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In this podcast episode, Les and Jim discuss purchasing your first guitar. They recommend spending between $250 and $500 for a decent acoustic guitar. They advise beginners to start with a cheaper option to see if they enjoy playing before investing in a more expensive instrument. They discuss the importance of factors like size, scale length, and neck shape when choosing a guitar. They also recommend sticking with established brands like Epiphone, Fender, Yamaha, and Alvarez, while avoiding brands like Chibson and Luna. They emphasize the importance of finding a guitar that feels comfortable and suits your preferences. And we're rolling. Hey this is Les and this is Jim and you're listening to Music Institute putting theory into practice podcast. On today's episode we will be discussing how to purchase your first guitar. Right and we're going to start with acoustic guitars and basically want to go over the features you need to look at and kind of price because you know if you've been looking at guitars you know that you can buy a guitar for $50 or $50,000 and that's not even an exaggeration there's some vintage guitars that's expensive. What are your thoughts first on price range to look at Les? Well you know I think if you're a beginner and you're looking to play acoustic you know it depends are your parents buying you the guitar? Do you have a job? Are you buying a guitar yourself? Kind of what do you want to spend? I would say for an acoustic you know I would spend no less than $250, no more than $500 and you can get yourself a really decent acoustic for that. Yeah I tend to agree because you really don't if you have the money I mean yeah you can go out and buy you know $3,500 Martin it'll be a great guitar you can certainly learn on one but I kind of like to steer people away from beginners away from expensive instruments and I think you can kind of cover why. Sure you know when you first learn how to play and you're getting into it you might discover along the way that you know it's something that you don't care for you don't like having to do all the learning and the practicing or it just might not be for you and when you buy a more expensive guitar well you're out more money and because resale value you know changes depending on what brand you buy and some are really bad so I mean you might lose three-quarters of your money if you purchase something fairly expensive but if you get something fairly inexpensive you know you could you know give it to one of your kids or to a family member or just get a little bit out of it and you're not out you know thousands of dollars so you know that's why I would start with something cheap to see if you like it and then if you're really into it and you love it and you want to play more then you know in a year or two whatever buy yourself a really nice acoustic you know jump up to the like a thousand or fifteen hundred dollar guitar and then once you get more playing in and you find that you you're still loving it purchase a like a D35 or a D28 or you know something like that that's you know that that's more money and you know that'll be a great investment then yeah I completely agree I think that's a great range but the biggest thing you run into is you know you don't want to spend five thousand dollars on what's probably an awesome guitar I mean pretty the stuff in that price range is going to be quality but what you don't want to do is buy that and realize like I don't really like the way that sounds or I don't like this particular setup if you make a basically blows down you make a $300 mistake oh that's not such a big deal if you make a $3,000 mistake for most of us that's a big deal I suppose if you know if you're Jeff Bezos and you've decided you're gonna start playing a guitar that's probably not a factor one way or another although what I typically find is that people that have a lot of money got there if they made their own money they got there by not not making those kind of mistakes even on small things yeah I agree so you know and when you're looking for that first acoustic in that you know 250 to $500 range you have so many different options you know it's it's all about like the size of the guitar the wood of the guitar is it painted is it solid wood is it laminate wood is it all laminate is it all wood you know like what is the scale length and you know and just all of that stuff so that you know that's something that uh that we can get into you want to start on that Jim yeah so I recommend setting aside for kids for kids that's gonna look at their size if they're under about nine you know you kind of look at look at how they are you know the size sometimes a full-size guitar a dreadnought is typically your full-size acoustic guitar will be called a jumbo or a dreadnought that might be a little bit big my nephew's youngest girl plays and she's getting a bit bigger now but she started playing when she was seven and she literally couldn't pick up a dreadnought I mean she you know she's small if she couldn't even wrap around the guitar and play it at all and even a concert size which is sort of a mid-sized body was tough for her I ended up I had a smaller guitar actually a Breedlove companion same size as a GS mini that I had that fit her perfectly and you know that's that that guitars actually probably right on the ragged edge of that $500 range but look at the size for an adult though unless you're a very small person I would look at either a concert size or a dreadnought I wouldn't go any smaller part of it is the smaller guitars if you have a smaller guitar you will sacrifice some of the sound it's a matter of physics a smaller box does not make as deep a bass tone now that some of the better brands will compensate for that and will still sound good but by and large I prefer like say that you know a mid to full-size guitar is what I recommend and you have to watch out for also you will see out there there are three quarter size guitars and half size guitars those are actually also scales differently where the basically the scale on a guitar is the distance between the nut the top of the guitar where the fretboard ends and the bridge which is where the strings end on the bottom and if it's shorter while it will be easier to play it also makes it much more difficult to keep it properly in tune now little kids get smaller guitars because that fits them they learn to play on that but you have a lot more tuning problems with them the one thing you don't want with a beginner guitar is a lot of tuning issues yeah I would agree and sometimes the way to deal with the tuning issues on three quarter and