Any tips on what to look for in an accoustic guitar? I plan to buy one within the month, but it will be my first one and I don’t want to waste my money on anything truly inferior. It will have to be used since I don’t have much of a budget (read: don’t have one at all).
So what qualities should I look for? What types of wood are good? What affects the sound quality? Steel or nylon strings? Count on playing with a pick or without (I lean toward without, personally).
Any advice would be most welcome. Hope this does qualify as a GQ.
This one’s no good. It’s got a hole in it.
When I was buying my first guitar (now long since gone), my friend who was helping me find something worth spending money on drilled into my head that most important thing to look for in a guitar is a straight neck, soundly attached.
I would add to that based on what little additional knowledge I have now that you should make sure the frets are not completely worn out.
Two words: pawn shops. What your looking for is a decent guitar that has not been hard used. The “Harmony” brand puts out a pretty decent line, especially the “Soveriegn”. Take a tuning fork. “Ping” the fork and apply it to the sounding board. How well can you hear?
Examine the frets, see how worn they are. Sometimes you will find a guitar that somebody got as a gift but never played much. They’re the kind of people likely to pawn a guitar and not return for it. Look to the tuning pegs: even after sitting for a while, they should be firm but not stiff. Very simple worm gears tend to be the mark of an inferior guitar, more complex gearboxes imply the opposite. Note “imply”. Ain’t necessarily so.
Pawn shop guys tend to be very knowledgeable about musical instruments, you could always ask.