Guitar buying: Initial considerations (Part 2: 3 considerations)

You are now financially ready to proceed to the stores to choose your guitar. Many of us would do this only to be there & get confused by the various selections. It's rather futile to be asking if a certain guitar is good for you when the real decision is the willingness to part with cash in exchange for that instrument which you have tried, heard & scrutinized. A good guitar for Person A might be rotten for Person B, therefore the instrument's offerings per se is subjective & would appeal differently to various individuals. These are some considerations for you to ponder upon before you take too long at the stores & coming home with a regrettable purchase:

Work with your budget
Head to the stores with your budget in mind. Do not spend time at places where nothing seems to be within your purchasing capacity. Look at the instruments & note the price tags. My advice here would be for you to be sure of your selection & not be moved by what others are trying in the stores on your purchase day. Get opinions from the sales people pertaining to your budget bracket, they might be more knowledgeable with the range of instruments across brand names.

Test it out
Handle the instrument & hear it in action (always get the stores' permission for this, always...); the guitar's playability & tone would be the key considerations for your purchase. These details would inspire your performance because you are handling the instrument & getting acquainted with its sound/ tone. If you are starting out & possess no knowledge for this scrutiny, get a more learned friend to do this for you.

Brand name/ outline/ finish
This should be the least of your worries if you are the prudent buyer. A preferred brand name, popular body shape & fantastic colour contribute the least to playability & tone. We feel safe being with the flow but it might not give us what we want at the end of it all- personal satisfaction.

Guitar buying: Initial considerations (Part 1- Starter packs)

This is not an attempt at teaching you to be the wiser individual when you walk out of the guitar store. In fact, the wiser party is the one with the cash at hand at the end of it all. However, satisfaction isn't always having cash but having what makes us happy.

Should I buy a starter pack?
To many of us who are starting out, there is a pressing need to make our purchase complete. This means, in addition to the guitar as the primary consideration, we need an amp as a compulsory supplement. With a limited budget & the strong urge to just play & build on the fundamentals of guitar playing, the starter pack is an easy way out. If this is your objective, it's a prudent move.

What do I gain with the starter pack?
Unlike the starter pack of yore, today's typical starter pack is virtually a beginner's get-going kit. In addition to the amplifier, the newbie gets other necessary supplements in the deal. These would include: strap, tuner, cable, storage bag, picks, polish fluid & instructional media, among others. Please do not treat this as standard issue, manufacturers vary their offerings. It's your duty to visit their web sites & know what's on the list. Do not allow your parents (if you deem their presence necessary in this transaction) to engage in verbal bouts with the dealer because they expect certain items as obligatory provisions. Their belligerence might be immortalized in YouTube.

Do I lose out with the starter pack?
You need to understand the typical starter pack; it's a get-by package. The quality of the instrument & supplements on offer is reflective of the retail price. Starter packs offered by majority of the brand names out there are indeed affordable. The trade off here is that these items are not fantastic & would not sustain the novelty of their purchase for long. Many of us would feel the need to move on with instruments & gear of a different quality & tonal manifestation as time goes by. There are many reasons why this takes place but the two major factors are, one's progressive playing capacity (the current starter unit isn't preferable in manifesting our technicalities any more) & external acquisition influences (we want to be on par with our peers whose tone sound more appealing + we would like to emulate our idols, we invest in parallel equipment). It's not losing out, it's moving on.

Where do I purchase a starter pack?
Many dealers here offer starter packs of various brand names, depending on their exclusive distributorship. Again, it's your duty to check out what they offer. Do not dismiss the lesser known brand names because in this price bracket, the appeal are in the QC standards, playability & tone which are very close in relation to the cost of their production. Here are some dealer-brand name instances for your reference (not exhaustive):

• Swee Lee Co: Epiphone/ Squier/ Ibanez
• Davis GMC: SX/ BC Rich/ LTD/ Washburn
• Beat Spot: Yamaha
• Look for Beez: SX
• Standard Value: Timbre/ Epiphone/ Squier
• City Music: Craftsman/ Line6