half size guitars is getting a set of like short strings that are called high tension strings so that can kind of solve that issue but if you can get something you know a little bigger than that that's kind of for an adult but like on the smaller side of that you know I would recommend that guitars that I actually really like I like single low and double low and triple low guitars you know I like all acoustics really but I think for a kid if you can get them like a single or double low they can play that guitar for a very long time even as a teenager they can play one of those guitars and it's not going to be you know too small or anything so I mean that they can grow with it I would you know like Jim said avoid like a dreadnought for little kids because usually it's going to be just way too big so you know you start with I would start with like a single or double low guitar that's just my personal preference because to kids it's not going to be about the sound they're not going to be like hey this doesn't have enough bass in it right I need more for kids you definitely want to look at the and even for like teenagers and young adults I think you just need to learn how to play first I think tone shouldn't even really be a consideration unless maybe you you know already play like guitar and you're just wanting your first acoustic sure then you can start to look at tone and the tone woods and how it's made and and things like that and pick something that better suits you absolutely absolutely but what what other things you know you know should a you know should we be looking at and that that first acoustic guitar so obviously we talked a little bit about size we kind of talked about price range I mean obviously I strongly recommend sticking with just a six string I don't recommend your first acoustic be a 12 string 12 strings are great but they're I've heard people say they're easier to play I say they're more difficult to play because there's a lot more to control but what's your thoughts on that list I think 12 strings are easy to play but I played them a lot but for someone just beginning no I would I would not choose a 12 string yeah I would stick with a six string you can also look at scale length because different brands will have different scale links and something that's a little bit shorter you know like that 23 and a half to 24.9 you know should be good yeah and the shorter is a little bit easier to play yeah it just has a little bit less tension on the strings which makes it easier to play for people and it it does affect the sound but but we'll get into that in a different video that's something that's that's not for this but you know so it can change the tone of it and things so you know look for a six string look for something that's a little shorter scale link and when you're buying it feel that the back of the neck and try to get one that fits your hand that feels good to your hand because that's a big issue for a lot of people is how the neck is shaped it can be a deal-breaker for a lot of people so try to find something that that really fits your hand correctly and that that feels good to you it doesn't matter if it feels good to anyone else if it feels good to you then that's what you should get absolutely absolutely right and I you would mention the wood construction so you know typically when you're looking at your 250 $250 range guitars you're probably almost certainly looking at laminated back and sides and that's fine in these price ranges that's not really a negative there are even some very expensive guitars made that specifically use laminates now it's a little bit different technology laminate is laminate it by itself is not a bad thing it's just a matter of quality main thing I would say is look for a guitar that had does have a solid top even in this price range most guitars have either a one-piece or two-piece solid spruce top is the most common there are a few others you'll see cedar and a few other woods the type of wood is not as important as the overall quality of the guitar right now like let's say you're not really looking at tone or a specific kind of sound right now what you're looking for is something that's well put together and you'll be able to play and learn on and one of the reasons we you know and let's call that price that's probably a pretty good spot you might be able to find a an okay guitar a little bit under 250 but if you get into that 250 range and stick with you know established quality brands you're not going to have any kind of issues you'll get a good instrument you can learn on sure you know some guitars if you look at the brand I think it's a seagull you can get I think an all an all wood guitar like you know top back and sides all solid wood I think for around $600 at least that's where they used to be I'm not sure where they are now but you know so if you want to spend you know maybe $100 more to get that or maybe you know if you call Sweetwater and you know they might cut you a little bit of a deal and maybe throw in some free strings or whatever you know maybe splurge a little bit on something that may might be a little more well-known of a brand and you can get more money out of it if you need to sell it if you find you don't like it but you know some of the different woods that you can get most will have you know Sika spruce tops if you're playing classical and some other things they'll have a cedar top some might have a walnut then you can get into some exotic woods you know like koa coca-cola things like that some might even have maple that's not that common yeah typically not in these price ranges but you might say that coca-cola you might see that in that you know $500 range I think it's almost more important to look at the brand because we were talking about this before we started the podcast today that there are some brands out there that we absolutely recommend steering away from do we want to just call them out because I think we can just flat call out some of these brands to stay away from you'll see these crazy deals if you ever see a brand called Chibson with a CH yeah just just skip it they are a ripoff of it now what you're seeing is you're seeing memes using that chips and name all kinds of crazy memes now what's it what's another one that to really avoid you think less I would avoid Luna yeah Luna yeah that's something Luna they're pretty but they're not particularly great guitar that's all they are it's pretty yeah and and you know and you know they're sold a lot of places and there's some really pretty guitars but they're they just don't sound that good quite frankly I mean even a little bit higher end ones they're not that