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Conference napalm::guitar

Title:GUITARnotes - Where Every Note has Emotion
Notice:Discussion of the finer stringed instruments
Moderator:KDX200::COOPER
Created:Thu Aug 14 1986
Last Modified:Fri Jun 06 1997
Last Successful Update:Fri Jun 06 1997
Number of topics:3280
Total number of notes:61432

2819.0. "help 1st purchase acoustic" by DWOMV2::GODDARD () Sun Oct 03 1993 12:36

    greetings,
      i have been looking in several shops in the delaware are for a
    starter acoustic for my daughter,  to my suprise if you don't
    know much it can really be confusing.
    1. one shop pushes washburh beginners models and it's lifetime 
    warrenty.
    2.another had some used bently and alveriz(spelling) but no real
    tech.advice.
    3.this shop was loaded with fenders and he said washburn was a
    knockoff made in afactory in korea that also makes watches and other
    stuff. he also said that one factory makes about 19 brand guitars
    so brand is not as inportant as quality.
    4.this shop had many brands fender,alveriz,harmoney,ect.
    he said fender wasn't that good but liked the lower alveriz line.
    5. a small repair had a used a few used yari alveriz for around
    200 to 275 bucks. one lookes like an alveriz silver aniversry,
    or beently black ozark but is a alveriz-yari, the other is
    a 500 buck model two yrs old mahagony sides,back and top
    (looks well taken care of for about 240 bucks.
    6. also tops laminated vs. soild., spruce,ceder,mahagony.
    
    
    i am overload with data greatly appriciate and advice
    or hints.
    
    thanx in advance lou in delaware
    
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2819.1correction part 5.DWOMV2::GODDARDSun Oct 03 1993 12:445
    ref part5. of note small shop that also does repairs and can order
    anything i want and cheaper than anyone else (soooo he tells me
    as he and the distributer are buddies)
    
    peace, lou in delaware
2819.2TAMRC::LAURENTHal Laurent @ COPSun Oct 03 1993 15:1319
My recommendation?  Don't spend an awful lot of money on a first guitar.
You don't even know if she'll stick with it at this point.  Here's what
I'd recommend looking for:

    o	Decent action.  Not too high, but no buzzing either.  Of course
	my first guitar almost required a C-clamp to fret the strings,
	but I kept at it anyway.  It probably built character. :-)

    o	Accurate intonation.  Check the 12th fret harmonic against the
	fretted note.  Play chords at different places on the neck and
	make sure they're in tune.

Don't worry a lot about looks (unless it's hideous).  Don't worry too
much about sound/tone (unless it's really dull sounding).

Don't be afraid of buying used, either.  If you don't play guitar yourself,
then get somebody that does to go with you to check things out.

-Hal
2819.3More IssuesDVOPAS::MARSHL::malkoskiMon Oct 04 1993 15:0016
A couple of key issues:

How old is your daughter?

How much are you thinking of spending?

There is a pretty good article on "student" acoustics in a recent issue of 
Acoustic Guitar. They rated about 12-15 instruments. Good basic info.

I think the previous noted had the correct idea: ease of play and intonation are 
the critical issues to the beginning player. Looks don't count for much. But I 
would add that size is an issue. If the player is young and small - small body, 
small hands - you'll want to look at smaller guitars, and they're a little hard to 
find.

Paul
2819.4BLASTA::PelkeyProfessional HombreTue Oct 05 1993 18:0338
Check out some of the 3/4 scale guitars if she's real small.

They're usally pretty cheap too,, like under 100 bucks.

Probably last her a year, maybe a year and a half.   Good enough
to learn on...

Some terms simplified.

Laminted vs. Solid Spruce top.

The top of the guitar can be either solid or laminted.  Solid is
one peice of spruce about 1/8 of an inch or so thick.  Laminted
is multiple layers of thin spruce wood glued together.  the less
expensive guitars are usually laminated tops.  Solid tops are
generally more expensive, but they are superior in tone and quality.

Action:  Critical, but most of the time, a good guitar repair guy
can work it down to make it easier to play....  how much tolerance
he has to work with, depends on the neck, as well as some other things...

You can also get light gauge strings to help....

I would make sure the neck is sized to her hand (as the last reply
mentioned.)  A chuncky neck will cause some major pain and discomfort
in stretching the fingers if she has small hands...  The body should
be in line with her size too...

as far as makers go. Alvarez is pretty solid, Fender's not too bad,
washburn, high defect rate, Harmony,, last a million years...  not
much on quality in terms of wood and stuff,,, but just the same,
never seen one die...  There's about a million others, basically
it's all the same when your looking at 250 to 300 dollar guitars....

the game changes up and over 500 bucks...


/r