Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Help picking a guitar

I'm not sure I agree. If you are at a point where you can appreciate the difference in how a nice Martin sounds over a entry level model, then you'll be motivated to play more.

For the money, this is a great guitar - well built and sounds as good as most guitars under $1,000:

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/guit...d-depth-cutaway-acoustic-electric-guitar

Hang on to your 500 until you have another 500 to go with it. There just isn'tich to gain in a $500 guitar, unless you know what you are doing in the used market.

Even with $1k I'd buy used.

Martins in that $5-600 range have laminated necks and are made in Mexico and are not the same as the US made Martins.
EBAY has a lot of acoustics to choose from but a guitar is very personal and it is best if you can play and listen first. A solid spruce top is a must for a quality sound.

John

[quote=KFWA]I'm not sure I agree. If you are at a point where you can appreciate the difference in how a nice Martin sounds over a entry level model, then you'll be motivated to play more. [quote]

This is excellent advice.

They all sound bad if you can't play. My point is that you can't buy the ability to sound good on a guitar and I've seen a lot of guys try. If the guitar he has won't take a set up then yeah, get one that will but past that, a high dollar guitar won't play any better than the guy playing it. Imagine the guy with the tacticool custom long range rifle who can't hit a beer can at 15 yds.

Go to a good store and sit down and start playing them. The sound, action and tone will decide for you.

Every guitar is different. Whatever you do, DO NOT buy a guitar without playing it first. I have owned some very nice guitars that I did not like playing at all.

Thanks guys. As expected, some really good advice. Have seen most of the mentioned guitars at the local shops and will be looking at a lot more before I actually buy one. I do have friends that play. Our guitar player at church (I go to a cowboy church) has done a good bit of session work in Nashville, so I am sure he will have some good advice for me and hopefully help me pick something out when I am ready.

Thanks again for the help and please keep it coming.

Pick your guitar like you do your rifles and you will be happy. Some really cool things are useless, or at least products of diminishing returns, not unlike optics. Narrow your search to what you need, want and can afford. I do not recommend spending too much on a guitar (unless it's a steal that you can recoup your money on) until you know exactly what you want and need. Of course, like rifles, I had to go through all of them to find out what that was. Have fun.

Seagull is your best bet new in that price range. I steered two newbies toward them and they loved them. I wouldn't look for a Martin or other 'big name' guitar at that price level as you're still paying for a name and getting less guitar.

I also wouldn't look for onboard electronics. A lot of them are crap, especially in the lower end range and again, you're paying for that and getting less guitar. Find a well setup guitar with a solid top and when you need or are ready for electronics get a K&K Pure Mini installed. They're only $100 and sound awesome through a good amp or PA. I have one in my Guild J65 12 string and my SCGC 000 (and my buddy has two in each of his Martins).

Final bit of advice...play with other people a lot. It's fun and you'll learn a lot more. Plus, it develops your 'band' skills like listening to what is happening, playing in time with the group, etc.

Good luck and have fun! To me making great music and getting people 'grooving' is far more important than becoming a 'technical master'. That's why rock kicks classical's ass!

[quote=smalljawbasser]Hang on to your 500 until you have another 500 to go with it. There just isn'tich to gain in a $500 guitar, unless you know what you are doing in the used market.

Even with $1k I'd buy used. [

I'd agree with this statement. Like you I started late in life and immediately tried to buy my way in. If your current guitar is playable id keep practicing and save up more $ .

Martin refers to beginners and the campfire in the description of the 500.00 guitars. One review used the word durable. Similar to a Savage Fox and a A.H. Fox.

I've been playing guitars for 46 years, acoustic and electric, in a couple-three bands, several duos, and so forth. I have permanent ravines on the fingertips of my left hand.