they're necessarily that badly made but they're made to look pretty they're not really made to sound good yeah I would agree they're really hard to play and they just it sounds like you're playing through a tin can it just they sound horrible yeah I bought my wife one because it looked pretty and she really wanted it and then she played it and she's like that's horrible so she learned that real quick that looks don't equate to playability and sound so I would avoid Luna I would avoid a brand called jasmine one called Mitchell which is a guitar center brand I'm sorry they're just not that good so I would stay away from that yeah well there's one you'll see on the internet glory GLA are wide yes steer clear of those they are bluntly terrible yes they are there are a few other all these offerings that aren't bad but we're not going to go into that we're just going to recommend that you stick with established brands are going to be carried and and you know you'll see a lot of brands on Amazon yeah Amazon is not a great place to buy a guitar yeah I'm gonna call it out right now don't buy your guitar from Amazon yeah I would not buy one from Amazon so now we'll discuss some acoustic brands that you know you can look at and for me the first one that pops into my mind is Epiphone yeah Epiphone is a great brand they're owned by Gibson they are they originally were a competitor of Gibson's back in the 40s and 50s they were originally a high-end guitar brand Gibson won the you know the financial battle back in the day and sort of put them to bed but Gibson actually owns Epiphone they you know oversee them and it's a great product you can get into an Epiphone in an acoustic you probably are going to be pushing that $400 price range somewhere in there before you get into the Epiphone's. Epiphone is actually kind of shifting more into that five hundred to a thousand dollar range with all their guitars and with it with a marked improvement in quality I mean they're in there another great one is Fender I know Les is a big Fender fan and he would tell you if you're buying a high-end acoustic you probably don't want to look at Fender there to be fair to Fender they don't really make any super expensive acoustics not anymore yeah but but they're you know I'm actually looking right here you can get into a Fender easily in that 250 range easily yeah Alvarez is a fantastic brand on budget they make everything from you know right around $200 to pretty much as much as you want to spend if you get the Japanese Yari models they're a great guitar yeah Ibanez is also a great brand yeah Ibanez makes really good in both acoustic and electric but an acoustic in particular make really good guitars in that 250 to 500 range Takamine is another brand that they're they're lesser expensive guitars are really really good for what you're paying I particularly like the neck shapes but what Les was talking about before make sure you put your your hands on and it's comfortable for you yeah let's see here we're leaving somebody out I'm sure Washburn is also another one that people really seem to love yeah yeah what Washburn is solid so they're there that they make good solid stuff if you're looking at a classical style guitar Cordoba is wonderful at any any of their price points they're good guitars I agree let's see here oh we didn't talk about Yamaha oh Yamaha yes yes how did we forget Yamaha well that's honestly I mean I will call out a specific model if you're confused by all this you don't know what to buy or whatever buy Yamaha FG 800 yeah they're just a little bit over $200 this kind of break our rule a little bit I think that I think they go for $219 or thereabouts right now absolutely worth the money they sound good they do they're well constructed you'll actually see these show up even on you know on some recordings just because there was one sitting there and so I wrote a song on it sounded good you know none of these guitars sonically are necessarily going to compete with a Gibson j45 or a Martin d-28 but they will sound good and play well and you won't have problems with them I agree the Yamaha's are a great shout they're really nice guitars I mean I've spent 22 years playing and I've played I mean I'm not joking over 20,000 guitars in my lifetime and you know some of these Yamaha's that are like you know eight and nine hundred dollars to me competed with some of these you know Martin guitars that were you know $2,500 they were just you know really good like in their quality and and they sounded really good too like they weren't far off of sound quality of a Martin so you know I'm yeah I would absolutely recommend the Yamaha and they're they're really nice guitars yeah a couple other brands to throw out there D'Angelico makes some really nice acoustics in this price range yes and there's a company called recording king yep they make inexpensive versions of some of the classic guitars they've got some guitars in this price range which are quite good for the money very playable guitars too I said about recording king you pick it up they seem to play pretty well so definitely one to have on your radar but I think less I both agree that I mean if you if all this confuses you if you don't know I've said this before about Yamaha in general if it has a Yamaha name on it generally speaking it's not a mistake pretty much anything they buy that they make I mean is good so that's never a mistake yeah I agree another brand to look at is Siegel and they're the parent company to it which is Godin which makes really great stuff I'm not sure where they start do you know Jim where they start in price yeah I'm looking right now it's been a minute I think you called it right around that $600 price range but let me take a quick look here yeah so Godin and Siegel are really great oh another great one that you can get for that under $500 range is arts and lutherie fantastic stuff it is also owned by Siegel which is under you know Godin and arts and lutherie make some fantastic fantastic stuff for like three to four hundred dollars fantastic guitars so I would highly recommend one of those as well yeah it looks like the Seagulls are starting about 700 bucks now okay yeah no they've gone a little bit but if you can stretch the budget that's a that is a great place to start sure you're really nice playing and Godin makes some really great they make some great high-end guitars as well but you know definitely something to look at as well yeah absolutely so you know you know I would just focus on does it fit your body does it feel good to you even even if you're small and we're like you know you shouldn't buy a dreadnought if you pick up a dreadnought in the