Should I buy my son this guitar on ebay?

In My Humble Opinion
1

My son is 12 and has fallen in love with this guitar. Not that he plays guitar yet, but he wants to learn.
Another question: He’s left-handed and insists that he can just “switch the strings around” somehow. I have NO idea what lefties do when they play guitar…can someone fill me in?

Here’s the guitar he likes; the seller’s feedback looks good. (I searched out his negative comments and as far as guitars go, he looks okay.)

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=915363057

Thanks for any (heh) feedback.

karol

2

Sure, go ahead. Looks good for a beginner. However, if he intends on switching the strings, make sure he turns the saddle around also.

And, the pick guard won’t be in it’s proper place (on the away down-strum) for a lefty and might lead to eventual scape and pit marks on the guitar. But, if he doesn’t mind it…

3

I’m more of a bassist, so I don’t know as much about those silly little instruments that some people like to play. On one hand, $45 isn’t a lot of money to be out of if he gives up guitar or doesn’t like that one. On the other, if it turns out to suck, it may be frustrating for him and he may give up easily.
I suspect that like many of us when we saw our first instruments, he thinks it looks “cool” or “hip” or “neato.” And it’s important to like the instrument that you’re gonna be practicing. It might be more worthwhile to find a friend or relative who plays guitar (or a prospective teacher) and have them help him try some instruments in local shops, to see what seems most comfortable in his hands and what seems to be well-built. Used instruments are often an affordable but cost effective way to go, as well.

As far as what left-handers do, there’s a variety of ways to deal with it. There are left-handed guitars and basses. There are nowhere near as many of them as there are right-handed ones, however. You may have to do some searching.
Another way is to take a right-handed guitar and flip the nut around and switch the strings, then play it left-handed.
Yet another way is to just flip the guitar over and play it left-handed with the strings upside down. There are some successful guitarists like this, but I think that’s a self-taught thing and is probably just weird.
If I were a lefty, I’d try to learn to play right handed first. This is for convenience- I’d have more guitars around to choose from when shopping, and I could borrow a friend’s instrument easily if I were out jamming somewhere. Some left-handers do this; it won’t work for everyone.

4

Even more than buying other musical instruments, a guitar is a very personal choice. He needs to do the choosing himself, with the guitar in his hand.

Note that the “goodness” of the guitar isn’t even the issue. Paul McCartney bought a bass guitar brand that was considered at the time to be junk. He heard something in it, though.

5

FWIW, I’m a reasonably dominantly left handed person who plays guitar entirely right handed. [It’s always made “sense” to me that way - especially in the beginning. It’s your left hand doing the more “complicated” chord stuff - you’re right hand just has to strum! ;)] So before he tries to switch up the guitar, it’d be worth having a go playing right handed.

As for the guitar - it’s not a bad price, and looks to be a decent instrument. My only recommendation would be that it is useful to go to a music store and hold a variety of guitars and get a feel from them - but I’ll admit that the guitar I play [and love] was picked out by my decidedly non-guitar-playing Mom for my birthday six years ago.

So - if his heart’s set on it, I say sure. And don’t sweat the left-handed thing until it becomes an issue.

6

Can’t beat the price, that’s for sure. If your son’s pretty serious and money’s not that much of an object it’d probably be a little safer to shop for a decent used guitar with a recognizable name brand and a price range of $100 or so. Music stores can direct you to good used instrument deals and lots of them carry them themselves as “trade-ins.” A $45.00 brand new guitar can’t be worth a whole lot but if it’s his heart’s desire and you can afford to drop the 45 bucks on a whim, cool.

7

Hint: real guitars don’t come in green :eek:

(see seller’s other auctions)

Know that the thing will be difficult to finger - this can be either good or bad:

good: if he can play it, he can play anything

bad: he may decide the thing is too much trouble

otherwise, it’s a cheap experiment.

I would also advise picking out one in person - they don’t all “feel” the same.

8

Hehehe…and here I am, trying to talk him into the green one 'cause it’s purty.

He’s WAY excited about it, so I guess I’ll let him clean out the garage and get him this as payment. It’s definitely worth a clean garage! I am also going to take him to the pawn shop tomorrow so he can look at some of the guitars there and get a feel for them.

Thanks for all your comments, and I’d be happy to hear any more input.

9

I’ve played and taught guitar since I was 15. If he doesn’t play at all yet, getting a right handed guitar is definitely the way to go.

