as playing a nice guitar for a reference point - that won't make one bit of difference to the beginner. A few months after I started even, I played a Martin D28 12-string (a mere $2,400 or so), and I honestly can't say I was impressed, because I didn't know enough about guitars then to know what to be impressed by. In the hands of a beginner, a D100 will sound just as crappy as a Squier. So, DO bring a friend who plays a lot of guitar to decide which cheapie to buy.

I actually think starting with a super cheap guitar isn't too horrible an idea, if you actually stay with it. If you started off with a mid-range, you night just stick with that guitar forever, even if you grow out of the sound. But with the crappy one, you can wait and buy a really nice guitar that'll last you a lifetime. So, buy the crappy Ibanez or whatever now and get a Martin later, rather than getting an Epiphone now and have it be too much guitar at first and not enough guitar down the line.

Whew. /sales pitch.

*traffic at my store is super slow, which sucks for me. But I did sell a sweet-ass Hwy 1 Crimson Strat along with a FM212R amp today. That man will be happy with that rig for the rest of his life.

[Sober]

Also, don't buy from Guitar Center if you can help it. Their 30-day money-back thing is cool, but at day 31, they'd sooner shit on you as help you. They get way too much high-dollar traffic to concern themselves with Mr. $99 acoustic. My last two co-workers are ex-GC, and I've heard all the nitty gritty about them.

So, if you live anywhere near one of our stores, tell them Jimmy from store #11 sent you and he said to hook you up because you're an internet homeboy.

[jb]

JB mentioned cheap guitars having action problems: Action can be adjusted on any and every guitar, with the exception of guitars without truss rods (i.e. toys). The neck can be tweaked, the saddle and nut can be sanded, etc. But yeah, it can be a real hassle.

If you have to get your guitar adjusted that much, you're going to be way over your $100 price point.

And as far as playing a nice guitar for a reference point - that won't make one bit of difference to the beginner. A few months after I started even, I played a Martin D28 12-string (a mere $2,400 or so), and I honestly can't say I was impressed, because I didn't know enough about guitars then to know what to be impressed by. In the hands of a beginner, a D100 will sound just as crappy as a Squier.

If you can play *A* chord, you can tell the difference between something that sounds good and something that sounds boxy. So I'm going to beg to disagree here. Perhaps I'll disagree a little less in the case of somebody who hasn't tried learning *anything* yet.

I actually think starting with a super cheap guitar isn't too horrible an idea, if you actually stay with it. If you started off with a mid-range, you night just stick with that guitar forever, even if you grow out of the sound. But with the crappy one, you can wait and buy a really nice guitar that'll last you a lifetime. So, buy the crappy Ibanez or whatever now and get a Martin later, rather than getting an Epiphone now and have it be too much guitar at first and not enough guitar down the line.

I think you're giving the beginner too much credit here. When we say "don't start with a crappy guitar", we're warning them away from the $39 guitar, or the $100 package deal you mentioned.

If you're REALLY INTO learning the guitar, nothing's going to stop you. But if you dunno if you wanna stick with it or not, if you're just wanting to try the guitar out because you have a vague itch-- set yourself up for success by taking a little extra time to get the best guitar your budget allows for.

Otherwise, ignore all this blather, get the frikkin' $39 guitar, put $15 strings on it, stick some paper under the strings if the action is too low, file the nut down yourself if they're too high, and save up while you learn the basics, then treat yourself to a $500 Martin. That's what I've got, and I'm happy with it. (Just don't listen to any other guitars until you get rid of the P.O.S.)

[bz£]

So, buy the crappy Ibanez or whatever now and get a Martin later, rather than getting an Epiphone now and have it be too much guitar at first and not enough guitar down the line.

Well, you know, my first Epiphone lasted me ten years before I gave it away and replaced it with an identical model. I've had my Epi bass for almost as long, and it was used when I got it. Epiphone is basically the budget line from Gibson, and while they aren't as nice, of course, they are a pretty good deal for the money. I don't expect that they'll ever be "not enough" guitar for me.

Also, the best guitarist I've ever met played an Ibanez.

It depends a lot on what kind of music you like and want to play. If you're the rock type, you might have a lot more fun with an electric and a tiny practice amp (or just a distortion pedal and your stereo, I did this for years). It's something to think about. Finally, if you don't mind bumping up your price limit a bit, you can do a lot better than the $99 specials. Musician's Friend has Epiphone versions of both a Les Paul and an SG for about $150, for example, and the guitar that I play for $250. I suspect that if you're willing to spend, say, $200 or so, that you can find a guitar that you like that is way better than the ones in the $100 range.

[HeuristicsInc]

well, this makes me not feel too bad about my 1996 or so purchase of my $100 yamaha acoustic. glad to hear it's not completely bad
-bill

[Caravan Ray]

Buy one that feels good - go for playability. As long as you can play it - you'll get something out of it. if it feels bad and hurts your fingers it's a total waste of time and money

When you can afford one - buy a Martin or a Maton

[NeilThrun]

Gennerally cheap electric guitars sound better than cheap acoustic guitars. Too much can go wrong in the making of an acoustic. Where as your basic electric guitar is factory made by robots. And computer are never wrong.

[ken]

here are some cheap acoustics:

http://www.musicyo.com/category.asp?cat ... s&search=1

Ken

[Ryan Rickenbach]

My first was a Yamaha F-310...It is a great acoustic guitar (For 100) and it holds up rather nicely. It sounds pretty good and I learned to play on it. I would recomend it.