store and it and you think it's comfortable and you like the way it feels and plays and it fits your budget you know what purchase it then I mean you don't have to buy a small guitar just because you're younger or because you're a smaller person I'm not very big and I love dreadnoughts and jumbos I prefer them over small ones like if I'm going you know play out or record or something I prefer a bigger guitar I just I love the way they feel and how they sound so you know if it fits you buy it it's there's nothing wrong with that it's it's all about you and how it feels to you and does it fit you and does it fit your budget and everything so yeah absolutely absolutely and same here I'm not I'm not a huge guy I'm not a you know six foot six good kind of person I'm pretty small myself and I absolutely prefer the dreadnought the bigger dreadnought sizes another thing to look for is in some of these brands you will see some what they call a thin line or a thinner body guitar sometimes you can get a larger you know body but it's thinner and and that'll be comfortable as well and again what Les says is absolutely right pick it up hold it if you if it's your very first guitar if you ever played before you know if you know somebody who plays take them with you they can at least you know give you some basic pointers from what they know you might want to make sure that they really know what they're talking about but you know a lot of this is going to be opinion and one of the things is that if you're buying that first acoustic you know if you don't tie up a lot of money in it you could have you know it's a mistake you can recover from it as it were as opposed to spending a lot of money on a you know a beautiful Taylor or Martin or a Gibson they're great guitars and they're absolutely worth the money in my opinion but if you haven't owned an acoustic before you may not really know what you're after and that's what why we really kind of steer you to that that lower price range yeah I agree and Jim well while I'm talking to the people about some stuff can you look up breed love and see where they start so you know what he was saying about those thin lines yeah I mean that's definitely a good place to look so I would definitely do that you know because you can you might find something that you really like that's a little thinner for you so yeah I definitely think you should do that but you know if you don't know how to play like he was saying take someone with you if you have someone that can actually play you know have them sit like in front of you and play it and do you like the sound of it and then and then you hold the guitar and wrap your hand around it and just even if you don't know how to play just you know strum the open strings and put your hand on the neck and if you like it you know then then I would highly consider that guitar because it is a it's very personal and it's a feel thing and it has to feel good to you and if it doesn't feel good to you it doesn't matter what the friend that you're that's with you things it doesn't matter what the person running the store things it matters what you think yeah it doesn't matter what we think if you're comfortable with it that's actually one of the most important things and acoustics to me tend to be something that's a lot more personal is there's definitely a vibe off of them the breed loves actually their eco discovery start about 450 and they've got a whole line of those and they've got that that that next step up is about 550 so breed loves definitely a good one to look at in that in that lower price range yeah definitely well put together guitars sure they are you know everything else of course is down to feel and preference yep yeah so you know don't be afraid to explore brands and you know just play every brand you can and you know tell you know tell the person that's running the store hey I would like to play ten guitars of all different brands in this price point what do you have and they'll go pick you some stuff out they'll bring it to you and you just sit there and you just go through each one and I think you know for me personally I think for Jim as well when you get the guitar that you know you're meant to have it'll speak to you you'll know it almost instantly that it's the guitar for you and when you get that feeling I think you should run with it and buy it absolutely absolutely so we've covered the basics on on kind of how to how to approach getting an acoustic your first acoustic what about a first electric less oh yeah this is a probably my favorite subject here is electric so you know the most well-known electric brand there are a couple Fender and Gibson so and they're off brands are Squire and Epiphone and for me a Squire can't really be beat so I would start with some type of a Squire electric it would be called a Squire affinity series it's around $250 yeah a great great choice really well-made guitars the biggest thing I would say on them when you grab one they just play well you know there's some drawbacks and some things to you have to consider on inexpensive electrics but the biggest thing is just like we were talking about with acoustics you know the playability factor is probably and how it sings you is the most important thing but your Squires are going to be super super playable particularly the affinity series also the bullet series although they're actually doing away with a bullet series they've got a new series coming out replacing that but in that same price range we were talking about with acoustics really figure maybe $200 on electric because there's some really good ones right around 2 to 250 sure up to about 500 and actually you get into up to 500 you can actually get some you know a pretty nice first electric guitar at $500 sure and another thing to look at especially when you're when you're dealing with electrics if you're going to spend $500 look used because here's the reason you could get a nice you know higher in Mexican made guitar sometimes you can get an American made guitar that someone's selling for cheap because they don't know what they have so you can get into something you know quite a bit better and resale value will pretty much stay the same like whatever you bought it for you is what you can sell it for used so you know that's something to to consider that that I would at least consider for a beginner is looking at a used guitar because it's sometimes you it's going to be a way better value yeah and especially our electrics that's a great thing I'm not necessarily as sold on looking at used guitars with an acoustic although once in a while you can find a great deal the thing with acoustics being you know