He can’t just change the strings around, especially on an acoustic, because the bracing is usually not uniform on both sides of the soundhole, for one thing. So you lose tone right off the bat.

Number two, you have to turn the bridge around.

Number three, you’ll have to turn the nut around. And if the nut isn’t perfectly flush, you’ll just have to get one made.

Much simpler to learn right handed. The chord books are easier, and shopping for a guitar is much MUCH easier. And you can play a friend’s guitar.

As a professional player, I’ve had to borrow guitars many times, while mine was in the shop, or to get a certain sound. If he learns left handed, he’s cut himself off from the rest of the community.

Sure, he probably won’t be a professional. But why limit him right out of the gate?

If he gets a righthanded guitar and insists on learning left handed, then buy him a recording by a Hawaiian player named Bla Pahinui. :slight_smile:

10

I have to recommend that you skip the ebay auction (those things are notoriously unreliable anyway) and get him a really cheap Ibanez Jam Pack. They are inexpensive, come with a video, strings, carrying case, and everything a beginner needs.

11

Forget the Auction. I have a feeling the action on that thing is a mile high. Unless your buying a guitar which brand you know, don’t buy off ebay. Go to a store. I’d agree with Bongmaster about the Ibanez pack. I’d put a good bet that this guitar’s action could discourage him from playing.

12

As a guitarist, I wouldn’t by that guitar for the following reasons:

One it is butt ugly. You can get a similarly priced guitar at Walmart/Sam’s Warehouse or even a music store that will look better.

Two, even though you can turn the strings around you shouldn’t. Left handed guitarists are a marketing gimmick. They don’t make left handed flutes, left handed violins, left handed tubas, left handed upright basses. Left handed guitars are for self taught people who don’t know what they are doing.

Three, you can’t be sure of the quality of the instrument on ebay. I bought a viola da gamba off of ebay and even though it is a good quality, luthier made instrument it had some minor problems that cost about 100 bucks to fix (ie, had to reattach the bridge, and still have to buy new strings which will be another 100 bucks).

Four, He is charging much more for shipping and handling than he should. Boxes aren’t that expensive and the shipping for an instrument that size shouldn’t be that much.

Five, if you are willing to spend 100 bucks you can get a good quality Yamaha acoustic or classical guitar, a fender electric guitar, an ibanez electric guitar, a low quality martin guitar, and many more at a music store. Again they still have cheaper instruments available but those above low quality guitars, which will cost about 40 bucks more than the one you are looking at if you include the shipping and handling prices, will be of significantly better quality and likely to help your son feel like he is advancing more. A poor quality instrument leads to poor quality sound and general frustration all around.

13

I just wanted to chip in and agree with dorkusmalorkusmafia that Yamaha beginner acoustic guitars are perfect for this situation. They are pretty cheap, but still nice to play and have a decent sound. I’m not so sure about Fender, however, as I think you pay a bit more for the name with them (not that it stopped me buying my strat!).

On the other hand, if he has taken a liking to that one on Ebay, what’s the harm in going for it? If he hasn’t even started playing yet he could be bored of it by the end of the month so there’s no point in taking it too seriously. He can always upgrade when he needs to if he keeps it up.

14

Like Paul McCartney?

Sure, let the kid try playing it right-handed, but on the Beatle’s first appearance on the Ed Sullivan show, Paul was playing a right-handed guitar with the strings switched around and the pick guard in the wrong place. Left handed guitars aren’t exactly gimmicks.

-lv

15

Paul McCartney didn’t know what he was doing. He taught himself how to play “upside down” because he figured that since he was left-handed that is the way you are supposed to play. It simply is not correct. I never said that left-handed players did not know how to play just that they didn’t learn the proper way. When you eventually get a degree in guitar you can actually begin to comment upon it.

16

Feelin’ a little testy today, eh Dorkus? :wink:

17

Dorkus, you made 4.5 valid points, and are obviously knowledgable about the subject. But you called Paul McCartney a marketing gimmick, and I had to call you on that.

Plus, for a way of playing to be “not correct”, in my book, requires some proof that playing the instrument that way somehow hinders performance. As one of two guitarists for one of the two most popular guitar-orientated bands in music history, I offered Paul as an example that this might not be the case. If, in the extensive study that a degree in guitar must require, you can come up with cites of Paul or other left-handed guitarists saying “Boy, I wish I learned to play the guitar right-handed, because playing left-handed is really holding me back,” then we can start talking about ‘not correct’.

