What is your approach when it comes to buying guitars?

S

ShredAddict

New member
I'm sure that everyone has different approaches when it comes to buying guitars.

Some people buy guitars based on their musical needs while others might buy guitars for the sake of owning them even though they won't be able to play them all. Sometimes, it can be a little bit of both.

Nothing to be ashamed of really. I've heard of people buying guitars for the sake of hanging on their walls although some musicians might find that sacrilegious. Guitars can be treated as works of art although it is quite a shame that those guitars would never have the chance to shine.

I buy guitars based on my needs. I have guitars with different pickup and wood combinations. Different sounds for different applications of music. Neck and fret size does matter but somehow isn't much of a problem for me when it comes to selecting guitars.

I'm sure some of the people here are aware of my preference. yes, they are Jackson guitars. The reason why I like them is due to the wide range wood and pickup options. I'm comfortable with their necks and bodies so no problem there. It's like sticking to a certain brand of shoes that you like. if it not broken, why fix it?

of course you can say I'm limiting my choices but I do try many other different guitars too. I do try strats once in a while and I love them. just not enough to buy them haha!

what do you guys think?
 
Well, for me right now I buy them according to my needs and the different range of genres I have to cover. I have my strat and epiphone sheraton for the blues/blues rock stuff and my J.custom for everything else I guess.

I have been checking out many non mainstream brands recently and if the price is affordable, build quality is decent, I don't see a reason I shouldn't get it. Many young people nowadays(yes I'm still considered a young person) are very brand conscious. When they see more mainstream or famous brands of guitars such as Ibanez, Gibson, Fender, PRS etc. they think it must be good. But the fact is that they may not be the best choice for something in the same price range. Yes by owning one of them you get privilege and prestige of owning one, but do they serve what you need? or do you just buy them for the sake of buying (like the TS mentioned)

I have recently set my eyes on guitars that are not so mainstream but still have decent build quality and parts. For example, I'm thinking buying one of the Swing guitars in the $500+ region and in terms of hardware, I think that they rival or may be more superior to their Fender Japan counterparts. You get quality hardware: Grover locking machine heads, Graphtech Tusq nut, Wilkinson trem. The only thing I would actually change about the guitar is the pickups.

Another one of these gems I have found is the Schecter Omen 7. Even though it's considered to be the affordable range that Schecter is offering, but for the price of $465, you can stuff of quite good build. Again the only thing I would change are the pickups.

Why am I looking out for such deals? Simple. I'm still a student, I want to save as much as I can without compromising quality, at the same time not being overly picky about the quality and I want to be able to get the satisfaction of buying my own gear (which I am doing for everything else except for one guitar that my parents bought for me) and not be dependent on my parents to buy things for me all the time.

That's my way of looking at it, I'm sure you all have your own ways of going about it.
 
I buy many different guitars. especially those with different specs & at different price ranges. To be able to do that without spending too much money, I have no choice but to stick to the 2nd hand guitar route. As long as my cash is rolling, I won't be too worried about making too much of a loss although sometimes I feel that I'm running a charity.

I'm more interested in wood combinations more than anything else. I'm very conscious when it comes to quality of wood tone. good wood would be good wood despite country of origin but what are the chances of people bumping into a good piece of wood without going through the hand selected route? even if you did, I feel that the guitar as a whole contributes to the overall tone. you might have a resonant guitar body but your neck is the one hindering it's potential.

after going through so many guitars, I want to find out what is my favourite wood combination, fret size, neck profile, pick up selections etc etc. I hope to be able to make a custom guitar that would suit my needs some day but that is not going to happen any time soon I guess. for now, whatever is decently priced, I don't mind trying it.
 