hollow and made of wood there can be problems and if you're just getting started there are problems that crop up on acoustics that can be especially on an inexpensive acoustic are pretty much not worth fixing whereas on electric there's not nearly nearly as many things that go wrong you can even if you don't know anything about electric cars you can look it over and tell how it's been cared for and pretty much tell if there's major problems pretty easily of course the next brand that less is mentioned of course is Epiphone absolutely a great brand of electric you know if you can stretch your budget up into eight eight fifty you can get a guitar that will contend with guitars that are in the thousands very easily but you know you're definitely digging in on Epiphone a lot of what you're going to see is basically a Les Paul style where it's like with the Stratocaster sorry the Squire you're going to see a lot of Stratocaster body shapes and Telecaster body shapes those are the three body shapes that are all solid body electric guitars are based on and definitely something to look at and looking right here just to see where the Epiphone's are going here looks like they're starting they've got some and you'll see this in Squire as well that are you know 150 and down I would pass on those those are okay but they're very beginner but really starting about let's say about 200 bucks with the Epiphone's you start getting into a halfway decent guitar you know and then up who else can we look at yeah Ibanez would be absolutely someone to look at Schecter Schecter is a great brand they make really nice guitars Reverend yeah Reverend's are probably going to be a little more a little more Reverend's are great guitars they're probably going to be pushing there probably about 850 and up I think now a lot of inflation in the world you'll see the LTD brand those are a sub brand of ESP and ESP are wonderful guitars and LTD is a really good value in that right around that $500 price range you can get into an LTD sure yeah you know and going back to guitar shape you'll have like Jim said there's Stratocaster there's Telecaster there's a Les Paul there's an SG and there's also a Fender Jazzmaster and Jaguar shape that you'll commonly see as well so just just keep that in mind because that might be something that you like yeah what's the name of the it's escaping right now the name of that that next step up in the Squires classic vibes classic vibes yeah a little bit more money still right or just should be just under or maybe just over that $500 price point I think 550 to 600 yeah definitely worth looking at really well executed particularly if you're looking for more more of that classic vibe like a 50s or 60s kind of guitar they tend to look a lot more like maybe what one of your favorite players might be playing mm-hmm yeah they're really really nice guitars especially for the money one thing I did want to cover on electrics and and you'll let you'll see some of these in this price range it's kind of a deal I've heard people say this that some of the the hard rock guitars are what we're often term shredders will come with a tremolo device it's called a locking tremolo basically it instead of a conventional nut there's a lock bar on top that locks the strings down to help keep the thing in tune with the tremolo I've heard people say you know as beginning player you know don't buy one of those you know that's really not true but what I would say is you have to ask yourself if you have any mechanical aptitude can you change a flat tire on your car can you take the spare out and change it if you can do that you can learn how to deal with a locking tremolo system if you can't or are very uncomfortable doing those sorts of things I would definitely avoid them you might see that like on on a Jackson brand that would be in that close to that $500 price range actually you can probably get them a little bit under that $500 price range yeah Charvel too because I think Charvel has some for like $400 yeah they think it gone up a little bit yeah probably right around that 500 also G&L is a brand that you know was founded by Leo Fender it was a third guitar company he founded that you can buy their ASAT I believe it's a classic but it's right at like 550 great guitar for the money no qualms about that one at all you know definitely could buy one of those and you'd be very happy yeah the G&L stuff is really nice I would highly recommend them they're they're great playing guitars and I think they're priced and you know the four six hundred dollar range all the way up to probably three and a half four thousand dollars so yeah I mean great guitars yes speaking of the Leo Fender companies there's also a sub brand of the music band guitars John Petrucci is probably the most famous guy now playing music man very expensive wonderful guitars but they have they have a sub brand as well what's in that brand less why am I not remembering that yeah it's escaping me to it starts with an S hang on here well we'll circle back to that yeah another brand to look at that's a sub brand is PRS the SE line if you want to spend you know about six seven six hundred to nine hundred dollar range yeah they're excellent guitars yeah absolutely fantastic guitars if you can push your budget a little bit absolutely a great choice and they and you know less was talking about resale the PRS is tend to hold resale pretty well if you spent eight and a half on one you could almost guarantee that you know you could sell it for six to six and a half if it's a good shape yeah maybe even a little more you know especially if it's a color somebody really likes or a particular model somebody really like or special run limited run or something yeah you could sell it you know probably for $700 you know if someone really wants it yeah in fact if you're a John Mayer fan and looking for your first electric that PRS it's their SE line is their import line yeah the Silver Sky that guitar is retails for $849 definitely want to look for used though because you can find those for you right around seven maybe even a hair under if that's you know if you're after that that kind of sound and that kind of vibe that is a great choice they're extremely well-made guitars yes they are if they are another brand out there that probably won't see too many of them in the US but Quartz C-O-R-T they're also a great brand in these price ranges they had a big heavy presence in the US market back in the 80s but have no kind of faded back they actually manufacture guitars for some of the other brands now and we won't go into all that that's a whole nother podcast on who makes what for who yeah that could be