I've been something of a guitar loony over this time. I've owned Martins, Guilds, and Gibsons, Fenders, Yamahas, Ibanez, Yamakis, Ovations, and lately am flirting with a Taylor (again). Epiphone, Ibanez, and Sigma are decent brands but spotty in their quality; I've had a dozen of these, but all except one amazing Epiphone 12-string were sold shortly after I bought them. That Epiphone 12-string got killed in the process of my first divorce. Think about the scene in Animal House where John Belushi confronts the soulful folk singer. That's more or less how my Epiphone 12-string died.

Anyways, I may have shared just a leeeetle too much there, but hey... I'm a guitarist, and guitar chitt happens... I'll echo what a lot of others have said... don't buy a $500 guitar. Not yet, anyway. My absolute favorite guitar of my life is a late 70's edition Ovation I bought in a pawnshop 10 years ago for $400, but that was a freak occurence. I played a thousand broke-down whores to find that one angel, and I knew what I was looking for. Ovations, however, for the most part are really solid guitars that keep their tone and tune better than 90% of the major brands.

Again, echoing others' best advice, go to a guitar store and find a good salesman to help you pick out what you want. Get a straight acoustic guitar, don't mess with pickups. They generally suck. Later, you can buy a new Stratocaster for $1K or so, if you really want to learn electric... but you'll need to spend another $600 or so for a decent tube amp (the Fender Blues Junior is a solid, solid amp, btw, if you go that route) and pedals.

As for new acoustic guitars: don't buy a Martin, unless you're able to spend $2K or more. Anything under that price is gonna be crap. I have a Sigma (Jap Martin clone) that's a pretty decent guitar, and I've kept it only because it has something elegant in the tone that you don't normally find in a Sigma, or even a low- to mid-price Martin, but the neck drives me to distraction.

I think Taylor guitars are the best value for the money out there, at least among the major manufacturers. My local music store has a huge selection of Taylors, and you can get a really, really nice Taylor there for $1500-$2000 that will blow the doors off any Martin I've ever played that was priced under $3K. Solid, solid guitars that hold tune and tone, strong and sweet necks, and pretty wood, too.

Also forgot to add that you need to consider what style you'll be playing. Certain body shapes/sizes lend themselves to different styles. If you're gonna be a hard strummer or picker you probably want a Jumbo or Dreadnaught. Finger style lends itself to smaller more balanced guitars.

On acoustic I play almost exclusively fingerpicking so my Santa Cruz 000 is insanely awesome (it almost NEVER feels a pick). When I get the urge to make some noise and rhythm the Guild Jumbo 12 string comes out (probably the best sounding factory 12 string ever, IMHO).

And then there's the Strat through a BFSR...

Guild, Gretsch, and Gibson all make amazing 12-strings. My old Gibson and my old Epiphone would hold tune for weeks. Big round tones, you can fill a big room with sound with those without an amp.

BFSR? Studio Reverb? I had a Fender Twin Reverb when I played in bands, had big JBL speakers added in. That was for the Strat. Talk about wail!! But you can't play it in the house... by the time you get the signal up to the point where you're working the tubes, you're playing at Woodstock volumes... For the Les Paul, I had a Marshall head and a beat-up Brand X half-stack that could truly scream.

Nowadays I'm playing a Strat again, re-learning my old chops. I use a Blues Jr. with the upgraded speakers, and an old Ibanez TS-9 pedal. I can play it in the house without scaring the dogs witless, and it has to be a fairly big gig before I have to mic it.

Studio Reverb? Really?

It is natural to blame the company, but it is simply trying to cover all price points in offering choices to customers. More people have options which of course is not to say that they will make wise choices. As they have said forever, you get what you pay for.

If you want a "true" Martin, research it out and find one. That' what I did for my kid, got it on eBay from a guy in KY and paid even more to ship it out to Japan. The money I paid is now forgotten, but we continue to love that guitar. That is satisfaction.

I think he meant black face super reverb (BFSR) but who knows?

I hear Blueridge Guitars are a pretty good value. To be honest, I've never played one so I can't say from first-hand experience. I've owned a Guild D50 for 40 years.

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/guitars/blueridge-br-40-dreadnought-acoustic-guitar#reviews