hmmm my thoughts are kinda different from those before me. i buy what suits my needs. i play a strat. i'm a "single-coil" fan. why the inverted commas is because i love them humless in any position, so technically i'm not a true SC fan. but i cant fathom a use for a humbucker anywhere other than at the bridge position. so all my guitars from here on will be hss or sss. thus u can see from my out-of-topic rants that i would probably buy more than one same or similar guitar. so yes i'm selling my other guitar to fund another hss guitar i'm eyeing lol
 
I don't know if it's just me but I feel that people these days are more interested in getting a good deal than a good guitar. Sometimes I would hang out at guitar stores trying some guitars and thinking why no one has bought this guitar even though it's reasonably priced. I bought and sold my fair share of guitars as music tastes do change from time to time. Are consumers becoming more brand conscious? Maybe so.

I always believed that sound > price but we have to be aware of the market prices for used gear. I don't mind paying more for a guitar that has already been well set up. However, I feel that the people's approach to buying guitars lately has been price > sound. There have been so many threads regarding low balling and stuff like that. I guess people nowadays are looking at guitars being investments rather than working tools. That's why I created this thread in the first place.

Cliche as it sounds, where is the love?
 
I used to go for big-name stuff, but now my approach is to go for lesser-known brands (but with good reputation here) because you get so much more for the same amount of money. I'm not particularly brand-conscious anymore because majority of big-name brands suffer from inconsistent QC, so I don't see the point of getting big-name guitars and equipment anymore.
 
I choose musical function over brand or appearance.

I've been through many guitars especially fenders (a number of strats and a 52 reissue tele) but never seem to find something that I really like so I stopped buying guitars, I assemble them instead.

I buy parts (mostly shipped in from u.s.a) then assemble them. I assembled my strat about 10 years ago. Now I'm in the process of assembling a tele.

I choose to do this over buying a guitar off the shelf or off the classified ads because I get to customize everything I want without having to pay fender custom shop too much money.

Including shipping and paying others to help me do wiring, drill some holes, cut a bone nut, it would cost just below $2,000 for a super high quality strat or tele.

The drawback is..... you really need to know what you want because if you resell your parts, you might lose some money. Also, you won't have fancy looking finish unless you pay more, which will cause the price to go above $2,000.

I do my own finishing with gun stock oil, fairly easy, cheap, feels good and very resonant. Just not as fancy as your typical relic nitro finish. As long as I see that my wood grain is protected and can be seen, I'm happy with the finish.

IMHO necks from brands like usacg, warmoth, musikraft feels better than most fender necks I've tried. My favorite is usacg, you can feel the resonance ring through the entire neck but no such feeling with fenders. I wonder why.....

Another thing is this..... if you buy a fender then you buy parts like callaham hardware, pickups and other parts, you end up paying the same as assembling your own, many times you end up paying even more.

Personally, I want a few things that fender doesn't offer me (unless I pay top dollar to some custom shop master builder) ..... stainless steel 6105 fretwire, vintage staggered tuners, gun stock oil finish, 1-piece light weight body, thick soft-v neck, callaham and rutters hardware, bone nut and copper tape shielding (which I do it myself).

Think about it..... fender guitars are actually parts which are assembled together, you can assemble your own, you don't really need the f-word on your headstock, do you ;)
 
Last edited:
Actually, I do happen to be influenced by branding. For me, an established brand is quite often a 'safe bet' for me. But of course, a guitar that has a lesser branding but is well-liked by our local community does score in my books. That's why after using Ibanez and Yamaha, I went and bought a Jack & Danny. :)
 
For me sometimes when the feel, set up and the price is right, I don't mind taking the plunge if I have cash to spare. Branding < functionality in this case.
 
The Feel of the instrument is of utmost important. If feeling isn't there, can be super expensive boutique also don't mean a thing. Unfortunately.. Ibanez are the only ones that make decent 17mm first fret 21mm 12 fret necks. That being said, I also own a Squier that I happen to like a lot.