a whole nother podcast because there are you know a lot of like ghost builders and and things like that and you know there are some brands that own like you know ten different guitar brands so you know there are a lot of Sterling that's what I was Sterling Sterling is the is the sub brand of Music Man and really good value on those and you can find that they're covered carried by most major retailers are carrying those as well I know Sweetwater has them I'm pretty sure the other guys have them as well and you can get some of those features and the looks of those Music Man guitars you know for a lot less money they are an import but they're a good quality guitar and one brand that I forgot I don't know how is Gretsch oh absolutely Gretsch is a fantastic brand in this price range yes what they start what I mean as low as like about $300 $299 yeah yeah and they are fantastic guitars in every price range like I mean I like to play high-end guitars I think everyone that knows me knows that I don't usually buy cheap guitars but sometimes I just like to go into the music store and I'll play guitars in that 300 you know $800 range and I just enjoy always playing the Gretsch guitars like I just have so much fun on those things they're just they are fantastic so I highly recommend a Gretsch guitar if you're into you know that look and the vibe that they give off but they are fantastic absolutely absolutely and we mentioned D'Angelico they've got some things probably in the higher end of this price range we're looking at who else is a good brand to look at yeah you know for in this price range I think that's probably where I would what I would stick to yeah I mean there's a lot of options we've thrown out there so definitely not stuff like there's probably others again avoid your Glories your odd brands definitely just definitely do not buy an electric guitar through Amazon just don't do it even if it's a brand name you recognize Amazon treats guitars the same way they treat inner tubes or you know anything they have it's just the thing in a box and they get knocked around they're not treated well what you'll find is is most of the you know I recommend if you're buying used you can go put your hands on it you can eyeball it yourself you're good there if you're ordering it and definitely you know definitely don't be afraid to order one online you've got you know I won't mention specific companies because I work for one but there are some good companies out there that you can buy with confidence and by and large if you buy from the major online retailers those brands they carry are going to be pretty good brands for the most part there's a few that less than I don't like I think we've covered that but you know if it's if a deal seems too good to be true it is almost always I agree and something else you need to keep in mind when buying an electric guitar is you will need an amp for it so you know if your budget is you know say $600 you have to then try to budget out a guitar and an amp for $600 so you know sometimes like if it's you're buying it for your child for Christmas look at the Squire starter packs do it does Epiphone have yeah Epiphone has starter packs as well those are the two brands that do those that's a great place to start yes that's what my first guitar was was the Squire affinity starter pack and I still own that guitar to today it is you know 22 years old and I still have that guitar so there's nothing wrong with it absolutely nothing wrong with that guitar I mean it has done its job for me for many years so yeah I mean I would look at that because you would get a guitar you would probably get a little gig bag you would get an amp a tuner and probably some picks yeah and it usually come with a cord as well remember an electric guitar you know on its own doesn't do a whole lot you do need to that's a good point and that's the one shot towards an acoustic is you can spend more money and get more acoustic and you don't need an amplifier so yeah yeah just figure if you're you know buying an amplifier you're gonna buy the electric you know figure minimum of about $100 for an amplifier yeah you might be able to get something a little bit less than that but you'll see like many amps and things I don't recommend them as a first amp they can be a fun small amp for the office or you know just to mess around with you'll all see also see a bunch of headphone amps strongly recommend against making your first amp one of these headphone amps yeah they're kind of cool Fender actually has a great one the Mustang micro which is a cool little amp yeah but I wouldn't that shouldn't be your only amp there's a lot of major limitations to those they should look at Blackstar yeah I'm looking right here to see yeah there's actually a whole new series of these these these mini amps that aren't bad these little three watts Blackstar the Blackstar the fly rig is in there orange has some amps in that price range sure yeah the orange minis let's see here yeah Blackstar debut yeah yeah good call it off the Fender front man is a great first amp right at a hundred bucks the now boss has the Katana mini which is a great first amp yeah money is the Katana is what they call a modeling amp and that's a con we'll do a whole podcast on amp types and what it really means but basically it allows you to get quite a few different sounds without spending a lot of money Peavey another good brand for yes in that but like say figure for for your first amp for a practice it will be called a practice amp figure a hundred to two hundred dollars will put you in a really good spot I agree so you know if your budget is five to six hundred dollars you know budget around 200 for an amp the rest for a guitar and ask the sales the salesperson say hey if I bought if I buy both of these is there any kind of deal I could get and I guarantee you they'll do something yeah and other things we hadn't talked about with acoustics and electrics both might want to come with an electric you'll definitely want a strap yeah with an acoustic it's optional but you definitely want to consider one but if you're buying separately an amp and a guitar you know see you know talk to the salesperson talk about the accessories the the picks the the cord if it doesn't come with a gig bag and that's something definitely want to make sure of these lower priced guitars now often do not come with a case of any kind so that's definitely something to check on and a lot don't even offer a gig bags anymore right right so you you know make sure that it comes fun and and while I don't shop at GC if you go to Guitar Center if you say hey can you you know throw in a free gig back they'll