A quick question...

DarkKuja · #1 October 22nd, 2005

Hi! I am new to guitars and all, so I am looking to buy one. I found two on ebay.co.uk that intrest me, could someone please tell me which one is the best? Here are the links...

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/NEW-ELECTRIC-G...c mdZViewItem

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.d..._BIN_Stores_IT

I personally like the blue one the best, but since I am new I don't really know if it is good; I am not looking for an amazing guitar, just a 'decent' one to get me started, so which one do you reckon would be most suitable?

Sidney Schwartz · #2 October 22nd, 2005

Well, they're both made of actual wood, which is encouraging. Other than that, it's impossible to know if they're any good without playing them.

It's tempting to buy the least expensive guitar if it's your first one. You don't know if you'll like learning to play and you don't want to invest alot of money to find out. On the other hand, if you buy a guitar that doesn't play well, it's more likely that you will have difficulty learning, get frustrated and quit.

The best thing to do, if you can, is to go to a store and try different guitars. Admittedly, this may be of limited value if you haven't played before and don't know what a guitar should feel like. If you're going to buy without trying I would recommend staying with the more well-known brands. I've never heard of either of the guitars you mentioned. Squire is Fender's "budget" line of guitars. Epiphone is Gibson's. Jay Turser makes very nice inexpensive guitars (I play one). Same for Samick. You'll find lots of these on eBay or music shop web sites.

Hope this helps. Good luck.

DarkKuja · #3 October 22nd, 2005

Thanks!

Well, I found a online shop and a Jay Turser brand guitar for beginners - is this one any good?

http://www.instrumentpro.com/P-JAYJT300KIT.html#reviews

I also found some 'Stagg' Starter Kits, are these any good?

http://www.guitar-village.co.uk/prod...uid=0&catid=10

bluesguy · #4 October 22nd, 2005

I would like to make a suggestion before you go off and buy a guitar - take a long deep breath and learn something about buying a guitar before you go off and do it. If you buy a guitar that is hard to play you will give up before you even give yourself a chance to learn how to play.

To that end here is a link to my website with some advice for a beginner buying a guitar http://www.jcdisciples.org/guitar/howtobuy.html

Also I would consider anyone of the following as a good starting place for a beginner who wants to play electric guitar, http://www.musiciansfriend.com/srs7/.../search?c=6243 (Musicians Friends makes it easy to show you a list of guitars) or an acoustic guitar http://www.musiciansfriend.com/srs7/.../search?c=6252

One last thing, check out places like http://www.harmony-central.com/ to look up reviews on equipment. Do your research before you buy.

DarkKuja · #5 October 22nd, 2005

Oh great, thanks! I will bare it mind. Gonna check them sites...

allthumbs · #6 October 22nd, 2005

In that price range the guitars are going to be more or less the same in quality. The stagg has only a 8 watt amp which is a drawback. The Jay seems to have a reasonable rep for a starter guitar. Remember that they can be upgraded to a certain extent. Better pickups and bridge can improve an axe greatly. Once you have bought it, go to a tech and have it checked and set up. It could make a huge difference on how playable it can be. Cheap guitars right out of the box are notorious for being poorly set up. Don't forget to check out pawn shops ,sometimes you can score a good deal there, but make sure you have a guitar player with you so you don't get conned.

DarkKuja · #7 October 22nd, 2005

Thanks for the info! How much will it cost to get it upgraded? I know you can't give me a accurate amount...just an approximite.

But anyways, I am gonna go into town next week and look at some guitars (the Jay Tursers loook good, I have just read some reviews), I will take someone who knows about this kinda thing. So thanks again for everyone's help!

Sidney Schwartz · #8 October 22nd, 2005

Quote:

Originally Posted by DarkKuja

Well, I found a online shop and a Jay Turser brand guitar for beginners - is this one any good?

Probably. I'm saying that because a) I have a different Turser model and it's well made, and b) I've read only positive reviews of Turser guitars.

Quote:

I also found some 'Stagg' Starter Kits, are these any good?

Sorry, never heard of them.

allthumbs · #9 October 23rd, 2005

Quote:

Originally Posted by DarkKuja

Thanks for the info! How much will it cost to get it upgraded? I know you can't give me a accurate amount...just an approximite.

But anyways, I am gonna go into town next week and look at some guitars (the Jay Tursers loook good, I have just read some reviews), I will take someone who knows about this kinda thing. So thanks again for everyone's help!

just go to ebay and type in electric guitar pickups and you should get a pretty good idea whats out there. You can go nuts and pick up vintage pups for 350 U.S. or reasonable quality pups for under a 100. Until you learn a lot more about tone, don't even think about swapping pups. You don't want to upgrade too much cause you never get it back in resale. It is better to pull the better pups off and put the originals back on,but the resale value of a cheapie guitar is so small it makes more sense to keep it as a test bed for trying out new parts or mods before you try them with a more expensive guitar.