If you don't yet have a guitar, please don't rush out and buy just anything. A guitarist is only as good as his/her instrument. That doesn't mean that a seasoned player can't play a lousy instrument better than a beginner, but if you buy a low quality
guitar, you'll struggle to progress. Try to buy, within your budget of course, the best quality instrument you can. I think most people automatically consider the name brand when buying a guitar, or pretty much anything for that matter. You probably can't go too wrong buying a Fender, Gibson, Guild or whatever top manufacturer's guitars, but don't overlook a decent instrument just because it's NOT a certain brand.
Probably the best advice I can give to anyone, is to take an experienced player along with you...someone you can trust. Think about how well you know the person, it wouldn't be the first time that your guy happens to know a guy that owns or works in a music shop, and he gets a cut out of the selling price. That'll just about insure you're not going to get a bargain. Used instruments can be a great deal or a horror story.
If you plan on buying new, here is a link for zZounds, those guys are great, and stand behind what they sell.
If you do go buy your own guitar, some of the things to look out for are obvious. Possibly the most seen problems are with the neck. A neck thst is bowed, is not a guitar that you want, obviously. Looking down the neck from the tuners ned(headstock, machine head), the neck should look straight, and should not bow in or out significantly. Although there will be a slight, very slight angle of the neck to keep the strings from contacting the frets, causing fret 'buzz'. Make sure you play every string open, than at every fret position.
If the neck, and frets are as they should be, you should just hear a nice, round tone, and no buzzing or flattened sounds. Some poorly made guitars are bad about this. Let your ear be the final judge. Also, if the strings are very far from the frets,the guitar will be very hard to play. Even though it may not be buzzing or dampening the sound, it's not an instrument that you want, unless the seller can adjust the neck(action), and the instrument is behaving normally.
Always look for badly worn frets, they do wear out and you don't want to have to immediately be putting money into a guitar that you just purchased.
Another thing to look at closely is the wood. Look very closely for any major cracks. You may see very small cracks, especially in older, used guitars, but you don't want to take a guitar home that has very deep cracks. That not only weakens the integrity of the guitar, it affects the tone, and is just asking for trouble down the road. Very bad cracks in the body of a guitar is also extremely costly if you're looking at making repairs. Let your eyes be the judge on this part.
If buying an electric guitar, you have more things to consider. Always check the things you would normally check on any instrument, the neck, frets, wood, tuners, nut, bridge and any after market add ons. In addition, on an electric guitar, you should plug it into an amp and play it with the volume and tone controls (potentiometers) in every position. Make sure to also use all of the pickups in every possible position.
Many times, especially on an older guitar, the 'pots', volume and tone controls will become intermittent. They work, but they'll get 'staticky', noisy, or sometimes 'drop out' totally, not making an electric connection, and thereby you'll lose the volume or tone. I will usually sort of gently wiggle the knobs while turning them, just to see if they may be getting flaky. Not to be overlooked is the jack for the amp cord. It gets a lot of use, and eventually many start to have problems.
Often times, it may start out as occasional noise, maybe just when you move a certain way. When checking the guitar, strum a chord, while it is sounding, gently wiggle the amp cord where it connects to the guitar. If there is noise, try another cord first, most are notorious for failure and that's 'probably' where the noise is coming from. If it is determined to be the jack, don't buy the guitar unless the dealer, or other seller agrees to have it fixed first. It's actually a very easy repair, just a few screws and soldering maybe (3) wires, but why should you have to mess with it, unless they drop the price.
I won't touch on every little screw and strap button, just take your time, look the instrument over many times. I don't care if you're buying an early Telecaster or Strat, if it's junk, you still might be getting the short end of the stick. I also won't go into brands, I think most people that want to play guitar, have their favorite players and see what instruments are popular. I will say it again though...Take an experienced player with you, if at all possible, make it someone you trust too.
I overlooked the tuners. The tuners are very integral component s to any guitar. Poorly made tuners make trying to learn, or just play the guitar, a nightmare, instead of enjoyable. The instrument won't stay in tune, even if you can get it tuned, for over a few minutes. Usually the price of a new guitar will dictate what quality (or lack thereof), tuners you will get. This goes back to...Buy the Best Instrument Your Budget Will Allow. Cheaply made tunes will usually feel loose when turned, sometimes even unusually tight, or maybe just rough when turned, instead of a nice smooth movement.
Well, there you have just a general checklist of things to look, or lookout for when buying a guitar. The main thing is patience, if you don't feel totally comfortable with a guitar, it's probably for a reason, keep shopping.
Until Next Time, Keep Playing
Jeff