usually do it yeah because they have a ton sitting around because people bring them in you know they get sold with guitars and then they just sell the guitar and they keep the case so yeah you know they might throw in a free case for you so yeah yeah yeah always ask you know and that's one of the things to reach out if you can walk into a GC if you're shopping online and truth in advertising I do work for Sweetwater but one nice thing about Sweetwater you can call and talk to somebody and you know you know sometimes deals can be made just like in Guitar Center and talk to that salesperson also if you talk to the salesperson they can give you some guidance as well they know what the current prices are and you know they can put together a package for you usually that's a that's going to get you everything you need nothing we didn't talk about for both acoustic and electric and they want to stand less yes I would agree with that so do you want to sit it on the floor do you want to hang it up if you want the cheapest absolute thing possible but you want something high-quality get a Hercules wall mount stand and it's like $23 $24 and you know a couple screws into the wall and you know if you hang your guitar on it yep yeah absolutely I and if you're not comfortable with a wall hanger mounting that you can get into a you know a decent you know decent quality floor stand I don't really start about you know 10 to 12 bucks they're really not the answer and like another way they stand yeah another place to avoid Amazon because you'll get a really cheap stand that yeah really cheap and fall apart yeah what on stage stands Hercules makes more others a company called rocket that makes I think they're literally like 12 bucks yeah there are I mean is it the nicest stand in the world no well you can you set your guitar it will do the job well absolutely yeah so also think about if if you're an adult and you have pets and you have kids watch the kind of stain you get because a lot of them can tip over very easily and you don't want to break your guitar and if you are buying the guitar for a child maybe hanging it up might be a good solution so they can't get it off the wall and they just can't like drag it around the house and break it yeah yeah good call on that and I do definitely recommend putting your guitar up when you're not playing it with it beyond a stand like less said if you've got kids or high traffic or pets the wall hangers probably a better solution failing that when you're not playing it you know put it in the gig bag or case put it in the closet put it someplace safe if you're if you're in that you know you know your situation so just take those keep those things in mind because it's the things that you know get forgotten when you're going through us you've got the amp you've got the guitar but you didn't think about well you know it might get knocked over well maybe I got to think about that so yeah I agree and let's say you know you can't afford a stand just put it in its case when you know when you're not playing it and when you're ready to play it take it out of its case play it and when you're done just put it back you know if you don't want to spend the money on any type of a stand but you know you know like Jim was saying ask for some package deal say what all do I need and they can guide you towards it and you know say like this is my budget what can I get and they can help you find those items yeah absolutely absolutely that's always the best way and the only other thing I did want to briefly cover is humidification so basically guitars are made out of wood there are some exceptions out there but everything we've been talking about in this podcast are going to be largely made out of wood and wood you know it's still a tree it still thinks it's a tree is what we always say about guitars and too wet or too dry both can create major problems particularly with acoustic guitars solid-body electric guitars you know in a really dry really wet environment will create some issues but typically less of a problem but an acoustic guitar you definitely want to look at a you know make sure that you're you know aware of the humidification there are products to help with it did Daryl makes the humidifax there's a company called Boveda that makes those same packages out there that their little pouches that both release or absorb moisture depending and will stay at a specific humidity level particularly in the guitar case right around 49% is what those packs are designed to do a guitar is most comfortable at 70 degrees in between 45 and 50 percent humidity yeah and I just want to expand on that because some guitar companies are different and what I've seen out there for most brands is temp is between 70 to 75 degrees in between 40 and 50 percent humidity and some brands say between 45 and 55 percent humidity I would try to keep it around high 40s to low 50s I think is a great spot to have it yeah absolutely the big thing is particularly if you live in a dry climate let's say Arizona a place like that you were going to have to take steps to make sure you have ample humidification for your guitars if you're hanging them on the wall that's a great place to store them you can buy you can buy a humidifier at Home Depot and you know read the directions on those they talk about the type of water and or you know filters typically you want to use distilled water in one of those but a lot of them do have filters you just change the filters and it takes care of that issue you want one that either has a device a hygrometer built into it to measure the humidity or react to humidity or you want to buy a hygrometer to you know put on the wall or you can set out and check what it actually is correct I have one you know that I have here it's it was like ten dollars on Amazon and it tells you the humidity level and the temperature and Fahrenheit and Celsius yeah it was ten dollars from Amazon so you know just get something like that and just stick it in your room and then you'll always know you know where you're at yeah hey we actually threw through a bone to Amazon how about that we did that's something you can buy them on the flip side a very very damp climate create can create major issues with acoustic guitars when you get up above 60% humidity for extended periods of time it actually affects the glue often depending on how they're constructed you can get an issue with the bridge pulling up or the back of the string when the strings are on the back of the body can create major issues yeah because the wood fills with water and then expands it gets so much moisture that that wood expands and it can push things out and then what