@Tone Jedi: I agree on assembling guitars. I actually enjoy doing that more nowadays. Just that instead of getting fender licensed parts, I get either Squier/ god knows whatever they are and Original Ibanez Parts (These I don't have much choice). The only OEM none Ibanez Part I own is a custom Jem body made by Legacy One in the US, and only because the wood combination is... interesting. +1 on the Hand rubbed oil finish tho. I am prefer this kinda finish to the painted finishes these days as it shows the beautiful grain of the wood. I also dig the raw wood feel from the Hand rubbed Oil finish on necks.
 
Last edited:
faekildare said:
The Feel of the instrument is of utmost important. If feeling isn't there, can be super expensive boutique also don't mean a thing. Unfortunately.. Ibanez are the only ones that make decent 17mm first fret 21mm 12 fret necks. That being said, I also own a Squier that I happen to like a lot.
Click to expand...

haha don't mind me saying but you sound like one of those people who actually bring a ruler around when buying guitars. nothing wrong with being specific but I'm open to suggestions. preferences can change in a snap.
 
relinquish69 said:
haha don't mind me saying but you sound like one of those people who actually bring a ruler around when buying guitars. nothing wrong with being specific but I'm open to suggestions. preferences can change in a snap.
Click to expand...

Nah. No need ruler. But the general feel of Super Wizards is pretty obvious. But, yea you are right on being open to options though. It depends a lot on the music type I am looking to play. I can't expect to be wanting super wizard necks on hollow bodies when I want to attempt something jazzy or bluesy (Not that I can play those). Generally, it's just feel.
 
we have to consider the fact that the beginner market is bigger than the seasoned players market. it takes a while to know what you want from your instrument. hence talking about "feel" now is kinda hard for a complete beginner to understand and hence they'd be steering more towards the "whatever sounds the best for it's price" option rather than the "whatever feels the best for it's price" option. If they have no idea how a good guitar should feel or sound, just take the plunge on a renowned brand. Good or bad doesn't matter. As long as the resale value is good you are safe.
 
Haha... I'm quite insensitive to the 'feel' of the guitar. I've played a very wide range of guitars and a lot of different ones felt great to my hands. So yeah, I guess I'm the sort who adapts to differences in feel, neck profile, etc fairly easily, so tone, value for money, versatility and uniqueness are the main things I look for.
 
I guess it's the propaganda being fed into the innocent minds of young people to be brand-conscious regardless of whether it's a guitar or a wallet. Not forgetting the fact that brands like SX and TGM are benchmarked as the lowest of the lowest. I believe in the inception phase of purchasing your first guitar, the approach you may take would be to get the guitar if it suits you. In essence, if it feels good and you like it a lot, you can get it. As the years go by, when you're much more knowledgeable and have much more experience in dealing with guitars, you would notice the tonewoods used, the no. of frets, the type of bridge, the type of pickups and the general look and feel. Just my 2 cents :)
 
for me, i'll get something i didn't have before.
i usually go with a mahogany/basswood strat/superstrat/singlecut, rosewood/ebony fretboard with two humbuckers.
so my latest acquisition was an interesting single coiled tele with a maple fretboard in an agathis body.
basically something totally different from my comfort zone, just for kicks and the "yeah i tried something like that" bragging rights.
 
i buy guitars which bring out the best in my playing. country of origin & finishes are secondary considerations.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

F
Looking for someone to co-produce with
Replies
0
Views
253
four
F
B
LF Lead Guitarist -- Forming Original Shoegaze/Dreampop/Alt-Rock Indie Band
Replies
1
Views
111
proy2x
P
S
Guitarist Seeking to Start or Join a Band – Let's Make Some Music!
Replies
1
Views
2K
railbird
R
A
Children’s Haiku Garden
Replies
0
Views
6K
aprillllllll
A
Z
  • Locked
SOLD WTS: PRS DGT Goldtop/moon, Danocaster Strat, Fender Japan International edition
Replies
1
Views
1K
ZoomP
Z

Latest posts

Share this page

Back
Top