Buying Guide For Electric Guitars

Getting the Most Value for Your Money Whether You Choose to Buy New or Used!

The world of electric guitars has grown tremendously over the past 50 years. The selections that are now available seen almost limitless, but do not let this overwhelm and confuse you, for we will give you a set of guidelines that will arm you with the basic knowledge and narrow your search for a new guitar down to a handful of easily comparable choices.

To find an electric guitar for sale one used to have to visit a local guitar shop were intimidating salesmen and an overwhelming inventory would often lead a consumer into purchasing a guitar that was either not suited to him or more expensive than it needed to be. Now a days the internet allows the consumer to leisurely browses and compare a selection of guitars with stress less ease. So arming yourself with some basic knowledge and following the steps below your guitar buying experience will be both simple and pleasurable.

First Step

The first and most critical step in being satisfied with the purchase of an electric guitar is to determine your price range. Use the scale below to determine what price range you would be comfortable shopping in.

$50 - $300 –Beginner or Novice Players (Yes it is possible to find quality instruments in this price range)

$300 - $700 –Intermediate Players

$700 - $1000 –Advanced Players (paid musicians)

$1000 - $5000+ -Expert Players or Collectors

Second Step

Secondly, you will need to decide what style of music will be played on your new guitar. Each style and model of guitar creates its own sound or tone. These differences are achieved from the type of wood used, the style of the body, what brand and make of electronic pickups that are installed, and many other factors, but we want to keep it simple so you will focus on these few.

Let’s start with the different types of wood. You want to make sure that any guitar you buy is made from solid wood and not plywood. There are various reasons for this, but the basics are durability and tone. A solid wood bodied guitar will be much more durable and sound 100 times better than one constructed with a plywood body.

Next comes body style. The body style is not as important as the other features but it certainly dose play a part. But we are sticking to the basics here. So, really the only thing to keep in mind, when picking a particular body style, is how the guitar will be used. If you are buying this instrument to learn on or practice with, you will most likely want a body style that rests comfortably in your lap while in a sitting position. Example, a Flying “V” style guitar would not be a good fit because it is more easily played while standing.

Finally you will need to choose what kind of pickup configuration works best for you. The pickups are the electromagnetic devices, located directly beneath the strings between the bridge and neck. These devices turn the vibrations of the strings into electrical current, which is then, amplified using a guitar amplifier. So, keeping with the basics there are predominantly two types of guitar pickups, a single coil and a humbucker. To identify which is which a single coil is made up of one row of poles and a humbucker has two rows. The difference being, a single coil will deliver a light bright sound used mostly in pop, country, and gospel music, and a humbucker will give you a thick heavy sound used predominantly in jazz, rock, and heavy metal music.

And there you have some very basic but important knowledge, that will assist you in shopping for and buying a new guitar that will best suite your needs. Below is a list of some out standing merchants that provide quality gear at superb prices, along with great customer service. Happy hunting.