happens when it dries back out because things were expanded you know you can have parts of the guitar that actually you know like your frets can fall out your you know bridge can fall out like the top of the guitar can crack you can run into major issues your bracing can fall off and when you have those kind of issues it would be better to basically buy a new guitar at that point because it would cost hundreds and hundreds if not thousands to have those issues fixed and it's not worth it yeah when you have a guitar that is you know sub $1,500 I wouldn't even even think about having those things fixed on something like that yeah it absolutely can get very expensive the I can I can tell you that resetting a bridge on an acoustic guitar runs between three and five hundred dollars depending on the complexity and that's just one component of what would go wrong if a bridge is popped up and that's not separate that's you know not separate yet but if bridges actually popped off yeah it's you're looking at just for that one component you're probably looking at you know five to seven hundred dollars to get that fixed and other things will be damaged at that point yep and if you need to neck reset that's $1,000 to $1,500 depending on who does it and you know like where it's done if you have the company do it you're looking at a ton of money if you have braces fixed you're looking at you know another five to eight hundred dollars yeah super expensive is very super expensive very quick and if the crack if the top is cracked there are some ways to fix it but you can it ends up causing damage down the line and you know it's it's I don't think it's worth having it fixed and I just think you should buy a new guitar at that point yep yep well I think we've covered that enough basically be aware of that humidity if you have questions about that you know get with you know get with the person who's going to be selling you the guitar ask about it I will say throw one more thing in there you will see out there these basically sponges and little little containers or pouches to put in your guitar your guitar case I'm just going to say it right now don't bother the sponge thing does not work well if you're in the desert it might help keep it moisture but every time I've ever used one of those I get a moistened I come back a day or two later they're hard as a rock and dried out I just don't believe in them the answers are either the room or these you get a packs work really really well you got to keep an eye on them but you know they're pretty easy to check to you basically grab them and squeeze if they're still gel gel like they're good to go if they're kind of crunchy it's time to replace them I agree and another thing for humidification fender makes it it's like this little tube and you put water in and it has some kind of you know special beads inside of it that do yeah and those hang it hangs in between your strings and you know you put it in your case and those things work really well they're like $20 but it's well worth the investment for those I actually have one for my Martin and it works great yeah there's some other things if you're putting your good if you're storing your guitars like in a smaller room or a closet there's some things using safes that they're little crystals that go in a little jar that will will mitigate the moisture as well that's something to check into big thing is just be aware of it one thing on electrics and then we'll quit well actually we'll talk about the other the issues with humidification that's almost a podcast into it into itself but if you ever hear the term fret sprout okay frets don't grow fingerboards shrink and that's typically again a humidification problem it may be where the guitar got it where it got very humid like less was saying and the fret spot can pop off when it shrinks but you know frets don't change dimensions and it's usually humidification problem if you've got a guitar and all of a sudden the frets feel like they're sharp more than likely don't be wrong an inexpensive guitar may not have the may have a few issues with the ends of the frets not being as smooth as a high-end guitar but that's something that if it changes suddenly metal doesn't grow so be aware of that and sometimes you know guitar companies will use wood that is still kind of green when they make the guitar so it's nothing that you've done wrong it's just the guitar still drying out and therefore you will get some fresh sprout and some problems like that it can be fixed don't worry but you know it's you know sometimes these brands just they don't let their wood cure and they don't let it dry all the way and then they stick it on the guitar and then they it gets sent out all over the place and then it ends up having problems so that's you know yeah it's a common thing and honestly it's something that we haven't covered that and there's a whole nother podcast we can do on this but you know do recommend if you can afford it really kind of recommend once you've been playing a little bit to have your guitar set up by a qualified technician or just someone who really knows how to do a setup if somebody's been playing for years and really knows what they're doing one of the things they'll typically do in that process is they'll clean up the ends of the fret with a fret file and it doesn't take very long to do it's very simple if you're good at woodworking or really mechanical you could probably do it yourself never I always recommend it at least observing the professional before you try it yourself though yeah I would agree and I actually do tech work I've done it for about 18 years so you know when I when I get a guitar in you know I go over the guitar from top to bottom and I make sure everything is where it should be how it should be I'll ask the customers input on on certain things you know like like string height you know for action like how do you like it do you like it high do you like it low kind of in the middle you know so there are some things that are you know kind of personal to the player and if they don't care then I just kind of have a standard of where I set things and how I do it and you know I'll clean your guitar I'll make sure there's no fret sprout you know I'll put new strings on it you know I make sure everything is good to go so you have the least amount of problems as possible yeah absolutely all right I think we've covered the basics as always you know do your research always always worth the time as you do the research due diligence yep absolutely you've been listening to the musician and musicians Institute podcast we really appreciate your time today like and subscribe thank you