Playing left-handed does, possibly, hinder your ability to be taught ‘proper form’ and such from a right-handed teacher, which is another argument in favor of the kid in the OP trying to learn right-handed first.

And I did equate “not know what he’s doing” with “did not know how to play”. Sorry if that wasn’t how you intended it.

-lv

18

Just to clarify, which Paul McCartney are we talking about? :wink:

19

"Dorkus, you made 4.5 valid points, and are obviously knowledgable about the subject. But you called Paul McCartney a marketing gimmick, and I had to call you on that. "

Too bad you are wrong.

"Plus, for a way of playing to be “not correct”, in my book, requires some proof that playing the instrument that way somehow hinders performance. "

You can also play a flute with it extending to your left instead of the right. Or a recorder with your right hand on top. Have you seen Micheal Angelo? He plays the guitar left and right handed, overhanded, underhanded, all really fast. He is a total marketing gimick.

"As one of two guitarists for one of the two most popular guitar-orientated bands in music history, I offered Paul as an example that this might not be the case. "

You didn’t understand the point. You can play the instrument however you want but he isn’t playing it the proper way.

"“Boy, I wish I learned to play the guitar right-handed, because playing left-handed is really holding me back,” then we can start talking about ‘not correct’. "

Go get a flute and tell the teacher that you want to learn to play it with it extending out to the left. I assure you the flute teacher will laugh at you. While you are at it, try to find a left-handed flute. Then try doing the same with an oboe, a violin, an upright bass, a cello, a piano (LOL left handed piano… with all the high notes on the left), etc. You will get laughed at by any serious teacher.

"Playing left-handed does, possibly, hinder your ability to be taught ‘proper form’ and such from a right-handed teacher, which is another argument in favor of the kid in the OP trying to learn right-handed first. "

No, playing left-handed means that you spend needless money on a more expensive instrument that isn’t worth it. I can play the guitar left-handed and still play similarly to how I play right handed but it is just a gimmick that marketing analysts found they could make money off of especially when showcasing Paul McCartney and Jimmy Hendrix.

"And I did equate “not know what he’s doing” with “did not know how to play”. Sorry if that wasn’t how you intended it. "

Then you aren’t reading. Self taught people by definition start out not knowing what they are doing and eventually develop all the bad habits because they never have anyone critique their playing. If he knew how to play when he started he would have held the instrument properly. He obviously didn’t and then a movement of left-handed guitarists were born. When I was researching the history of the instrument I found that that they didn’t exist much before the 1960’s and definately not before the 20th Century.

20

I thought this was about “fighting ignorance”, yet when looking up lefties I find THIS Post from a total ignoramous… dorkusmalorkusmafia, I don’t care if this post was from 2002, you are full of crap. You are not lefthanded so you don’t know what you are talking about.

Some lefties can successfully learn to play guitar or bass righthanded, but others could not, including me, and THAT is who lefthanded Guitars are for, and NOT as you wrongly put it “for self taught people who don’t know what they are doing”…What utter garbage. Paul McCartney knew what he was doing cos he knew it felt right. As did Jimi Hendrix.
You don’t see lefthanded Pianos etc, cos they are not held a certain way, whereas Guitars are and some lefties cannot adapt to righthanded playing no matter how they try. You say you researched the instrument and that they “didn’t exist much before the 1960’s and definately not before the 20th Century”… before the 1960s they may not have, but People playing righthanded Guitars upside down certainly did. And they didn’t exist at all before the 20th Century because anything to do wit lefthandedness was seen as a mark of the Devil. Children were forced to use their right hands in everything. No one cared of the Psychological damage that could cause then, because in those dark days no one believed it existed.

I started with my Brother when we were kids, I knew well that I was lefthanded while my brother is righthanded and like him I started out trying to play righthanded. It always felt wrong not matter how hard I tried to get it right. I kept like this for weeks and weeks, and while my Brother excelled, I was getting nowhere. Seriously disheartened I was considering quitting until our teacher suggested I try holding it the other way around, and that instantly felt right. Not long after confirming this, my teacher took my guitar for a few days while he adapted it for lefthanded playing, and it didn’t take me long to catch up with my Brother after that. So THAT is who lefthanded Guitars are for dorkusmalorkusmafia… Should I have been forced to quit in your eyes cos I couldn’t “hold it right”? Keep your blind bullcrap to yourself and don’t comment on something you know nothing about.