Hi all,
Looking for a beginners guitar. I've been meaning to get into this for some time now, i dabbled in it a few years back but want to get serious with it now. I guess a decent acoustic guitar at a budget price is something i'll be looking for. Anyone care to offer any advice?
HN Big Buys has a few for sale - no idea of the quality though.
Hi try big w or those sorts of stores also go to deals direct usually selling $40 all the best.
cash converters seems like a good place to take a look at. I'd always be worried that i'd be ripping myself off with anything second hand, being a beginner I hardly know what i'm supposed to be looking for
Do yourself a favour and if you buy new, spend at least around $300. A cheap/poor quality guitar discourages many people from learning. When I bought a decent acoustic, my playing suddenly "improved". In other words, because the cheap guitar I was using was difficult to play (and I didn't even know), it made me sound worse than I really was. It was hard to hit chords right, hold the strings down without buzzing, etc.
Beyond that, pick one with a nice (low) action. That is, the strings are not high off the fretboard. The higher they are, the more difficult it is for "new" fingers to hold them down.
You can also see how far out a guitar neck is by clamping it… I think it's at the third fret with a capo. (Someone correct me if I'm wrong on that.) Then look along the side of the neck. If the strings are way above the lower frets, or worse, the gap gets wider and wider the further down the neck you go, consider finding another guitar. It might only be that the neck needs adjusting, but it might not be too. And if it does need it, you'll have to learn to do that, or else pay someone else to do it.
(High strings = difficult to hold down chords = pain in your hands.)
Don't go for the thinnest strings available. They will buzz and when you strum or use a pick, they pull/bend out of tune/note. Buy the second-thinnest strings instead. Still easy on the fingers, but less flex. Learn more slowly. RSI or carpel tunnel is something you want to avoid. I think they say only 30 minutes a day (or something like that I believe it was).
If you're buying second hand, look for glue/repairs at the bridge (the piece of wood where the strings go over a piece of bone/plastic and then inside the holes at the base of the guitar. Sometimes a bridge comes unglued and some dimwit tries to re-glue it himself to flog it off quick. If you can see obvious signs of repair, then it might not be a professional repair. Steer clear.
I'm sure there's lots of sites with better advice than I can think of though.
Agree avoiding those under $100 guitars unless you are buying them to be burnt on the stage :) they don't just sound bad, but they also go out of tune easier with badly made machine head, neck bends out of shape over time, badly fitted frets having insistent action, etc they just discourage learning.
$300 would be a good starting price I guess. You can get some SE-Asia made branded acoustic (Yamaha fit example) at that price range. Don't go for the light strings though, as they just don't sound right with strumming. Strings with normal weight also train your finger to be able to pick up any guitar and play.
hmm i was looking at paying at most $200ish at this stage.. But if its the general consensus amongst those who know about these things for a $300 one then i'll change my mind. But I think it might be a better idea to look at some second hand ones first?
Well, I mentioned new in case you decided to buy new. But if you can get something 2nd hand that was originally $300 (or more) for $200, great. But if you can, ask someone that's been playing a while to check it out and play it first. They may notice something you don't. Not much sense buying something for $100 that needs $200 of work done to it. Keep in mind, if you buy new, some music stores may set the guitar up (lower the action for instance) for free.
I suggested $300 as a starting point because I went to a guitar store a few months ago looking to upgrade. There were some nice sounding guitars even at that low price.
They gave me their "best price" on several guitars. It helped me work out roughly how many $ they would automatically knock off the price tag without even haggling. (The price on the tag is never the selling price.) I wish I could remember the percentage now, because on the next couple of guitars they showed me, my calculations in my head were nearly spot on. (I'm thinking it was %14!? But it's been a few months now, so I may be wrong.)
It's funny how cheap is never cheap enough. A nice sounding guitar for $300 really is dirt cheap.
Alright let me know if it comes to you. I'll probably head down to take a look sometime today
There's been a few free guitar lesson deals on Kindle. There was one just yesterday which got great votes. http://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/107903
I've downloaded it to check out at some stage. But also thinking about going to a shop or tutor on gumtree for some lessons and presuambly they would have some different guitars to learn on, then get some tips on buying a guitar later.
i've been playing my first ukulele.
i actually want to learn guitar as well, but this is a good start =]
Cashies
http://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/105419